The Hyde Park Headsman - Anne Griffin Perry [156]
Charlotte could not let it go. “He was so self-important,” she said, still filled with indignation. “I would have given a great deal to have been able to squash him in some way or other.” She shook herself. “He was so beastly to the man who stood up and came to the back to try to assist me. Can you imagine that?” She glanced at Pitt, and saw from his face that he was lost in thought. “You aren’t listening, are you! You think it was ridiculous of me!”
A footman with a tray offered them savories and they each took one.
“No,” Pitt said slowly. “I think it is probably the sort of reaction most people would have. And you did what most people do….”
“I didn’t do anything,” she protested. “I wish now I had, but I couldn’t think of anything.”
“Exactly.” He agreed. “You came home fuming, but you did nothing.”
Emily was regarding him curiously.
“The omnibus conductor …” Charlotte said slowly, comprehension beginning to dawn. “Oh no—that’s absurd! Nobody chops—” She stopped.
A large lady brushed past them, her sleeves barely missing the pastries. Someone else laughed exuberantly.
“Maybe not.” Pitt frowned. “No, perhaps it is a foolish idea. I’m reaching after anything. There must be a better reason, something personal.” He turned to Emily. “But this is your celebration. Let’s talk about you and your victory. When does Jack take his seat? What is his maiden speech to be about, has he decided? I hope it is not for some time, if it is still about the police!”
Emily pulled a face, but she laughed, and the conversation moved to politics, the future, and Jack’s beliefs and hopes.
It was over an hour later when Charlotte was alone with Pitt for a few moments that she broached the subject of the Headsman again. In spite of her very real pleasure for Jack and Emily, she was beginning to realize just how serious the situation was for Pitt, and his new and now gravely threatened promotion.
“What are you going to do now?” she asked quietly, so the thin woman with the checked skirt and the enthusiastic voice a yard away could not hear her. Then as Pitt looked blank, she continued. “If it can’t be Carvell, who can it be?”
“I don’t know. Possibly Bart Mitchell. He certainly had every reason to kill Winthrop, and possibly Arledge, if he misunderstood his attention to Mina. But I can’t think of any reason for the bus conductor or Scarborough, unless they knew something…. He must be a very violent man. His experiences in Africa, easy life and death …” He trailed off, leaving the idea unfinished.
“You don’t really believe that, do you?” She screwed up her face.
“It doesn’t seem very satisfactory,” he replied. He nodded to an acquaintance and continued talking. “Actually we haven’t found out his past movements, or the exact date of his return from Africa. Possibly he did not know of Winthrop’s nature until very recently. Obviously Mina is desperately ashamed and does all she can to conceal it. She seems to feel it is somehow her fault.” He frowned, his voice dropping and taking on a hard, angry edge. “I’ve seen women who have been beaten before. They all seem to take the blame on themselves. I can remember years ago, when I was a constable, being called in to fights, finding women bleeding and half dead, and still convinced it was their own fault and not the man’s. They’ve lost all hope, all worth or belief, even every shred of dignity. Usually it was drink … whiskey more often than not.”
She stared at him, visions of an unguessed and terrible world yawning open in front of her. She remembered Mina’s overwhelming shame, her diffidence, and how she had blossomed since Winthrop’s death. It seemed so obvious now, the only thing remarkable was why it had taken so long to reach its tragic climax.
“But it doesn’t really explain why he killed Arledge,” Pitt went on more thoughtfully. “Unless Mina knew he had killed Winthrop and somehow or other betrayed the fact to Arledge—unwittingly, of course.”
“That would make sense,” Charlotte said quickly. “Yes, that sounds as if it could have been. But then why the omnibus conductor