Avery & Blake 02 - The Infidel Stain Read Online Free Page B

horrible picture the words had conjured.
    ‘Good heavens!’ I said.
    ‘As far as the new police’s hurried researches could tell, he had no debts, nor any particular enemies.’
    ‘I’ve heard nothing of this,’ Blake said musingly. ‘You’d expect to see something in the press, a broadside or two at the very least, or a ballad. Especially if the man was a printer.’
    ‘There were a number of brief mentions of the murder in the press the day after it occurred, but since then, nothing.’
    ‘You mentioned a second murder – Your Lordship,’ Blake said, and the tiny pause between the words insinuated an unmistakeable sliver of disrespect which Lord Allington affected not to notice, though he straightened his back even more and it seemed to me his manner became even loftier.
    ‘Not long after I learnt of this crime,’ he said, ‘news of another death was brought to my attention. Another printer, by the name of …’
    ‘Blundell, sir,’ said Threlfall.
    ‘Thank you, Threlfall, six weeks ago. The matter was complicated because there was subsequently a fire at his premises, but I have it on good authority he was murdered in similar, if notidentical, circumstances, and the fire came after. He lived in the area of Monmouth Street by Seven Dials. The police have concluded that he died accidentally in the fire.’
    ‘Surely even without the newspapers, such tales would have spread by word of mouth, Your Lordship? Comparisons made?’ I said.
    ‘It would seem that both crimes have been all but forgotten already. I have been informed that in the immediate streets about, the stories have gained local notoriety. There has been a renewed interest in foolish superstitions, talk of Spring-Heeled Jack and such. But there is also a reluctance to speak about the crimes themselves.’
    ‘May I ask how you came to hear of the murders?’ said Blake.
    ‘They were brought to my attention by a member of one of our societies who runs what is commonly called a “ragged school” in the vicinity. He was dismayed that so little attention had been devoted to these crimes.’
    ‘And the police have given up on the murders?’
    ‘They say with no murder implement, no apparent motive and no further evidence, there is no basis upon which to continue an investigation.’
    ‘But you do not believe this,’ said Blake.
    ‘I do not.’
    There was a silence.
    ‘I imagine, Your Lordship,’ said Blake, the gentleness of his tone surprising me, ‘that sometimes the work you do must lead you into conflict with established and respected authorities you never thought that in your position you would have to question. That must be difficult for you.’
    Lord Allington, who had been staring deep into the table again as if seeking some great truth in its surface, looked up at Blake almost gratefully, his eyes wide again.
    ‘I must ask you for your discretion given what I am about to say. Please understand I have the highest respect for the London police. But it is a not uncommon story: difficult cases in the poorest, grimmest parts of the capital, where the inhabitants are, let us say, less than welcoming to the police, are neglected. It is also the case thatthe senior figures in the Metropolitan Police are preoccupied with the Chartist threat almost to the exclusion of all else. The Police Commissioner, Sir Richard Mayne, is quite obsessed by it. He may not be entirely incorrect to be so.’ He lowered his voice. ‘There are suggestions the fire at the Tower might not have been the accident we have been led to believe it was but a deliberate act of arson.’
    My first reaction to this extraordinary news was to look to Blake; his expression was quite inscrutable.
    ‘It is also the case that since the Bow Street Runners were disbanded in ’39, there has been no detecting unit within the Metropolitan Police, and so such cases have not been dealt with as well as they might. Nor have the police or the parish chosen to offer a reward for