by Abigail Agar
Hamish tried to go through his questions, one at a time. Each and every one of them was strange to ask, strangled in his own throat. Each one felt forced, as though it had no meaning but had to be asked regardless.
“Please, you must hear me. This is your daughter I am speaking of,” Hamish said.
Her mother looked uncomfortable but did not speak.
“She is missing. Don’t you want to find her?” he asked, impassioned.
“We are certain that everything will be all right,” Mrs. Smithfield said.
He knew that they were not listening to him. Or, if listening, they were not willing to heed his word. The Smithfield family had their own thoughts in mind, a code of sorts in which they were unwilling to speak with him in regards to this matter.
Despite what they said, Hamish knew they were hiding something.
But this was different. This was not a wealthy family hiding their secrets. This was the family of the girl who had gone missing. And the skittish manner with which they communicated only told him that he was right to be suspicious.
“Please, Mrs. Smithfield. And you, you must be Annie. Rachel told me about your lovely amber eyes. And Harry? She told me about the time you rescued her after she fell in the ice. I believe you are Moira. She said that you love nothing more than to look up at the stars,” Miss Reid said, appealing to each of them.
“How do you know about all of us?” Mrs. Smithfield asked.
“I know because I was being honest. Rachel and I were friends. I saw her as more than a simple maid. She told me about all of you and I would ask her questions because I envied that she grew up surrounded by brothers and sisters. I asked her what it was like to be one of eleven children and I could hardly fathom it,” Miss Reid said, her passion true and loyal.
Hamish saw the sad, mournful look in Mrs. Smithfield’s eyes. No matter what she said, he was positive that she knew more than she was willing to tell them.
He could not blame her. She had every reason to be uncomfortable with his presence, just as Miss Reid had said.
It bothered him that she was right. She had told him that they would not listen to him directly, but it was better to have her there as somewhat of a liaison.
And she had been correct. Despite everything he wanted, he had to confess that she was right.
“I am sorry,” Mrs. Smithfield said, looking down. “I am sorry Miss Reid, but we are of no use to you. There is nothing that we can say, nothing we know.”
“I do not believe you, Mrs. Smithfield,” Miss Reid said, looking first to her and then to her offspring.
Not one would meet her gaze.
“Please, listen to her. Your daughter’s life may very well depend upon it,” Hamish added.
“We appreciate all of your help, but I do not know what more we can say. We know nothing,” Mrs. Smithfield said.
It was frustrating, their lack of help. Although they clearly knew something, they were unwilling to tell him what was going on. Whether they were simply anxious as a result of his searching or if they did, indeed, no more than they were telling, Hamish decided that he would have to keep an eye on them.
He would send a constable soon enough to keep his eye on the family. It was the only way that he would learn what it was that they were hiding. And, if they were hiding the whereabouts of Miss Smithfield, he would be able to finalise the case after all.
Miss Reid would be appeased.
For some reason, despite himself, that was suddenly very important to him. He wanted to make her happy. She had impressed upon him enough that this was important to her and that made it important to him as well.
Chapter 9
“Well, thank you for your time,” Inspector Brock said. “Should you come across her, please send her my way. Tell your daughter that Miss Reid is looking for her and is frightened for her wellbeing.”
“Yes, Inspector. Of course,” Rachel’s mother said, without really committing herself to anything.
She had been an expert with the questions. Mrs. Smithfield had managed to answer them all without lying, but without giving away any of the truth either.
Georgiana was frustrated. Irritated. Angry. Annoyed.
Nothing had gone according to plan. Then again, her plan had been to simply follow Inspector Brock and hope that she would be able to stumble upon the answer to a great mystery.
It had hardly been a work of detail.
No, she had fooled herself. Georgiana had convinced herself that it was going to be easy. Now, she was waking up to the fact that she and the inspector, along with Miss Dalton, were going to have to do things in a far more difficult way. They were going to have to do a proper investigation.
If her family was unwilling to help, they would find someone else who would.
“Well, we do have quite a lot still to look into,” Inspector Brock said.
