HONOR MISPLACE

Arthur Browne

Chapter Eight

   The next moments passed Charlie by like a blurry dream taking place in a dense fog. He stood and listened as Billy talked, but he felt as though he was crouching somewhere far back in his own mind watching the world outside and his eyes were just two large windows. He listened as Billy told him all that was known up to that point in time, that point in time when something infinitely precious had been taken away from him.

“She was spotted by a barge captain just at first light. They managed to get her on board and brought her to the docks just up the river. She just arrived at the morgue a while ago and they sent a report over. No crime scene to go over obviously, but it’s fairly clear she didn’t drown. There are marks on her neck. It looks as though she was strangled. I’m sorry, Charlie.” Billy was struggling to keep his professional detachment and composure. “They think she’s been in the water since last night or even yesterday afternoon.”

Charlie just nodded and didn’t say a word. He had no idea what he should do next. And it struck him that as bad as he was feeling, her family would be feeling so much worse. To have lost a brother and sister in such a short time. And then it began to dawn on him how unlikely it was that this was a mere coincidence. And that led him to wonder what possible connection these acts of violence could possibly have. And that was when the cold emptiness inside him began to fill with a fiery rage.

He shook himself with a small, barely noticeable shudder. Volcanic anger would be of no more use in solving this puzzle than frigid emptiness. He couldn’t afford to be either numb or enraged. Because he was going to figure out who killed Kat, and if that led him to the one who killed her brother than so much the better.

Billy was staring at him so intently that Charlie felt the need to be alone. “It’s alright, Billy,” he said in a low voice, let me just gather my thoughts.” And with that he went into his small office and shut the door. He sat at his desk and couldn’t help glancing at the chair in which Kat had been seated just the day before… before he had known her, known her so well in such a short time. But his emotions were under control now. He had reined them in and now he would set them to the task at hand.

What, he pondered, could be the connection between Kat and her brother? The connection other than the obvious one of blood? A pilot and an ambulance driver? Killed just one day and most likely not so many miles apart? One shot in the back, a detached sort of a way in which to kill someone. But the other… he didn’t dare to think of her as she had been, so warm and full of life… to kill someone with your hands around their throat. To slowly choke the life out of them as they struggled for breath. That was in no way detached. That was personal, almost intimate. He felt the fires within roaring back to life and he fought to bring them back under control. He wanted them there, to keep him going, but they needed to be banked to glowing embers lest they consume him. He pushed them down through sheer force of will.

He needed to focus not on what had happened but why it had happened. And the more he thought about it the more he realized that the family was the key. Not what they did but who they were. This had to be about the General somehow. He would be guarded by soldiers and hard to get at. But his children were not so well protected. That had been made painfully obvious. Was this a plot to crush the man’s spirit and thus remove him from the fight? It was a crazy notion, but not impossible Charlie decided.

Or was it about the war at all? What if the General had made a powerful enemy in his personal life? Someone who wanted revenge for some unknown reason. A family servant let go for a reason they thought unfair. It might even be about the war in a roundabout way. A general made enemies on his own side. Officers disgraced or demoted or just passed over for promotion, soldiers court-martialed. Men trained to kill and with easy access to a military revolver. Or was there some other dark family secret to consider.

Billy came in after rapping lightly on the door. “I have been trying to figure out where the, uh, the body might have been put into the river. Even if we knew the exact time of death yet, we have no way of knowing how long after she was killed she was put in the water. I consulted the tide tables and there was a strong ebb tide last night. So she could conceivably have drifted for miles in either or both directions.”

Charlie knew he would have to get his emotions in order quickly. “Thanks, Billy. I should have thought to ask that myself.” He did think of one thing to ask, and he did. “Tell me how she was identified so quickly. She didn’t have a purse with her still, did she?”

“No, Sir, she didn’t,” was Billy’s answer, “but she was dressed her WAAF uniform and her ID card was in the blouse pocket. According to the preliminary report that was the only thing she had with her.”

