“To get you involved in finding the missing women. I saw the newspaper headlines at the station when we arrived in Edinburgh, then I read the article at Kinloch’s while you were all negotiating the sale of the book. I couldn’t sleep that night thinking about them. The article mentioned witchcraft, and given I am a woman and a magician…it felt very personal. Considering most police forces around the world lack time and resources, I suspected Edinburgh’s could do with some help from three enterprising, clever people. I doubted you’d change your plans on a whim to take on an investigation that had nothing to do with you, so I gave you an incentive, as it were.”
She’d picked the lock on my hotel room door! She’d used her hairpins, just as she’d done with the door to the building where the captives were being held. “You left the straw effigy in place of the book to make us think the theft was linked to the kidnappings.”
“I read about them in the newspaper, but I didn’t get it quite right, as the police pointed out when we showed it to them.” She reached out and clasped my hand. “I am sorry for manipulating you, Professor.”
“I don’t understand. What made you think we were enterprising and clever? You’d only just met us.”
“I could tell as soon as I met you that you were a quick thinker, Professor. I underestimated you, however. Your mind could best be described as formidable. The way you deduced that it was Mr. Gordon was marvelous.”
I lowered my head, but I doubted I managed to hide my blushing cheeks from her.
She was polite enough not to point it out. “Can you forgive my duplicitousness, Professor?” She squeezed my hand.
I squeezed back. “Of course I can. The outcome is beyond wonderful.”
She breathed deeply and a look of relief washed over her. She squeezed my hand again before releasing it. “Just one more thing. Mr. Defoe doesn’t know that I took the book, and I prefer that he doesn’t find out. I especially don’t want him finding out that I gave it back to you.”
Oscar and I assured her he wouldn’t learn anything from us.
We resumed walking, Miss Wheeler between Oscar and me. “You are wrong about one thing,” Oscar told her, his voice low, as if he wanted only her to hear, no one else. Not even me. “We would have changed our plans to help you. All you needed to do was ask.”
She blinked rapidly in an attempt to hide the emotion suddenly welling in her eyes. “Thank you, Mr. Barratt.”
“Please call me Oscar.”
She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, her emotions once more under control. “No.”
He chuckled.
We continued at a leisurely pace back to the hotel, none of us in a hurry to return to Defoe and what must be the end for this new friendship. Despite that, I felt full. I was in the company of two people I liked and admired, I’d solved a mystery, and ushered two young women back into the arms of their loved ones. I was also about to get the book back. To add to my good mood, the clouds parted, revealing a lovely blue sky. Afternoon sunlight bathed the honey-colored buildings in a warm glow to match the warm glow within me. The city hummed with activity, but at a gentler pace compared to London, and the air wasn’t nearly as smelly or thick. All was right with the world again.
After changing my shirt for a fresh one, I joined Oscar in his room. It was too early for dinner, but we hoped to find a tavern or inn for refreshments. I watched as he tied his tie in the reflection of the dressing table mirror. I couldn’t tell if he was happy or forlorn. He seemed thoughtful, his mind not quite on the task at hand. He made a mess of the knot.
“You can’t go out like that,” I chided.
He pulled a face at his reflection. “You’re right.” He turned to me. “Can you do it?”
I undid the tie and restarted. “When did you know Miss Wheeler took the book?”
“I had an inkling when we confronted Defoe this morning. I believed his denial, but I couldn’t think who else might have taken it. She seemed the logical choice, but I’m ashamed to say I dismissed the idea simply because I couldn’t imagine a woman breaking into your room in the night. When the police told us our effigy was different, I realized the theft probably wasn’t connected to the abductions at all, then throughout the day, I slowly began to realize it must be her. When she unlocked that door in the close, I knew it for certain. Did it never occur to you she’d taken it to encourage us to investigate the abductions?”
“Not once. It still seems an extreme method when she could have just asked.”
“She couldn’t be sure we would agree.”
I finished tying his tie and stepped back to make sure it was straight.
Oscar cleared his throat. “She was right, Gavin. You were magnificent today.”
“I didn’t find Juliette and Mary. Miss Wheeler did that with her chalk dust.”
“You found the way to open the hidden door, and you were the one who worked out Gordon was the culprit then went on to prove it. I knew your big brain would come in useful on these jaunts.” His eyes twinkled with his smile. “It seems I was the superfluous one of the trio.”
“Hardly. You’re the glue.”
“Thank you.” I wasn’t sure if he was thanking me for calling him the glue or for tying his tie.
“I must apologize for getting carried away in the Gordons’ drawing room,” I said. “I don’t know what came over me, but laying out the evidence to everyone, and finally putting it all together and unmasking Mr. Gordon…it was all rather invigorating.”
