She nodded.“Generally.That’s my favorite part.The haggling over payment.”She shrugged at his incredulous look.“I am a lady who likes to bargain.”
Matthew chuckled.“So, are you surmising that this clearly well-educated fellow is a friend of our killer?”
“Perhaps, or an enemy that wishes to get him in trouble, or simply a nervous observer of his behavior.There are all types of reasons people sell me information.”
“But he didn’t show up for your meeting?”
“No.I spoke with James Folger for a short time and then sat at the end of the bar to wait.The staff would have pointed me out to anyone who came to meet ‘Mr.Harper.’It often happens that men are dismissive when they find out I am a woman.”
Matthew frowned.It bothered him that anyone would dismiss her.“It must be hard to be a woman at the helm of a business.”
“Why?Because a woman couldn’t possibly handle the minutiae of running a newspaper?”She straightened; her shoulders snapped back.
“No, Lizzie.”He liked how her name rolled off his tongue.“I have no doubt about your capability to run your business.I simply meant it must be hard to endure the snubs of those who don’t think you should be doing it.”
“Oh.”Her shoulders relaxed.“Plenty of women run small businesses all over the city, such as dressmakers, haberdashers, candle chandlers, and milliners.We exist.”
He nodded.“Speaking of milliners, I think we should go visit the shop where the hat came from.It had a number sewn on the tag.Perhaps we can track down the owner.”
“I agree.I can go this afternoon.What’s the number?”She pulled out a piece of foolscap and slid her ink pot closer.
“I cannot go this afternoon.I have a staff meeting at four.”
“I think I should go alone.Not to put too fine a point on it, but you do not look like the sort of man who shops in Mayfair.”
“I think I am insulted.What?My clothes are not fine enough?”He spent a pretty penny on his wardrobe.He had the money to shop wherever he chose.There were plenty of good reasons he choose not to shop in Mayfair.He straightened his cuffs, letting the gold cufflinks wink in the sunlight.
“It’s more of an aura about you.You lack the smooth polish of a toff.And that mouth of yours.Do you ever censor your language?”
“I never censor anything about myself.”He winked.“I thought you liked my mouth,” he said softly, just for her ears.
Those ears went red, as did her cheeks.And there was that spark in her eyes that he remembered so clearly.That flash of heat.But then her eyes slid to the left and she cleared her throat.“Well, I think I can be more persuasive.I’ll see what I can find out.”
He straightened and picked up his hat.“The number inside the hat was two twenty-three.I don’t know if the proprietor will give over the information on his clients easily.If you can’t get the name, we can do it my way.”
“Your way?”
“We’ll go in at night and take a look at the books.”
“You’d break in?”
“Slip in.We won’t steal anything but a bit of information.Let me know how it goes today.”He held out his hand.“Partner.”
Ms.Harper pressed her lips together, not exactly a frown, more like a thin line of disapproval.But then she shook his hand with a firm grip.He briefly ran his thumb across the soft skin of her hand before letting go.Damn if everything about this woman wasn’t a contradiction.And damn if that didn’t make him all the more curious to learn everything about her.
He tipped the brim of his bowler.“Good day to you, Miss Harper.”
Chapter Ten
Adiscreet tinkleof a bell rang out as Elizabeth opened the door to the Wells & Co.milliner shop.The shop was quite full of customers browsing the goods on display.She glanced around.Near the front window, a row of stands, each with many arms, held an assortment of women’s bonnets and men’s top hats.The main part of the room was filled with long tables full of fabrics.And along the back wall, rows of colorful ribbons and other embellishments hung on hooks.
She made her way slowly through the large open room, running her fingertips over silky fabrics and fine wools.A shop like this one would certainly be far out of her price range.Her good friend Lorelei ran a dress shop, and she made all of Elizabeth’s wardrobe.Elizabeth was happy to support another woman-owned business and spend her hard-earned money in the neighborhood where she grew up.Shops like this were overpriced and catered to the aristocrats who would foolishly spend any amount if someone told them the item was the height of fashion.
In what now seemed like a lifetime ago, her grandmother, the Marchioness of Rollinsford, had offered to give Elizabeth a season in society.An olive branch extended after Elizabeth’s mother died.The offer most likely came out of guilt for having cut her daughter out of her life after she married beneath her to a lowly newspaperman.At nineteen, Elizabeth had been so excited.Her grandmother had brought her to places like this one to outfit her with a whole new wardrobe.It had been Elizabeth’s first time shopping with an unlimited budget, and she’d enjoyed every moment of the time she spent getting to know her grandmother.
So young and foolish.Wanting to believe the best in people.After she met and fell in love with Robert, it seemed as though her fairy tale was coming true.But when he was murdered alongside his father, all her dreams of the future had died with him.She and Robert hadn’t been married yet.Her fairy grandmother had then promptly dumped her out of her life when she learned Elizabeth was pregnant out of wedlock.Elizabeth flicked back the tail end of a shiny blue ribbon as she pretended to peruse the selection.
“May I help you?”
