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“Where was Cillian when you saw him?” Leo asked.
“The cellar at the Golden Harp.” Jasper came to lean against his desk, in front of her, and crossed his arms. “Andrew was there. We spoke briefly. Sean, Brian, and Rory were due to arrive, so I left.”
“Does he have any idea who killed his nephew?”
“He’s convinced Desmond Pierce is involved, even though I explained that Desmond had hired a private inquiry agency to find his wife. And that he hadn’t seemed to know with whom she’d run off. Until I told him,” he added with a shrug.
An uneasy notion wormed its way through Leo. “Does Andrew suspect Tabitha?”
“He knows it would take formidable strength to overpower Cillian and slash his throat. She might know something, but I doubt she did the deed herself. Still, he plans to find her and ask.”
If Tabitha was still alive and he did find her, he wouldn’t ask nicely, Leo was sure of that.
She peered up at Jasper. “Did he charge you with finding her?”
He shook his head. “My attempts to find Cillian were unimpressive, thankfully.”
“So then, why didn’t Andrew allow his older brothers to come upon you in the cellar?” Leo asked. “Expose you right then and there?”
The idea of it made her ill, but it would have been a believable move for Jasper’s cousin to have made.
“I wondered the same,” Jasper said with a pensive frown. She stood and rested her hands on his forearms, crossed over his chest.
“While I’m relieved Andrew hasn’t commanded your help, I’m worried for Tabitha. If she is still alive and the Carters suspect her, she’s in danger.”
Jasper covered her hand with his, his coarse palm reassuring. “I agree, though I can’t help her if I don’t know where to look. She might be anywhere.”
“I may have a lead,” Leo began, thinking of something Detective Palmer had said the previous night. “Mr. Pierce told Detective Palmer that his wife’s routine was steady. She worked at Mary Hobson’s bakery every day excepting Sundays.”
“Has Palmer been to the bakery?” Jasper asked.
“I imagine he has,” Leo replied. “However, it may be worth finding in the London Directory and taking another trip there. Someone Tabitha worked with might have stayed quiet when Detective Palmer was asking about her, though they could be led to say something now, if they knew her lover has been found murdered.”
Jasper’s lips curved into a roguish grin. “Do you have any plans this morning?”
“None that I cannot see to later,” she replied. “After we pay the bakery a visit.”
Jasper pushed off the desk and collected his coat and hat. “I have a lead in the Lawlor case too. I hope you weren’t looking forward to a lazy Sunday.”
Leo brightened as she followed him out of his office. “Is it to do with Victoria Herrington’s maid?” With last night’s furor surrounding the Golden Harp and Andrew Carter, she hadn’t asked Jasper about his interview with the former lady’s maid.
“It is. I’ll tell you about it on our way to Spitalfields.”
They took the train to Liverpool Street Station, and along the way, Jasper imparted what he’d learned from the maid, Isabelle Chandler.
“It was the same con, by the same two men,” he said as they rumbled along the tracks, the scent of machine oil permeating the closed-up air in the car. “Only this time Sebastian Lawlor, whoever he truly was, saw the entire scheme through and walked away with his wife’s fortune. Though it wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be, given Mrs. Herrington’s grandfather’s former success in the sugar trade.”
Sergeant Warnock had looked through the probate records at Somerset House for the Herrington settlement and reported that the fortune had diminished significantly after the death of Victoria’s father. Mr. Blake had been swimming in debt, and during probate, his debtors had been repaid with the bulk of Victoria’s inheritance. She had been able to maintain the family home and staff, but in truth, she’d been living frugally compared to what the Blake family had previously been accustomed to.
“What if Sebastian Lawlor planned to cut Mr. Gray out of the deal this time around?” Leo suggested. “So, he took what he thought might see him through and tried to flee.”
“And the false doctor found him and killed him for it,” Jasper said. “It is possible.”
They sat close, shoulder to shoulder, in the packed rail car and kept their voices low to avoid interest from their neighbors.
“Did Miss Chandler have an idea on where we might find Henry Gray?” Leo asked.
“No, but she named the other Herrington staff, including the housekeeper, a Mrs. Michaels. She’s employed at a house in Marylebone now. I thought we would call on her too.”
