“Good morning, Mrs. Kendal. Please have a seat.” Sutton got her settled and poured her tea. “I’ll go back to see how Cook is coming along with your breakfast.”
“Someone got some sleep.” Marcus waited for Sutton to leave the room before addressing her. “I’m envious.”
“Appearances can be deceiving. Big business to manage today. I felt it was important for me to appear rested, even if actual sleep proved elusive.”
“How do you manage it?”
“A woman has her secrets, Sophia might answer. But I will tell you straight out that I’m pleased to find Lettie has a light touch with powder and rouge. She’s a gem. It’s a wonder she remains hidden away here instead of being put to proper use at Thornbrook Park.”
“The answer to that mystery is as simple as the fact that my brother the earl and his countess spend so little time here in London. Perhaps you can give Lettie a good word with Sophia and spare her the purgatory of Averford House.”
“I think not. I mean to snap her up for my own household, once established, and it will be so much easier to lure her if she remains unappreciated here.”
“You’re a crafty minx, Mrs. Kendal.”
She smiled and brought her cup to her lips. “Too clever for my own good sometimes. May it serve me well at Mr. Strump’s office.”
***
On arrival, Marcus reached out to ring the bell.
“They never answered last time,” Eve informed him. “I ended up walking in.”
After waiting a minute, they decided to do the same, but this time the office was in chaos. There were papers strewn everywhere, on every surface, and most of the furniture had been overturned. Two men completely ignored them as they toted boxes of retrieved papers back and forth through the tiny entry space. A third stopped in front of Eve when he dropped his armload. She recognized him as Gibbs, Mr. Strump’s assistant. When he stooped to retrieve more of the scattered papers, she took advantage of the situation.
“Mr. Gibbs?” She stripped off her gloves, ready to get down to business. “Is Mr. Strump in? Today, he’s expecting me.”
“Oh.” Gibbs looked up. “Oh dear. No.”
“He’s not here? Could you tell me where I might find him?”
The man straightened, tucked his papers under his arm, and faced her. “If only any of us knew.”
“Knew where to find him?” she asked, confused.
“Yes. Mr. Strump seems to have gone missing.”
“Missing? How can it be?” Her heart skipped a beat. It was a blow she wasn’t expecting. “Someone must know what has become of him.”
“When I came in this morning, I found the place ransacked.” He gestured at the obvious disarray. “The other partners arrived promptly enough, but there was no sign of Mr. Strump at the usual time. We sent a boy over, and Strump’s wife said that he packed a bag and boarded a steamer to India late last night.”
“Last night? To India? But my husband’s investment was in Golkonda. Perhaps he has gone to see to my affairs?” Hopeful, she turned to Marcus. He had been standing back to let her manage on her own, but he shook his head as if in doubt.
“Captain Marcus Thorne.” He held his hand out to Mr. Gibbs. “You had no warning at all that the man was making off for India? And the office just happened to be robbed on the same night? What was taken? Have you contacted Scotland Yard?”
“We don’t know that it was a robbery.” Mr. Gibbs pushed his spectacles further up on the bridge of his nose. “We haven’t discovered anything taken, as yet, but a detective has been in to investigate.”
“Good. The office is torn to bits on the same night one of your partners goes missing. Or, makes a hasty departure for India. Damned suspicious, don’t you think?”
“I agree, Captain Thorne. The whole matter has left us rather unsettled. If only we knew what motivated Mr. Strump to flee.”
Eve’s money might have provided the motivation. How much had Ben invested? Enough to tempt a man to claim it and disappear? She had her doubts.
“Perhaps he hasn’t fled willingly,” Marcus suggested.
Eve looked at Marcus, her mouth agape. “You suspect foul play?”
“Precisely what the detective conjectured, Captain. Indeed, it would be unlike Mr. Strump to simply run off without a word.”
“Someone was looking for something, it seems,” Eve said, unable to chase the suspicion that the “something” involved her request for information on her finances.
