The Reckoning by Rennie Airth Read Free Book Online

person?’
    â€˜It’s possible. The bullets used have been retrieved and they’ll be tested shortly. If they match . . . well, then it becomes a different matter. I’ve told Billy I’d be happy to look at a photograph of Gibson, if he can get hold of one. Perhaps it’ll ring a bell.’
    They stood in silence. Then Helen spoke.
    â€˜And you’re sure you’ve never met him?’ She was still having difficulty believing what she had just heard.
    â€˜As sure as I can be.’ Madden shrugged. ‘I haven’t the faintest recollection of an Oswald Gibson. The only Gibson I knew was a boy at school called Henry. He was our cricket team’s leg-spinner.’
    Helen regarded her husband fondly. Madden’s memory was legendary.
    â€˜You can remember that Henry was a leg-spinner, but you don’t remember Oswald at all. It’s obvious there’s been a mistake. I don’t believe you ever met.’
    â€˜Neither do I.’ Madden looked at her. ‘But if I can’t remember his name, how is it that he knows mine?’

4
    â€˜H AVE YOU FIXED AN appointment?’ Madden asked. ‘Is Gibson’s brother expecting us?’
    â€˜Any time this morning, he said. He’s got some photographs to show you.’
    Billy had been waiting at Waterloo station to greet Madden when his train pulled in.
    â€˜He offered to send them to the Yard, but I thought it would be quicker if we did it this way. Besides, you might have some questions for him.’
    There was no need for him to explain the need for urgency that lay behind his decision, least of all to the man who had taught him his trade, or the better part of it, as Billy liked to say. As an old investigator himself, Madden knew how important it was to resolve murder cases quickly – how trails tended to go cold after a few days – and the shooting of Oswald Gibson had now taken on a critical importance, thanks to the news Madden had received from Billy the evening before.
    â€˜It didn’t take the lab boys long. The slugs were in good shape, better than they expected.’
    The call had come half an hour after Madden had got back from the farm. Billy had stayed late at the Yard waiting for the results of the ballistics examination of the two bullets.
    â€˜The reason for that was that both had iron cores.’
    â€˜Say that again.’ Madden wondered if he’d misheard.
    â€˜Well, bullets are made of lead usually. But these had iron cores coated in lead, which was why they kept their shape so well. According to the lab technicians, they must have been made in Germany during the last war.’
    â€˜In Germany ?’
    â€˜Apparently the Jerries started producing them when they ran short of lead. I’m trying to get more on that.’
    Madden absorbed the information in silence.
    â€˜But there’s no doubt about your lab’s findings?’ he asked finally.
    â€˜None at all. The bullets were fired from the same pistol.’
    â€˜Time’s become an important factor now,’ Madden had explained to Helen later, when he told her he had decided to go up to London the following day. ‘The murder in Scotland happened a month ago, and the police still have no lead in either case. I’ve no idea whether Gibson mentioning my name in that letter is significant or not. But there’s just a chance that if I can remember him – his face, at any rate – it might give the police a starting point for their investigation.’
    Greeting Madden on the platform now, Billy told him he had a police car outside that would take them up to St Pancras, where Edward Gibson’s office was located.
    â€˜He’s as keen as we are to get this question cleared up. Then I’m going to have to go down to Lewes again to talk to Vic Chivers. It’s odds-on this will become a Yard case now, with the Sussex police taking the lead, at least for the present. But