A Quiet Death by Alanna Knight Read Free Book Online

what am I to do?'
    'Nothing. They'll give up after they get more evidence.'
    'Evidence? You mean the invasion of my home, the terrifying of Mrs McGonagall? This is dreadful, sir, dreadful. It is bad enough having the worry of Kathleen without being involved in her friend's suicide.'
    Faro was aware of a familiar prickling sensation in the region of his spine. The presence of the constable outside McGonagall's home confirmed that the police had reason to believe there was more to the girl's death than suicide.
    Suicide was already the wrong word. Murder was more like it.
    And there was only one way to find out.

Chapter 5
     
    As they left Vince's lodging. Faro was unable to resist walking past the plain-clothes constable. 'Well done, lad. Keep it up,' he whispered.
    The young man, recognising the voice of authority, saluted smartly thereby giving the whole game away. Faro raised an admonishing finger and with a sad shake of his head, still chuckling, caught up with Vince.
    As they approached the town centre he asked idly where the police station was located.
    'You are not going there, Stepfather? I thought you were on holiday?' There was no reply from Faro. 'You cannot resist a mystery, can you?'
    'There is something wrong, Vince. Take my word for it.'
    'Oh, for heaven's sake. That constable could have been watching the tenement. There's plenty of petty crime in Paton's Lane, believe me.'
    When his stepfather remained silent, he said: 'Regarding the girl Polly, there is a perfectly logical explanation which I am sure must have occurred to you almost immediately, as the reason for her suicide.'
    'One you considered too indelicate to mention to McGonagall?'
    Vince nodded grimly. 'Exactly. I suspect that neither of them went to London nor had they any intention of so doing. As you well know, in every big city, here and in Edinburgh, there are what are known in polite society as gentlemen's select clubs, patronised by the wealthy. And a positive refuge for young women whose ambitions are stronger than their morals.'
    'Would Polly not have been more use to them alive than dead?'
    'I think you'll get your answer from the police surgeon at the mortuary. I presume that is your destination,' he added in disgust.
    When Faro mumbled: 'Something like that,' Vince continued: 'The answer is easy. The wretched girl probably found herself pregnant. In eight cases out of ten, that is the reason for suicides among young unmarried girls. Either betrayed and abandoned by a lover they cannot face the future or disowned by parents unwilling to endure a daughter's disgrace.'
    Not either, sometimes both, thought Faro grimly, remembering how his dead wife Lizzie had been made to suffer, a fifteen-year-old servant girl, for bringing Vince into the world.
    'Polly must have been pretty sharp about it,' he said, 'seeing that she had only gone missing for a few weeks.'
    'Come, Stepfather, you can do better than that. I imagine that girls, the pretty ones with potential, are discovered and recruited on the weaving factory floor. Not literally, of course,' he added with a grin. 'They probably work part time in the select clubs until they soon find that working hours in both establishments and keeping up a pretence of home life are too exhausting and opt for the more lucrative nightwork. I would presume that Kathleen Neil wanted to spare McGonagall's feelings, hence the postcard from wherever it was posted.'
    Faro was not convinced nor was he to be diverted from his purpose by Vince's argument.
    He had no difficulty in identifying himself in the police station. They were fortunate, he was told, that the police surgeon had been called in to deal with a fatal accident enquiry. He was to be found in his temporary office.
    'Is this an official enquiry?' asked Dr Ramsey nervously. He was young and clearly impressed to learn that Dr Laurie had been assistant to the Edinburgh City police surgeon.
    Vince quickly explained that his visit was on behalf of his landlady,