Shadow of the Gallows Read Free

had treated him carefully, actually been nice to him. That had lasted just as long as it took for Neil to be up and around. Now Cobb was in one of his bad moods, made even worse by the facts that he had recently turned thirty and that he didn’t like travelling by train.
    Even worse there were only four days to go before Tom Steadman was due to be hanged. Cobb didn’t have much time in which to prove him innocent and he never liked the thought of failing.
    But, Neil thought, none of that was his fault.
    Perhaps Cobb thought the same because pulling out his pocket watch and looking at the time he said, ‘About another forty minutes. Once we get to the stop we’ll have to hire a couple of horses to complete the journey to Newberry.’
    ‘How long will that take?’
    Cobb shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. Two hours maybe. We’ll be there before nightfall anyway. Thank God.’ Once there he could actually sleep in a decent bed.
    Cobb was employed by Bellington’s Private Detective Agency. As a detective he went where he was sent but sometimes he wished Mr Bellington wouldn’t send him to places involving such long and uncomfortable journeys.
    Even so Cobb liked, and was good at, his job and didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize it. Because Mr Bellington liked his men to look tidy and dress neatly, his dark-brown hair was cut short and he was clean-shaven. He wore sombre suits and white shirts and kept his boots polished.
    As well as not allowing his employees to object to what they did and where they went, Mr Bellington had a number of rules for them to obey. While Cobb tried not to break any of them he had broken the one that said the detectives should not, under any circumstances , knowingly consort with outlaws. Neil Travis couldn’t exactly be called an outlaw but he had once been a petty thief. And while he couldn’t be called a thief any longer either, Mr Bellington would probably not appreciate the distinction and would, if he ever found out, disapprove to say the least.
    Cobb still couldn’t quite understand why he’d made the offer to Neil that he should accompany him on his detective work. The young man’s dress and looks certainly weren’t up to standard, with his long brown hair, wispy moustache and untidy clothes. But since Neil had nearly died in a fight with the Kelman gang, Cobb knew he was used to his company and, even worse, actually liked him. Not that he’d admit that to anyone and certainly never to Neil.
    ‘Did you know this Tom Steadman?’ Neil asked, after peering out of the window again.
    ‘Only slightly. He left soon after I joined the agency. He’d got fed up with travelling around the country all the time and wanted to put down roots. But from what I heard he was a skilled detective. And well liked.’
    ‘So you don’t believe he killed this homesteader?’
    ‘It does sound surprising but then, as I say, I didn’t know him at all well and in, what, six or seven years a man can change. Become someone else to who he once was. After he left the agency I never learned what became of him.’ Cobb paused. ‘The important thing is Mr Bellington believes he’s innocent.’
    And wanted it proved. And the hanging stopped.
    ‘It’s a pity Steadman didn’t contact Mr Bellington earlier. I could have reached Newberry before the trial. Heard the evidence for myself.’ As it was, the man had waited until he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Almost three days had been wasted since receiving Steadman’s plea for help in making arrangements to come to Newberry and actually travelling to the town.
    ‘Maybe he thought he’d be found innocent,’ Neil suggested. ‘And perhaps as he’s now asked for help that does mean he is innocent.’
    Cobb hoped so. Mr Bellington believed he knew people and what they were capable of and he wouldn’t be at all pleased to know he was wrong and that Steadman was, in fact, guilty of murder.
    ‘If he didn’t shoot Bannister someone did.’
    Cobb