It was a joke, sort of, but Kim wrinkled his nose. “I could believe him a murderer with no trouble. But—well, you said it yourself, Will. Three silent steps and a single, precise blow. Either a brilliant improvisation or a cleverly planned killing. Since when was Chingford capable of silence, precision, or cleverness?”

“That’s true,” Will said slowly. “I could have been wrong, but...that’s true.”

“As far as it goes. And yet everything else is against him. The evidence is circumstantial, but it’s plentiful, and we don’t have a wide range of other candidates. Nobody else had reason to kill the blasted man.”

“Oh, right,” Will said. “You haven’t heard that Fairfax was a blackmailer?”

Kim ricocheted upright in a highly satisfying way. Will gave him Yoxall’s story, and he took a deep breath. “Will, you are a miracle. And you went and got this yesterday, after I shouted at you? Good Christ, I don’t deserve you.”

“Is it good news? It’s a pretty obvious motive for Chingford.”

“Yes, but he pretty obviously did it. And it’s a well-established principle of natural justice that blackmailers have it coming, so that might conceivably sway a jury to manslaughter. If we can prove it, of course, and if the stupid sod will admit it. Although...” His voice slowed. “Hmm. What was your connection to Yoxall again?”

“His uncle was a captain in my battalion, ran my group of trench raiders. He was a good man, for brass—always counted us out and counted us back. Not the brightest spark, but he stuck his neck out for us.”

“And this George Yoxall struck you as a decent chap? Reliable? Honest?”

“I’d say so. I liked him.”

“I trust your judgement,” Kim said. “But does it not strike you there’s a couple of awfully odd things about his story?”

“Like what?”

“The fact that he felt able to tell Fairfax to clear off. Most people don’t: it’s why blackmail is a lucrative line of work.”

“Well, he wasn’t being threatened with gaol, or having his own doings exposed.”

“That’s rather my point. The sins of the fathers don’t count for much these days. If all you can threaten your victim with is embarrassment—I don’t feel convinced that a blackmailer would try his luck on such a weak hand.”

“He might have lost his girl and her money.”

“But look at what Fairfax had to lose. The machinery of the Club protecting its own would have swung into action. He might well have been expelled, and the word put out about him. If he was living off the secrets of the wealthy, he’d surely not risk losing his access to them.”

“So maybe he needed the money right then?”