“Yes, we do. I think we ought to discuss what is next and rush for it at once. And we must check in with your Sergeant. He may have had better luck than we did. He may have learned something from her cousin that the family was not willing to tell us,” Georgiana said.
“The family was not willing to tell us anything at all, so it would be quite a miracle if her cousin is more forthcoming,” Inspector Brock said.
“We may as well try. Your man went there in order to get information. We cannot be pessimistic when it is very possible that he has the very information that we need,” Georgiana said.
“I suppose, but I doubt if he learned anything useful. The girl would have come here before going to him, surely,” Inspector Brock said.
“Perhaps, but we do not know that. Maybe she takes an issue with her family. There is no telling what it is that has sent her away and we cannot pretend to guess,” Georgiana said.
Inspector Brock sighed.
“I suppose you are right about that, although I do not wish to admit it,” he said.
“Begging your pardon,” Miss Dalton said. “But, how much longer do you think we will be? Remember, Miss Reid, I am to go to the market while we are out. I have to make dinner later this evening and I still haven’t got everything I need.”
Georgiana grimaced.
“Miss Dalton, if we remain under our former contract and say nothing at all to my mother and father, what say you go on ahead and I shall come later? I cannot abandon this,” Georgiana said.
“I have not invited you to investigate further,” Inspector Brock said.
Georgiana simply turned to him and gave him the stare that she was excellent at using to manipulate others.
She could see that it would not work on him. Nevertheless, she was not about to return home.
“But, Miss Reid, it would do neither of us any good if we were caught,” Miss Dalton said.
“We shall not be caught. You do on ahead. I shall come to you soon enough. Before you return home,” she said.
“Are you quite certain? Nothing bad will come of it?” she asked.
Inspector Brock chuckled under his breath, as if to warn her that something terrible was bound to happen.
“No, my dear, Sarah. Nothing bad shall come of it,” she promised.
“Well, all right then. I shall meet you there,” Sarah said.
Georgiana watched her go. She realised now that she was unaccompanied and in the presence of a man, but she did not believe that her mother and father would find out, nor was she concerned that there would be an impropriety with the inspector.
He was hardly this sort of man who would make assumptions about her, who would believe that she was improper because of this.
Not that any of it mattered. Georgiana could not afford to be distracted. she could not afford to be thinking all of these things in caring about chaperones and the protection of her reputation.
She had to find Rachel. The Inspector was the only one who could help her to do that.
“Well, it would appear that you and I have a great deal of work yet to do,” Georgiana said to Inspector Brock.
“I beg your pardon?” he asked.
“I mean with finding Rachel now. You had only one lead and it did not come to fruition. We must scour every alley, road, and precipice until we find Rachel now,” Georgiana said.
“Scour the alleys? You do confound me, Miss Reid. There shall be no scouring for the moment. There is no reason for it,” he said.
“No reason? Of course there is reason. We are speaking about my friend. She is missing. Have we not already settled this?” she asked.
“Miss Reid, your friend’s family is very clearly hiding something. I believe that they hide Miss Smithfield. What other reason do they have for being the way that they are?” he asked.
“The way that they are? What can you possibly mean by that?” Georgiana asked.
“I mean that they were not unassuming. There was something wrong and you sensed it as well as I did. They were lying to us,” Inspector Brock said.
“Yes, I gathered as much, but that does not mean what you are suggesting,” Georgiana said.
“Does it not?” he asked.
“Not in the least. There are many reasons they might have been acting that way and it hardly matters. What matters is that we do our part now and search for her,” she said.
“I just did my part. I searched. We have not found her in the most likely place for her to have gone,” Inspector Brock said.
“But we cannot act as though it was sufficient information,” she said.
“I know it wasn’t. That was quite clear. But we must not move forward. We must watch them. They will be getting uneasy now. I trust that they know where Miss Smithfield is. They simply have not managed to hide her somewhere that would allow them to tell me that she is all right,” he said.
“So, you think we ought to just…keep watch?” she asked, unable to clarify.
