Bryant & May on the Loose: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery Page 0,115

went after the remaining man who had hired him, before Standover decided to talk to anyone else. Which brings us to Toth. Mr Fox’s relationship with Xander is a rather interesting one. Not only did he use Toth’s detailed knowledge of the area, he was encouraged and inspired by him. But it still didn’t stop him from making Toth a scapegoat. He planted fur from Toth’s outfit on Cavendish’s body, and all the while, continued to be his friend. Fox kept a mental note of the wasteland near the railway; it was an ideal place to leave a body. He persuaded Toth to continue dressing as the stag-man—not that I suppose he took much persuading—thinking it would keep workmen away from the site. Instead, Toth, ever the showman, attracted unwelcome attention, and finally had to be dealt with.’

‘Why did he bother to take him to the temple? Why not just kill him?’

‘As we were interviewing Mr Fox, I wondered if he might have come to trust in the power of the area’s protective mythology. He had beheaded his victims in the time-honoured fashion. He had acted in accordance with the traditions of the region. And he had seen the figure of Saint Helena on the wall of the temple. Saint Helena, the British equivalent of the Roman goddess Diana, the huntress, upon whose temple St Paul’s itself now stands. But she was more than this. She was a symbol of the river Fleet, from whence came the Bagnigge well beneath the church. Mr Fox even lived above the site of the original spring. How could he not have felt the hand of destiny pressing heavily upon him? It seemed entirely appropriate to bring matters to an end by sacrificing Toth to Saint Helena. By returning Toth’s spirit to the well, Fox would close this chain of bizarre and disastrous events. It makes me think of the Stockholm Syndrome, only in reverse; the felon came to believe his victim.’

‘Bloody hell.’ Renfield drained the rest of his tea in one gulp. If he had not believed in Bryant’s powers before, he did now. ‘What set you off in the right direction?’

‘One question John had asked kept buzzing around inside my head. If Mr Fox had gone to the trouble of cutting off the heads, why would he then allow the first two to turn up? There had to be a purpose to such extravagant executions, and it could only be to misdirect us away from the commonplace issue of identification. But once he’d started following the pattern of the past, he couldn’t stop. The third death had to be similar to the others in order to implicate Xander Toth. There was only one way to bring the cycle to an end: sacrifice the man who had accidentally encouraged him to initiate it. Such acts are rare but not uncommon.

‘I must confess Mr Fox fascinates me. I’ve never encountered such a mentality before. He’s psychotic, brazen, and in his own way, supremely rational. The thing I want to concentrate on in our next interrogation session is his real identity. On that subject he has so far refused to be forthcoming.’

‘I have a question.’ April timidly raised her hand. ‘If Mr Fox found nothing in Delaney’s flat, who has the deed to Camley Lane?’

‘Come on,’ said Bryant, pleased with himself. ‘You can work this last part out for yourselves.’

Everyone looked at each other blankly.

‘Delaney liked studying historical records at Camden Council. So naturally, he sent the deed to the one man who could trace its rightful owner—Ed Tremble, Camden’s land purchase advisor. I spoke to him a few minutes ago. Thanks to our rubbish postal service the delivery was only made last night, but it’s still in time to be registered in Ellen Porter’s name. Now she can decide whether to sell it or not.’

‘So you set out to catch a stag and ended up with a fox,’ said Banbury lamely. Nobody laughed. ‘What happens now?’

‘After we’ve formally charged Mr Fox, it will fall upon me to make Mr Faraday’s life a living hell. I’ll demand a full reinstatement of our powers, our equipment and, most importantly of all, our salaries.’

‘Did you torture Fox?’ asked Longbright. ‘I mean, how come he volunteered so much information? Why would he do that unless he knew he could get off?’

‘Or get out,’ said April suddenly. ‘You said he studied with a locksmith. Who’s guarding him?’

‘Liberty,’ Longbright found herself calling out. The back of her neck prickled with