HONOR MISPLACED

Arthur Browne

Chapter Eleven

   The ambulance arrived to take Harrison Crowley away. As the attendants were getting the wounded man settle on a stretcher, Lord Crowley was making a phone call. He then announced that there were soldiers on the way, and they would remain stationed around the house for the foreseeable future. Lady Crowley took it upon herself to use a bit more of the strong drink to dab away a few spots of her son’s blood from the sofa. The General invited Charlie and Billy to be seated. “Haven’t a lot of time, I’m afraid. The war doesn’t give one much time for personal considerations.”

Charlie wondered once again exactly how he was supposed to question the Baron in the least obvious way that he could manage. But it all came down to whether or not the General had made any real enemies in either his personal life or his military career. Charlie decided to stall for just a moment. “My father and uncle had the honor of serving under you, Sir, in the last war. My father never made it home, but my uncle thinks very highly of you.”

The General seemed to think for a moment, as if to put the name of Baker with a face, and for a the briefest of moments, Charlie almost thought that something had come to the General’s mind, but the moment of thoughtfulness passed and the General didn’t speak. Charlie took the bull by the horns and began asking his questions. The General said he could think of no one that he had wronged in his personal and business dealings that would bear him a grudge that ran this deep. He admitted that obviously he had been responsible for ending a few careers, and setting a number of them back. “And of course I have ordered more than one execution in my time, under military law. And I’ve ordered more men than I care to count to their deaths. But who’s to say what might cause someone to come after me in this fashion. That’s is what you are driving at, I presume, Inspector?”

Lady Emily Crowley broke in at this point. “My husband isn’t keeping anything from you, Inspector. He really is the most honest and honorable man I have ever known. I can’t imagine that he has ever wronged anyone enough to warrant this sort of attack upon our family. Could it possibly be the work of the Germans? The thought has occurred to both of us.”

Charlie replied that he had had the same notion, but that it seemed something of a stretch. He also admitted that his investigation so far had turned up no suspects and that every lead had ended in disappointment. He did have one last question to ask however. “Were you here when your daughter received the telephone call and decided to return to the hospital, Lady Crowley?”

“Yes, we were sitting right here as a matter of fact.” Once again there was a brief flash of pain and loss that washed over her face.

“And how did she get there?” Charlie wanted to know. “Did she have her own car?”

Lady Crowley leaned forward. “She has a car, but she left it out in the country. She never had a problem finding a cab in this neighborhood, not even with the war on. I walked her to the door and we talked while we waited for one to pass by. It was just a matter of moments. But if she never made it to the hospital, that means that the driver might have been the last one to see her alive. Or he might even be the one who…” Lady Crowley couldn’t finish the thought.

Charlie was sitting forward now. “Did you get a look at the driver?”

“No, she just flagged it down and then ran and got in the back. And it was getting dark. I didn’t even think to look at the man. Isn’t that funny? You take cabbies so for granted.”

“We will look into it directly we leave here, Lady Crowley,” Charlie told her. “And I had another thought. The bullet that went through your son’s arm either struck the front of the house or perhaps passed through the open front door. I’m afraid we will have to have some of our people to come over and find it.” He suspected that it would be from a Webley revolver. The same one that killed their son the Flight Lieutenant. The shot he had heard had certainly sounded right.

They assured him that they would welcome any number of men needed to find the bullet and thereby further the investigation. Billy used their telephone to call and set it up. Charlie did not envy the men who would have to poke around in the darkness with hooded torches looking for a small hole. He and Billy prepared to take their leave.

As Lady Crowley escorted them towards the door, she looked at Charlie thoughtfully. “My daughter mentioned you, Inspector. She told me about your chat in the bomb shelter. You seem to have made something of an impression on her. We would be very glad if you would attend the services, but we don’t know when we will be allowed to…” She obviously couldn’t bring herself to talk about her daughter’s remains.

“They are still collecting evidence,” Charlie told her reluctantly. “It might still be a while. But this case has top priority. And I would be honored to attend. She made something of an impression on me as well.”

