‘Of course I will.’

He shook his head in disbelief. ‘They really have no evidence. There must be a thousand knives like the one the Inspector had all over London. It is outrageous that the police should be going about arresting respectable people – are there no criminals in Bayswater?’

‘There are any number of desperate persons willing to stab a man to death for the sake of his watch,’ said Harriett. ‘One reads about them in the newspapers all the time. The Inspector must be urged to look for them. Frances – will you try to convince him?’

‘I will do what I can.’

Within the hour a large comfortable-looking nursemaid had arrived and taken charge of the patient, and Frances went home to reflect on the events of the day.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Next morning Frances, with a firm sense of what she must do, returned to Craven Hill to see Harriett Antrobus. She found the lady in a better state than she might have been under the circumstances, declaring that the nursemaid Cornelius had engaged to care for her was ‘a treasure and a miracle. Nothing is too much for her, and she even has a gruff voice. Your uncle is so very kind to me.’

‘I will reassure Charlotte that you are well looked after and keeping in good spirits,’ Frances promised. ‘I was able to see her just now, and she is hopeful that all will be resolved happily very soon. There is no further news on the case, but I did speak to Inspector Sharrock, and I think I have made good progress towards persuading him to direct his enquiries another way.’

‘Oh, but that is wonderful!’ breathed Harriett. ‘I am sure no one but you could have achieved so much.’

‘There is still a great deal to be done before Charlotte can be declared innocent of all blame, but I have given the matter careful thought, and I think I can see a way of further influencing the Inspector. I have come to know his ways and character very well in the last year or so. Despite his harsh manners and rough exterior, Inspector Sharrock does have a sympathetic nature, and I think he might respond to an appeal made by two ladies together with my uncle, who I believe has impressed him as a respectable gentleman incapable of untruth.’

‘But you cannot expect me to go to a police station,’ Harriett objected. ‘There would be crowds of noisy people there. I could muffle my ears of course, but how might I then hold a conversation?’

‘No, I understand that and would never ask you to do such a thing, which is why I have asked both the Inspector and my uncle to come here today.’

‘Today?’

‘I know I have taken a liberty by inviting guests to your home, and I beg your forgiveness, but I thought you would not wish your sister to remain in custody for a moment longer than is necessary.’

‘Not a single moment,’ Harriett agreed. ‘What a surprising and energetic young woman you are; I can see why the newspapers praise you so.’

Soon afterwards Cornelius and the Inspector arrived as arranged, Sharrock looking grim and Cornelius weary but resolute.

When they were all assembled in the little parlour Frances addressed the Inspector. ‘I have asked you to come here today to listen to the very earnest entreaties of Mrs Harriett Antrobus on behalf of her poor sister. You will, I am sure, admit that she knows her own sister better than anyone and can give you a full understanding of her character. When you have heard what she has to say you will see that it is quite impossible for Miss Pearce to have acted in the manner of which she has been accused.’

Cornelius nodded emphatically. ‘Well said, my dear. Inspector, I beg you to listen and take good note of what both my niece and Harriett have to tell you.’

‘We also feel very strongly that the police have been hasty and presumptuous, and ignored other far more obvious avenues of enquiry,’ added Frances, glancing at Harriett, who nodded emphatically.

‘Oh we have, have we?’ growled Sharrock. ‘Well let Mrs Antrobus speak for herself.’

Harriett turned her bright, luminous eyes to the policeman. ‘I am so grateful that you have taken the trouble to listen to me. My poor sister is a gentle selfless creature, who has laboured all her life in the interests of others but has never committed an act that would harm another. She would be quite incapable of doing so.’

Sharrock remained unconvinced. ‘People have surprised me before with what they are capable of; they’ve surprised their nearest and dearest too.’

‘But your actions are so blinkered!’ exclaimed Cornelius, loud enough to make Harriett wince. ‘First you arrest a respectable doctor and then a virtuous lady! Who will be next? The Lord Mayor of London?’

‘Indeed,’ continued Harriett. ‘Why cannot you look for some common street thief – every day the newspapers tell of desperate creatures who commit the most terrible crimes for next to nothing. Mr Eckley was surely lured into the Mews and murdered by a robber for the sake of his watch.’

Sharrock shook his head. ‘Street robbers act on the moment, they see something and they snatch it or they follow their mark to a quiet place. They don’t make an appointment by letter. We know that Eckley received a letter that day and took it with him to meet his murderer. We found a fragment of it in his hand.’

‘But you don’t know what the letter said,’ reasoned Harriett. ‘It might have had nothing to do with the case.’

‘Then why would the killer take it away? It makes no sense. People don’t steal letters. No, the killer took it because it made the appointment and was incriminating. Eckley must have been told to bring it to the meeting. The watch was only taken to make it look like a robbery.’

‘Harriett,’ interrupted Frances, softly, ‘how did you know that Mr Eckley’s watch had been stolen?’

Harriett looked startled, but recovered. ‘The Inspector has just said so.’

‘Yes, but you mentioned it before he did.’

‘Did I? Then you must have told me about it.’

‘I did not.’

‘In that case I must have read it in the newspapers, in the account of the inquest.’

Frances shook her head. ‘I was at the inquest. It was never mentioned.’

Harriett turned to Cornelius. ‘Then you must have told me, I am sure that someone did.’

‘I didn’t even know that his watch had been taken,’ protested Cornelius.

Sharrock gave Harriett a penetrating stare. ‘Very few people indeed know of it apart from the police.’

‘Then I must have been mistaken,’ said Harriett, lightly. ‘Perhaps I was confusing it with something else.’

‘Oh but you seemed very certain of yourself just now,’ Sharrock persisted. ‘You’ve been caught out, Mrs Antrobus. Just as we hoped you would be. All credit to Miss Doughty for spotting your little mistake yesterday and also for realising that it would be better evidence if spoken before a police witness. You see, to my mind there are only two ways that you could have known that Mr Eckley’s watch had been stolen. Either you were there yourself and took it or you were told about it by the person who did. It’s one of the two. Now which is it to be?’

Harriett looked about her, suddenly afraid, but there was no sympathy to be had from Frances.

Cornelius was astounded at the sudden turn in the conversation. ‘Have you taken leave of your senses?’ he exclaimed and then looked at Frances appealingly. ‘Say something!’

‘I’m sorry uncle, but I agree with the Inspector. I am waiting to hear what Harriett says.’

There were a few moments of quietness, broken only by the sound of Harriett trying to stifle her tears. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she told them, ‘I admit that I have been telling untruths, but it was for the best of reasons, to save my poor sister. Can that be wrong? Does she not deserve to be happy? Perhaps I was selfish, wanting her always to be by my side. But she has done a terrible thing and I suppose she must suffer for it now. Charlotte wanted to stop Mr Eckley’s enquiries because she knew,’ Harriett took a deep shuddering breath, ‘she knew that Mr Martin would abandon her when he found out that she was the mother of Isaac Goodwin.’