“No. Or if he has, it’s only temporary,” she said.
They walked the length of the townhouses, eventually turning to find themselves in the narrow alley behind the houses.
“He kept the drawing room exactly how his late wife decorated it,” Kendra went on. “Her portrait is in there, and in his study, like a shrine. He’s not going to abandon the home that he built with her.”
Counting the houses, Kendra located the servant’s entrance to Thornton’s townhouse. There was no brass knocker here, so Kendra used her fist again to thump against the panel.
A door in the adjacent house opened, and a middle-aged woman, bundled in a coat and bonnet and carrying a canvas bag, stepped onto the stoop. She paused when she spotted them.
“Are ye needing Dr. Thornton?” She cocked her head as she surveyed them, clearly pegging them as upper class from their clothing. “What are ye about, using the servant’s entrance?”
“We tried the front door, but no one answered,” Kendra replied. “We thought Dr. Thornton’s cook or maid might be in the kitchens.”
“He ain’t got a cook. He’s got a maid-of-all-work. Jenny. I haven’t seen her today.”
Kendra asked, “How about Dr. Thornton? Have you seen him?”
“Nay. It’s been quiet.”
“Is it normally quiet?”
The woman shrugged. “Quiet enough, I reckon. His patients are respectable folks. Not like they’re gonna make a ruckus. Sometimes he has his fellow physicians for dinner. Some kind of group, it is.”
Kendra thanked the woman for her time and received an uncertain nod in reply. When she reached the mouth of the alley, the housekeeper cast them another glance over her shoulder. Kendra waited for her to disappear from view, then reached out to test the knob. Locked.
She considered her options, then removed her bonnet and extracted two long pins from her hair. Pushing the tumbling curls away from her face, she knelt down.
Alec sucked in a breath. “Are you doing what I think you’re doing?”
She shot him a quick grin as she inserted the pins into the lock. “I can’t pull anything over on you.”
“Do you really think—”
“Sh-sh. I need to concentrate.”
It took her almost two minutes. “Damn. I’m getting rusty,” she muttered, straightening.
“At what? Being a housebreaker?”
“These skills have saved my life, you know,” she reminded him, and saw his eyes darken as he recalled the horrific time. She deliberately lightened her tone as she pushed open the door and added, “Consider this a welfare check.”
“And what, pray tell, is a welfare check?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. If there’s a concern, police can check on someone’s welfare, to make sure they’re okay.”
“We’re not police.”
Kendra didn’t reply as they stepped inside. She looked down the long hallway that ran the length of the townhouse. The fan window above the door let in the soft light of the day. The candles in the wall sconces and candelabra on the walnut cabinet were gutted. The house was eerily silent, as though the building was holding its breath. Kendra’s sense of disquiet intensified. She reached into her reticule to retrieve her muff pistol.
Alec said nothing, but brought out a gun of his own from the pocket of his greatcoat. Catching her astonished look, he grinned.
“Married to you, I thought I ought to come prepared.”
Sounds drifted in from outside: the clatter of wagon wheels; the clip-clop of horse hooves; the jingle of reins; the sporadic tweeting of birds; the occasional gust of wind.
But inside the house . . . nothing.
Nerves tightening, Kendra moved quickly to the stairs. Alec was on her heels as they climbed the steps. Reaching the landing, she stopped so abruptly that Alec bumped into her.