“Gather up a few of the constables. Send them up both banks of the river in either direction. Have them keep their eyes open on the bridges and to poke around in the alleys and empty lots. It is starting to look like we aren’t going to have much to go on with this one either, and we could use a place to start.” Charlie was trying to think of anything he was missing. His brain was still not functioning as it ought to.

“You think these are related? Maybe the same person did them both?” Billy wanted to know.

“It would seem to be the case,” Charlie responded reluctantly. “I suppose the bright side is that that would mean we don’t have some mentally unstable person wandering around killing people for the fun of it. As much as I had hoped to avoid it, I think we are going to have to pay a call on Sir Crowley. See if the Chief Inspector can grease the wheels for us, would you?”

“I don’t envy you that conversation in the least,” Billy stated unequivocally.

“Fear not, Billy, my lad, I wouldn’t dream of leaving you behind for this. All part of the training. Interviewing people from all walks of life.” Charlie actually cracked a small smile, and it felt good. But then he had an idea. “See if there is any way we can catch the old bird at home, if he wouldn’t mind. This seems to have something to do with his whole family, so maybe we should try to meet as many of them as we can manage all at once.”

Billy looked suitably impressed by this logic. He went off to see what could be done. Charlie spent a little time walking around and chatting with other inspectors about the cases he had dumped on their laps when the Flight Lieutenant’s murder investigation had been handed to him and given a higher priority. A prostitute found stabbed in an alley. An elderly man who may or may not have fallen out of his third story window. A housewife bludgeoned in her own kitchen. The owner of a small jewelry store shot in an attempted robbery. Murder on the personal level never seemed to take time off just because there was a war on and murder was being done on an industrial scale.

Billy caught up to him as he made his rounds. “The General can make time for us this evening at six at his residence. But he wont have much time, we have been told, due to an important staff meeting he must attend later tonight. It seems that like us, the Imperial General Staff never sleeps. The Chief says we can use the car again. And we haven’t far to go. The General is no longer staying at the large country estate but prefers to keep a town house in Mayfair for the duration of the war. Likes to be close to his work, I suppose.”

“Well, no telling if we will get to meet any of the rest of the family, but we shall save petrol for the war effort this way. Well done, Inspector. Don’t forget to polish your shoes.” And with that Charlie returned to his office to mull things over and decide how best to use his limited time with Major General Sir Edward Crowley. One did not just come right out and ask a man like that if he was harboring any secrets, but he might be able to shed some light on people who held a grudge against him. And that led Charlie to wonder about the rest of the family. Perhaps one of them had a reason to be angry enough to kill their own flesh and blood. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that had happened. Either way it was shaping up to be an interesting evening.

Once again Billy gave his usual quiet knock before entering Charlie’s little office. “Well, you were spot on with that call, Sir,” Billy informed him proudly. “I give you Constable Danforth, called back from retirement to fill our depleted ranks.” And with that he stepped aside and motioned an older man into the room.

Charlie stood with a smile and shook hands with the man. “Hello, Ian, I didn’t know you were back with us.” He had noticed the limp. The man’s leg was obviously giving him trouble. Charlie went on, “Billy, I knew Constable Danforth before you even started working here. He taught me most everything I know.”

The constable was clearly embarrassed at being made a fuss over. “I have been meaning to pop in and say hello, Sir. Just came back the other week and you know how the time goes. But you seem to have learned a thing or two while I was away. I believe you set us looking for a lady’s handbag. I think I found it, just up the river less than a quarter mile. In an alley on this side. A drunk was just getting ready to walk away with it. Hope it will be of some help, Sir.”

“Well done, Ian. You can show us just where it was.” Charlie considered the man’s limp and told Billy to fetch the car. “You may well have found the scene of the murder.”

“Glad to be of help, Sir,” the veteran policeman told him. “I left a young constable there to keep an eye on things. I haven’t yet forgotten everything I ever learned.”

Charlie shook the man’s hand once more.