Chapter Five
As Tobias started to give out directions to his men about their avenues of investigation, while reminding them all of the importance and urgency of catching this killer, an odd tingle of awareness crept up his neck.
It felt like he was being watched. Which of course he was, given that all the detectives in the room were looking at him…
but this scrutiny felt different. More intense, more focused.
He quickly swung his gaze across the room and for a brief instant, his eyes caught those of woman’s in the far corner.
A cleaning lady who didn’t seem to be paying him much mind, as she continued to slowly sweep the floor with no vigor yet no particular indifference, either.
There was something about her that for some reason seemed a little out of place, but for the life of him, he couldn’t work out what.
Perhaps it was how her hips were moving in time with the broom.
Very enticing and gently curved hips that belonged to a delightfully slim and curved body.
Tobias nearly swore aloud. He had no business paying any attention to this lady’s body. What on earth was he thinking? He was thirty-five, not some randy, young lad who might pay attention to such things.
“Sir, there’re a lot of rumors swirling about what happened to Stubbings yesterday.
” Andrew Rollings, one of his more diligent detectives, stepped forward in front of Tobias’s line of sight.
“And what his injuries actually are, given he’s having to stay in hospital?
People are saying he was nearly killed.”
Grateful for the interruption from his bizarre thoughts, Tobias turned his attention to the officer, shaking off his odd musings about the cleaning lady.
“Stubbings is going to be fine. Thankfully, the only injury he received was a knock to his head, which is the reason why the doctors wanted to keep him in hospital overnight so they can monitor him and ensure he has no other complications from the knock he took.” The man was lucky it had only been a bump to the head.
The killer could easily have killed him if he’d had a mind to.
“He should be released today sometime, though.”
More officers began to gather around to hear the news too, all worried, given it could have been any of them in Stubbings’s position.
“Do you really think that old bloke was actually the murderer?” Stubbings’s partner, Constable Ferguson, asked, having requested to be part of the team investigating the murder.
“More than likely,” Tobias confirmed. “And I don’t think he was old at all.” He quickly relayed how the killer had made his escape and had been dressed in a disguise.
“I get the hunchback being a disguise,” Constable Ferguson said. “But he actually looked old. Could someone really disguise themselves to look like they had wrinkles and all?”
“We think this man might have been trained as a magician. And magicians are skilled not only in illusions and sleight of hand, but in all manner of disguises.”
“It was a darn good disguise,” another detective said. “Especially to have caught Stubbings unawares.”
“So it seems,” Tobias confirmed. “Apparently, the suspect nearly collapsed, so Stubbings helped steady him, which is when the man attacked and used the constable’s own handcuffs against him.”
“I don’t like magicians. They’re slippery and slimy, just like all bloody politicians and aristocrats,” Inspector Frank Delany pointedly said, his voice lingering on the last word, with a look of malice directed at Tobias.
The man had been a detective for longer than Tobias had been alive, and though he did an adequate job of running one of the CID teams, most of the time, he was lazy, and Tobias suspected somewhat corrupt too, though he’d not been able to prove that suspicion so far.
But what seemed to rattle Frank Delany more than the fact that Tobias was twenty years younger and had been promoted to the rank of inspector in half the time it’d taken Frank to get to that rank, was the fact that Tobias’s father was the Earl of Arlington.
And in Frank Delany’s mind, no earl’s son had any business being a police officer, let alone an inspector in charge of a whole division.
An opinion Tobias’s own father shared too.
Originally, when Tobias had been promoted to a sergeant in the detectives unit, Frank Delany had been his boss and had refused to call him anything but ‘Lord Detective,’ his voice dripping in sarcasm every time he’d used the incorrect title.
Tobias had done nothing to even hint he’d been annoyed at being called that rather than ‘Sergeant,’ which had infuriated the man more.
Delany had only reluctantly stopped referring to Tobias like that after Tobias’s promotion to inspector, when their chief inspector had told Frank to cut it out, given that he and Tobias were now the same rank.
Though the Lord Detective nickname had stopped, a rumor had quickly spread and persisted slightly to this day that Tobias was only been promoted into the role on account of who is father was.
Complete bollocks, of course, especially given Tobias’s big boss, and the head of the entire CID, Assistant Commissioner Sir Robert Anderson, couldn’t stand Tobias’s father.
Loathed him, in fact, after some matter that Sir Robert and his father had clashed over.
A fact that didn’t surprise Tobias, given his father and Sir Robert were stubborn, old mules.
So no, Sir Robert hadn’t promoted Tobias out of any love for his father, instead promoting him after recognizing Tobias’s hard work and intelligence, the earl’s son having solved the largest number of homicides in the detective division out of any officers who’d come before him.
