by Amanda Quick
19
He watched Louisa avert her eyes from the gory scene. “Are you certain you’re not going to faint?”
“I told you, I will be fine.”
“Go back downstairs,” he said quietly. “There is no need for you to remain in this room.”
She did not respond to that suggestion. “He certainly fits the descriptions the young ladies gave in their journals. He was, indeed, an exceedingly handsome man. And he appears to have been in his late twenties.”
Anthony turned back to examine the scene more closely. The bullet had inflicted considerable damage to Thurlow’s head, saturating his blond hair with blood, but his face was still mostly unmarred. He had, indeed, possessed the sort of features that drew the eyes of women.
He turned back to Louisa. Her attention was fixed on a piece of paper on top of a waist-high chest of drawers.
“Did Mr. Grantley leave a note?” she asked softly.
“Yes, according to Fowler.”
He crossed to the desk, picked up the paper and read the suicide note aloud.
“‘I cannot endure the shame that awaits. My apologies to my family.’”
“What shame?” Louisa looked at him. “Do you suppose he meant his gambling debts?”
“He does not appear to have been overly concerned about them in the past. Why would he suddenly feel the need to kill himself now?”
She nodded. “That is a very good question.”
“This is no suicide,” Anthony said, looking around the room.
“I’m inclined to agree.”
“I wonder if Hastings got rid of both of his employees for some reason,” Anthony said.
“Perhaps he thought he had cause to fear them. Maybe he believed that they were plotting against him. That would certainly explain why he hired those two guards.”
“Yes.”
She looked at him with stark, somber eyes. “What shall we do now?”
“I will send word to Fowler immediately. He will want to know about this new development as soon as possible.”
She clenched her black muff with both hands. “Yes, of course.”
“But first,” he said, “I am going to send you home in the cab. There is no necessity for you to remain here until Fowler arrives. I can tell him everything he needs to know.”
A flicker of relief crossed her face before she composed herself. “Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
She gave him a shuttered look. “Do you intend to mention my name to him?”
“I see no need to do so.”
“I am only concerned about protecting my identity as I. M. Phantom,” she said smoothly.
“I understand.”
He put the note down on the chest of drawers and moved back across the room to take her arm. “Come, we must get you away from this place.”
He guided her back downstairs. In the parlor he paused at the desk to write a short note.
“Are you certain you will be safe here?” she asked. “What if the killer returns?”
The anxiety in the question caught him off guard. She was genuinely concerned, he realized, perhaps even frightened for him.
“The killer may or may not be Hastings.” He folded the note. “Regardless, I don’t think that he will risk coming back to the scene of his crime. At least not until after the body has been discovered and the gossip has spread.”
“How can you be sure of that?”
“Whoever he is, he took a great chance when he came here to commit the murder. He won’t take another one if he can avoid it. He will be thinking only of his own safety now.”
“You will be careful, won’t you, Mr. Stalbridge?” she said, suddenly looking very anxious.
“Yes,” he promised, oddly touched. “The cab will take you directly home. I will come for you at eight this evening.”
She stiffened. “Why?”
“We both have invitations to the Lorrington reception, remember?”
She shuddered. “I had forgotten. Forgive me, sir, but I am in no mood to attend any social engagements tonight.”
“I’m sorry, Louisa, but I think it would be best if we were seen together in public this evening. It is vital that we act as if nothing out of the ordinary has occurred.”
She hesitated and then nodded reluctantly. “I suppose you are right. Dear heaven. Do you think Hastings will be there, too?”
“I don’t know. But there will be a large crowd. If he is present, I’m sure we can avoid him.”
“If I go home now, I will be able to write a report of the death for Mr. Spraggett. There is still time to get it into tomorrow’s edition of the Flying Intelligencer.”
He considered that briefly. “An excellent notion. If nothing else, it will rattle the killer’s nerves when he reads that the police are considering the possibility of foul play.”
“Except that they aren’t considering that possibility,” she pointed out very dryly. “The police don’t even know that Mr. Thurlow is dead yet.”
“Since when did small details like that stop an intrepid member of the press from reporting the facts?”
She smiled wryly. “Quite right. I shall make certain to put in some dark hints of possible murder.” She hesitated. “You really do think that Hastings killed Mr. Thurlow, don’t you?”
“I think it is possible,” he corrected evenly. “We need more information.”
“That seems to be the chief problem with this investigation: a fearful lack of information.”
He lowered the net veil so that it concealed her face.
“I won’t argue with you on that account,” he said gently.
He escorted her outside and put her into the carriage. When she was seated, he closed the door and handed the note he had written to the driver.
“After you have delivered the lady to her door, please go to Scotland Yard and see that this message is delivered to Detective Fowler.”
“Aye, sir.” The coachman took the note.
“It is to go only to Fowler,” Anthony emphasized softly. He gave the coachman some money. “Is that clear? If you must wait for him, then do so.”
The coachman checked the coins and nodded eagerly. “No need to worry, sir. I’ll see to it yer note gets to this Fowler.”
“Thank you.”
