It took a few seconds for the flustered Miss Hastings to find her tongue, but once she did, she explained the details of her findings with perfect clarity.Meanwhile, Kendrick appeared to hang on her every word.So much so, Adrian wondered if the chief constable might have a deeper interest in the lady herself.
“Croft is correct,” Kendrick said when Miss Hastings was done explaining.That irritated look from earlier had resurfaced.“You are extraordinarily clever.”
Miss Hastings beamed in response to the compliment.Samantha made a soft noise that sounded like stifled laughter while Adrian bit his tongue.
The chief constable’s expression remained stiff.Sober.All business.He reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out his silver cheroot case.Miss Hastings’s smile fell.She scrunched her nose and glanced toward the closed window.
“My office, my rules,” Kendrick told her, clearly referencing an earlier discussion between the pair.He selected a cheroot and lit it without further warning, then spoke to the room at large.“Thanks to Mr.Murdoch’s help in identifying Miss Griffin, I’ve been able to call on her last place of employment.”
Adrian straightened.“What did you learn?”
“Turns out she was being romanced by one of the footmen.Mr.Thompson is his name.Young bloke in his early twenties.Very polite and utterly crushed by the news of Miss Griffin’s death.But despite his grief, he did prove helpful.”
“He gave you a lead,” Samantha murmured.
Kendrick set his half-burned cheroot to his lips and inhaled, then exhaled the smoke before saying, “According to Mr.Thompson, Miss Griffin complained about feeling poorly in the days leading up to her death.Of course, we know from Fellowes that she was expecting.It’s possible Thompson had no wish to reveal this to me or that he wasn’t aware.In any case, he said he’d suggested Miss Griffin see a physician - a man Thompson recommended - when she continued complaining about feeling poorly.”
“And?”Miss Hastings prodded when Kendrick paused.When he merely allowed himself to enjoy another drag from his cheroot, she huffed a breath and went to open the window.
Adrian sent a these-two-will-either-murder-each-other-or-end-up-married kind of look to Samantha, who responded with an inconspicuous nod.
“Miss Griffin told him she was going to do as he advised.She discussed this with the housekeeper, who granted her permission to take the afternoon off, and left Ottersburg House as soon as she was done removing stains from a table cloth used at the previous day’s supper.”
“And that’s the last time Mr.Thompson and the rest of the servants saw her?”Samantha asked.
“Precisely,” Kendrick confirmed.
“The next logical step then would be to speak with the physician she went to see,” Miss Hastings said.
“I’ve done so,” Kendrick clipped.He snuffed out the remainder of his cheroot in a crystal dish.
“In that case, you ought to consider the route Miss Griffin took in order to get there.Clearly she—”
“I am aware of how to do my job, Miss Hastings.”Kendrick glared at her.
“And yet, your track record leaves much to be desired,” she countered.
Adrian cleared his throat, forcing Kendrick’s attention away from the woman he looked about ready to strangle, and back to him and Samantha.“Who’s the physician?”
Kendrick blinked.“Um…” He rubbed the back of his neck.“Doctor Preordian.”
“Unusual name,” Samantha said.“Where’s his office?”
“At Number 13 Floral Street.”Kendrick retrieved a notebook from his other jacket pocket and dropped it on top of his desk in front of Miss Hastings.“Knowledgeable fellow.Helpful too, but a dead end where Miss Griffin is concerned since he’s never met her.Which does indeed mean that something prevented her from reaching her destination on the day of her disappearance.I walked that stretch of road, mind you.”Another censorious glance at Miss Hastings who merely crossed her arms and raised her chin in response.“It’s almost a mile.Winding through various streets would have brought her close to the rookery.”
“You think the culprit we’re seeking could be a lowly thug?”Adrian asked, not the least bit convinced by such a possibility.
As if sensing this, Kendrick held his gaze for a long moment before eventually saying, “I’m not sure.It would make more sense than the culprit being from the upper class.Would it not?”
A little disappointed in the chief constable’s line of thinking, which ignored the most pertinent facts they’d discovered, Adrian said, “We have four possible victims so far.”
“Of which three are still missing,” Kendrick pointed out.“We don’t even know what happened to them for certain – if they’re dead or if there’s another explanation as to why they disappeared.”
“True,” Adrian agreed, “but even if there’s no connection between these cases, the marks on Miss Griffin’s wrists still indicate that she was restrained before her death.”
“Any madman could have abducted her,” Kendrick said.“Hell, it could have been a hackney driver for all we know.Fact is she was dumped in the Thames.There’s no clue as to which class the person who killed her belongs.Could be anyone for the moment.Until we learn more.”
“From the next victim?”Samantha asked with a pointed look.
