‘You are hardly in a position to throttle anyone, Mr Andrews,’ noted Colbeck with a sympathetic smile. ‘Mr Ings, alas, was not alone when he was attacked. The young lady with him also had her throat cut.’
‘How horrible!’ exclaimed Madeleine.
‘It shows you the sort of men we are up against.’
‘The worst kind,’ said Andrews. ‘They destroyed my locomotive. They made Frank Pike drive it off the track.’ He indicated the chair beside the bed and Colbeck sat down. ‘Do you know anything about the railway, Inspector?’
‘I travel by train regularly, Mr Andrews.’
‘But do you know anything about the locomotive that pulls it?’
‘A little,’ replied Colbeck. ‘I’m familiar with the engines designed by Mr Bury; four-wheeled, bar-framed locomotives with haystack fireboxes, and tight coupling between locomotive and tender to give more stability.’
Andrews was impressed. ‘You obviously know far more than most passengers,’ he said. ‘They have no clue how a steam locomotive works. Like many others, I began driving Bury locomotives but they had too little power. We had to use two, three, sometimes four locomotives to pull a heavy train. If there were steep gradients to go up, we might need as many as six to give us enough traction power.’
‘The mail train that you were taking to Birmingham was pulled by a Crampton locomotive — at least, that’s what it looked like to me.’
‘It was very similar to a Crampton, I agree, but it was designed by Mr Allan at the Crewe Works. He’s the foreman there and assistant to Mr Trevithick. Allan locomotives have double frames that extend the whole length of the engine with the cylinders located between the inside and outside frames.’
‘Inspector Colbeck does not want a lecture,’ warned Madeleine.
‘I’m always ready to learn from an expert,’ said Colbeck.
‘There you are, Maddy,’ said Andrews, happily. ‘The Inspector is really interested in the railways.’ He turned to Colbeck. ‘When we used inside cylinders, we were always having crank-axle breakages. Mr Allan was one of the men who began to develop horizontal outside cylinders. He may not be as famous as Mr Bury or Mr Crampton but I’d drive any locomotive that Alexander Allan built.’
‘Why is that?’ prompted Colbeck.
Caleb Andrews was in his element. He got so carried away describing the technicalities of locomotive construction that he forgot all about the nagging pain in his broken leg and the dull ache in one shoulder. Colbeck’s interest was genuine but that was not the only reason he had asked for instruction. He wanted the driver to relax, to feel at ease with him, to trust him. Watching from the other side of the room, Madeleine was struck by the way that the detective gently guided her father around to the subject of the train robbery and coaxed far more detail out of him about the event than she had managed to do. During the interview, Colbeck jotted down a few things in his notebook.
‘Would you recognise the man who attacked you?’ asked Colbeck.
‘I’ll never forget that face of his,’ replied Andrews.
‘Mr Pike gave us a good description.’
‘If my daughter were not present, Inspector, then I’d give you a good description of him — in one word.’
‘We do not wish to hear it, Father,’ scolded Madeleine.
‘That’s what he was, Maddy.’
‘Forgive him, Inspector.’
‘There’s nothing to forgive, Miss Andrews,’ said Colbeck, getting up and putting his notebook away. ‘In view of what happened, your father has been remarkably restrained. He’s also added some new details for me and that was very useful. One last question,’ he said, looking at the driver once more. ‘Is the London and North Western Railway a good company to work for, Mr Andrews?’
‘The best, Inspector.’
‘Are you saying that out of loyalty?’
‘No, Inspector Colbeck — I speak from experience. I hope to see out my time working for the London and North Western. And my link with the company will not end there.’
‘Oh?’
‘I have every hope that my son-in-law will be a driver one day.’
Madeleine blushed instantly. ‘Father!’ she cried.
‘Gideon would make a good husband.’
‘This is not the place to bring up the subject.’
‘The two of you were made for each other.’
‘That is not true at all,’ she asserted, ‘and you know it.’
‘Gideon loves you.’
‘Perhaps I ought to withdraw,’ volunteered Colbeck, seeing Madeleine’s patent discomfort. ‘Thank you for talking to me, Mr Andrews. Meeting you has been an education.’
‘Let me know when you catch up with those villains.’
‘I will, I promise you.’ He moved to the door. ‘Goodbye, Miss Andrews. I can see myself out.’
‘Wait,’ she said. ‘Let me come to the front door with you.’
‘But you clearly have something to discuss with your father.’
‘High time that she discussed it with Gideon Little,’ said Andrews.
Madeleine shot him a look of reproof and followed Colbeck down the stairs. Before she could apologise to him, the detective retrieved his silk hat from the table and opened the front door.
‘Goodbye, Miss Andrews,’ he said, masking his disappointment behind a smile. ‘Allow me congratulate you on your forthcoming engagement.’
It was Victor Leeming’s turn to face the wrath of Superintendent Tallis once more. A night’s sleep had not improved the older man’s temper. He was pacing up and down his room like a caged animal. When Leeming came in, Tallis rounded on him accusingly.
‘Where have you been, man?’ he demanded.
‘Making inquiries, sir.’
‘That is exactly what those jackals from the press have been doing. They almost drove me insane by making their damned inquiries. I had a dozen of them in here this morning,’ he complained, ‘wanting to know why we had made no progress with our investigation into the robbery, and why Inspector Colbeck was also in charge of this latest murder case.’
‘The two crimes are connected, Superintendent.’
‘They could not understand how.’
‘Why not let the Inspector deal with the newspapers in future?’