his father paid people off for him and they kept quiet. Couple of whispers …” He hesitated.
“What, exactly?” Pitt pressed. “If it’s nothing out of the usual I don’t care: bad gambling debts, or fights … unless someone was very badly hurt. Did he seriously damage anyone? Use a knife? Maim or disfigure anyone?”
“No. Most of his trouble was with prostitutes,” Stoker replied with evident distaste. “One or two brothels had to be paid off, and accepted the money only on the condition he didn’t return.”
“Go on,” Pitt said sharply.
“Well, I don’t know if it’s true,” Stoker said tentatively. “But there’s word going round, very quietly, that Neville beat a prostitute pretty badly, and her pimp returned the favor, but with a knife. Left a few marks Forsbrook’ll carry for the rest of his life. At least that’s how the story goes.”
“How much credit do you give it?” Pitt was interested, but he was well aware that people boasted for many reasons, perhaps to build up their reputations as bad men to cross. It was a part of their image, and their vanity.
“Difficult to check,” Stoker replied. “Couldn’t get a precise date, but I have a guess. Forsbrook took a sudden holiday, and no one saw him at any functions for a couple of months. Told everyone he took a trip to Europe, but I haven’t been able to confirm that yet.”
“Where in Europe did he supposedly go?”
“Somewhere unusual,” Stoker answered with a twisted smile. “Nowhere on the Grand Tour, where he’d expect to be seen. Sofia, or Kiev, or someplace like that. Not going to run into any of your neighbors there.”
“You believe the story?”
Stoker chewed on his lip. “Put it this way: if he raped those two girls—Angeles Castelbranco, and then Alice Townley—it would fit the pattern that he tried it on a prostitute first, and got himself beaten for it. So badly he had to get away from London until he was healed.”
He shifted his weight. “On the other hand, if he didn’t rape either of them, then he could quite genuinely have taken a holiday in Sofia, or anywhere else. We might be able to prove he went to those places, if we dig, but there’s no real way we can prove he didn’t—unless we can show with certainty where he actually was. But I’d give a week’s pay if it turns out his father didn’t cover the tracks so no one’ll find them.”
“Interesting,” Pitt said thoughtfully.
“But of no use,” Stoker pointed out.
“Unless we can find the pimp who allegedly cut him and learn exactly where the scars are.”
Stoker grinned. “Yeah? I can see young Mr. Forsbrook letting us take a good look at the more private parts of his body to verify a pimp’s story!”
Pitt pulled a sour face. “But if it’s true, then it’s undoubtable that Forsbrook fits the pattern of rage and savagery extremely well. Tell me, do you believe it, Stoker?”
Stoker was suddenly grim and very steady. “Yes, sir, actually I do. I talked to quite a lot of people. No one is willing to say much against him. His father’s got a great deal of power in financial circles.”
He chewed his lip uncertainly. “There is a bit of a whisper that Pelham took a pretty hard fall over this Jameson Raid affair. Put more money into it than he can afford to lose. Bit of bad advice, I should think. Reckoned on us annexing the Transvaal.”
“Bad advice?” Pitt questioned. “From whom?”
“Well, you’d have to think you knew something before you risked your shirt on a raid like that, wouldn’t you?” Stoker said reasonably. “Inside information somewhere.”
“Yes,” Pitt agreed. “But that doesn’t excuse Neville Forsbrook of anything, even if it’s true.”
“And it would be difficult to trace Pelham Forsbrook’s dealings,” Stoker said. “A lot of it’s confidential, and there’s no way to judge why he backed one person and not another.”
“You’re right,” Pitt agreed. “It’s a waste of time, and could make us a lot of enemies where we need friends. Just look for anything recent in young Forsbrook’s life that seems odd.”
“There’s nothing Portuguese,” Stoker said straightaway. “Him or his father, I looked at that already.”
“And what about Neville Forsbrook’s income? Is all of it directly from his father? Any inheritance from his mother?”
“Not much, and he doesn’t come into it until he marries,” Stoker said with a shrug. “He’s tried one or two things, a couple of years in the army, but he didn’t take kindly to the discipline. Gave