“There it is!” Tommy cried out, pointing to the skeleton. “Physeter macrocephalus!”
I cocked my head. “What?”
“It’s a sperm whale,” Tommy explained in a rush before he ran towards it.
“No running!” I called, after which he slowed down only marginally.
“So then,” Mr. Dorian continued as we trailed in Tommy’s wake. “You and Samuel have both lived abroad this whole time?”
His question caught me off guard. “Well, yes. We have. But that is not so uncommon,” I added, unable to keep the defensive note out of my voice.
“It isn’t,” he agreed. “I’m just surprised, is all. You seem to be very close with your sister.”
I shot him an incredulous look. “How could you possibly know that?” The man had seen us together for all of ten minutes, at most.
“I don’t,” he replied, meeting my eyes. “It was merely an assumption. Then I take it you’re not?”
I pointedly turned away and kept my gaze on the massive skeleton before us. I didn’t want to answer his question. Didn’t want to talk about myself with him at all. The man had seen me at my most vulnerable back on Corfu and thenproceeded to suggest my husband had been both a liar and a traitor.
“I am close to a decade older than her and have been out of the country for even longer,” I said, by way of explanation.
He was silent for a moment as he considered this. “But you are here now. And determined to protect her.”
“Yes,” I agreed softly. “I am.”
“No matter the cost to yourself? Or your children?” He stopped short and turned his whole body towards me.
I stopped as well and let out a harsh sigh. “No, Mr. Dorian. I learned my lesson on that front quite thoroughly last time and am taking better care. You should be able to find comfort in that.”
He narrowed his eyes at my flippant remark. “I will not apologize for being concerned for your welfare.”
“Concern is not the same as control,” I shot back, and unfortunately, the words rang out in the large space. A few heads turned in our direction, and I made sure to lower my voice when I spoke again: “You cannot truly expect me to just sit at home while my sister is in distress and simply hope the authorities do their job. Meanwhile, how many people have you interviewed?”
“That is not the issue—”
“No, that is theentireissue,” I hissed. “You don’t have any more confidence in the police than I do, or else you wouldn’t be making your own inquiries.”
“Mrs. Harper—”
“She is my sister,” I said, pressing a hand to my chest. “I know she is innocent. But I also know how this case must look to a man like your brother. And perhaps he really will conduct a thorough investigation, all in the name of justice. But I am not willing to bet her freedom—herlife—on it. And I will not apologize for that.”
Then I turned on my heel and marched towards my son,who had reached the head of the great beast and was staring up at it like the marvel it was. I tamped down my anger as much as I could and focused my tattered attention on Tommy. “Wherever did they find this?”
He didn’t even tear his eyes away. “It washed ashore in Thurso, Scotland, in 1863,” he replied.
I raised an eyebrow. “I take it that was in the Baedeker as well?”
“No,” he said, finally looking at me. “I read about it in one of Aunt Agatha’s books.”
“Oh.” I could feel Mr. Dorian behind me, but I refused to look back at him.
“Was it the one about Sir Richard Owen?” he asked.
Tommy’s eyes lit up as he turned to him. “Yes! That’s it. He was a natural scientist, Mama, and it was his idea to open this museum. He even came up with the name for dinosaurs.”
“Fascinating,” I replied, though I was still distracted by my exchange with Mr. Dorian.
“I think I would like to be a natural scientist someday,” Tommy said quietly, his eyes on the skeleton once more. Well, that certainly got my full attention.