“Mrs. Kendal is a dear friend of the family.” Marcus completely stepped in front of her to continue the conversation with Gibbs, nudging her aside and nearly making her cross with him until she realized that he was using a ploy to extract more information. “She’s bound to be distraught at suggestions of, ahem, foul play. Perhaps she would feel better if she could call on Mrs. Strump?”
“Certainly,” Mr. Gibbs agreed. “By all means, she should pay a call.”
Marcus lowered his voice to a whisper. “If you might have the address? I don’t wish to upset her further by asking her to recall it just now.”
“Yes, of course. One minute.” Mr. Gibbs ran to an office down the hall. Eve took the time to try to look upset, not a struggle considering how worried she was about her finances. Only yesterday, she’d been so hopeful for the best, and now she had no idea when, or if, she would ever recover her funds. “Here it is.”
Gibbs pressed a slip of paper into Marcus’s palm.
“Thank you, Mr. Gibbs. You’ve been most helpful. Here’s my card. Should you recover any files regarding Captain Benjamin Kendal’s affairs, send word immediately.”
“I will. At once. Please give Mrs. Strump our regards.”
Marcus escorted Eve from the office and back to the street. “I’m sorry, Eve. I know you were counting on better news.”
As the bleakness of her prospects continued to sink in, Eve felt more like throwing herself into Marcus’s arms and crying. But she refused to give in. Of all things, she would not be helpless. “We’ll just have to go to the Strump residence and see what we can find out about Mr. Strump’s hasty departure.”
“I would like to share some details with a friend of mine, a private detective, and see what he can uncover. He has some contacts at Scotland Yard who might be able to offer some information.”
“Perhaps we should split up. Sophia is expecting us back in time for dinner. I’ll go check in with Mrs. Strump. You see what you can find out from your friend and take care of Brandon. We should be able to meet back at the station in time to make the train.”
“I hate to leave you alone. Yesterday you thought you were being followed.”
She waved him off. “I’ll be at the Strump residence, one woman calling on another. I don’t think it should raise any alarms. Just in case, I’ll keep an eye out for bowler hats in my midst.” She took the slip with the address from him. “Bloomsbury, a lovely neighborhood. I know it well, just a short walk away.”
“Eve.” He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. “If anything should happen to you…”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She steeled herself against the wave of emotion, determined to remain capable of managing alone. “I’ll be perfectly well. Working separately will allow us to cover more ground. One of us should be able to turn up something of use.”
“If you’re certain you’ll be safe alone?”
“I’m certain. I’ll meet you at the station for the afternoon train.”
She walked off, suspecting he simply stood in place watching her until she was out of sight. The Strumps lived in a well-kept house across from a garden square. As she climbed the stone steps to the front door, she pondered what she might say.
The butler answered the door before she’d prepared enough to reach for the bell. A butler? Given the address and a barrister’s likely prospects, Eve never expected to find a butler in
the couple’s employ. A few maids, perhaps a footman. The Strumps had higher prospects than she had imagined.
“Oh.” He seemed as surprised to find her standing at the door as she was to find a butler in a middle-class house. “How might I be of service?”
“I’m paying a call on Mrs. Strump,” Eve said. “I imagined that she might get lonely during the absence of her husband.”
“You’ve heard? So soon.” He looked around, left to right, as if looking for someone else. Apparently satisfied, he stepped back inside and opened the door wider. “Please come in.”
“Thank you. I haven’t had the pleasure of making Mrs. Strump’s acquaintance, but her husband is a friend of the family. A dear friend. I’d been hoping to meet with him today, but Mr. Gibbs at the office informed me of his hasty departure.”
“Please have a seat, Miss…”
“Mrs. Kendal. Mrs. Strump may have been more familiar with my husband, Captain Benjamin Kendal. Our husbands had business together.”
“Mrs. Kendal. I’ll see if Mrs. Strump is in.”
“Very well. I’ll wait.”
