The Forgotten Children

by Anita Davison

  ‘I know that.’ Flora shrugged. ‘Though I’m still keeping her on my list of suspects.’

  ‘I still cannot see a man like Buchanan becoming involved in child abduction over a few risqué photographs,’ Harry said.

  ‘You’ve heard of him?’ Flora asked, surprised.

  ‘Only by reputation.’ Harry shrugged. ‘I believe he’s quite the philanthropist. No socialite, but with wealth enough to live the rest of his life like a king. Why would a man like him get involved with people trafficking?’

  ‘He also doesn’t care that the whole of London is aware he shares his home with a single lady,’ Bunny added.

  ‘Single lady?’ Harry’s cup froze in mid-air. ‘That sounds interesting, what have I missed?’

  ‘Oh, nothing,’ Flora interjected glaring at Bunny.

  ‘Something tells me there’s more to this affair than risqué photographs,’ Bunny said.

  ‘What then?’ Harry returned his cup to the table in front of him. ‘Unless you think he was also responsible for that nurse’s death. What was her name?’

  ‘Nurse Prentice,’ Flora supplied. ‘I cannot imagine him committing an actual murder.’

  The room fell strangely silent as they fell into their own thoughts, interrupted only by the rhythmic tick of the mantelpiece clock.

  ‘We appear to have exhausted the subject.’ Harry slapped his thighs and rose. ‘I’ll leave you both in peace to enjoy the rest of your evening.’ Flora looked up at him quickly and his face clouded as he realized his mistake. ‘I’m so sorry, Flora, that was insensitive of me. I know how fond you are of Sally. I sincerely hope nothing bad has happened to her.’ He paused beside her chair and pressed her shoulder. ‘You will let us know immediately you hear anything, won’t you?’

  ‘Of course, I’ll call you—’ she broke off at a ring of the doorbell, followed immediately by a loud pounding on the front door, followed seconds later by the appearance of Inspector Maddox who barged past a protesting Stokes.

  ‘It’s quite all right, Stokes,’ Bunny forestalled the butler. ‘Do come in, Inspector.’

  ‘Have you found Sally?’ Flora demanded when he was barely over the threshold, tension making her voice high. ‘Were the children on the ship?’

  ‘All in good time, Mrs Harrington, Mr Harrington.’ Maddox declined Bunny’s invitation to take a seat, his hat and coat still firmly in place. He sent an enquiring look Harry’s way and, in response, Bunny made a brief introduction. ‘Ah yes!’ Maddox nodded sagely. ‘Thought I recognized you, sir. I questioned you in relation to the Evangeline Lange case.’

  Harry’s features hardened but he didn’t respond, his discomfort at having been treated as a suspect in his own fiancée’s murder still evident.

  ‘Well? What have you to tell us?’ Bunny demanded.

  ‘Only that the raid on the SS Lancett was a total fiasco.’ Maddox turned his burning gaze on Flora. ‘And I hold you, Mrs Harrington, entirely responsible.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ The anticipation that had knotted Flora’s stomach all day turned to crushing disappointment.

  ‘Before you castigate my wife, Inspector,’ Bunny said from the window that looked onto the street. ‘Would you kindly remove your men from my porch? Having two policemen outside my door will do nothing for my reputation. This is Belgravia after all.’

  ‘I’ll ask Stokes to take them to the kitchens and give them a cup of tea.’ Flora skirted Bunny and pressed the bell, aware he had managed to dilute Maddox’s anger, if temporarily.

  ‘Now we are calmer, what exactly happened, Inspector?’ Bunny asked, having re-established authority in his own house.

  ‘Nothing at all.’ Maddox sniffed. ‘There was no sign of either Miss Pond or any children, only a cargo hold full of farm machinery destined for New Brunswick.’

  Flora kneaded her forehead with one hand and slowly paced the room. She had been so convinced they would find Sally on that ship. Where was she?

  ‘Based on the flimsiest of evidence,’ Maddox continued in a low tone that did nothing to conceal his frustration, ‘I took a dozen policemen off the streets this evening to no purpose. Not only that, but my superintendent has demanded I issue a formal apology to Mr Buchanan for inconveniencing him.’

  ‘You talked to Mr Buchanan?’ Flora halted and turned to face him. ‘What did he say?’

