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The landlord turned around and looked at Abram, and for a moment, it seemed as if he were onto the scheme.

Abram cleared his throat. “That is, if it’s all right by you?”

With a scratch of his belly, the man shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Just then, there was a knock on the door. “Busy day. Take a look, see if you can find it. If it’s anywhere, it would be in here.” The stocky man walked away, skirting Samuel in the small space to get to the hallway and answer the door.

Abram quickly went to the desk, searching the last place he had seen the note with Rowan’s name on it. Other papers had found their way on top of it, and Abram moved onto the next pile, having not found what he sought.

Footfalls were returning. And Abram knew he was running out of time. He picked up the pace, kicking the search up a notch, and just as he heard the man breach the threshold of the office, he found the paper he’d been seeking. Balling it up to resemble the envelope that he had handed to the landlord, he turned around to face him. “I have found the note. Thank you very much. This is very important to my mother. She would’ve killed me if I lost it.”

“Thankfully for you. My wife always tries to get me to clean up the desk, but then how would I find anything?”

“Understandable. I appreciate your assistance. Have a good day, sir.”

Without waiting for goodbye, Samuel scurried out of the office and back over to the carriage once he’d made it to the street.

“Did you get it?” Orris asked, her brows popped with excitement.

“Yes, I got it. I’m not sure who was at the door, but I’m glad they came when they did.”

“It was not me, if that is the insinuation. It was some man wearing black. I’m very glad you had success. Now, let us go. You get in the carriage and see what you can glean from the note. I wouldn’t want it to blow away in the wind.” Orris pulled the hat down lower on her head.

For once, Abram did not argue with her. Instead, he climbed inside the carriage and began reviewing the information on the note. By the time they were on their way, he found it contained a description of Rowan, and a list of places where they had been. The Dove and Hound was at the top of the list, along with some other pubs, White’s gentlemen’s club, and even the Gray house, even if he had merely accompanied Abram there once! It was as if they were a map of sorts, telling them where Rowan spent his time.

If that were the case, could it be that the man who owned the apartments had been in on Rowan’s abduction and murder?

Abram turned the paper over and found the name of a man. The scribbled name was Grady Easton.

Orris had been correct. The note did contain the next clue in the mystery. Perhaps if they could track down this man, they could find out more. Such as who’d killed Rowan, and who might be preparing for Abram to suffer the same fate.

Chapter Twenty-One

Orris and Abram barely made it back to the house. Just as Orris was putting the uniform back into the laundry room, Violetta’s excitable squeals echoed down the back stairs. One day, she would have to thank her cousin Gladys for the idea of dressing as a servant. It had helped her on numerous occasions thus far.

She knew that Abram had found something significant, but he wanted to speak to Samuel first and had flat-out refused to share any information. As if Samuel had been the one to hatch the plans, figure out how to move through the streets without being noticed, and help him to retrieve the most important clue: the note. Men moved in packs, like wolves dependent on one another, she knew, but his faith in Samuel, and not in her, forced her lips thin with consternation. Maybe one day he would trust her in the same way. She hoped…

She had planned to go to his room once she’d replaced the uniform, but now there would be no time. Fortunately, she knew how to navigate the servants’ stairs to reach her room. She waited an hour before heading down as her mother had requested. She anticipated that they would have to promenade.

It was the last thing she wanted to do, considering such a significant development had occurred in the case of Abram’s friend’s murder, but she would go through with it.

If all else failed, she would corner him in his room like she had on the prior evening. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she liked being around him when no one else was there. He had been the only man to ever make her feel that way. Even more so than Thomas. Being with Abram made her realize that her infatuation with Thomas had just been one of friendship, of excitement, since a lady wasn’t supposed to be even friends with the staff.

But Abram… He felt different. Her heart skittered whenever he was near. There was a tightening in her stomach and other sensations that she had yet to learn the name for.

Then there had been a yearning deep inside her when she’d felt his lips on her skin. The sensation had awakened her earlier in the morning and left her damp with sweat and need. She wanted to speak to Myrtle about it, because was that love? To be able to think of nothing else aside from the touch of a man?

Orris had grown up on a ranch. Coupling what happened with animals with what Myrtle had shared, she had expected certain things. But was that all there was to it? The act? Was that all there was to love?

There had to be more. There was something deeper she found when she and Abram looked at one another. There had been something more meaningful in the way Mama and Papa had held one another while dancing when they’d thought no one else had been looking. Papa could make Mama laugh in a tone that she had never heard before.

All of a sudden, she felt foolish for making fun of Violeta’s desire to find a husband. Because if there were all those feelings and more, should she not want it as well?

Before she got too carried away in her thoughts, Orris made her way downstairs and found her family getting ready for tea.

“Orris, my dear, are you feeling better?” Mama held out her hands from the settee on which she perched, beckoning her to come sit down.

“Yes, my headache has passed. I believe I just needed a bit of fresh air and time away from the smell of the paints.” She walked over to sit beside her mother, who placed her arms around her shoulders.