“Gentry isdifferent from ordinary folk, ain’t they?” Brewster made this observation as we walked through the lane toward Ship Street, my stick ringing on the cobblestones. “All polite and cool, shaking hands while promising to have you arrested. If I said that to a mate, I’d be fighting for me life. Or laughed at.”
“He will not find evidence that I had anything to do with Josh’s death,” I said, then I sucked in a breath. “At least, I damn well hope not.”
“Then where are we off to in such a hurry?”
I hesitated. If I told Brewster my thoughts, he’d report all to Denis. Denis might decide to interrogate Marguerite himself, and his methods were not always gentle.
“Someone I need to speak to,” I said. “I will be perfectly safe—no need to come with me.”
“Huh. Not bloody likely.”
Brewster hunkered into his coat, though it was a warm afternoon, and prepared to follow me.
I gave up and let him, knowing I’d never shake him if he wanted to stick with me. Not long later, I knocked on the door of the house where I’d left Marguerite with her husband the night before.
“They’re out, dear,” the landlady said to my inquiries. She had a pleasant pink face and a kindly smile. “Enjoying the weather, no doubt. Shall I tell them you inquired?”
“Please do.” I handed her a card, which she held close to her face to peer at. “Ask them to call on me at their earliest convenience.”
“I will, dear. Good day to you.”
She was inside, shutting the door before I could so much as respond to her polite farewell.
“See what I mean?” Brewster continued his observations as we turned for Bedford Row. “This is who you think lured you to the Pavilion that night, yes? You leave a card and ask them to call, instead of pushing in and tearing up the place until you find your evidence.”
“They may have nothing to do with it,” I said severely.
“That’s not what your face tells me. You’re convinced. Want His Nibs to find them for you?”
“No.” I made the word hard. “I said I don’t want Denis involved at all. That is why I will ask you to say nothing until I’m certain.”
We were almost to the square. Brewster put a heavy hand on my shoulder and pulled me to a halt.
“Understand summat, guv,” he said, his face grave. “His Nibs wants you cleared of all this murder business, whether you did it or not. He’s not having one of his best men strung up for murder or transported to Van Diemen’s Land—ifthatgot about, it would weaken him in the eyes of some, and that could spell disaster for him. He’s got friends in high places, and he’s prepared to use them to keep you from the muck. But you have to trust him to do his bit.”
I did not back down. “I know all about the corrupt magistrates who bow to James Denis. It is a reason I have fought all this time to stay away from him. Likewise, I do not want to be known as one of his best men. I am not a criminal.”
“It’s a bit late for that. He’s done you far too many favors for you to spit on him now.”
“I know he has.”
Denis had done me the greatest favor of all—saved my beloved wife from death. Under the hands of any physician or surgeon but the one Denis had sent, Donata would have been lost, possibly Anne with her, and I knew it.
“Then don’t keep things from him,” Brewster said. “Let him help. He’s good at it.”
I growled in my throat, ducked away from his hand, and strode on. “At least let me speak to the woman before he does.”
“Unless she’s fled town,” Brewster said behind me. “Her deeds done.”
With Isherwood dead, would Marguerite consider she’d achieved her end? She could return to her blissful existence as the wife of an ordinary gentleman in an ordinary town and forget the past.
I wondered if her husband, Gibbons, was in on the plot. They seemed close, so he might very well be.
“If I fail to lay my hands on her, then I will ask Denis to run her to ground,” I said, turning. “Only if he promises thatIcan speak to her. I will know what questions to ask.”
“We’ll see.” Brewster’s words were final. “Where to now? Discover if the woman is sea bathing?”
“First I must speak to another lady,” I said. “The most important one.”