Lady Crowley favored him with a smile that once again pierced his heart, so much like Kat’s smile did it appear. As they walked out onto the porch, a lorry was pulling up outside and a squad of soldiers was disembarking from the rear. A man jumped out of the front passenger seat and began bawling orders to the other men, detailing a pair to stand on either side of the steps, an more of them to take up stations around the sides and rear of the house. You didn’t need to be able to see him to know that he was a Sergeant.

Charlie felt better now about the General and his family’s safety. He bid goodnight to Lady Crowley and he and Billy went back to their car. As they slid into the vehicle, Charlie told Billy, “Looks like it’s time to track down Uncle Jack. One of the lads might have been the last one to see our victim.”

There was also the possibility that ‘one of the lads’ might have had a more active role than that. Billy sidestepped the issue, to a point. “You know there are a lot of new fellows now. The young ones have all gone off to service. And they brought some of the retired blokes back as well.”

Charlie glanced at his watch. “Uncle Jack will not be hard to find. We know his favorite routes.” And sure enough they did manage to find him with very little trouble.

Uncle Jack took the news of the girl’s death hard. “How’s the Colonel making out, Charlie?” he wanted to know. “What’s this world coming to? Isn’t there enough death without someone adding to it?”

“We need to find out who picked her up,” Charlie pointed out. “Because if she was dropped off at the hospital, and the killer grabbed her there, one of the lads is the last to have seen her alive. He may have seen someone lurking about.” Once again the alternative hung in the air.

Uncle Jack pounced on it. “Or it’s one of us, Charlie,” he spat, “and what better way for a killer to get around without being noticed, eh?”

“True,” admitted Charlie, “but these aren’t just random murders. This isn’t some new Jack the Ripper out for a bit of sport. Someone is targeting the general’s family.” He told his uncle about the wounding of yet another of the General’s sons just an hour before.

“But what possible reason could anyone have for such a thing, boy?” Uncle Jack demanded. No Englishman would want to take one of our most important General’s mind off the war, not even a loony one. And how much would you have to hate a man to go after his children, and a young girl at that? It has to be the bloody Nazis. They are the ones with everything to gain. Maybe they hired some help from the local criminals or even some of those blasted Irish revolutionaries.”

“We thought of all that,” Charlie replied. “But that bullet tonight was meant for the son, not the father. And the General was closer to the gunman. So if they want the General out of the fight, why not just end it there?”

“Ah, it’s all to much for my old brain to fathom, Charlie.” His Uncle sounded spent. “I will put the word out, and if she was picked up by any one of us, then we’ll soon know. But there are a few new cabbies about. A couple of boys too young for the army, and some older ones, and a few who couldn’t get into the army for one reason or another. Those are the ones we should look at, you ask me.”

Charlie wondered for a moment if it was as simple as that. A man tries to enlist, to serve his country, and is turned down for flat feet or poor vision or colorblindness. He takes over the license of a cabbie going off to war, but the whole time he is getting more and more angry, his pride hurt that his native country has no better use for him than this. And then one day, he picks up a fare and gets to chatting, or he overhears a conversation between a brother and a sister sharing his cab. And he realizes that he is chauffeuring the privileged children of one of the most famous military families in the history of the country. And disappointment turns to jealousy and then finally to rage. He could easily keep an eye on the Generals home, drive by as many times in a day or a week as was needed until he could strike. As Lady Crowley said, everyone takes cabbies for granted. He could have driven the victims on more than one occasion, or followed them with ease. He just needed to be patient and wait until they were in some spot where no one would witness the crime.

It all added up. A cab conveniently driving by picks up the Flight Lieutenant after the row he has with the French girl. How is Thomas Crowley to know that the cabbie is the one who disabled the car when he was inside the house? Then Kat steps into a cab to go and help save injured civilians, not knowing this same cab has been circling her parents house for days waiting for just such an opportunity. Even the gunshot tonight, the mysterious dark automobile. It could certainly have been a cab for all Charlie could tell.

He shared his theory with the others.

Billy gave a low whistle.

“Well I’ll be damned,” was all Uncle Jack had to say.