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Mrs. Jones greeted them with a friendly smile. “Good day to you, Inspector and Miss Poole.”
“Good day, Mrs. Jones. May we speak to Violet and Iris?” Electra asked, with a familiarity that made the housekeeper’s smile widen.
“Yes, of course. They are expecting you, and you’ve come at just the right time. The young misses have just returned from a walk in Hyde Park.”
She led them into the drawing room, and it struck Gideon as slightly surreal to see the two sisters together. When they’d returned from Kent and delivered Iris back home, Violet had been out, and Roger Delacourt had wrapped his daughter in his arms as if he never wished to let her go.
Now, both of them looked happy and healthy as they stood to greet them.
Iris immediately stepped toward Electra. “Miss Poole, may I embrace you?”
Electra tipped a look at Gideon, and he gave her the slightest of nods.
“Of course,” Electra murmured.
Iris Delacourt immediately wrapped her arms around Electra, and Electra embraced her in return. It wasn’t a brief hug. It was lingering.
Miss Delacourt closed her eyes, and a tear slipped down her cheek, but she was smiling. “Thank you,” she whispered.
When she pulled back, she slid her hands down to clasp Electra’s gloved ones.
“Thank you, Miss Poole. And you, Inspector. I suppose it’s less proper to give you a hug, but also, Miss Poole’s was the first face I saw.”
She swallowed thickly. “I’d been praying for days that someone might find me, and you did. Both of you, and Constable Wickford. I am more grateful than I can say. I thought for sure that…”
Violet reached out and laid her hand lightly on her sister’s shoulder. That seemed to bolster Iris.
“There were moments when I thought I could possibly convince him to let me go, but then I remembered what he’d done to Calliope.” She bit her lip, seeming to fight more tears. “I didn’t know how long I had,” she rasped.
“And you never have to feel that again,” Electra told her in a soft tone.
Iris nodded. “Yes, the waking nightmare is over.” She looked at Gideon and then back at Electra. “Thank you again. Both of you.”
“I knew,” Violet said, “that I was right to insist that you be contacted. I knew you would prove helpful.”
“Oh, I…” Electra hesitated, unwilling to take the praise.
She looked at Gideon with a sudden uncertainty in her gaze. He recalled all the doubt she’d expressed during the investigation, the frustration she’d felt, the fear that she wasn’t doing enough.
“Miss Poole proved essential,” Gideon insisted.
“You were right to ask to include her,” Iris put in. “It’s a pity she can’t work with you all the time, Inspector.”
Gideon smiled. “I cannot disagree, Miss Delacourt.”
“Would you both come and sit with us?” Iris asked. “We’ve had our best tea prepared and our cook made a cake for the occasion.”
Gideon quirked a brow at Electra.
“When I replied to Violet,” she said, “I told her we’d be coming to call.”
“And we’re so glad you have,” Iris said with a warm smile.
They sat next to each other on a settee opposite the one where the twins sat.
Violet poured out their tea, asking them how they preferred theirs.
Electra seemed distracted, watching Iris with an almost awestruck expression.
