Steps to the Gallows by Edward Marston Read Free Book Online Page A

well,’ said Ackford. ‘You’re afraid that we’llexpose your weaknesses by competing with you. We’ve done it time and again in the past. Brace yourselves for further humiliation.’
    Yeomans simmered for a full minute. Unable to find a crushing rejoinder, he turned on his heel and strode away. Hale had to break into a trot to keep up with him. Paul could not resist a Parthian shot.
    ‘I lied to you, Micah,’ he called out, cupping his hands. ‘You were right first time. I am Peter Skillen.’
     
    Diane Mandrake slowly recovered consciousness. When her eyelids finally stopped fluttering like a trapped butterfly, she realised that she was stretched out on the sofa with Peter Skillen standing solicitously over her. As she struggled to remember what had happened, he prompted her gently.
    ‘I had to pass on troubling news,’ he said. ‘You were overwhelmed by it.’
    ‘Of course – poor, dear Leo is dead. When did it happen?’
    ‘We can discuss that when you feel well enough.’
    ‘I’m fine now, Mr Skillen,’ she said, adjusting her position, ‘but wait a moment. If I fainted, why am I not still stretched out on the floor?’
    ‘Luckily, I was able to catch you.’
    ‘Thank heavens there was a pair of strong manly arms waiting!’
    At any other time, Peter would have found the remark flirtatious and her eyes did ignite for a second. In the circumstances, he decided, she was too flustered by the loss of a friend and business associate to know what she was saying. Easing her back onto the sofa had taken some effort. Peter could still feel the weight of her body pressed up against him.
    ‘I owe you a debt, kind sir,’ she said.
    ‘I only did what anyone would have done.’
    ‘That’s patently not true. You’ve met little Ben Tite, who looks after the shop. Had he tried to catch me when I went down, he’d still be flat on his back beneath me, unable to move a muscle.’ She let out a ripe cackle then chided herself immediately. ‘I shouldn’t laugh. It’s a terrible thing to do in the wake of this calamity.’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘Leo was murdered ? Where, when and how did it take place? I thought he was going to engage a bodyguard. I was the one who bullied him into doing so, Mr Skillen. He showed me some of the letters he received. They were vicious. Leo was threatened with torture, disfigurement and a miserable death.’
    ‘What about you, Mrs Mandrake?’
    ‘I don’t follow you, sir.’
    ‘His work is on sale in your shop. Did you not receive threats?’
    ‘Oh, I have them all the time,’ she said, airily, ‘and they usually come from people who’ve been featured in our prints. Prosecution is their weapon. They try to frighten me with the threat of it but, as you can see, I’m still here and my shop is still thriving.’ She leant forward. ‘But that’s enough about me. Stop hovering like that and sit down again. I want to hear about Leo.’
    ‘Some of the details are upsetting,’ he warned, resuming his seat.
    ‘I’m past the shock. I have the strength to hear them now.’
    ‘Then I must first tell you how I became involved with Mr Paige …’
    Peter gave her a brief account of how Paige had come to the shooting gallery, discovered that it was run by his old friend, hired a bodyguard and set off with Jem Huckvale trailing behind him. Diane was saddened to hear how the bodyguard had been assaulted and she attached no blame to Huckvale. When she heard about the murder itself, there was a sharpintake of breath and she brought a hand to her neck.
    ‘Why did he have to be garrotted?’ she murmured.
    ‘It was a quick and simple way to overpower him,’ replied Peter. ‘He’d been a soldier, remember. Unless he’d been caught off guard, he’d have put up a good fight. The killer made sure that he had no chance to do so.’
    ‘And then he set fire to the place?’
    ‘He obviously wanted to destroy Mr Paige’s papers. Among them, I suspect, were early designs for