Owen didn’t answer.Should he pay Beaumont another visit and ask the man outright?Perhaps the engineer had suspected Smythe of his heinous activities and was trying to ascertain the extent. Or maybe he’d hoped to find proof and blackmail Smythe for monetary gain.
That seemed more likely. And Owen had stepped in and had Smythe arrested before Beaumont could drain the company coffers with threats. Perhaps that meant Beaumont had proof of other crimes, maybe another murder. If it were a sickness with Smythe, at least he could take that answer to his father. Perhaps it had been nothing really to do with Sophia, and she had been a random victim.
Except there was the damning note, luring her there. Owen gave an exasperated curse at so many missing pieces to the puzzle, fury surging through him once again.
“Easy,” George warned, looking around. “That was a little loud, old chum. What are you thinking?”
“I miss Sophia,” he confessed. “And no matter what I do, I cannot protect her any longer, nor can I help my parents. I feel useless.”
“That’s absurd. You’ve caught the killer.” Whitely lifted his ale with a nod to Owen. “That’s more than the bobbies could do.”
Owen shrugged. He wanted to tell Whitely how much he also missed Adelia, but it seemed inappropriate.
“I think I shall ask Detective Sergeant Garrard if there are other similar unsolved murders in that area. He probably would have told me. Yet, if there is a possibility Smythe was off his chump and had killed before, that would ease my father’s mind. It would be an answer of some sort.”
*
Adelia needed helpand could think of only one place to turn. She made her way to Whitehall and the office of the detective who had been handling Lady Sophia’s murder.
When Detective Sergeant Garrard offered her a seat, she wanted to collapse into it and blubber like a child. She didn’t. With composure, she sat and turned her weary eyes to his.
“Have you any other suspects regarding Lady Burnley’s murder?”
“I’m afraid not, my lady.”
Taking a deep breath, she asked, “Doyouthink my brother killed her?”
The man ran a hand over his forehead, then pinched his nose. “My apologies. Today, I have a headache. Like most days,” he muttered. But he directed a kind gaze upon her. “It is not for me to say. There was ruinous evidence, to be sure. And still….”
“Yes?”
“I’ve never known a criminal who seemed so normal and yet could be so stupid, almost an imbecile, really.”
She’d heard this already from Mr. Brassel.
“Only someone not thinking rationally would leave those clues,” she said, echoing the solicitor’s words.
Maybe the detective believed her brother as insane as Mr. Jaggers seemed to.
“The handkerchief is one thing that troubles me,” Detective Sergeant Garrard continued. “If Lord Smythe went to the bother of taking the perfume, meaning, according to Lord Burnley, your brother emptied the victim’s reticule, how could he fail to notice the handkerchief, too? And even if he didn’t see it, why would he give you the perfume, knowing you were keeping company with Lord Burnley?”
She felt her cheeks grow warm at the mention of her association with Owen.
“And why did he leave the reticule?” the detective persisted. “Perhaps he could have given it to his ladylove since he was freely handing out the dead woman’s things.”
Adelia could hear the frustration in his voice, and it was mirrored in her own brain, as those same questions had gone around and around in her head for days.
“Have you spoken with Miss Moore?” she asked.
He nodded. “She said nothing helpful, I’m sorry. But back to the reticule, why not take it and make it look like robbery, for who would suspect a wealthy earl of that?”
“I shall wait,” came a familiar voice drifting in from the outer chamber, stopping any reply she might make.Owen!Adelia rose to her feet and turned as he came into view.
Their gazes locked across the few yards separating them, and a sizzle raced through her.That would never change, she feared.
Owen frowned, and instead of waiting as he had just indicated he would, he barged into the detective’s office as if he owned it.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded of her.
