Murder by Appointment: Inspector Faro No.10 (24 page)

It was Imogen.

'I put Rose into the police carriage. Over there. She's waiting for you.'

'What about the yacht?' Faro yelled and McQuinn shouted something that was lost as he ran to the carriage.

Faro watched as he took Rose in his arms. He heard her laughter. 'Danny McQuinn, you smell. When did you last have a bath?'

Rose was safe.

He turned to Imogen, standing silently at his side, and nodded towards the fast disappearing ships.

'They went without you.'

‘You sound surprised, Inspector.' She shrugged. 'I've served my purpose. I got you here, got the journal for them. And I wouldn't be much use to them on the Isle of Wight.'

'So I was right. That's where they're heading.'

'It's been planned for a long time. They are nothing if not meticulous, despite what the English pretend about the stupid Irish,' she said bitterly.

‘What are you going to do now? Those two men back there—' he added, indicating the black outline of the warehouse. 'If they survive, they'll kill you this time.'

She nodded. 'I know. I know.'

'I thought you were the leader,' he said apologetically.

'Me?' she laughed. 'Heavens, no. They enlisted me—
reluctantly I have to add—as a go-between. I had little choice
with Seamus's wife and bairn back in Ireland, waiting to be murdered if I didn't obey their instructions. They don't make idle threats; you should know that by now.'

'Tell me something, why did you come back to the hotel in Stirling that day and ask for me?'

She shrugged. 'An impulse. I was passing by, and I suddenly
needed to say I was sorry—sorry that things had to end that way between us.' She looked up at him sadly. 'But you had gone, I was too late. Fate was never on our side. Perhaps it was just as well.'

There were other questions in the air, but survival left no time for explanations.

‘You'll be taken,' Faro said urgently. 'You'll go to prison
and I won't be able to help you this time. You must get away.'

'You should care,' she said bitterly.

He looked at her, put his hand on her arm. 'I do care, Imogen.' And the words unspoken: Please God, you will never know how much.

The darkness across the water was pierced by a siren whistle. McQuinn rushed past them.

'That's the
Solent
. The Harbour Police have stopped her. Thank God my message got through in time.'

He looked at Imogen. 'And thank you, lady, for looking after my Rose.' And to Faro he shouted over his shoulder as he ran along the quayside, 'I leave it to you sir, to arrest her.'

Faro's mind was working rapidly. The distant lights and the
commotion along the quayside told him that the yacht had been ahead of the passenger ship. Imogen had one chance.

'How good are you with a rowing boat?'

'Glory be, Inspector, you don't expect me to row all the way
back to Ireland?'

'Don't argue. Come along, we haven't a minute to lose.' And, dragging her by the arm, he ran down the steps and thrust her into a small fishing boat. Turning it adrift they both took to the oars. He cut short Imogen's protests. 'The captain will stop for me. Being a policeman has its uses and we've had dealings before.'

There was no time for explanations or promises. All their energies were needed to row across to where the
Erin Star
would head out of harbour and into the North Sea, down around the English coast and to Rosslare where Imogen would be safe. Safe but out of his life for ever.

As Faro hailed the ship, they rocked unsteadily in the swell,
the bows poised dangerously above them. The captain stared down from the bridge, then the searchlight picked out the rowing boat and Inspector Faro.

'Another passenger for you, Captain. Sling down the ladder, if you please.'

Reaching out his hand to seize it and to help Imogen as she transferred from the rowing boat, he asked, 'Have you money
for your fare?'

She laughed. 'What a practical man you are, Inspector.
We're snatched from the jaws of death and you ask whether I
can pay for my passage.'

Smiling in return, he held her briefly for the last time.

'I wonder if I'll ever see you again,' she said softly.

'Promises, promises. Remember the last time—Berwick Station, it was.'

'You can always come to Ireland.'

'Who knows? Maybe I will,' said Faro as, leaning forward, she kissed him full on the mouth and began to climb the swaying ladder.

McQuinn was waiting for him at the quayside as he moored the rowing boat and climbed the steps alone.

'I see you caught the
Erin Star
. Well done, sir. I sent Rose home to Sheridan Place. She'll be waiting for you there.'

As the two men fell into step and headed in the direction of the lights of Edinburgh, Faro, who was bone weary, would have given much for the sight of a carriage.

'What happened here?'

'The Harbour Police intercepted the
Royal Solent
, put the bad lads away and released a very frightened crew who have now continued their journey to the Isle of Wight.' He stopped and laughed. 'With those members of the Royal
entourage who had imagined there were fewer hazards by sea
than land and were very badly scared—'

'Why wasn't I warned about all this?' Faro interrupted angrily.

'Because of Rose, sir. Central Office was afraid that with your daughter's safety involved you might do something— well, impulsive. Such as trying a single-handed rescue. It has been known, sir.'

