After a moment Rutledge said, “I should like to have a day or two of leave. For personal business. Would you have any objection to that?”

“Not at all. You’re between cases. I see no harm in taking a little time.”

“Thank you, sir.” He started to rise, but Hubbard motioned him to sit where he was.

“We haven’t discussed the matter about which I’d summoned you.”

Rutledge sat down again, his hat on his knee, and waited.

“The woman who reported you for misconduct. A Mrs. Farrell-Smith, I believe?”

“Yes, sir,” Rutledge replied.

He’d had no warning. Not from Sergeant Gibson, not from curious stares or people turning away as he passed. Not even from his usually acute intuition. But of course he’d seen no one last night when he came into the Yard. Only a skeleton night staff was on duty, since there was no major London case on the docket that required every available man.

Hubbard’s voice was chilly as he said, “I understand from Sergeant Gibson that you were interested in learning more details concerning her background. Was that a personal issue, Rutledge?”

“Personal?” he repeated, staring at Hubbard. “Hardly. Her late husband had known one of the possible suspects in the murders. This was before the war. I was curious about the suspect’s background, and I’d hoped that she could tell me something about him. Even secondhand, it could have been useful. She refused, got angry with me, and I wondered why. When I first met Mrs. Farrell-Smith, she seemed to believe I’d come to see her about that suspect, but I hadn’t. What’s more, she had objected to the Yard being brought into the inquiry to start with. Any good policeman would begin to consider what if anything was behind her attitude. Three men were already dead, the fourth victim would be found shortly. Most people would be eager to help us find that killer.”

“Sergeant Gibson tells me he warned you that she was complaining of your conduct, but you still insisted that he find out what he could about Mrs. Farrell-Smith’s husband.”

“Her complaints were, in my opinion, a matter for the Yard to deal with. I needed information that I could use to pursue a killer.”

“Not to coerce her into dropping her complaint?”

Rutledge opened his mouth and shut it again. Finally he said, “That’s absurd.”

“Is it? Sergeant Gibson came to me—and rightly so—when he discovered that Mrs. Farrell-Smith’s husband had died under suspicious circumstances. She was cleared in the matter.”

“I was told he died in a fall.”