‘Never judge by appearances,’ advised Colbeck, putting the jacket back into his bag. ‘They can be very misleading.’
‘So I see.’
‘Goodbye, Mr Trew.’
‘One moment, Inspector,’ said the tailor. ‘I am still trying to come to terms with the notion that one of my customers was murdered. Do you have any idea why Mr Slender was killed?’
‘Of course.’
‘May one know what it is?’
‘Not at this stage,’ said Colbeck, unwilling to discuss the details of the crime with a man he found increasingly annoying. ‘Of something, however, I can assure you.’
‘And what is that?’
‘He was not killed for his new suit, Mr Trew,’ said the detective, crisply. ‘Or, for that matter, because he had an unfortunate accent.’
Leaving him thoroughly chastened, Colbeck went out of the shop.
On his second visit, Victor Leeming found the Royal Mint a much less welcoming place. Hoping that the detective had brought good news, Charles Omber was disturbed to hear that no significant progress had been made in the investigation and that suspicions were still harboured about his colleagues. He had defended them staunchly and said that he would take a Bible oath that there had been no breach of security at the Mint. An argument had developed. Omber was determined to win it. Leeming finally withdrew in some disarray.
When he got to Euston Station, he found that Colbeck was already in the waiting room. It was thronged with passengers. The Inspector had suggested they meet there for two reasons. It would not only keep them out of range of the simmering fury of Superintendent Tallis, it would, more importantly, take them back to the place from which the mail train had set out on its doomed journey.
Colbeck saw the jaded expression on the Sergeant’s ugly face.
‘I take it that you found nothing,’ he said.
‘Only that Mr Omber has a very nasty temper when his word is challenged. He refuses to accept that the Mint could be at fault.’
‘Do you believe him, Victor?’
‘No, sir,’ said Leeming. ‘I have this doubt at the back of my mind.’
‘Was Mr Omber deceiving you, then?’
‘Not at all. His sincerity is not in question. In fact, he spoke so passionately on behalf of his colleagues that I felt a bit embarrassed for even suggesting that one of them may have leaked information about the movement of gold coin.’
‘Yet your instinct tells you otherwise.’
‘Yes, Inspector.’
‘Then rely on it, Victor. It rarely lets you down.’
‘Thank you,’ said Leeming. ‘How did you get on in Bond Street?’
‘I met a tailor whom I would never dare to employ.’
‘Why not?’
‘Which of the ten reasons would you care to hear first?’
Colbeck told him about his meeting with Ebenezer Trew and why he had disliked the man so much. He explained what the tailor had said about his erstwhile customer. On one point, Leeming wanted elucidation.
‘Daniel Slender had retired?’ he said.
‘Apparently.’
‘Could he afford to do so, Inspector?’
‘He sold the house in Willenhall, remember, and he would have had a certain amount of savings. Then, of course, there is the money that he would have received from the train robbers.’
‘More or less than William Ings?’
‘More, I should imagine,’ said Colbeck.
‘Mr Ings got the best part of two hundred pounds.’
‘Yet all he did was to tell them that money was being carried by train to Birmingham on a specific day. Mr Slender’s contribution was far more critical,’ he noted. ‘Without those keys and that combination number, they could never have opened the safe so easily. That would have left them with two options — trying to blow it open with a charge of gunpowder or taking the whole safe with them.’
‘That would have entailed the use of a crane,’ said Leeming.
‘And taken far too long. Speed was the essence of the operation and Daniel Slender’s help was decisive. I think that he was paid handsomely in advance with a promise of more to come.’
‘Much more, probably.’
‘Yes,’ said Colbeck. ‘When you do not intend to part with another penny, you can afford to offer any amount by way of temptation. It may well be that Mr Slender was lured to the embankment last night in the hope of receiving the rest of his pay.’
‘Instead of which, his head was smashed in.’
‘They do not take prisoners, Victor.’
‘Mr Slender must have wished that he had stayed in Willenhall.’
‘The attack on him was so ferocious that he had no time to wish for anything. It was a gruesome but quick death. Come with me for a moment,’ he said, putting a hand on Leeming’s shoulder, ‘I want to show you something.’
They walked out of the waiting room and picked their way through the milling crowd. Colbeck stopped when he reached the first platform. A train had just arrived and passengers were streaming off it. Friends were waiting to greet them. On the other platform, a train was about to depart and dozens of people had come to wave off their friends or family members. Porters were everywhere, moving luggage on their trolleys, and several other railway employees were in evidence. The noise of a locomotive letting off steam rose above the tumult.
Colbeck nudged his colleague. ‘What do you see, Victor?’
‘Bedlam, sir.’
‘No, you see a thriving industry. You are looking at visible proof of the way that the railways have transformed our lives. Euston Station is as busy as this every day of the week — and so is Paddington. Everybody has somewhere to get to,’ said Colbeck, indicating the scene, ‘and they choose to travel by rail in order to get there. Why is that?’
‘Because they think it is quicker.’
‘Demonstrably so.’