She had given me no answer at all.
I studied her for a moment, weighing the silence between us. Whatever had shifted, it was not something she meant to name—not tonight. Pressing her would gain me nothing.
So I made the only choice left to me.
“Very well,” I said evenly. “What did Finch have to say?”
Rosalynd folded her hands, her posture composed. “He visited the households where three of the young women worked as maids. The same story emerged in each case. They went out on errands and never returned.”
A quiet chill moved through me. “Like Lady Honora.”
“Yes. Two of the disappearances occurred several months ago, but one was recent. Finch focused on that one. The girl had been sent by the housekeeper to collect a package from the laundry. They had failed to deliver linens that were needed for a supper party. She left in the late afternoon. She did not return.”
“How far was the laundry from the house?” I inquired.
“A few streets over. She should have gone and come back in less than an hour. Finch visited the establishment. She never showed up.”
The echo of Lady Honora’s borrowed cloak and the few dozen yards she managed before vanishing pressed hard against my thoughts. “So the pattern holds. A simple errand. A short distance. And then nothing.”
“It appears so.”
I let out a slow breath, the image refusing to loosen its grip. This was no accident, no single lapse in judgment. Someone was counting on routine, on trust, on the belief that danger did not lurk so close to home.
“Last night, I requested a meeting with Commissioner Linwood. I visited him this afternoon.”
She turned sharply toward me. “What did you find out?”
“He knew nothing about the missing girls. As we suspected, the Yard never followed through. But there are bound to be reports. I demanded they be submitted to me by tomorrow evening.”
“So the police never investigated the disappearances?”
“It appears so. I will know more when I receive the files.”
Her eyes searched my face, quick and intent. “You did not tell me that was what you intended to do.”
“It was a spur-of-the-moment decision.”
She did not look away. She did not move. The music beyond the closed door drifted on, distant and indistinct. “I see.”
After a few moments, she crossed to the pianoforte and rested her fingers against the polished wood. “So you expect things of me,” she said evenly, “that you are not willing to do yourself.”
Her tone was controlled. The anger beneath it was not.
I knew her well enough to hear what she did not raise her voice to say—and worse, to know she was right.
“I apologize,” I said quietly. “I should have sent word.”
“Yes,” she replied at once. “You should have.” She held my gaze a moment longer, then looked away, the tension in her shoulders easing just slightly. When she spoke again, it was no longer an accusation but a problem to be solved.
“How are they managing to take these women?” she asked. “That is the thought that keeps running through my mind. Lady Honora’s ruse may have been arranged, but only her maid and Mr. Carleton knew of it. And the errand to fetch the laundry was spontaneous.”
“Crimes of opportunity would be my guess,” I said. “Both women were unaccompanied. They were young and alone. That was all that mattered to whoever took them.”
“And then what?”
“Chloroform, most likely. It is readily available and easily administered.” I glanced toward the shadowed corners of the room. “But it would require more than one person. A kindly appearing woman to draw their interest, and a man to administer the chloroform and carry them off.”
“And not one person noticed?”
