Page 39 of Dead Beside the Thames
“Right,” Stokes said. “To business.” He looked at Claudia and Charlie. “What did you two manage to learn?”
“First,” Charlie said, “I believe we can retire Fosdyke as a suspect, along with anyone who might have used him as an agent. He was with at least two others from Saturday evening to at least one o’clock on Sunday morning, and he shares quarters above the stable with Selborough’s coachman and groom.”
“That gash on his forehead?” Penelope asked.
“Fosdyke got that on Sunday midmorning from the hoof of my uncle’s horse.” Claudia looked at the others. “I don’t think Fosdyke could have left Farm Street before two o’clock in the morning. He would have had to wait until the others fell deeply asleep to sneak out undetected, and he would have had to have returned, also undetected, before first light.”
“By five-thirty, when the coachman and groom awoke for the day.” Charlie looked at Barnaby and Penelope. “I really can’t see how Fosdyke could have got to the docks, met with Sedbury and strangled the man, then got back to his bed. The timing would have been excruciatingly tight.”
“And that’s assuming he didn’t wake either of the other two while sneaking in and out,” Claudia said.
Stokes had been taking notes. He looked at Claudia. “At present, all we know is that Sedbury was killed sometime between midnight and three o’clock on Sunday morning. Until we get a better idea of when, exactly, he was killed and even more importantly where, Fosdyke remains an outside chance.” Stokes faintly grimaced. “That said, it sounds as if we’ll have many more likely suspects.”
Claudia grimaced as well.
Charlie cleared his throat and, when the others looked his way, went on, “We also spoke with Duggan, Sedbury’s man. We realized none of us had spoken with him, so as we were in the area, we dropped by Sedbury’s rooms. Duggan was quite forthcoming, and what he had to say was rather illuminating.”
“Apparently,” Claudia took up the tale, “Sedbury mentioned that after having dinner at his club?—”
“Not sure if he dined at White’s or somewhere else,” Charlie put in.
Claudia dipped her head his way. “According to Duggan, Sedbury said he was going to some meeting later, after dinner, and Duggan says that wasn’t something he normally did.”
“Or had ever done before,” Charlie said, “at least to Duggan’s knowledge.”
“A meeting?” Penelope, along with Barnaby and Stokes, had come alert. “Did Sedbury say with whom?”
Charlie shook his head. “He didn’t mention where, either. However, Duggan got the distinct impression that Sedbury was looking forward to the meeting, meaning that he was anticipating bullying and intimidating whoever he was meeting with.”
“What Duggan actually said,” Claudia clarified, “was that in mentioning the meeting, Sedbury looked ‘just like he did whenever he was going to squash someone under his heel.’”
They all sat back and digested that. “So,” Stokes concluded, “Sedbury knowingly, willingly, and with intent went to a meeting with someone he expected to—indeed, anticipated—cowing.”
After a moment, Stokes huffed and said, “Let’s put that to one side for the moment.” He refocused on Claudia. “Did you manage to catalogue your brothers’ movements over the relevant hours?”
Claudia sighed feelingly. “We know where they were for some of the time, but…”
Charlie filled in, “There seems little chance of finding witnesses able to alibi either of them.” Briefly, he outlined Bryan’s outing with his three co-lodgers, then described the events that Jonathon had attended. “Satchwell is a sensible sort, and he made it clear that he seriously doubted any of hisguests—or any group of his guests—could vouch for Jonathon’s whereabouts during the hours from midnight to three or so in the morning.”
Stokes grimaced. “Regardless, I’ll need to interview both Hales. Who knows? They might recall something of their evening that opens the way to establishing alibis of sorts.”
“Speaking of alibis of sorts,” Penelope said, “I regret to report that each and every one of the fifteen potential suspects on my list—including Napier—was either at home or known to be at some major ton event in the company of many others throughout the hours of midnight to three o’clock on Sunday morning. In this season, most were at home, with that attested to by at least two staff members. More, as far as their staff are aware, over the past weeks, not one has been involved in any unexpected or mysterious meeting with anyone at all, much less the sort of person who might be a killer for hire.”
Rather glumly, she looked at Stokes, then glanced at the others. “It’s still possible that one of the fifteen had some long-standing agreement with a hired killer to murder Sedbury, but in light of what we now know, were that so, I simply can’t see why Sedbury would have so readily gone to meet with said hired killer.”
Frowning slightly, Stokes slowly nodded. “Given what Charlie and Claudia learned from Duggan, assuming that what he said about Sedbury going to a meeting and Sedbury’s attitude toward that meeting is accurate, and I can’t see why Duggan would lie on such points, then the problem with our killer being Fosdyke or any other person who inhabits Mayfair or even a killer such a person had hired is that—assuming Sedbury was killed by the river or nearby—I have difficulty believing that Sedbury would have agreed to meet in such a location.” Stokes looked at Barnaby. “Yet we know that at about midnight,Sedbury climbed into a hackney in Pall Mall and directed the driver eastward. Toward the docks.”
Penelope turned to Barnaby. “We need to learn where that jarvey took Sedbury. Was it to the docks or somewhere closer?”
Barnaby nodded. “The lads believe they know who the jarvey is and are currently tracking him down.”
Stokes sat up and slid his notebook into his coat pocket. “On the Yard’s part, we’re pushing ahead with the search along the riverbank. By its very nature, such a comprehensive canvassing is necessarily slow. Exceedingly slow. That said, I feel confident we haven’t overlooked the spot in which Sedbury was put into the river. In that area, even dead, his body wouldn’t have passed unnoticed. We just have to find the people who saw him—dead or alive—and learn what they can tell us.”
Barnaby grimaced. “Sadly, until you find evidence to say yea or nay, we have to allow for Sedbury being killed elsewhere and his body carted to the river. Because of that, I’ve directed my lads to search for the whip over a wide area. As well as the pawnshops around the docks, they’re looking at those closer to Mayfair, for instance, the shops along Long Acre.”
“A good thought, that,” Charlie said. “If anyone recognizes the quality of that whip, they’ll likely think to pawn it around there.”
Penelope pulled a face. “Unless it’s in the river.”