The driver slapped the leathers against the rump of his horse. The cab rumbled forward and almost immediately disappeared into the fog.
Anthony went back inside Thurlow’s lodgings and climbed the stairs to the upper floor. The higher he climbed, the more he had to force himself to keep moving. The atmosphere of death was as thick as the fog outside in the street.
Inside the bedroom he went first to the wardrobe. The coats and trousers were all in the latest fashion. The hand-tailored shirts were freshly laundered and crisply ironed.
There was a leather jewelry case on the chest of drawers. Inside were several pairs of expensive cuff links, a handsomely engraved gold pocket watch, and a pearl-tipped tie pin. A silver-backed brush and comb and a jar of pomade were arranged near the jewelry case. Thurlow had taken great care with his personal appearance.
Anthony walked toward the bed and studied the body again. Forcing himself to look past the blood and gore, he noted the details. The portions of Thurlow’s hair and mustache not drenched in blood appeared to be trimmed in the latest style. The nightshirt was embroidered.
He began a more thorough, methodical search of the room, looking in places where a man might stash his secrets. He found the strongbox beneath a false panel of wood in the wardrobe. The lock was excellent, crafted by one of the best manufacturers in Willenhall, but it was no Apollo. It took him less than fifteen seconds to crack it.
The only thing inside was a notebook. It contained a record of what, at first glance, appeared to be large sums of money won at gambling. There were only five entries, however. The dates went back nearly three years. There were initials next to each of the amounts. The initials matched those of the five youn
g ladies who had been compromised. He realized that he was looking at a record of the payments Thurlow had received in exchange for delivering the blackmail victims into Hastings’s clutches.
He tucked the notebook into a pocket and stood quietly, looking around the room one last time. Something seemed slightly off. He contemplated the items on the dresser for a long moment, trying to understand what it was that was out of place. Vague smudges in the thin layer of dust on the dresser and a few carelessly folded handkerchiefs in a wardrobe drawer were all that stood out. When he could not come to a conclusion, he went back downstairs.
On a hunch, he decided to search the desk again, this time more thoroughly. Opening the folder of unpaid bills, he suddenly knew what was wrong: The bills were out of order. Everything else in Thurlow’s lodgings was neatly arranged, but the bills had been dumped into the file in a random fashion. It was as though someone had gone through them in a great hurry and then tossed them back into the drawer.
With that observation in mind, he continued his search. When he was finished, he was certain of his conclusion.
A short time later a carriage clattered to a halt outside in the street. He went to the window and eased the curtain aside in time to see the bearish form of Harold Fowler descend from a hansom.
He opened the door before Fowler could knock.
“I got your message, Mr. Stalbridge.” Fowler came into the hall. He removed his hat and looked around with the stoic curiosity of a man who was accustomed to being summoned for unpleasant reasons. “What is this about?”
“The occupant of these lodgings, Benjamin Thurlow, is dead in the upstairs bedroom. It appears that, in despair over his gambling debts, he put a pistol to his head. There is a suicide note. The words are all neatly printed.”
“Printed, you say?” Fowler’s bushy whiskers twitched. His sad eyes sharpened. “Like Grantley’s note.”
“Yes.” He handed the note to Fowler. “The printing makes it impossible to compare the handwriting, but I suspect that Thurlow did not write this.”
Fowler took the note in his broad paw and scrutinized it for a few seconds. When he looked up, his expression was grim. “I agree with you, sir. But we’ll never be able to prove that the killer wrote this note.”
“Another thing,” Anthony said. “There is no way to prove it, either, but I would swear that someone searched these rooms before I arrived.”
“I see.” Fowler squinted slightly. “What sort of information was it that brought you here today?”
“I got word that Thurlow, like Grantley, was employed by Hastings. It appears that Hastings paid him a great deal of money at various times in the past. I wanted to talk to him.”
“You think that Hastings killed him, don’t you?”
“I think it likely, yes. But that doesn’t bring me any closer to finding a motive for Fiona Risby’s murder. And now someone else who might have been able to answer my questions is dead.”
Fowler’s bleak face softened. “I’ve warned you, Mr. Stalbridge, the odds of learning anything new after all this time are dismal, indeed. My advice is to leave the poor dead girl to rest in peace.”
“You don’t understand,” Anthony said. “I am the one who cannot rest, Detective. I must find out why she was killed.”
“In my experience there are only a small number of reasons for murder. Greed, revenge, the need to conceal a secret, and madness.”
20
Are you all right?” Anthony asked quietly. Louisa looked out over the moonlit gardens. It was nearly midnight. Here and there decorative lanterns bobbed. Off to the right the fanciful shape of a large iron-and-glass conservatory loomed. Behind them the crowded ballroom sparkled and glittered. Laughter and music poured through the open French doors.
“Yes, of course,” she said, suppressing another shiver.
But the strain of pretending to enjoy herself for the past two hours was starting to take its toll. Her smile felt frozen. She wanted to go back to Arden Square and drink a very large glass of brandy. “Can we go home now?”
