A dinner plate was placed in front of Warren. “Well, this woman did not look the least bit unwell and used no chair, nor did she seem to travel with one. She climbed the stairs without difficulty. I discreetly questioned a footman who traveled with this woman. She also came from London, but obviously not with Mr. Crell. They did plan to travel on together to a little house in the country about two hours away tomorrow.”
“Who is this Crell fellow?” Vincent asked. “Name sounds familiar.”
Darius could feel Meredith’s gaze on him. “He is the neighbor directly behind me.”
“And why are we having Warren follow your neighbor?” Lionel asked.
It amused Darius to hear Lionel say we as though what one man in their circle of friends was doing they were all involved in. And that was certainly true. They were often tangled up in one another’s lives.
“There is a concern that something is amiss in my neighbor’s household,” Darius said diplomatically. “There is some concern for the welfare of his wife, Mrs. Crell.”
“Wouldn’t you want to address this matter with the Bow Street Runners?” Vincent asked. “Aren’t they supposed to look into such matters?”
Darius nodded. “And I have every intention of contacting Mr. Doyle of the Runners, once I have more information and possibly some proof that something has in fact happened in that house.”
“Ahh, because once you set Doyle on it, Crell will likely be questioned, and he’ll know someone that lives close to him suspects him of something.”
“Yes, that’s it exactly,” Darius said. “We are the only house that has a good view into his back gardens and a few rooms of his house.”
“I believe you’d better tell us the whole story then,” said Lionel.
Seeing as how they were all people he trusted, and with a barely perceptible nod from Meredith, he recounted what Meredith had seen and heard in the mews, how they both witnessed the empty bedchamber, and heard Crell’s orders to close the house, and bury some jewelry.
“It sounds as though the man truly has done something to his wife,” Mrs. Petersham replied. “No woman would part with her jewelry, ill or not.” Her bluntness quieted the table.
“Yes,” said Meredith. “That is what I fear as well.”
“The problem is, so far everything seems to have a possibly reasonable explanation. I don’t want to bother the authorities with this until I have proof something terrible has in fact happened in that house.” He also didn’t want to prove his uncle right and do something foolish. He had more to lose now that Meredith was his ward. If he died, Harry would move into this house and Meredith would be utterly at his cousin’s mercy again. He could not allow such a thing to happen.
“I see,” said Felix. “Is there anything we can do to assist you?”
“Not at this moment,” Darius said. “But if that changes, I shall tell you, of course.”
Meredith spoke up. “Warren, might I ask what the woman that Mr. Crell met with looked like?” Her shyness had vanished now that she was fixated on the mystery.
Warren played with the stem of his wineglass. “I’m afraid she wore one of those ridiculous poke bonnets. Couldn’t get a decent look at her face, but I glimpsed dark hair when she passed by me.”
“Dark hair? You’re sure?” Meredith pressed.
“Yes. I saw her face only briefly, but I do know that her hair was quite dark.”
“And her figure? Was she slender or fuller?”
“Slender? No, she was quite gifted with curves. Why do you ask?”
“Because Mr. Crell’s wife possessed pale blonde hair, and her figure was very slender.”
“Oh dear,” Mrs. Petersham said.
A chill trespassed along Darius’s spine. He deeply hoped that Warren’s research into the matter would be the end of this. But it seemed to only raise more questions.
“So it seems at the very least, Crell is involved with a mistress,” Warren concluded. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s done away with his wife. Dash it, I wish I’d stayed at the fellow’s house longer to see if I saw a second woman, but I thought that the woman I’d seen was the one you were looking for.”
“I see why you want to get to the bottom of this,” said Lionel. He drummed his fingertips lightly on the table as if thinking everything through.
“Never a dull moment at Darius’s house,” Vincent chuckled.
Warren, unbothered by the fact that he had just trailed a possible murderer for most of the evening, tucked into his dinner. Darius met Meredith’s concerned gaze. Was she right? Had her fears for Mrs. Crell’s safety been justified? It seemed Darius was going to have to find proof of something to take his friend Doyle at the Bow Street Runners.