More directly, he would see if Mrs. Strump would agree to see her. She looked around. The place looked newly furnished and badly decorated. She decided to stand, as it looked as though no one had yet tried the ivory-cushioned sofa trimmed in gold braid. Mrs. Strump had a taste for things trimmed in gold, apparently. Gilded mirrors, candlesticks, even the walls had a gold leaf trim. The butler returned not a minute later with the news that Mrs. Strump would not see her. “I’m sorry. It appears that she’s gone out for the afternoon. I will share your kind regards upon her return.”
But Mrs. Strump, with golden hair that looked to be more of a wig, and slightly askew at that, appeared behind her butler. “No need, Gerald. I’ve returned. Please bring us some tea. Shall we have a seat, Mrs. Kindle?”
“Kendal. Thank you.” Eve took a seat on the sofa, opposite Mrs. Strump in a high-backed chair. “I’ve heard that your husband has gone out of town. Rather suddenly. I hope nothing’s wrong.”
“Wrong?” Mrs. Strump patted her hair, as if to put it in place. Her cheeks were over-rouged and her lips were an unnatural shade of plum. Eve couldn’t tell the woman’s age, exactly, but she looked at least ten years Eve’s senior. “Oh no, he’d been planning this trip for some time. India. On business.”
“Odd that he didn’t mention it yesterday. I went to see him. On business, coincidentally, involving India, and he didn’t mention it. In fact, we had an appointment this morning. Imagine my surprise when he didn’t show up and his office was in complete disarray.”
“Oh?” Mrs. Strump quirked a brassy brow. “Those fellows at his office, useless without Edgar.”
“It appeared to be more of a robbery,” Eve said matter-of-factly.
“Gerald!” Mrs. Strump screamed for her servant instead of ringing, the more usual method. “What’s keeping the tea? I’m sorry.” She turned back to Eve. “I’m parched. Aren’t you?”
“I’m more curious than parched.” Eve shifted forward in her seat. “Have you any idea what sort of business drew Mr. Strump away so suddenly?”
“We’re women, Mrs. Kendal.” Her gray gaze met Eve’s, sending a shiver through her. Those eyes held an unmistakable shrewdness and malice that did not quite jibe with the woman’s flibbertigibbet exterior. Eve knew at once that she was dealing with someone capable of deception, at the very least. “Certainly we don’t involve ourselves with something as ponderous as business.”
“While I would love to be at liberty to deny it, I’ve had no choice but to manage my own affairs since my husband’s passing. We do what we must, Mrs. Strump. I sense that you’re a woman who understands necessity. I ask you again, do you know what business occasioned your husband’s abrupt departure?”
Gerald arrived with the tea tray, interrupting their conversation. He started to pour, but Mrs. Strump put her hand on his to stop him.
“Too late, Gerald. Mrs. Kendal will be leaving us. No, I do not know what business he had in India.” The words came out through clenched teeth. “My husband was a peculiar man, Mrs. Kendal, given to flights of fancy.”
“Ah, but you said the trip had been planned for some time.” Eve rose. “And I can’t help but notice that you speak of him in the past tense. I will be on my way, and I’ll leave you my card. If Mr. Strump happens to write or return, I would appreciate you letting me know. And if not, well, I’m a widow. I know what it is to be a woman on her own in the world. One day soon, you might find you need a friend.”
She placed a card with Sophia’s Thornbrook Park address on the tea table in front of an apparently stunned Mrs. Strump, turned on her heel, and started for the door. She was nearly there when the sight of a black bowler hanging on the hat rack drew her up short.
She turned back, gesturing to the hat. “Does that belong to your husband, Mrs. Strump?”
“Oh, no,” Gerald answered, probably following on her heels to make sure that she got to the door. “That’s Mr. Law—”
“It belongs to my brother,” Mrs. Strump interrupted, rushing down the corridor in time to place a hand on the butler’s arm. “He’s visiting. Go back to Yorkshire, Mrs. Kendal. The country must be so much lovelier than town this time of year.”
“As it happens, I’m headed back there now.” A shiver snaked down her spine, as if she had been distinctly threatened, though she couldn’t say what could possibly be threatening about a woman with a bad wig and shoddy posture suggesting a country retreat. “Good day, Mrs. Strump.”
