Belle - Lesley Pearse [66]
‘You mean break in?’ Jimmy asked, his eyes lighting up.
‘I guess so,’ Noah smiled.
At just after eleven that same night, Noah and Jimmy got back to the Ram’s Head. Garth was chasing out the last few drinkers from the bar and he told Jimmy to go through to the back and get Annie and Mog to join them in the bar.
The two women came rushing out, their faces bright with expectation. Noah wished he had more to tell them.
He went through what they’d discovered at Dover and then moved on to how they took the train back to Charing and broke into Kent’s house.
‘But it revealed nothing unusual but a brace and bit left in the hall,’ Noah said gloomily.
‘It wasn’t the kind of house we expected though, was it?’ Jimmy said, looking at Noah. ‘It was all nice and perfect, not the kind of place you’d expect for a man that owns slums.’
Noah smirked at Annie. ‘He’s right, it made me think of a doll’s house. Every bit of furniture, every ornament, rug and cushion looked as though it had been picked and put in place with great care. Jimmy’s a good little burglar, he prised a small window open round the back and wriggled in like an eel. But when he came and opened the back door for me, I was almost afraid to go in, it was so neat.’
‘Funny though, it looked more like a woman’s house,’ Jimmy said. ‘I used to deliver clothes Ma had made to two women in Islington. Their place was like that, like no man had ever walked in there. It gave me the creeps. We checked upstairs but there was no women’s stuff anywhere.’
‘What’s a brace and bit?’ Annie asked.
Noah demonstrated with his hands that it was a tool for making screw holes, mostly used by carpenters. ‘All his other tools were in the shed in the garden, placed neatly in a strap with leather loops to hold them. I think he used the brace and bit to drill breathing holes in the trunk. But we didn’t find anything else. So I think he may have taken Belle there just to collect the trunk and put her in it, then went on to Dover.’
‘Did you look through his papers?’ Annie said.
‘Yes, but there wasn’t much, only tradesmen’s bills for that place, all in the name of Mr Waldegrave, and I looked at every last one,’ Jimmy said earnestly. ‘You know you said Belle heard Kent asking Millie to go away with him? Well, do you reckon he did that place up for her? ’Cos that’s what it looked like.’
Annie shrugged her shoulders. ‘Who knows? You can’t imagine a man who strangles a woman for saying the wrong thing caring enough about her to make his home nice for her. Maybe he never intended to keep her living with him. He might have been planning to ship her out somewhere else too.’
Noah looked thoughtful. ‘Maybe that’s why he keeps his house like that. A good place to take girls to so they think they’re going to be on easy street, then he sells them on.’
‘Was there any sign of Belle being kept there? Dirty dishes, things out of place, unmade beds?’ Annie asked.
Noah shook his head. ‘Nothing. Not a dirty cup and saucer or a rug that had been rucked up. Beds all neat with quilts just so. He must have a housekeeper. No man would keep it like that. But it didn’t feel damp or cold, like no one had been there for ages. So maybe someone goes in and lights a fire now and then for him?’
‘Did you ask around in the village about that?’
‘We didn’t dare. It was such a small place we were afraid we’d look suspicious,’ Jimmy said.
‘Strange that a man could live in a perfect house and earn his living from a place like the Core,’ Mog said thoughtfully. ‘If they didn’t keep Belle there, then maybe they stayed at the other man’s home. Braithwaite, was that his name?’
Garth suddenly looked animated. ‘I’ve just remembered that I know of a man called Braithwaite,’ he said. ‘I don’t know him personally, just stories about him. He’s a gambler. Goes by the name of Sly!’
‘You’ve seen him?’ Noah asked.
‘Nah.’ Garth shook his head. ‘Just heard men in here mention him. But I can ask around about him.’
‘It might not be the same Braithwaite,