The Bloomsbury Murder (Augusta Peel Mysteries Book 3), page 17
“I’m well, thank you. And very relieved that the case has finally been brought an end.”
“I’ve discovered that Bewick went to great lengths to cover his tracks. I spoke to his secretary yesterday evening and, can you believe, he even went to the trouble of handwriting letters to Lord Frankland-Russell? She typed the letters for him but they were never posted. He was very keen to keep up the pretence that he was working for the family; even his secretary was taken in.”
“How is Catherine?”
“She was still keen to return to her parents yesterday evening, so I telephoned them again and explained what had happened. They were extremely shocked, as you’d expect. But they sounded eager to see their daughter again, having learned of the danger she’d found herself in. I believe she’s planning to travel up there today.”
“If only the St Mildred’s girls had been honest with the police from the outset.”
“Only one was responsible but the others were too scared to say anything. They were young, I suppose, and they all felt a sense of loyalty toward their friend.”
“Anne McCall died six years ago. Why do you think Mr Bewick waited until now to avenge her?”
“He didn’t wait as long as it might seem. Susan Peterson died in 1917, and Mary Colbourne passed away the following year. For some reason, it took him a couple of years longer to find the others.”
“All apart from Miss Frankland-Russell. He needed my help with that.” Augusta shook her head again, still dismayed that she had been fooled by him.
“At least Walter Mitchell will get a break from me now,” said Philip with a laugh. “I wonder if his wife will push for the divorce.”
“She’ll have to find herself a new lawyer if she decides to go ahead.”
They were distracted by a movement just beyond the shop window.
“Well I never,” commented Philip. “It’s Lady Hereford!”
He stepped forward to open the door and in came the old lady, wrapped in a thick fur coat and being pushed along in a wicker bath chair by a maid.
“Oh, look at this place, Augusta!” she exclaimed. “What a cosy little bookshop!” she glanced up at them all. “And who’s this handsome young man?”
“My new sales assistant, Fred Plummer.”
“Nice to meet you, Fred. How lovely that you have some help now, Augusta. You have a terrible habit of trying to do everything all by yourself. And the dashing Detective Inspector Fisher is here, too. How are you, sir?”
“Less of the dashing, Lady Hereford. I’m rather tired, if truth be told.”
“I read all about that train drama in this morning’s newspaper. The news reporter interviewed you, did he not?”
“Yes, that’s the problem these days. News reporters won’t leave you alone until they’ve got every last drop of information out of you. Hopefully everything will quieten down now and Miss Frankland-Russell will be able to lead a nice quiet life up in Shropshire.
“Indeed. Oh, I spy my little Sparky! Wheel me over to him please,” she instructed the maid.
The old lady opened the cage door and gave a low whistle. The canary returned it in song.
“It’s so lovely to see you again, Sparky. How I’ve missed you!”
“He’s missed you, too, Lady Hereford,” said Augusta.
“Don’t be silly! He hasn’t missed me a jot. I can tell that he’s perfectly happy here. He’s probably forgotten all about me!” She turned to the canary. “Now, the question is, Sparky, do you want to come and live with me again? Or would you prefer to stay here with Mrs Peel?”
The End
Historical Note
Bloomsbury is an area of central London with a rich cultural and educational heritage. The area was first laid out in the eighteenth century and gradually developed around ten formal squares landscaped with lawns and trees. Much of the development provided large, attractive homes for wealthy families. Bomb damage during the Second World War and subsequent rebuilding changed the character of some of the squares, Bedford Square remains the best preserved.
The area has long been associated with literary figures, Charles Dickens lived in Bloomsbury once he’d found success and the ‘Bloomsbury Set’ - a group of writers, thinkers and artists - were based here in the early twentieth century. Notable members were Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, Lytton Strachey and EM Forster. Other famous Bloomsbury residents have included Dorothy L Sayers, JM Barrie, Vladimir Lenin and Christina Rossetti.
The British Museum is located in Bloomsbury as are the headquarters of the University of London and three of its colleges: University College London, Birkbeck College and the School of Oriental and African Studies.
The Slade School of Fine Art is an art college at University College London. It was founded in 1868 and has an impressive list of alumni, the artist Lucian Freud was a tutor at the school from 1949-54.
Paddington Street Gardens was originally a burial ground for St Marylebone parish church. After being closed to burials in the early nineteenth century, the area opened as a public recreation ground in 1885. Apparently some of the original lime and London plane trees planted at this time are still standing.
The WPC looking after Catherine Frankland-Russell is a member of the Metropolitan Police Women Patrols. The first female police officers were in the Women Police Volunteers, an organisation founded in 1914 by suffragettes Nina Boyle and Margaret Damer Dawson. The founding of the organisation was in response to the dwindling number of male police officers (as men were called up to fight in the First World War) as well as concern for the number of female refugees who were arriving in London alone and at risk of exploitation. Also at this time, Scotland Yard approached the National Union of Women Workers to set up women patrols in London.
The Metropolitan Police Women Patrols came into service on 17th February 1919. The first three sergeants were Grace Russell, Patty Alliot and Lilian Wyles. Recruits had to be aged between 25 and 38 and taller than 5’4”. They had no power of arrest.
Female police officers worked in separate units to their male colleagues until the 1970s when the Equal Pay Act and Sexual Discrimination Act led to full integration.
The tunnel which the train enters in the closing chapters of the book is Primrose Hill Tunnel in north west London, about two miles from Euston station. It’s over a kilometre long and was the first railway tunnel in London. It took four years to construct, from 1833 - 1837. Construction was difficult because it proved a challenge trying to bore through the London clay. There was public unease about travelling on a train through a long tunnel so, before it opened, four doctors were consulted on the “effect of such a tunnel on the health and feelings”. They concluded that travelling in a train through the tunnel would be no different to travelling in a coach along a narrow street at night.
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Emily Organ, The Bloomsbury Murder (Augusta Peel Mysteries Book 3)
