“I agree. Although what happened with the assailant last night is worrying, I just don’t think the assailant killed Joshua Samson. Your father accosted you on the street for the money. Money that from what you have told me, he is aware isn’t his yet he accosted you for it anyway. His willingness to challenge you in broad daylight is a testament to just how much he wants it.”
“He is in debt. He told me that much,” she reminded him.
“Yes, he told you that, but let me just ask you a few things?” When she nodded he thought for a moment. “How did he find the house here, the hovel? Do you know?”
“I knew nothing about it, but we came here we didn’t go to any agent or anything, so I really have no idea how he learned of the house.”
“Did you go straight to it when you got off the carriage?”
She nodded. “Clarence had the address written down, but who it came from I don’t know.”
“He didn’t meet with a landlord when you moved in?”
“We didn’t meet with anyone.” Poppy frowned and sat upright. “Now that I come to think about it, he knew where to find the key. It was behind a loose brick on the wall just beside the back door.”
“You didn’t go to a tavern or something first?”
“Clarence said we didn’t have any money to pay for luxuries like that. The house was sparse, I can tell you. There was barely any wood for the fires. We had practically no money to buy food. Even when we had the bag full of money, he took out only enough to buy bottles of rum for himself, and gave me the smallest amount to pay for a loaf of bread. There was never much in the way of food. I had to go out and buy whatever I could afford, but only with pennies, you understand. The rest remained untouched.”
“Until the day you packed it up and took it to the park,” Luke finished for her.
“The day after I collected the money from Peter, a note was pushed under the door. Clarence read it and instructed me deliver the money to a man in the park first thing in the morning. I asked why because I thought the money was for debts back in Cumbria. Clarence told me that his concern was to deal with the debts first. We could discuss Cumbria later.”
Luke tugged her back into his arms and tucked her beneath the warm covers. “Can you remember much about the stranger who delivered the note? What did he look like?”
“I didn’t see anybody. The note just appeared one day. Someone pushed it under the door.”
Luke nodded. “So, Clarence then put pressure on you went to make the payment in the park.”
“I didn’t want to. I knew it was foolish to go out without a chaperone but I wanted to get back to Cumbria. I also wanted to see who the creditor was more than anything. In the end, by the time I reached the meeting point I had almost talked myself out of it. Then those pick-pockets appeared. By the time the body turned up, I knew then that I wasn’t going to meet with anyone in a park. I don’t know why the contact didn’t turn up for the money though.”
“I think the person you were supposed to give the money to was the man I chased out of the woods,” Luke said. Now that he came to think about the size of the attacker last night was similar to the man who had hidden in the trees.
“What happened when you left? Did you see anyone?”
Poppy shook her head. “I went straight back to the hovel. I told Clarence I had handed the money over but hid it in the kitchen cupboard. Someone called around, but Clarence didn’t answer the door. He tried to get me to answer it, but I refused.”
“Was he worried, or scared?”
Now that she came to think about it, Clarence had looked worried. “He wasn’t trembling with fear or anything like that. He was just determined not to answer the door. It was like he knew who it was and knew he wouldn’t like what they had to say to him, so he never bothered to answer it.”
“Did you get a good look at them?”
Poppy shook her head. “There was only an outline through the glass but it was distorted. I was more pre-occupied with what I was going to do, and whether Clarence would find out I still had the money.” She paused for a moment and thought carefully. “Do you think he has contacts in London?”
Luke nodded. “It looks like it. I also think that Clarence is an entirely separate entity to the body in the park. That is part of our investigation into Sayers. The issues with Clarence are an enigma in their own right but have nothing to do with the Star Elite’s investigation into the burglaries.”
“I am sorry. I have brought so much trouble to your door.”
Luke grinned at her. “We are used to it.”
“Do you think the man is out to kill Clarence?” She frowned when Luke slowly shook his head.
He didn’t want to frighten her but had to make her understand. “The man, the attacker, whoever he is, is after you. The fact that Clarence, who has ostensibly been living all alone in that hovel in Camden, is alive is a testament that the attacker doesn’t want him.”
“So he could be connected to Clarence.”
“Exactly. Because Clarence accosted you in the street outside of the coaching office, we have to assume that the two, and the woman in the coaching yard, are all linked.”