Faro swore at him as with a grin he continued, 'I tried to reach you at Sheridan Place, to reassure you. But I was too late. Mrs Brook said you had left with Miss Crowe.'

He sighed. 'I was glad I was wrong about Miss Crowe. I didn't trust her and neither did the Fenians, but they had an
effective weapon in using her family in Ireland as blackmail.
Then Rose told me how she had protected her and even worked out a plan to help her escape at the risk of her own life.' McQuinn shrugged. 'Not that it would have made any difference, she would still have gone to prison. If things had worked out differently.' He laughed softly. 'She has a lot to thank you for this night, sir.'

'What about you, McQuinn. What now?'

'My job is finished.' And ruefully rubbing his chin, he added, 'Shave off the beard, have a much needed bath.' He sighed. 'And then America. As I intended. I need a change of air.'

'What about Rose? Are you considering her in these plans?'

A street lamp illuminated McQuinn's face briefly. He smiled. 'She has to decide. It's up to her. I want to marry her but it has to be on my terms. As one plain policeman to
another, if you'll forgive me for once not acknowledging your
illustrious rank and experience, you know that's the truth.'

'You mean that the job comes first.'

'You take my meaning exactly, sir.'

They walked slowly, silently, their footsteps echoing on the
now empty pavements.

'Have you ever considered that Rose might find someone else while you are away?'

McQuinn frowned. 'Someone like Lachlan Brown, you mean.'

Conscious of Faro's startled glance, McQuinn laughed. 'I
know all about Lachlan Brown, her letters were full of him. A
dose of hero worship, I'd say.'

Another silence followed this revelation. 'Our two murderers
back there in the warehouse, I presume they are safely under lock and key for me to interview in the morning. I'll have enough in my report to hang them both,' said Faro grimly.

McQuinn shrugged. 'They'll have sore heads and that's about all, sir.' And, at Faro's angry explosion, 'They're on our side.'

'Indeed. They tried to kill Lachlan Brown, so whose side is he on?'

'It was McNair they were after. They nabbed him leaving the Assembly Rooms, didn't know how much he'd told Lachlan and that a warning might be timely. Just obeying orders, sir.'

Whose orders?' Faro demanded.

'Those of a higher authority, sir. And you know the identity
of that higher authority better than most. God knows she has more reason to be grateful to you than most of us.'

Faro stopped walking. He felt suddenly sick at the significance of McQuinn's remarks, as he added:

'They are very high-ranking officers in her security force, sir.'

McQuinn paused to let his words sink in and then said
gently, 'Everyone who knew the contents of the journal was a
threat Even a respectable and greatly prized Chief Inspector is expendable when the throne is in danger.'

'They made that plain enough when they took a pot shot at me in Stirling,' said Faro bitterly. 'And they had doubtless taken into account that I was suspect having taken Imogen Crowe, a known terrorist, on an outing to Inchmahome.'

'You were under constant surveillance, sir. Regardless of all
you've done in the past risking your life for the monarchy,
that's all the thanks you—or any of us—can expect.' And McQuinn muttered something under his breath. It sounded
suspiciously seditious, like: God save Ireland.

Faro knew it was true. He had been involved in a very similar situation when he tried to prove that his policeman father had been murdered—because he knew too much to keep Royal posteriors at ease on the throne of England.

He found, however, that he was not as expendable as McQuinn believed.

Superintendent Mcintosh was to retire that summer and hints reached Chief Inspector Faro that he was to be offered his job. Which he had no intention of accepting, guessing that it was a ruse to get him safely behind a desk and away from embarrassing situations such as the McNair murders.

No doubt the whisper had been: Let him work at such matters in theory only, where we can keep an eye on him.

Meanwhile he returned to the routine crimes that made up the majority of his cases and his domestic life settled down into its usual ordered existence with Mrs Brook once again a contented woman in the kitchen where she ruled alone and supreme.

The recent drama involving a Sheridan Place servant had confirmed her belief that maids were trouble and, wise after the event, she wasn't surprised to find that May Moray had been an impostor and possibly a murderess too.

'There was something about her, Inspector. I never liked her.'

Meanwhile Vince and Olivia resumed their joyful expectations planning for the new baby while Rose returned to
Glasgow in a happy glow about McQuinn, the hero who had rescued her for the second time in her life. She declined,
however, to comment on whether she would be marrying him
when he returned from America.

As for Faro, he was surprised to realize that he was ready to
welcome Sergeant Danny McQuinn as a desirable and suitable son-in-law. All his former doubts had vanished, but he remained in constant anxiety that Rose, in Danny's long absence, might yet choose Lachlan Brown.

A week after the newspapers had exhausted 'Fenian Terrorists Captured' and 'Leith Warehouse Destroyed by Fire',
Faro was at work on less sensational matters when he had two
surprising visits.