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She studied him carefully, and he must have picked that up, because he dragged his cap even lower down over his forehead.
Just as he reached the low gate, the door she was leaning on opened behind her and she staggered back.
A hand shoved her to one side, so she fetched up against a wall, almost knocking a picture to the floor, and the door was slammed shut, the bolt shot.
She stared at the woman as she turned from the door. “We have to call the police.”
“I heard you the first time.” The woman was reed thin and in her mid to late fifties. Her eyes were sharp and glittered in the morning light. “Which station?”
“Scotland Yard.” Gabriella thought about it, then shook her head. “The local bobbies can probably get to James faster. And he needs them to be fast. He’s locked in one of the garages in a row close to here.”
The woman went to a small table and lifted the receiver of a smart new phone, and dialed.
Gabriella listened to her cool, precise tones as she spoke. She gave her name to the desk sergeant as Ruby Everett. “Who is in danger, did you say?” She glanced over at Gabriella.
“Detective Sergeant James Archer of the Met.”
The woman’s eyebrow rose at that piece of information, and she relayed it. “And you are?”
“Gabriella Farnsworth.” Gabriella went to the door and crouched to look through the letter flap.
There was no sign of her pursuer.
She hoped he hadn’t gone back to deal with James.
“How did you know to come here?” the woman asked as Gabriella rose from her crouch.
“I saw you yesterday, and thought that you were watching to make sure I treated Mr. Roe respectfully. I’m a traffic warden, and yesterday I took over from the warden who usually does this round.”
“The little girl in the black uniform with the yellow stripe on her cap.” Ruby Everett gave a slow nod. “Is he gone? The man who was chasing you?”
“It looks like it.” Gabriella didn’t want to test it by going out, though. “Thank you very much for your help. I would be dead if you hadn’t opened the door.”
“You know this for sure?” Ruby Everett’s eyebrows rose.
Gabriella lifted her shoulders. “I think he’s killed two people in the last week and a half, and from the look on his face, I was next.”
“I agree about that,” the woman said, and gestured for Gabriella to follow her into a neat, well-furnished sitting room. “That’s what convinced me to open up. I’ve seen expressions like that during the war.”
Gabriella looked up sharply. She didn’t suppose most Londoners had gone around looking like they were about to kill, which meant Ruby Everett had possibly been up to interesting things during the war.
“Well, I expect the police will be along after they’ve found your friend. They seemed excited at the mention of a detective from New Scotland Yard in trouble.”
She wanted to think the man who chased her would give up, realize that the police would be called and leave before he could be intercepted, but there was something about him that told her he would push his luck.
“I’m afraid he’s gone back there. He’d make it to James long before the police.”
“To do what to him?” Ruby Everett asked.
“To kill him.”
Ruby studied her face for a beat. Then she walked to a drawer, took out a key that was hanging around her neck inside her blouse, and unlocked it.
When she turned she was holding a revolver. “Then let’s go.”
chaptertwenty-seven
“What’s going on,that’s what I’d like to know.”