Once she was back out in the street, she took a minute to collect her wits. She leaned against the railing, closed her eyes, breathed deep, and opened them again to see a man standing across the road at the edge of the garden, watching her.
Twelve
“Marcus.” She called his name and crossed the street to join him. “What are you doing here? You couldn’t possibly have had the time to conduct your inquiries.”
“I have not,” he allowed, taking her hand and placing it in the crook of his arm. “I never actually agreed to your suggestion that we should conduct our business separately. I simply gave you a head start and then followed you here.”
“You should have told me. I would have argued, perhaps, but I’m guessing you would have insisted.” They started off down the walk, away from the house.
“I didn’t want to bully you into seeing it my way, but it does make the most sense to stick together. You’ll have to accept my apology.” He dreaded finding a look of disappointment on her face when he finally met her gaze, but was pleased instead to find a smile in her eyes. “Besides, I needed you to seem completely unaware of my presence so that I could watch for anyone following you. For the record, no one did, but at least I can be assured of your safety.”
She shook her head. “But we’ve lost time. How will we manage it all and make the train?”
“There’s a later train. If we miss the one, we’ll catch the other, though we might incur Sophia’s wrath if we turn up late for dinner. Now, what did you find out inside?”
She shuddered perceptibly, making him glad that he’d gone against her wishes this once. What if she’d needed him? “Mrs. Strump claims to have no idea what sort of business took her husband away so suddenly. She tried to say the trip had been planned for some time, and she referred to her husband in the past tense.”
“Intriguing. Go on.”
“There’s not much else, I’m afraid. She’s a peculiar woman, but that in itself is no crime.”
“There’s something else.” He narrowed his gaze. “Something you’re not telling me.” Else why would she have appeared so shaken as she stepped away from the house?
She shrugged. “A small detail. It mightn’t be cause for alarm.”
“But it did strike a nerve. What was it?” He stopped walking and turned her to face him, st
roking her arm all the while.
She sighed. “A bowler hat. A black bowler hanging on a rack by the door. She said it belonged to her brother. You see? It’s probably nothing.”
“But it could be something. Reilly says—my friend Tom, the detective, we’re on our way to see him now—Reilly says that anything that draws your attention as out of the ordinary probably is. There’s probably something to it. Trust your instincts. We’ll see what he has to say.”
“But first, I was hoping to stop in and inquire after a friend at the Langham,” she said, as they resumed walking.
“A friend of yours? Here?” He was unaware that she had friends in London.
“Colonel Adams. He accompanied me to London and business was to keep him here for a fortnight. I’m hoping he stayed a bit longer so that I might ask him to conduct a search for Mr. Strump when he returns to India.”
“Ah, a good idea.” He tried to ignore the wave of jealousy he felt for this man, Colonel Adams. “Older gentlemen, this friend of yours?”
She nodded. “With a wife, Adela, back in Raipur. They took it upon themselves to check in on me after Ben’s death. Grateful as I was, they did become a tad overzealous. I think they fancied me to be like a daughter. They lost their only child, a girl, to illness in her infancy.”
“How awful for them. Losing a child is about the worst thing I could imagine.” Losing a good friend had been hard enough. As if she could read his thoughts, she slipped her grip down his arm to his hand and squeezed. When he looked at her, her eyes were clouded with emotion. “Losing anyone is hard,” he added.
“We’ve both suffered our losses. Brandon as well, losing a father. It can’t be easy on the boy. You’re very good with him.”
“I do my best, but I’m never really sure it’s enough. I used to think…” He paused, fighting a wave of emotion. “I used to think it would have been best had I died in place of William Cooper. I wished to God he’d made it home to his family.”
It was her turn to stop and urge him to face her. “Marcus, no. That line of thought can only lead back to darkness. War is brutal. Of course, you wish things had turned out differently, but—I’m so glad you made it home. There are people here who need you, too.”
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