The Excursion Train Read Online Free PDF

taken a fancy to Mr Bransby. He was an ugly devil,’ said Pritchard, ‘and he was so miserable. You’d never have thought he was on his way to a championship fight.’
    ‘No?’
    ‘No, sir. He looked as if he was going to a funeral.’
    Colbeck made no comment.

CHAPTER THREE
    The excursion train reached Paddington that evening without any undue incident. There were some heated arguments in the third-class carriages and a few minor scuffles but the railway policemen soon brought them under control. Most of the passengers were still too numbed by the defeat of their hero, the Bargeman, to cause any mayhem themselves and they were noticeably quieter on their way back. Those in the second-class carriage that had brought Jacob Bransby to Twyford were quite unaware of the fact a murder had taken place there. When he interviewed Felix Pritchard earlier, Inspector Colbeck had been careful to say nothing about the crime, explaining that he was simply making routine inquiries about a missing person. Unbeknown to the excursionists, a corpse travelled back to London in the guard’s van with two detectives from the Metropolitan Police and an irate Tod Galway.
    ‘It ain’t decent, Inspector,’ asserted the guard.
    ‘The body could hardly be left where it was,’ said Colbeck.
    ‘You should ’ave sent it back by other means.’
    ‘What other means?’
    ‘Any way but on my train.’
    ‘Mr Bransby had a return ticket in his pocket. That entitleshim to be on this particular train and here he will be.’
    ‘Bleedin’ liberty, that’s what it is!’
    ‘Show some respect for the dead. And to us,’ added Colbeck, sternly. ‘Do you think we want to ride back to London in the company of a murder victim and a grumbling railwayman?’
    Galway lapsed into a sullen silence until the train shuddered to a halt in the station. Victor Leeming was given the job of organising the transfer of the dead body to the police morgue, first waiting until the train had been emptied of passengers so that a degree of privacy could be ensured. Colbeck, meanwhile, took a hansom cab back to Scotland Yard and delivered his report to Superintendent Tallis. The latter listened to the recital with mounting irritation.
    ‘Nobody saw a thing?’ he asked, shaking his head in wonder. ‘A man is throttled aboard a crowded train and not a single pair of eyes witnesses the event?’
    ‘No, sir.’
    ‘I find that hard to believe.’
    ‘Everyone rushed out of the train in order to get to the fight.’
    ‘Then why didn’t this Mr Bransby join them?’
    ‘I have a theory about that, Superintendent.’
    ‘Ah,’ sighed Tallis, rolling his eyes. ‘Another of your famous theories, eh? I prefer to work with hard facts and clear evidence. They are much more reliable guides. Very well,’ he conceded, flicking a wrist, ‘let’s hear this latest wild guess of yours.’
    ‘I believe that the woman was involved.’
    ‘A female assassin? Isn’t that stretching supposition too far?’
    ‘She was no assassin,’ argued Colbeck. ‘The woman was there as an accomplice to distract the victim. While she delayedhim, the killer attacked from behind.’
    ‘What put that notion into your head, Inspector?’
    ‘The fact that she was in that carriage at all.’
    ‘There’s no mystery in that,’ said Tallis, darkly. ‘We both know why she was there. Such creatures always follow a crowd. Clearly, she was looking for a better class of customer than she’d find among the ruffians in third-class.’
    ‘I’ve only Mr Pritchard’s word that the woman was, in fact, a prostitute. He could well have been mistaken. He confessed that he’d been drinking before he boarded the train so his judgement may not be altogether sound. What interests me,’ Colbeck continued, ‘was that the woman did not return to the train at Twyford.’
    ‘Perhaps she went astray.’
    ‘Deliberately.’
    ‘You’ve no means of knowing that.’
    ‘I have this instinct, sir.’
    ‘We need