“Soon,” Anthony promised. He took her elbow. “Let’s walk.”
“Well, at least we now know for certain what sort of service Mr. Thurlow provided for Elwin Hastings,” she said after a while. “He compromised the victims and then stole their journals and letters to give to Hastings.”
“He was a chronic gambler. That meant he was always in need of large sums of cash to meet his debts. Hastings was willing to pay well for the blackmail items. Grantley no doubt handled the collection of the extortion payments. I cannot envision Hastings doing that sort of work.”
They went down the terrace steps and followed a gravel path that wound through the elaborately landscaped garden. They were not the only couple who had taken a respite from the heat and energy of the ballroom, Louisa noticed. She heard low voices from the shadows. A man laughed softly. The pale skirts of a woman’s gown gleamed briefly in the moonlight before vanishing around a hedge.
The last thing she had wanted to do tonight was attend the ball, but she understood Anthony’s reasoning. They must carry on as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred that afternoon. Anthony seemed to be having very little difficulty, but she had been fighting a disturbing anxiety all afternoon and evening. The truth was that the discovery of Thurlow’s body that morning had unsettled her nerves far more than she had realized at the time.
The murder scene had brought back the horror and fear of that dreadful night a little over a year ago. She had been unable to get the image of Gavin’s body out of her head. She knew that no matter how late she stayed up tonight or how much brandy she drank when she got home, she was unlikely to sleep. That was not necessarily a bad thing, she thought. If she did manage to fall asleep, there would no doubt be nightmares.
Anthony brought her to a halt near the entrance to the large conservatory. The glass walls were opaque in the silver moonlight.
“We can be private here,” Anthony said quietly.
She sank down onto a marble bench. The skirts of her gown spilled around her ankles. She looked into the night and shivered again.
“Are you cold?” Anthony asked.
“A little.” She could not tell him how much the murder scene had shaken her. He would conclude that she lacked the nerve required to continue the investigation. “What are we going to do now? With Victoria Hastings, Thurlow, and Grantley all conveniently dead we have no more clues to follow. There appears to be no one left who knows Elwin Hastings’s secrets.”
Anthony braced one foot on the bench beside her and rested his forearm on his thigh. “The only thing we can do is to continue asking questions.”
She tried to concentrate on the problem. “It occurs to me that there is a place where some of Hastings’s secrets may be known.”
He looked down at her. “Where is that?”
“The brothel where he keeps his weekly appointments.”
“Phoenix House?” He was silent for a few seconds. Then he nodded slowly. “That is an interesting notion.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I hope you are not going to tell me that you intend to book an appointment there yourself in an effort to research your theory.”
He smiled faintly. “I doubt that would do any good. I am unlikely to convince any of the women who work there to confide in me on such short notice. But you seem to have won the trust of someone who knows a few of those women.”
“You mean Roberta Woods in Swanton Lane.”
“Yes.”
“I will ask her to make a few more discreet inquiries.”
“Excellent. Meanwhile, I can only hope that I will eventually hear something from Clement Corvus. He obviously knows a great deal about Hastings’s business affairs.”
“I cannot imagine that a crime lord would want to reveal his illegal activities to us,” she said.
“We shall see.”
She raised her brows. “You really do think he will contact you?”
“It’s poss
ible.”
“Why would he do that?”
Anthony smiled faintly. “In spite of his business activities, or perhaps because of them, he is said to abide by a stern code of honor. Among other things I am told that he always pays his debts.”
“Who told you so much about Corvus?”
“Detective Fowler. Corvus and Scotland Yard have a longstanding relationship.”
Fowler again. She suppressed another shudder. “You think Mr. Corvus will conclude that he owes you for whatever was in those papers you asked Miranda to give to him?”
“Either that or he will want more information from me. Nothing is certain in this affair.”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “If we are correct in our assumptions, Elwin Hastings has killed not just once but perhaps four times: Fiona Risby, the first Mrs. Hastings, Grantley, and Thurlow. It is difficult to conceive of such evil.”
“The business of killing no doubt gets easier after the first time,” Anthony said.
She had to fight to keep from leaping to her feet and screaming that he was wrong. No matter how justified, killing was a horrifying experience that haunted one for a lifetime.
Without warning Anthony reached down, gripped her elbow, and hauled her to her feet.
“Hush,” he ordered against her lips.
She opened her mouth to ask him what he thought he was doing, but before she could utter a word she found herself pinned against his chest. His mouth came down on hers, hard and unyielding.
She froze. She had made her decision, she thought. It would be best if there were no more kisses. But even as she repeated that bit of logic to herself, she knew she was in no condition to resist temptation tonight; her nerves were far too overwrought. She longed to be consumed by the fires of passion so that she could forget the scenes of death that drifted through her mind like so many ghastly specters.
She put her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him. Then she heard the faint murmur of voices drifting through the night. A couple was approaching on the conservatory path. Once again Anthony was kissing her in order to create the impression that they were engaged in an illicit affair. Frustration seized her. She wanted him to kiss her in a way that showed he meant it.
