‘No, I’m perfectly fit and well at the moment, Philip. But it’s reassuring to know you have the contents of a medicine cabinet in your drawer.’
‘It is, isn’t it?’ He put the bottles away again. ‘I call it peace of mind. By the way, you haven’t commented on my blackboard yet.’
It was propped up on an easel in the corner of the room.
‘I didn’t notice it!’ said Augusta. ‘What are you going to write on it?’
‘Notes about the cases I’m working on. I don’t have many of them at the moment, but it will come in useful when I have.’
‘It will.’ Augusta drained her tea. ‘I haven’t told you yet why I need some help. I had an encounter with Walter Ferguson.’
‘Ferguson?’ Philip scowled. His good mood had completely evaporated by the time Augusta had finished telling him about the conversation.
‘The man has a nerve!’ he said. ‘He was clearly waiting for you on Marchmont Street, wasn’t he? He knows you live there. What a rat! I should ask someone to arrest him just for the sake of it.’
‘There’s no need. I didn’t feel like I was in danger. He’s just a nuisance.’
‘And he says he’s going to publish another article about you?’
‘Yes, apparently he is.’
‘I said I was going to speak to the editor of the London Weekly Chronicle, didn’t I? And then I’ve been so busy following Mrs Ramsden about that it slipped my mind. I shall do it immediately, Augusta. They can’t be allowed to print confidential information from government files.’
‘There’s a possibility Ferguson hasn’t found out anything about me and is merely hoping I’ll be intimidated by the threat.’
‘He shouldn’t be intimidating you, Augusta! I wish you would agree to me getting him arrested for something.’
‘Arresting him would only help his cause,’ said Augusta. ‘He wants attention more than anything else. That’s why he sought me out to find out what I thought about his letter. He couldn’t bear the fact I hadn’t acknowledged it. If you could speak to the editor, I would be very grateful. But I think we should try to achieve it while giving Ferguson as little attention as possible.’
Chapter 27
‘A private detective?’ said Mr Shaw. ‘There are quite a few of you about. Especially lady ones. It seems to be a trend these days.’
He gestured for Augusta to sit in the chair at his desk. Mr Shaw had wisps of thin white hair and a thin white moustache. He was a senior accounts officer in the accounts department at the headquarters of the Great Western Railway. The window of his office overlooked the soot-stained glass and iron arches of Paddington railway station.
‘Lady detectives are a trend?’ said Augusta, as she sat.
‘Oh yes. Twenty years ago, they weren’t around at all. But these days they seem to be everywhere. It must have been the war. It changed everything, didn’t it?’
‘Yes, it did.’
‘Now then…’ He put on some wiry reading glasses and examined a piece of paper in front of him. ‘My secretary says you wish to speak to me about Alexander Miller and John Gibson.’
‘That’s right.’
He whipped the reading glasses off again.
‘I can confirm they both worked here. It was some time ago now and I’m probably one of the few people here who still remembers them. So you’re lucky you’re speaking with me!’ He grinned.
‘Lucky?’
‘Indeed. And Mr Miller and Mr Gibson are both sadly missed.’
‘Mr Miller disappeared ten years ago.’
‘Very sad indeed.’
‘Do you have any idea what could have happened to him?’
‘No idea at all. Mr Gibson told me that a letter had been sent to Mr Miller’s sister informing her he’d moved to another part of the country. That seemed odd to me. There was no indication he’d planned to do such a thing. And if he had planned it, then he would have been a responsible chap and given four weeks’ notice to terminate his employment with us. I can’t see why he would have walked out on his job like that. He enjoyed his work here, and he was good at what he did. His sudden disappearance was alarming.’
‘His sister believes the letter was forged.’
‘I didn’t know Mr Miller as well as his sister did, so it’s not my place to decide whether or not he wrote it. But it seemed out of character. And if Mr Miller’s sister suspects he didn’t write the letter, then I can believe he didn’t.’
‘John Gibson seemed to do all he could to find his friend.’
‘Yes, he did. He was extremely upset about Mr Miller’s sudden disappearance. As we all were. Mr Gibson didn’t believe Alexander would have deliberately gone off. He took it rather badly and I think that’s why the accident came about at Baker Street station. I think he’d had enough.’
‘You think Mr Gibson fell under the train deliberately?’
‘It’s awful to say it, I know. But he really was quite upset about his friend’s disappearance.’
‘Do you think someone could have pushed Mr Gibson?’
‘If they had, then I’m sure something would have come out about it. Someone would have seen something. Having seen how much Mr Miller’s disappearance upset him, I’m afraid I think the accident resulted from deliberate action on his part. Very upsetting, I know.’
‘Do you remember a lady called Jemima who worked as a secretary in this department when Mr Miller and Mr Gibson were working here?’
