Steps to the Gallows Read Free Page B

their lodger had been removed, the landlord and his wife were still too nervous to step inside the building. Paul sought to still their mounting apprehension.
    ‘The intruder will not come back, Mrs Lomas,’ he assured her. ‘He gained entry into your house because he had a mission. Once that was completed, he’d have no reason to return.’
    ‘How did he know that the house was empty?’
    ‘In all probability, he kept watch on it.’
    She gave an involuntary shiver. ‘Are you saying that somebody was out here, keeping an eye on us?’
    Paul gave a nod. ‘Do you and your husband go out at regular times?’
    ‘Yes, we do, sir.’
    ‘And our servants do the shopping on the same market days,’ added Lomas.
    ‘Then your routine will have been duly noted. It’s also likely that today was not the first occasion when the killer went insidethe house. He’d want to find out which was Mr Paige’s room and look for a place of concealment inside it. This was no random attack, you see,’ explained Paul. ‘It was carefully planned.’
    ‘But Mr Paige was such a harmless old fellow. Why murder him?’
    ‘That will only become clear in time.’
    ‘We can never put a lodger in that room again,’ complained Lomas, bitterly. ‘Who wants to sleep in a place where such villainy occurred?’
    ‘I’ll not set foot in there,’ vowed his wife. ‘My nerves wouldn’t let me.’
    ‘The passage of time may soothe those nerves,’ said Paul, gently. ‘But let me ask you a few pertinent questions. Without knowing it, you may have information that will lead us to the killer.’ Husband and wife looked startled at the suggestion. ‘If the killer didn’t break into your house, he might first have got inside it by another means altogether.’
    ‘I don’t understand you, sir,’ said Lomas.
    ‘He may have been invited in. What if the man was a friend of your lodger – a false friend, as it turned out – and called on him here?’
    ‘Mr Paige had very few visitors, sir. He kept himself to himself.’
    ‘He must have had some friends.’
    ‘I’m sure that he did because he was such a pleasant gentleman. He must have met his friends elsewhere. No more than a handful came to the house.’
    ‘Can you recall their names?’
    ‘We were never introduced to them. As you can see,’ Lomas went on, glancing upwards, ‘Mr Paige had the front bedchamber. If he looked out of the window, he’d have seen any guests coming before we did. He always let them in.’
    ‘Are you able to describe any of them?’ asked Paul.
    ‘There was an old woman, sir, and another who was somewhat younger. The only man I remember was a tall, upright fellow with the look of a soldier about him. He’d a scar on one cheek and would’ve been around my age.’
    ‘They’ve a terrible shock coming,’ moaned the wife. ‘What are those friends of his going to say when they hear that he’s been murdered?’
    Paul sighed. ‘I feel sorry for them.’
     
    Gully Ackford was in a quandary. Desperate to find out how Jem Huckvale was faring, he was unable to leave the gallery because of his commitments there. It was a source of the utmost frustration. Ordinarily, he’d have responded to a crisis by saddling his horse and riding off, leaving one or both of the Skillen brothers to hold the fort. As it was, neither was available. One of Peter’s servants had brought a letter describing the respective fates of Leonidas Paige and of Jem Huckvale. The former was now beyond help but the latter needed the love and support of his friends. Instead of being able to offer it to him, Ackford was forced to spend an hour with an irritating pupil in the shooting gallery. When the lesson was over, he repaired to the office and was overjoyed to see Peter waiting for him. He grasped him by his shoulders.
    ‘How is he, Peter? What did the surgeon say? Is he in any danger?’
    ‘If you’ll stop trying to shake me to death,’ said Peter, tolerantly, ‘I’ll tell you.’