“I didn’t know that at the time,” I pointed out. What was he trying to say? What was happening?
His voice changed, halting, anger slipping in.
“I told ye to stay out of it! To stay away. I didna want yer help. And ye went to Matthews, knowing what ye did about the sort of man he was toward his own wife.”
“It wasn’t as if you could have gone there,” I pointed out. “I thought he might know something about what happened that night at the Clarendon Club that could be useful to our case. And it wasn’t as if I was alone, I had the revolver and Rupert was with me. I had also left a message for Munro.”
“The hound? And what use was the revolver when Howell had ye bound and thrown into the hull of that ship?”
“The hound has proven himself on more than one occasion,” I added. “And as I recall, Rupert led you and Munro to the hold of that ship.”
“Ye didna do as I asked and it could have cost yer life! And now, yer to work for Sir Avery and the Agency in God knows what situations, when ye know my feelin’s toward the man.”
So that was what had him stirred up. I had hoped to speak with him first about it. Obviously, Sir Avery had already shared that with him.
“It was an agreement I made to have Dr. Watson see to your wounds after Abberline had you beaten,” I reminded him. “According to the doctor, it very well saved your life!”
I was now on my feet, unable to comprehend how we had gotten from our conversation about Rory, to this.
“I was willing to agree to his terms to see it done. And I might add that you would have done the same!”
I went to the door. I was tired, angry, and hurt. He was equally angry, but it was what he had said—that he didn’t expect me to be part of this new arrangement.
“Mikaela...!”
I heard the warning in his voice. I had heard it all before but not like this.
“You should have trusted me!” I told him, and slammed the door on my way out.
It seemed that Brodie and I had reached an impasse in our work together, and our relationship. It was not the first time, still this time was quite different.
Brodie didn’t return to the town house. And I didn’t return to the office on the Strand.
As one week slipped into another after the Matthews case was solved, I spent a great deal of time at Sussex Squareassisting my aunt and Lily as they prepared for their departure for Africa.
They would be gone for almost four months, traveling first by steamship across the channel to Calais, then by packet to Lisbon, through the Strait of Gibraltar, and around northern Africa to Kenya.
It would be a full month before they arrived in Kenya, where they would stay at a compound frequented by other English travelers before departing on safari.
Lily had acquired a box camera. She was determined to take as many pictures as possible. I didn’t bother to explain that there might be few places to acquire more film.
My aunt was still making decisions about which clothes to take with her, her favorite being the full hunting costume with pith helmet.
“We’ll not be hunting for heaven’s sake,” she informed me. “Nevertheless, I do believe that pants and boots would be appropriate, don’t you think, Mikaela dear? And then there are the suppers at Sir Laurence’s compound, quite elegant affairs I’m told. I shall need the new gowns for that. I suppose the weather should be a consideration as well, as it will be quite warm, I am told.”
I chose to stay out of this conversation. When I had been to Africa, it had been by sailing ship across the Mediterranean to Cairo, down the Nile as far as we could travel, then into the desert of the Sahara—not an adventure I thought my great-aunt was up to, all things considered.
Through Munro, I was aware that after the initial scandal of charges against Sir Edward in the matter of the death of Ellie Sutton and Stephen Matthews ten years earlier, as well as Jacob Howell, that Brodie had taken Rory to see Adelaide Matthews, and she had asked to be allowed to see him often.
“It will take a while,” Munro had told me, as if he was aware that there was something amiss between Brodie and me. “Ye know him better than any. Give it time.”
I did give it time.
Adelaide Matthews had asked me to return, and I did. I liked her very much.
There was grief of course, much like an old injury that had been injured once more. But the wound would heal in time. And then there was Rory.
He was a frequent presence, and the grey pallor had disappeared from Adelaide’s face, replaced by a smile of genuine happiness. It was time, I thought.
