Free A Bespoke Murder by Edward Marston Page B

you get on?’
    ‘I had them singing like canaries in the end.’
    ‘What did they tell you?’
    Keedy gave him an attenuated version of the three interviews. The most important development, he felt, was that all of the suspects had described the man with the petrol can and actually seen him pour the liquid out before using his cigarette to ignite it. None of them had known the man’s name but all said that he worked somewhere in the West End and knew the area intimately.
    ‘I’ve had the report from the fire brigade,’ explained Marmion. ‘They found the petrol can amid the debris but there was no way of identifying where it was bought. The intense heat had melted it and caused it to buckle.’
    ‘We’ve drawn a blank there, then,’ said Keedy.
    ‘My guess is that it was sold by a garage nearby. Nobody wants to carry a full can of petrol any distance. It would be too heavy. I’ve sent men off to check at any garages in the locality.’
    ‘That’s very wise, Inspector.’
    ‘Wisdom is like sciatica, Joe – it comes with age.’
    ‘You’re still a young man at heart.’
    ‘I don’t feel young. When I look at our Alice and realise how old she is now, I feel quite ancient.’
    ‘How is Alice?’
    ‘I’d like to say that she’s very well but she’s got this weird idea into her head that she’d like to join the WEC.’
    ‘What’s so weird about it?’
    Marmion sighed. ‘Alice worked her socks off to get qualifications to teach, Joe. I don’t want her to throw all that effort away. In any case, the WEC is not short of recruits, whereas schools are certainly short of good teachers like my daughter.’
    ‘It’s her decision and she is over twenty-one.’
    ‘We accept that, Joe. At the end of the day, we’ll support her in whatever she does – as long as she doesn’t join the Women’s Police Service, that is. Apparently, that’s what you advised her to do.’
    ‘I did,’ said Keedy. ‘I think she’d make a good policewoman. Alice is bright, hard-working and she’s got a natural authority. I know there’s a lot of opposition to the Women’s Force but I think girls like Alice could do certain things much better than we can.’
    ‘That’s exactly what I thought when I visited the Stein house,’ recalled Marmion. ‘I was following up that rape allegation. I never actually spoke to the victim herself – she was still in shock – but I felt very awkward as I talked to her mother. It was exactly the sort of situation where a woman would have come into her own.’
    ‘You should have taken Alice with you.’
    ‘She is not going to join the police.’
    It was Marmion’s turn to recount details of an interview. He told Keedy how struck he was by Miriam Stein’s dignity and by her steely determination to seek justice for her daughter. At a time when she was coping with one family catastrophe, she had the strength to deal with another one. She’d been able to pass on two significant details about Ruth’s attackers. Keedy was interested to hear of them.
    ‘It took one phone call to find out what I wanted,’ he said. ‘The only soldiers who embarked for the Continent today were members of the East Surrey Regiment. They’re going to Ypres as reinforcements.’
    ‘Then they’re brave men. Ypres is a real hellhole.’
    ‘The two people we’re after are not brave, Joe. They’re cruel, heartless bastards and their names are somewhere on this list.’ He indicated the sheaf of papers in front of him. ‘I had this sent over from the War Office. They were very reluctant at first, then I threatened to set the commissioner onto them. That did the trick.’
    ‘Have you discovered who the two men are?’
    ‘Not yet, I haven’t. Bring that other chair over and help me.’
    Keedy picked up an upright chair, placed it behind the desk and sat beside the inspector. Marmion spread the pages out.
    ‘How far have you got?’ asked Keedy.
    ‘I’ve had a first glance through the names and there are