The Last Days of Newgate - Andrew Pepper [13]
But Pyke noted wryly that Fox had still been sufficiently worried about Peel’s plans to arrange a dinner with Sir Henry Hobhouse, a retired Tory who continued to enjoy a close relationship with Peel.
Vines also seemed to detect Fox’s anxiety and said, ‘Except that the law is only what the law-makers say it is.’
He was meticulous about his appearance, and was rumoured to be the favourite of more than one lady of good standing. His fashionably cut jacket evoked the spirit, if not the style, of Brummel. Pyke often caught Vines staring at his thinning hair and truncated sideburns in the mirror. Vines made no secret of the fact that he wanted to succeed Fox when he retired, and was no doubt distressed by Peel’s proposals for a new police force because they threatened his own plans for advancement.
‘Have you any thoughts in these matters, Pyke?’ Fox said, turning to him.
It might have seemed strange to outsiders that Fox would value and solicit his opinions, but in the light of their long-standing association, this was neither unusual nor revealing.
‘You know what I think, Sir Richard. When Peel wins the vote, which he will, the first thing he’ll do is try and incorporate all policing activities under the direct control of the Home Office.’
For weeks, the ranks of the Runners had been buzzing with rumours about the planned reforms and the sense of unease this news created was not helped by the fact that Fox himself believed that Peel might prevail. In the past, Peel had overstepped the mark by unfairly castigating the existing system for being corrupt and inefficient, but this time he had sensibly opted to stress the positive aspects of the proposed reforms: that everyone in London would have the same access to the same force, regardless of rank, situation or address.
When Fox had solicited his opinion, what Pyke did not say, because it would have implicated himself, was that Peel disliked the Runners not just because they received incentives and rewards for work successfully undertaken but rather because, in order to do so, they had to mix freely with criminals. In other words, Peel did not understand that they could not do their job without information provided by criminal informers. And while Pyke took it upon himself to personally benefit from these illicit associations, he had also made more arrests and gained more convictions than any other Runner attached to the office.
But unlike Fox, who believed in the Bow Street Runners so completely that it blinded him to the political realities of the situation, or Vines, whose main concern was to haul himself up the career ladder, he had no love for the organisation he worked for, and no special feelings for its leaders.
For him, being a Runner was simply a means to an end. It enabled him to travel to all parts of the city under the protective cloak of Fox’s authority.
Fox told them that he had briefed Sir Henry about the situation during dinner. This news would be passed on to the Home Secretary. Vines seemed disturbed by this information.
‘Was that wise, telling Hobhouse so quickly?’ he said, unable to conceal his frown.
‘Perhaps not wise but necessary,’ Fox said, firmly.
‘But surely it might have been prudent to take stock of the situation ourselves before asking for outside assistance.’
‘Even if you don’t, I have to consider the wider implications of all this. A young couple and their newborn baby, slaughtered in their own lodgings? My God, it’s the Ratcliffe highway all over again.’
Though Pyke had been only thirteen at the time, he still remembered the froth of panic and moral outrage that had been whipped up when a man called Williams had murdered two families in their homes on the Ratcliffe highway.
‘And look what that did,’ Vines said, shaking his head. ‘It placed police reform right back at the top of the political agenda. You can guarantee Peel will use this situation to push the police bill forward. It’s like a gift, fallen into