‘No. She could have put it into her bag. She had one of those little velvet dolly bags hanging on her wrist. A Browning’s not small but she could have got it in there.’ Hopkirk’s voice was leaden. ‘But — a Browning in a dolly bag? I ask you! Let’s be reasonable, shall we? This isn’t a woman’s crime. They don’t like guns. She probably had some perfectly acceptable female reason for being in the vicinity. It might not have been one she chose to share with the Old Bill but reasonable by her lights. Adultery … fornication … the usual.’ His voice was tight with distaste.
‘Takes two, Hopkirk, old chap … very often one of each sex … but in Melton Square?’ Joe laughed and pulled a face.
Bacchus and Fanshawe exchanged looks. After a moment, coming to a decision, Bacchus spoke for the Branch. ‘You’d be wrong to dismiss a female input,’ he said carefully. ‘Look here, gentlemen — we know there are Irish women heavily involved with the Fenian movement. And they are every bit as fanatical as the men.’ With a further glance of consultation with Fanshawe, he added: ‘Anyone who reads The Times will be aware of that much.’ He continued to speak slowly, weighing his words. ‘These are women who are adept with gun and bomb and doubtless dolly bag. We’ve been fortunate enough to extract … to come by … information from the inside regarding these recruitments.’
No one considered embarrassing the Branch by asking for further elaboration.
‘It’s what we feared. It begins to look as though we could have got one of those harridans over here,’ Captain Fanshawe commented, voicing everyone’s worst suspicions. ‘Fresh off the ferry? A sleeper recently activated? MI5 got anything useful?’
Joe shook his head. ‘Nothing they’re confiding to us, at any rate,’ he said, sidestepping the question. He was remembering the disturbing report by the head of Irish Intelligence delivered to the assembled group in Devon. Two or three women with links to the IRA had unaccountably gone missing. It was feared that one of them might be bringing her destructive rage to the capital.
‘I’m wondering if CID have scared her off. Did she have any idea that you had suspicions of her?’ Fanshawe asked.
‘How could she? We didn’t!’ Inspector Chappel voiced his exasperation. ‘As far as she knows, she’s got clean away. Damn it! All the hankies she could use and a lift out of there!’
‘Followed by the sympathies of the crowd.’ Bacchus voiced his derision. ‘And she will therefore be feeling quite at liberty to take the next step in this escalating series of political murders.’ He made an effort not to sound triumphant. ‘Well, we are where we are. Snakes and ladders is a mighty good training for this sort of exercise. Welcome back to square one, gents!’
‘No. Welcome to the start of a fresh game,’ said Joe. ‘But this time we play with loaded dice. We look on this as a chance to move forward and up. Before we leave this room we’ll have exact plans in place for the next throw.’