Page 59 of Murder on the Brighton Express
Fortunately,the conductor was still at Victoria Station after arriving on the latest train from Brighton. If we’d missed him, we would have had to wait several hours, and even then, I’d probably miss him again as I was due to meet one of our main suspects and her mother for afternoon tea.
There were fewer travelers on the platform than during our last visit, as it had been several minutes since the Brighton train arrived and it wasn’t due to depart again for several more. Jack West was taking advantage of the break by chatting to the sweaty, sooty fireman whose job it was to keep the engine’s firebox fed with a constant supply of coal.
Jack West stepped away when Harry told him we wanted to speak to him privately. He’d greeted us with a friendly smile, but Harry’s somber tone wiped it away.
Mr. West scratched his beard. “How can I help you this time?”
“I think you know why we’re here.” Harry said in that same ominous tone.
The conductor shifted his weight to his other foot, and in doing so, moved a little away from Harry.
Harry stepped closer, within reach of Mr. West. He closed his fists at his sides. “Don’t attempt to run. I will catch you, and I don’t care if it causes a scene.”
Mr. West glanced around. Realizing escape was impossible, he heaved a sigh. “All right, I admit it. I took money from that actor and lied about seeing that passenger moving about.”
“Go on.”
“I needed the money. My girl is sick, and doctors are expensive. The good ones, anyway.” He paused, perhaps waiting for a sympathetic response from us. We didn’t fill the silence and he continued unprompted. “That actor came to me and offered me a few quid to tell anyone who asked that I saw the flat-nosed fellow go into compartment one. I don’t know why he wanted me to lie.”
“When did Beecroft approach you?” I asked.
“Late last Sunday.”
That was the same day we’d spoken to Beecroft at the theater, when he’d run off upon seeing us, only to calmly answer our questions in his office when we caught up to him. He must have realized then that he needed a false witness.
“Tell us who youdidsee,” I said. “Be honest, this time.”
“The posh girl and the mannish woman with the big hat both entered the dead woman’s compartment. The girl made sure she wasn’t seen by passengers in the compartments she passed by ducking down, and the woman just walked in, but she only came from the next compartment along so no one would have seen her except me.”
It was the same passengers he’d told us about last time, minus Thomas Salter. The problem was, if the mannish woman—who we now suspected was Alastair McAllister—had left the compartment he shared with Geraldine Lacroix, why hadn’tshetold us? She’d clearly lied about seeing Thomas Salter, but why had it been necessary to omit seeing her compartment companion leave?
“What about Beecroft?” I asked. “Did he move compartments?”
“No.”
“Geraldine Lacroix? The beautiful actress?”
He shook his head. “She was in the same compartment as the ugly woman but unlike her, the beauty didn’t leave.”
“Are you sure?” I pressed. “You didn’t see either Clement Beecroft or Geraldine Lacroix leave their compartments?”
“I didn’t.” He scratched his beard. “But I think I nodded off for a while.”
It was a sentence that set our investigation in a backward direction. A number of passengers could have slipped out of their compartment, bobbed down below the windows, as they moved along the corridor, and entered Ruth’s compartment. We had to rely on the statements of each passenger as to whether their companion got up and left or not, if we couldn’t rely on the conductor.
Considering the passengers in compartments two and three were strangers to their fellow passenger and therefore unlikely to lie for them, it left the Pridhursts firmly in the frame.
“What do you think?” I asked Harry as we crossed the road.
He tossed a coin to the street sweeper who’d swept aside the horse deposits to make a clean path for us. “I think Beecroft bribed the conductor to frame Thomas Salter for Ruth’s murder. But why, when Beecroft didn’t get up and move about?”
“That we know of. Perhaps the conductor is continuing to lie for him, or he did fall asleep and didn’t notice.”
“I don’t think West is lying anymore. He must realize it’s not worth continuing.”
I agreed. So that left us with one of our suspects taking advantage of the conductor napping. “Given Beecroft bribed him to lie about Salter, it must be either he or Geraldine who killed Ruth. We should question them again.”
“We will. But I want to speak to McAllister first. He was in the same compartment as Geraldine. If we believe his version of events, and he didn’t kill Ruth, he might have seen the murderer pass his compartment.”