In any event, the rumor of Tobias’s promotion persisted, all at the instigation of Frank, of that, Tobias was certain.
Though now that he’d been an inspector for three years, most of the detectives had learned to respect Tobias’s judgment and decisions, leaving Frank fuming even more than he had originally.
“I think the most slippery and slimy of people are corrupt police, wouldn’t you say, Delany?
” Tobias calmly replied back, noting Frank’s neck turning a mottled shade of red.
The only reason Frank and his team were even here in Tobias’s section was because after Tobias had briefed Sir Robert about the murder, he’d insisted another team help Tobias’s team, and unfortunately, Frank’s one had been the only one available to assist.
“I wouldn’t know,” Frank replied through gritted teeth. Though everyone knew he loathed Tobias, Frank was always very good at self-preservation and he obviously knew that he could only push Tobias so far without censure from above, given their equal rank.
“Now, back to the matter at hand.” Tobias’s voice brooked no argument. “Sergeant Mayfield, have you and your team had any luck in finding out who our victim was?”
“Yes, sir.” Sergeant Clay Mayfield stepped forward.
“Her name was Bethany Cartwright, and she lived with her family in Chesapeake Lane in Bethnal Green. She was reported missing on Friday after she didn’t return home for dinner.
Her father viewed the body a short time ago and officially confirmed it’s her. ”
“Good work, Sergeant. I want you and your team to find out everywhere she’s been in the last few weeks and whom she’s come into contact with.”
“Yes, sir,” Sergeant Mayfield replied.
“Pull in another team from the watch division if you have to,” Tobias added. “We must trace all her steps—as a priority. She’s the only link we have to this killer, and hopefully we can track her final movements, which might lead to this monster.”
The sergeant nodded.
“We also need a team to find out who the manufacturer of the black box is,” Tobias continued.
One of the detectives spoke up from the back of the room. “More like a coffin, wasn’t it?”
“Mortuaries as well as cabinet makers should certainly be canvassed,” Tobias replied. “Sergeant Cranebrook, you and your team can lead that avenue of the investigation.”
“Yes, sir,” the sergeant replied.
“Sergeant Kellerman.” Tobias turned to Iain. “I want you with me to interview the victim’s parents but task your team to canvass magicians and magical and theatrical supply shops across London. See if anyone knows of a magician who works in a similar style to what this Magnificent Maguire did.”
Iain nodded. “Aye, sir. And what about the press? They’re like rabid dogs down at the entrance.”
“They’re always like that.”
“Aye, but for this one, they’re screaming bloody murder, whipping up a frenzy that the Ripper might be back,” Iain replied. “It’s sending the public into a panic.”
“The Ripper is not back,” Tobias confirmed.
“This scene, this murder, even the method with which he killed this woman, was nothing like the Ripper. Leave the press to me. And I do mean that for all of you.” He stared down them, one and all.
“I’m directing each one of you not to talk to the press or release any information to them whatsoever.
If I hear that one of you has even whispered something to them, it’s the last time you’ll ever be a detective or work for the Yard. Do I make myself clear?”
All of the men nodded, an awkward silence briefly filing the room.
“Let’s hope this killer doesn’t vanish on you like the Ripper did,” Frank said, breaking the silence, his words sounding deceptively sincere. “It’d be horrible to have another embarrassment linked to yourself and the CID.”
It was one of the only cases Tobias had helped work that had not been able to be solved. It was still a sore point for all of them who’d worked the case.
“That was Frederick Abberline’s case, Delany, and you very well know it,” Iain replied, striding over to Delany and pointing his finger against the shorter man’s chest. “And if he were still here, rather than having retired, he’d have walloped you good for daring to suggest such a thing.”
“But he’s not here, is he?” Frank puffed up his chest and stepped in closer to Iain, bumping his chest more fully against Iain’s pointer finger. The two men were both fighters and more than willing to have a go at each other in the middle of the room.
“Enough!” Tobias’s voice cut through the tension like a knife. “We have a killer to find, and that, gentlemen, is the priority. Is that clear?”
The two men slowly backed away from each other and curtly nodded, rather reluctantly.
“You’ve all got your assignments, so get going,” Tobias directed them all. “Sergeant Kellerman, go see to your team and then I’ll meet you in the lobby shortly.”
Tobias had to get some notes from his office and then they would go pay the victim’s family a visit.
Never an enjoyable experience, but one that hopefully could yield some information and help find the woman’s killer.
Because at this stage, Tobias needed some information, rather desperately too, given all they really knew was that the killer was possibly a magician, skilled in disguises.
Turning on his heel, he walked over to his office but paused on the threshold as the same tingle of awareness ran up his neck like it had earlier.