Arthur & George

now I recall, Royden’s wife once told me he reacted strangely to the new moon.’
    ‘That’s true,’ said her husband ruminatively. ‘I noticed it too. He used to laugh like a maniac when the moon was new. I thought at first he was just putting it on, but I caught him doing it when no one was about.’
    ‘But don’t you see –’ Arthur began.
    Mrs Greatorex cut him off. ‘Laughing is not a crime. Even laughing like a maniac.’
    ‘But didn’t you think …?’
    ‘Sir Arthur, I have no great regard for the intelligence or the efficiency of the Staffordshire Constabulary. I think that is one thing we might be agreed upon. And if you are concerned about your young friend’s wrongful imprisonment, then I was concerned about the same thing happening to Royden Sharp. It might not have ended with your friend escaping gaol, but rather with both of them behind bars for belonging to the same gang, whether it existed or not.’
    Arthur decided to accept the rebuke. ‘And what about the weapon? Did you tell him to destroy it?’
    ‘Certainly not. We haven’t mentioned it from that day to this.’
    ‘Then may I ask you, Mrs Greatorex, to continue in that silence for a few days more? And a final question. Do the names Walker or Gladwin mean anything to you – in connection with the Sharps?’
    The couple shook their heads.
    ‘Harry?’
    ‘I think I remember Gladwin. Worked for a drayman. Haven’t seen him in years, though.’
    Harry was told to await instructions, while Arthur and his secretary returned to Birmingham for the night. More convenient accommodation at Cannock had been proposed; but Arthur liked to be confident of a decent glass of burgundy at the end of a hard day’s work. Over dinner at the Imperial Family Hotel, he suddenly remembered a phrase from one of the letters. He threw his knife and fork down with a clatter.
    ‘When the ripper was boasting of how nobody could catch him. He wrote, “I am as sharp as sharp can be.”’
    ‘“As Sharp as Sharp can be”,’ repeated Wood.
    ‘Exactly.’
    ‘But who was the foul-mouthed boy?’
    ‘I don’t know.’ Arthur was rather downcast that this particular intuition had not been confirmed. ‘Perhaps a neighbour’s boy. Or perhaps one of the Sharps invented him.’
    ‘So what do we do now?’
    ‘We continue.’
    ‘But I thought we’d – you’d – solved it. Royden Sharp is the ripper. Royden Sharp and Wallie Sharp together wrote the letters.’
    ‘I agree, Woodie. Now tell me why it was Royden Sharp.’
    Wood answered, counting off his fingers as he did so. ‘Because he showed the horse lancet to Mrs Greatorex. Because the wounds the animals suffered, cutting the skin and muscle but not penetrating the gut, could only have been inflicted by such an unusual instrument. Because he had worked as a butcher and also on a cattle ship, and therefore knew about handling animals and cutting them up. Because he could have stolen the lancet from the ship. Because the pattern of the letters and the slashings matches the pattern of his presence and absence from Wyrley. Because there are clear hints in the letters about his movements and activities. Because he has a record of mischief. Because he is affected by the new moon.’
    ‘Excellent, Woodie, excellent. A full case, well presented, and dependent on inference and circumstantial evidence.’
    ‘Oh,’ said the secretary, disappointed. ‘Have I missed something?’
    ‘No, nothing. Royden Sharp is our man, there’s not the slightest doubt about it in my mind. But we need more concrete proof. In particular, we need the horse lancet. We need to secure it. Sharp knows we’re in the district, and if he’s any sense it will already have been thrown into the deepest lake he knows.’
    ‘And if it hasn’t?’
    ‘If it hasn’t, then you and Harry Charlesworth are going to stumble across it and secure it.’
    ‘Stumble?’
    ‘Stumble.’
    ‘And secure it?’
    ‘Indeed.’
    ‘Have you any suggestions about our modus operandi?’
    ‘Frankly, I think it would be better if I didn’t know too much. But I imagine that it is still the custom in these parts of the country for people to leave their doors unlocked. And if it turns out to be a matter of negotiation, then I would suggest that the sum involved appear in the accounts for Undershaw in whichever column you choose to put it.’
    Wood was rather irritated by this high-mindedness. ‘Sharp is hardly likely to hand it over if we knock on