“Precisely,” he said.
“That is a terrible idea,” she insisted.
“No, that is the way of a man who has been successfully doing his duty for over a decade,” Inspector Brock said.
He wasn’t listening. How could he be so foolish as to think that watching her family was the only solution? Obviously they had to scour the streets of London.
And yet, as their argument continued, Inspector Brock continued to miss this point.
Georgiana let out a frustrated exhale. It sounded more like a growl. She wanted him to know that she was angry, she wanted him to know that he was ruining everything for her.
“You are making a terrible choice! We must do something! Why are you being so neglectful?” Georgiana demanded.
“Neglectful? How dare you say that? I am not being neglectful. I am trying to do my duty in the way that I know to do it. Your methods are not what a professional might use in this situation,” he said.
“That is because I am a worried friend, not some fashionable detective,” she muttered.
“Fashionable detective? Do you know nothing at all about our work?” he challenged her.
“No, it would seem that I do not. I believed that men of your work actually made an effort to find the lost,” she said.
She was furious at him. How could he be so blind? How could he miss the fact that they had no choice but to search everywhere for her?
Rachel was still missing and they were no closer to finding her. They had gone and spoken to her family. Her family knew nothing.
Watching her family even further was not going to make a difference. It was clear that they knew nothing, or if they did, they were not going to share.
And, if they truly did know nothing, it was likely because Rachel had not come home. If she had not come home, what would they learn from watching them?
No, indeed. The only solution was to find her by searching every possible corner.
“You are perfectly infuriating, Miss Reid. I took on this ‘case’ to please you,” he said, mocking her. “I knew that it was nothing, that your friend has vanished of her own accord. I knew that you were simply trying to prove to your father that you ought to be listened to.”
“And you think I do not?” she asked.
“I think you care more about your own voice being heard that you do the safety of your friend,” he replied, harshly.
“You are cruel,” Georgiana said, not knowing how else to explain it when Inspector Reid launched these attacks at her. Certainly, she had launched plenty upon others, but Georgiana had not been prepared for this. She had not been prepared to go up against a man of the law.
There was a terribly irritating notion in the back of Georgiana’s mind. She tried to shove it away, but it would not leave.
Although she wanted to tell Inspector Brock to just leave, there was a part of her that couldn’t. There was part of her that, despite herself, wanted to remain with him. She didn’t like the way he was so dismissive with her.
Every time he spoke to her in a condescending manner and every time he dismissed her, she found herself wanting to prove that she was better than his beliefs of her. She wanted to know him better, but also for him to know her better.
Georgiana wanted Inspector Brock to think well of her.
She wanted him to think of her in a positive manner.
Unfortunately, he answered her by turning away, muttering something under his breath.
“I do not have time for such fanciful notions,” he said, catching Georgiana off guard.
“Excuse me?” she asked.
“I said that I do not have time for such fanciful notions. I have just solved a terrible murder case and you want me to investigate your vanishing maid, but, Miss Reid, I understand why she left,” he said.
“And why is that?” she asked through gritted teeth.
“She left because she could not bear to remain with you. She found you so contemptible that she was unable to stay any longer. I cannot blame her for that. I cannot imagine what kept her in your home for so long when you have such horrid behaviour,” Inspector Brock said.
With that, he turned away from her as if to leave.
Offended and angry, Georgiana rushed after him, letting out another of her angry growls. She didn’t know what she would do when she caught up to him, but she knew that she could not let him get away without apologizing, without confessing that he was in the wrong.
He had almost reached the corner when she caught him. Just as she was reaching out for his arm, making their way to the main road, Georgiana jumped straight into another person.
She gasped and took a step back.
“You must forgive me. I was not watching my step,” she said, still watching her feet in a daze.
But when she looked up at the person in order to apologize more fully, shock flooded her with a cold sensation.
As if trying to hide, the young woman had a blanket wrapped around herself. Her head was covered and only the face stuck out.
A familiar face.
Georgiana steadied her heart and took in a deep breath.
“Rachel?”
