11 - Ticket to Oblivion by Edward Marston Page A

respect as they did so instead of adopting the condescending tone more usual among his social superiors. Their meeting with Tolley had given him more than a glimmer of hope. At the same time, he reflected, the very fact that they’d been summoned from Scotland Yard showed the gravity of the situation. They’d arrived at the house several hours after the fateful departure of the two women from Shrub Hill station. The trail would thus have gone very cold. It meant that Tolley’s hope was tempered with anxiety. No matter how clever or confident the detectives were, they would start their investigation at a severe disadvantage. They could well fail. The thought that he might never know what had happened to his beloved Rhoda Wills made him shudder.
    He was coming out of the stables when a woman waddled towards him.
    ‘What are you doing out here, Vernon?’ she asked with concern.
    ‘The horses had to be fed.’
    ‘You always put them first. A coachman needs to be fed as well, you know. Come along inside and see what I saved for you.’
    ‘I’d rather stay out here, Win.’
    ‘Aren’t you hungry?’
    ‘I’ve too much on my mind to worry about food.’
    ‘I’m the same,’ she said, changing tack and investing her voice with a sense of foreboding. ‘This is a sad day for us all and no mistake. It’s tragic, that’s what it is. Sir Marcus and his wife have seen their only child snatched cruelly away from them. This house will be in mourning for a long time.’
    He was curt. ‘Don’t try to bury them before they’re even dead.’
    ‘I’m only saying what everybody else is thinking.’
    ‘Well,
I’m
not thinking it,’ he warned. ‘There’s still cause for hope.’
    ‘I know, I know and I’m glad.’ She smiled sweetly. ‘I only came to see you because I’m worried about you.’
    Win Eagleton was the cook, a plump woman in her late thirties with a vulgar appeal that was offset by a gushing manner and by her habit of producing a broad grin that revealed huge gaps left by missing teeth. The coachman might have set his heart on marrying Rhoda Wills but the cook – even though given no encouragement – had long harboured designs on Tolley. With her rival apparently out of the way, Win thought she could begin to circle her prey.
    ‘Are you sure you’re not hungry?’ she said, brushing his arm with podgy fingers. ‘You’ve had a long and troubling day, Vernon. You need food inside you.’
    ‘I couldn’t touch a thing.’
    ‘You know how much you like my pies.’
    ‘Thank you, all the same, but I have no appetite.’
    ‘It’s always a pleasure to cook for you, Vernon.’ She moved closer to him. ‘But you’re right, of course,’ she went on, face solemn. ‘At a time like this, we shouldn’t be thinking about our bellies. Our minds and our prayers should be fixed on them. Whatever could have happened on that train?’
    ‘I wish I knew, Win. They were safe and sound when I waved them off.’
    ‘And were they alone in the compartment?’
    ‘I made certain of it.’
    ‘That was wise,’ she said. ‘You do hear terrible stories of nasty men who take liberties if they catch a woman alone on a train. I know that I wouldn’t dare to travel by myself. You can’t be too careful.’
    ‘Nothing like that happened,’ he declared. ‘I’m sure of it.’
    ‘So am I, Vernon. I told them that the rumour was nonsense.’
    He turned to her. ‘What rumour?’
    ‘Oh, I don’t even want to repeat it. I shouldn’t have mentioned it except that they were all talking about it in the kitchen. It would only upset you,’ she told him. ‘It’s far better that you don’t even hear it.’
    ‘Don’t keep anything from me, Win,’ he insisted. ‘What’s this about a rumour? If it’s more than idle gossip, I want to know what it is.’
    Having got his attention at last, she wanted to flash a broad grin to signal her triumph but overcame the urge to do so and furrowed her brow instead.
    ‘It’s about the