  ‘Naturally, I did.’ Maddox clasped both hands behind his back and rocked on his heels. ‘As the legal owner of the vessel, his permission was sought to visit the ship.’

  ‘You asked him first?’ Flora slapped her skirt with both hands in frustration. ‘Then he must have warned them. How could you be so—’ Bunny came to her side, his arm circling her waist and tightened. She released a slow breath and swallowed her next remark.

  ‘If you would allow me to finish, madam,’ Maddox went on. ‘Even had he intended to do so, Mr Buchanan had insufficient time to make any such arrangement.’

  ‘I see,’ Flora murmured through gritted teeth, unconvinced. Buchanan must have found a way to send his cohorts a warning.

  ‘A complete waste of time, in fact.’ Maddox growled. ‘This escapade of yours has caused me no end of trouble, not to mention upsetting a respectable pillar of the community. Are you aware of the vast amount of charity work that hospital does in—?’

  ‘Escapade?’ Flora interrupted, meeting his furious gaze without flinching. ‘Is that all you think this is?’

  ‘I understand the raid proved ineffective, Inspector,’ Bunny interrupted him. ‘However, I don’t appreciate your haranguing my wife over a perfectly reasonable concern over these missing children.’

  Maddox flushed an unbecoming red, studied his feet and cleared his throat. ‘Well – um, I didn’t mean to be disrespectful, and I’m not unsympathetic to your wife’s desire to be a good citizen.’

  ‘It’s more than that!’ Flora snapped. ‘And you seem to forget, my maid is still missing. And please don’t say she’s run off on a whim to join the circus.’ She swallowed against a sudden tightness in her throat.

  ‘I understand that, Mrs Harrington,’ Maddox said, his voice brittle. ‘However, you can have no idea as to what taking a dozen men off routine duties could mean on the streets? Word gets around fast in that part of the world. I imagine all sorts of crimes were committed tonight, and I had no men available to deal with them.’

  ‘I’m sure Mrs Harrington regrets the inconvenience.’ Harry lounged in his chair, one sardonic brow raised. ‘After all, Inspector,’ he drew out the words slowly, ‘I’m sure you have enough to deal with from your superiors at all levels.’ He picked a bit of fluff from his sleeve, his gaze averted. ‘I was only saying to Sir Edward Henry the other day how overstretched your resources are.’

  ‘Is that so?’ Maddox narrowed his eyes. ‘I take it the Commissioner of Police is a friend of yours, sir?’

  Harry’s response was little more than the mere ghost of a smile, while sending a swift wink in Flora’s direction.

  ‘The fact remains, Mr Harrington,’ Maddox softened a little as Harry’s remark went home, ‘this venture was entirely ill-advised. We could have spent our time in the search of the Lomax girl, although we doubt her disappearance is connected to these other children.’

  Flora’s anger dissipated as she realized he was right. There was nothing to link Isobel to the other children, who as far as the police were concerned weren’t officially missing.

  ‘That was a low blow, Inspector. These children are all under ten and no one has seen them for more than a week.’ Bunny’s eyes flashed fire as he squared up to the man. Flora could have hugged him.

  ‘Uh-well, my apologies, and of course we’re concerned.’ A flush crept up his neck as he coughed into a fist. ‘I’ve had officers visit all the addresses Miss Finch supplied. Their families maintain their relatives are alive and well and living elsewhere. Without checking every county in the south, for which we have neither the resources nor the authority, we cannot verify their stories. In
any case, without an official report, we have no cause to investigate.’

  ‘I know all that, Inspector,’ Flora said through gritted teeth. ‘But the families are co-operating with these people.’

  ‘As I said, I’m not unsympathetic, but my hands are tied.’ He eased his collar away from his throat. ‘I’m afraid we also appear to have lost track of Swifty Ellis. He hasn’t been seen in any of his usual haunts these last few days.’

  ‘Doesn’t that tell you something?’ Flora asked, no longer apologetic. ‘He’s been alerted to your investigation and he’s gone to ground.’

  ‘His non-appearance could be for any number of reasons.’ Maddox appeared determined to gain some professional superiority. ‘We’ll keep an eye out for him as we wish to question him about the Nurse Prentice murder.’

  ‘Why?’ Flora asked. ‘Have you evidence he was involved?’

