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“I knew it,” Leo said, happy she’d been correct in her theory…and yet also sorry for Augusta. “He is a fraud. Do you think he selected the last name Lawlor just so he could pretend the shop belonged to him?”

“I’ll find out when I track him down.”

“What did PC Mills find at the Central Bank?” she asked. “Were the accounts cleared out?”

“The bank manager refused to provide any information without a police warrant. I’ll have to go back with one,” Jasper said. “That is, if Chief Coughlan agrees to open a formal investigation. He was out by the time I returned to the Yard. I’ll speak to him first thing in the morning.”

“You’ll inform him that I’m consulting?”

“I will, although I can’t promise he won’t challenge it. I am courting you, after all,” Jasper said. “He could see it as a conflict of interest.”

Leo shifted on his lap. “You’ve told him about us?”

“I have.”

She waited for him to say more, perhaps what sort of reaction the chief inspector had given. But just then, the driver whistled, and the carriage slowed. They had arrived at the Lewises’ home on Oswin Street, a modest, working-class street in Lambeth, lined on each side with brick terraced houses. Roy Lewis promptly opened the door upon Jasper’s knock, and they were ushered into a small but cozy home.

It was strange to see the new detective inspector outside of his work at Scotland Yard. Here, his roles were those of husband and father, and as two young boys came running into the front room in a burst of giggles, Roy aptly rounded them up. He snagged them both by the shoulders and brought the boys in front of him.

The elder boy was about eight or nine years of age, and the younger perhaps two years younger than that. Both were gangly limbed, with curly brown hair, and light brown eyes and skin. Previously, Jasper had explained to Leo how Mrs. Lewis was of West African descent, her parents having come to England from the Sierra Leone Colony. Roy had been purposely protective of his private life at the Yard, due to adversarial attitudes toward marriages between people of different races. His own sister had cut him out of her life for marrying a woman with dark skin, and he had lost several close friends too.

“Now, boys, this is Miss Spencer,” Roy said to his sons. “You are to show her your best manners.”

The younger boy wriggled impatiently under his father’s grip, while the older one stood stock still and gaped.

“You’re the lady who likes dead bodies, aren’t you?” the older one asked.

Leo bit back a grin, and Jasper stifled a snort of laughter as Roy gently reprimanded his son. “Miss Spencer works at a morgue, Fletcher. That does not mean she likes dead bodies.”

“Indeed, I do not particularly like them,” Leo clarified, still tempted to smile. “I simply assist the coroner in determining how they died.”

That impressed Fletcher, if his wide grin was any indication.

“All right, off with you,” Roy said, giving his son a nudge. “Take Benji and wash up before supper.”

The boys scattered, nearly colliding with their mother as she came into the front room. She only laughed as she narrowly avoided them.

“Forgive our boys, Miss Spencer,” she said as she came forward. “They are as fascinated as they are frightened by the idea of corpses.”

“Then, they are no different from most people I have met,” Leo replied.

“And yet you are unbothered,” Mrs. Lewis said, her smile lingering as she seemed to inspect Leo. “I admit, I am impressed. My sons have been told not to ask you questions, but Roy hasn’t forbidden me.” She sent her husband a playful look, then batted his arm lightly. “Take their coats, dear, and get them drinks already.”

Dinner was served shortly after Leo and Jasper had settled in, and young Fletcher raced around the table to pull out Leo’s chair for her, winning him a pat on the head from his father. As Roy commanded, neither boy asked her questions about the morgue, and when Roy and Jasper began discussing cases, Mrs. Lewis chastised them for talking about murder at the dinner table.

“I cannot stand hearing about all the awful people in this city,” she said fervently. “It makes me fearful for our children.”

Leo exchanged a look with Jasper, seated next to her at the table, and she sensed he was thinking the same thing she was—that, unlike Roy’s wife, Leo did enjoy hearing all about Jasper’s cases. They each arched a brow before turning their attention back to the Lewises, just in time to see little Benji flick a pea at his brother’s cheek.

It was a boisterous and entertaining hour as they ate and chatted, and Leo couldn’t remember the last time she’d had such a wonderful meal.

Once the boys were dismissed from the table and Roy invited Jasper for a whisky in the front room, Leo helped Mrs. Lewis clear the table.

“You have a lovely family, Mrs. Lewis,” she said, placing their plates on a counter in the kitchen near a large sink.

“Thank you. And please, call me Thea.”

“Gladly, if you will call me Leo.”