“All right. Now, this Dundas wasn’t a fool. He got away with it for quite a long time—in fact, he nearly got away with it altogether. Nolan Baltimore knew all about it, presumably so did Jarvis Baltimore—and so very possibly did Michael Dalgarno. It’s all part of the company’s history, after all. Find out how Dundas got tripped up, Monk. Find the details of it, piece by piece.”

“It was his land,” Monk said wearily. “He bought it before the railway was diverted, and then sold it to them expensively after falsifying the survey report as to the height and composition of the hill.”

“And Baltimore and Sons is doing exactly the same thing this time, and diverting the track again?” Runcorn’s eyes were wide with disbelief. “And I’m supposed to believe that’s just a coincidence? Balderdash! Dalgarno knew all about the first time, and he pulled exactly the same trick . . . for a very good reason. There’s profit in it for him somewhere. And Katrina found proof of it. You know railways, you know banking—find it, and before we go to trial! I’ll see you get the money for going to Liverpool, or wherever it takes you. Just come back with proof.”

Monk could not refuse, for his own sake as much as Runcorn’s, or Katrina’s. He held out his hand and after a moment’s blank stare, Runcorn pulled open his desk and came out with six guineas which he put into Monk’s palm. “I’ll send you more if you need it,” he promised. “But don’t take any longer than you have to. They’ll put him up pretty soon.”

“Yes,” Monk agreed. “Yes, I imagine they will.” He put the money in his pocket and went out of the door.

Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

When Hester returned home and found a message from Monk that he had gone to Liverpool hoping to find proof of Dalgarno’s guilt in the fraud, she understood exactly why he had done so. In his place she would have done the same. Still, she felt a great emptiness in the house, and within herself also. She had not been able to help him in this case, and for all the superficial explanation and understanding, she knew there were deep and intense feelings he had not shared with her, and most of them were painful.

Perhaps she had been so absorbed in the problems facing Coldbath Square that she had not insisted he tell her in the way that he had needed her to. He could not speak easily of the truth because it trespassed on that part of his life that hurt him, and in which he was afraid he had been so much less than the man he was now.