  ‘I’m not at liberty to say, madam.’ He twisted his hat in both hands. ‘I’ll, uh, take my leave now.’ He nodded to each of them in turn, with a particularly direct glare at Harry before returning his attention to Flora. ‘If you should come across any more conspiracies, I would advise you to be sure of your facts before coming to the police.’

  Flora waited for him to be out of earshot before muttering, ‘I am sure of my facts.’

  Chapter 23

  ‘How could we have got it so wrong about the ship?’ Flora addressed Bunny’s reflection in her dresser mirror as she got ready for bed. ‘I was so certain they were keeping the children there.’

  ‘Ignore Maddox, he’s simply posturing.’ He dropped a kiss on top of her head. ‘More importantly, why didn’t they find anything on the ship when the gang, or whoever is responsible, went to all that trouble of giving that note to Buchanan?’

  ‘Is it possible they were too clever for them and hid the children somewhere they didn’t search?’ Flora pulled the pins from her hair, releasing the heavy tresses down her back.

  ‘Either that, or they were never there at all,’ Bunny murmured.

  The doubt in his voice brought her twisting round on her chair towards him. ‘You still have faith in my theory, don’t you?’

  ‘I do, but so much of this case thus far is supposition.’ She opened her mouth to contradict him but he forestalled her. ‘That’s not to say there isn’t some sort of conspiracy going on, but we don’t have much evidence.’

  ‘Sally is still missing.’

  ‘I’m aware of that, but I can understand why Maddox was angry.’ Bunny perched on the bed and untied his shoelaces. ‘That he raided the SS Lancett on our word alone will have his subordinates nudging and whispering to each other for some time.’ A shoe hit the floorboards with a dull thump as if it took Maddox’s reputation with it.

  ‘We had that note, and the fact Lizzie is dead must count for something.’ Flora propped her elbows on the dresser and dropped her chin into her palms. ‘The ship has probably sailed by now, so we’ll never know what happened to those children. What annoys me most is Maddox thinks Buchanan is the injured party.’

  ‘We’re missing something.’ Bunny draped his trousers over a chair, dropped his socks on the polished floor and kicked them aside. ‘Did the Buchanans have other children apart from the daughter who died?’

  ‘I didn’t think you were listening as you were so absorbed by that cabinet with the peeps.’ Flora halted her hairbrush in mid-air as she pondered the question. ‘Alice hasn’t mentioned any other children. What made you ask that?’

  ‘You said Buchanan told her he couldn’t bear to leave the house where they had raised their children, indicating more than one.’ He climbed into bed, his arms folded on the pillow behind his head, the covers bunched at his waist.

  ‘It’s possible, but why would it matter?’ Flora laid down her brush and slid beneath the covers, her back facing the room as she rearranged the pillows. ‘Pass me that pillow under your elbow would you?’

  ‘I don’t know, but it all contributes to what we know about him.’ Bunny obligingly handed over the pillow.

  ‘Maybe he’s listed in Debrett’s.’ Flora bunched the pillows into a soft pile and wiggled her shoulders backwards. The fire had been banked up, making the bedroom a warm and cosy haven.

  ‘I cannot be bothered to go back downstairs and look.’ Bunny sighed and leaned back against the piled up pillows, sighed and closed his eyes. ‘It can wait till morning.’

  ‘No need.’ Flora slid open a drawer in the nightstand. ‘I have a copy right here.’ She balanced the book on her tented knees and flipped through the pages. ‘Banderlege, Bander, Bannalea, ah, here it is. “Buchanan, Raymond E. Married Mary Frimley daughter of Bishop and Mrs Frimley of Wisbech, 7th May 1868, son Victor born 1873, daughter Alice born 1876, died 1888.”’

  Alice. His daughter was called Alice. Did that mean something? Was it a coincidence that Alice Finch shared their dead daughter’s name, or could their symbiotic relationship be a romantic liaison when his wife was alive?

  ‘Flora, are you listening to me?’ Bunny nudged her gently. ‘I said, the son must be about thirty now, although you say that Alice has never mentioned him.’

  ‘Not to me.’ She turned to the next page. ‘There might be an entry for him here as well.’

  ‘Never mind that.’ Bunny took the book from her, returned it to the nightstand and turned down the wick of the oil lamp until it guttered and went out. ‘I didn’t suggest an early night so we can sit in bed and read Debrett’s together.’

