A Scandal of Sorts - Ch 3

The man waited for a few minutes to let the suddenness of these activities sink inside me. Then he began in his cold voice.

‘So, now to the point. I wanted to sort this business out, due to the fact that no one loved Jake White more than me. I searched for men who had been declared guilty but did not give in even at the last moment of their life, compelled to feel the clutches of death along with the rope. Even the darkest of criminals tells the truth at this moment, but what about those who were innocent?’

‘Genius! Continue, please.’

‘Next I reviewed the judges who had passed the judgement. All of them had one thing in common – their Spanish names. This roused my suspicions. Now tell me, Mr Calverton, what criminal in the world is so careless that he would commit a crime leaving a number of simple evidences to follow? The motto was clear – the articles on the scene of the crime were fake. They were put in order to prove the people guilty. As soon as I finished this thought process of mine, I understood this was a case dealing with criminal nature. So I called upon another man who has suffered, like me.’

‘So what do we do now? Do you know anyone else who can help us with this?’

‘I do not know anyone else, but I know you, Mr Calverton, more than you do yourself.’

 ‘What do you mean, Mr White? How in the world can I possibly be of any help?’

‘Well, you know, I did some research work, reading about the families of London and facts related to them.  I put my finger on Calverton and found out to my delight that some far-away uncle of yours was a judge. That means he can help us.’

‘Now that you remind me of it, Mr White –‘

‘Call me Ralph.’

‘Yes, Ralph, now that you remind me of it, I come to see the point. I never thought about it, before I knew that criminal judge business. We’ll visit him first thing in the morning. The good thing is – he lives in Spain.’

‘I read about that in the journal.’

‘That could help us. My uncle may also have knowledge about the criminal activities going on there. Meet me at the airport. I’ll book the tickets for Madrid. And by the way, call me Pat, short for Patrick.’ I smiled at him.

‘See you tomorrow, Pat. For now, I have to act in this exciting dress of mine. The frock is quite comfortable, actually. You can fold and stretch your legs the way you want to quite easily, without the fear of a ripping sound any moment.’

We bid farewell to each other, laughing as we turned away. I walked down the opposite side of the alley from which I had entered, and returned to the front of the theatre. Then I called a cab, got inside, and rode all the way home, to Whitechapel Road. One thing was definite – my life was going to change.