Free Blackstone and the Endgame by Sally Spencer

‘although, admittedly, it has also always been your greatest strength. What happened next?’
    Blackstone told Vladimir about the meeting at the Western Dock and waking up on the park bench with a thousand pounds in his pocket.
    â€˜What do you think was Max’s motive in “fitting you up”, Sam?’ Vladimir asked.
    â€˜I’m still not sure,’ Blackstone admitted. ‘The only answer I can come up with is that it bought him some time.’
    â€˜You mean that as long as the police were devoting all their energy to questioning you, they wouldn’t really be looking for him?’
    â€˜That’s right.’
    Vladimir shook his head.
    â€˜That doesn’t make sense,’ he said. ‘Carrying your unconscious body from the docks to the embankment must have both taken quite some time and been very risky. And the thousand pounds he put in your pocket means a thousand pounds less for him. So it seems to me that, on balance, the advantages he gained from framing you were far outweighed by the disadvantages.’
    â€˜It seems that way to me, too,’ Blackstone said.
    â€˜Still, life is full of unsolved mysteries,’ Vladimir said philosophically, ‘and there is no doubt that he did frame you. But what surprises me, to be honest, is that Superintendent Brigham took the bait quite so easily.’
    â€˜It was the only way he could make it seem like my mistake, instead of his,’ Blackstone said. ‘And then, of course, it was also what Assistant Commissioner Todd wanted.’
    â€˜I remember Todd from Russia,’ Vladimir said. ‘If there was such a thing as the king of fools, he would be wearing the crown.’ He glanced out of the window, to see where they were. ‘And now we come to the best part of your narrative,’ he continued.
    â€˜The best part?’
    â€˜Your escape! I am eager to learn what devilish trickery you used to break free.’
    â€˜It was nothing to do with me,’ Blackstone said, and he told Vladimir what had happened on Southwark Bridge.
    â€˜I wish I’d met this Sergeant Patterson of yours,’ Vladimir said. ‘He seems like a remarkable man.’
    â€˜He is,’ Blackstone agreed.
    â€˜And what of his accomplice – the man who released you from the handcuffs? Do you think that he was a policeman, too?’
    â€˜No,’ Blackstone said. ‘Archie would never have asked another officer to take the same risk as he was taking.’
    â€˜So who
was
the second man?’
    â€˜He was probably some criminal who owed Archie a favour.’
    â€˜Yes, that is more than likely,’ Vladimir agreed.
    He glanced out of the window, then lifted his cane and banged once on the roof of the Hansom. The cab slowed, and then came to a halt.
    Looking out himself, Blackstone saw that they had pulled up in front of a house that was only distinguished by its ordinariness.
    â€˜We have arrived,’ Vladimir announced.
    The bed on which Archie Patterson lay was far too narrow for a man of his girth, and the room that contained the bed was so cramped that it was almost impossible to avoid banging into one of the walls. Still, that was only to be expected, he thought. After all, this wasn’t the Ritz – it was Pentonville Prison.
    He shifted slightly – in search of a more comfortable position, even though he already knew there wasn’t one – and, looking up the ceiling, cast his mind back to his brief appearance in the magistrates’ court.
    The press have not been informed about what happened at the docks, nor been given the name of the man whom Patterson is accused of helping to escape, but the very fact that a detective sergeant from Scotland Yard should be involved in holding up a Black Maria is more than enough for them – and they have gone to town on it. So when Patterson is brought up from the cells and emerges in the dock, he is not surprised to see that both