  ‘It was your idea, about the book I mean.’ She trailed her fingers lightly down his bare breastbone into the soft skin of his belly. ‘You know, you really ought to start wearing pyjamas. I’m sure Stokes is scandalized when he counts the laundry and doesn’t find any.’

  ‘To the devil with Stokes.’ He released a soft grunt and lunged sideways, pulling her into his arms. ‘I hate to waste the moonlight.’ He flicked a glance at a harvest moon visible in a shaft of silver beyond the casement window. He slid down the strap of her nightdress, ran his lips lightly down the side of her neck and across her bare shoulder.

  ‘I cannot stop thinking about Sally.’ A tremor ran through her as the thin garment fell to her waist in a whoosh of silk, her lower belly pulled in anticipation of familiar sensations as his lips nuzzled her neck, his hand sliding across her now naked back.

  ‘I know this is difficult for you, Flora,’ Bunny whispered into her hair. ‘But Sally is tough and resourceful. She won’t give in without a fight. In fact, I expect whoever took her is regretting it already.’

  ‘That’s what worries me.’ Flora wiped her cheek with a cold finger that came away wet, offering a silent prayer that Sally would have the strength to survive whatever faced her, wherever she was.

  ‘I won’t let Maddox forget about her. I promise,’ he whispered as his lips slid across her cheek and claimed her mouth.

  Her throat prickled with tears as she returned his kiss, and relaxed into the comforting circle of his arms.

  Later, she lay staring up at the moonlight playing on the ceiling, with Bunny’s even breathing and the odd creak and thump of the house in the darkness. Everything had begun to make perfect sense until Inspector Maddox had barged into the room with his foul temper and accusations. The note Buchanan was given had to mean something. Why detail the SS Lancett’s departure time? Or had they wanted Buchanan to lead the police to the ship? No, how could he have known he was being observed and why not go to them himself? There was also the man in Salvation Army uniform Sally had recognized. Or did she? Perhaps she only thought she did and was mistaken? Even so, that doesn’t explain why she had not come home. Abel’s concern for Sally was clearly genuine as Stokes reported he had called at the house several times asking for news of her.

  Her instincts couldn’t be wrong, could they? Admittedly she could never have guessed Alice Finch lived in Mr Buchanan’s house, but if they were in it together, whatever this was, why involve Flora in the first place?

  Or could she trust
only what she had seen for herself? Sister Lazarus had been within earshot when Lizzie Prentice asked Alice for time alone to talk. What did Lizzie want to tell Alice that the nurse didn’t want her to hear?

  ‘Lizzie had to know something,’ Flora said aloud. ‘It’s too much of a coincidence that she was killed within an hour of that conversation.’

  Bunny turned over and mumbled something sleepily but thankfully didn’t wake.

  Images circled in Flora’s head of the time when she and Sally had been locked in a killer’s cold, damp cellar huddled together for warmth, with every expectation of becoming his next victims.

  At least there had been the two of them on that occasion. This time, Sally was alone and facing a second night in captivity, who knew where? If only the police would find her. And if not the police, then who?

  Flora had fallen into the semi-consciousness languor that preceded full sleep before she remembered that on arriving home, Bunny had slipped a letter, which appeared to have caught his interest, into an inside pocket of his jacket.

  She had been about to ask what it was, when Harry had arrived, followed by an angry Inspector Maddox. As she drifted off to sleep, she resolved to ask him about it in the morning.

  *

  The motor taxi trundled along the Victoria Embankment and into Queen Victoria Street, the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral visible between the buildings.

  ‘Where exactly are we going?’ Flora asked Bunny the third time since leaving Eaton Place. ‘I don’t wish to be ungrateful, but I’m not in the right frame of mind for an outing. I ought to be at home in case Sally returns.’ If she does.

  ‘You cannot hole yourself up inside the house forever, my love. We have to have faith that she will be found, safe and well.’ He removed the letter that had arrived the previous day from inside his jacket. Written on plain paper in a rough brown envelope, it was unlike most of Bunny’s correspondence, making it all the more intriguing.

  ‘I meant to ask you about that last night, but things got a bit heated and I forgot,’ Flora said. ‘Who is it from?’