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“Forgive me,” said the butler, “but Mr. Murdoch has arrived and is asking to speak with you, sir.”

“Ah.” Adrian considered his plate and the food he’d not yet managed to eat. “Invite him to join us.” Elks went to do as Adrian asked, and Adrian turned to the footman who stood by the wall. “Please have another place set opposite Isak.”

“This is becoming a habit of his,” Samantha said once the footman had gone to retrieve an additional plate and some silverware. “Calling at mealtimes, I mean.”

“Can I ’ave dessert in the kitchen?” Isak asked before Adrian could respond.

“You mean you’d rather…” Samantha shook her head. Of course the boy would prefer to avoid adult conversation and protocol in favor of more relaxed surroundings where no one cared if he spilled his food. She sighed. “By all means.”

“I’m sorry,” Adrian muttered as Isak scampered off, nearly colliding with Elks who’d returned with Mr. Murdoch.

The boy spoke a hasty apology and then sprinted off, feet pounding the floor until the service stair door slammed behind him and blocked out the sound.

Adrian sent Samantha an I-told-you-it-would-be-hard-to-tame-him look, to which she responded with a sweet smile. Providing Isak with a proper upbringing after taking him out of the slums would naturally take time. He’d been with them for less than a month.

Murdoch stepped farther into the room. “I hope you can forgive my intrusion. It didn’t occur to me that you might be dining at this hour.”

“It’s seven o’clock,” Samantha said.

“Yes,” Murdoch agreed in a manner that told her he probably didn’t pay much attention to time.

She took a deep breath and gestured toward the spot the footman had finished preparing. “Are you hungry?”

Murdoch looked truly apologetic now, but when his gaze drifted over the serving platter where two more duck breasts, a thigh, and vegetables remained, he couldn’t quite hide his interest. “Maybe a little.”

“Then you’d best have a seat,” Adrian told him. “We can talk while we eat.”

“I’ve been terribly busy this past week,” Murdoch said once he’d had some food and finished issuing compliments on it. “That’s why it’s taken me so long to give you an update on the foundling home you recently opened.”

“Hopefully, it’s doing well,” Adrian said, scooping up the remains of his gravy with his last piece of potato. He sent Murdoch a questioning look before popping the food in his mouth.

“Most of the children are happy there though one has run off. A girl named Peggy. When I interviewed the other children, they told me she didn’t like the restrictions at the home. She wanted her freedom. Even if that came at the cost of good food and a comfortable bed.”

“A pity, though I suppose this reaction should have been expected from one or two,” Adrian mused. “Do the rest of the children seem happy?”

“They do. In fact it’s my understanding, not just from them but also from the women hired to care for them, that they like being looked after.

Of no longer having to worry about the hardships tomorrow might bring.

Instead, they can enjoy their childhoods a little.

And that’s thanks to you. Which is why I’d suggest you go visit.

See for yourself how your blunt has been spent. ”

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” Samantha said when Adrian hesitated. “You did an extraordinary thing helping those children get off the street. I’m sure they would also appreciate the chance to thank you.”

Adrian gave her a cool look. “I’m not interested in being applauded.”

“No,” she said, a smile on her lips, “but you do need a reminder of your noble characteristics from time to time. Especially when you seem to forget that you’re capable of so much more than the world gives you credit for.”

“She’s not wrong,” Murdoch said, chasing his food with a large gulp of wine. He wiped his mouth with his napkin and went back to eating.

Adrian reached for his glass and paused. “Do you suppose Isak might like to come with me?”

“Possibly,” Samantha said after thinking it over. “Why don’t you ask him?”

“I will. Maybe he and I can head over there tomorrow.” He sipped his wine and sent Murdoch a pensive look. “You said you’ve been terribly busy this past week. Any particular reason I ought to know about?”

Murdoch shrugged and took another bite of food, filling his mouth completely. It wasn’t until he was done chewing that he said, “Vacancies are on the rise. I’ve been struggling to find the right people to fill the positions.”

“You don’t say…”

Something in Adrian’s voice caught Samantha’s attention. She considered his pensive expression, could almost see thoughts and questions forming inside his head. “What is it?”

Rather than respond right away, he leaned back in his chair and drummed his fingers lightly against the table.

“You’ve engaged workers in a variety of jobs all over London, Murdoch.

I’m curious to know if you have an idea why these vacancies might be occurring and if it’s a problem shared by laborers, shopkeepers, and servants alike. ”

Samantha stared at her husband. It was clear to her that the information Murdoch had just delivered had raised his suspicions about something. Judging from the dark look in his eyes, she feared he believed a new threat might be sweeping the City.

She leaned forward, intent on absorbing every detail Murdoch imparted.

The employment agent repositioned his bulky figure in his chair.

“The laborers and shopkeepers seem to be doing all right. Even if one fails to show up for work, I always manage to find out what happened. Maybe they simply took off or maybe they were so sick they couldn’t get out of bed.

Whatever the case, they don’t just vanish completely from one day to the next. ”

“Whereas the servants do?” Adrian’s eyes gleamed as he tilted his head.

Samantha held her breath in anticipation of Murdoch’s response.

Murdoch took a deep breath and expelled it. “It’s probably nothing though it does seem as though a pattern might be emerging.”

“Go on,” Adrian told him.

“A maid employed at Capron House stopped arriving for work nearly a year ago. According to one of the other servants I had at that location – a hallboy – she’d mentioned going to see a physician regarding a pain in her lower abdomen.

When she failed to return and the butler began asking questions, the hallboy came to inform me of her absence.

Curiously, no one could tell me the name of the physician she’d gone to see or where his practice might be.

When I learned she had a beau at the Haymarket theatre who’d stopped showing up for work around the same time, I naturally believed they’d run off together and stopped searching for answers. ”

“And after that?” Adrian asked.

“Five additional servants have disappeared.”

Samantha stared at Mr. Murdoch in silence. Adrian didn’t say anything either. His expression, however, suggested he thought the same as she. Namely that these disappearances weren’t coincidental, rather someone had preyed upon all of these people.

“Why have you not informed me about this sooner?” Adrian finally asked.

“Because the cases showed no sign of being connected. There’s still a chance they aren’t – that these people just chose to follow a different path and—”

“You realize you’re making no sense.” Adrian shook his head. “Such an explanation might fit one or two irresponsible people, but for it to fit seven seems highly unlikely.”

“There’s also the spacing,” Murdoch said. “The long intervals between the disappearances made them look like unrelated coincidences. Until this past month when two people vanished just one week apart.”

“Good lord.” Considering the sort of monsters she’d dealt with recently, Samantha feared they were now faced with another.

“Your lack of transparency regarding this matter is starting to make more sense,” Adrian muttered.

“I’m sorry,” Murdoch told him, “but considering all you were forced to deal with, I wanted to try and acquire more details before coming to you. Besides, you were also imprisoned and then on the run. I wasn’t sure you’d be able to help.”

“Understood.” Adrian asked the footman to see about clearing the table and having dessert sent up, then said, “When I was at White’s this afternoon, I overheard a conversation I now believe could be related to this.”

He relayed the information the gentlemen had shared about the maid and the footman then asked Murdoch, “Have you met with Simmons? If either of these people were killed, there’s a chance they ended up at the morgue. In which case he may have seen them.”

Simmons assisted Doctor Fellowes, the chief coroner at St. George’s Hospital where many of the city’s dead were brought for investigation. He was also a loyal Croft family associate who’d earned a fair penny by cleaning up various ‘problems’ over the years.

“I went to St. George’s before coming here but he wasn’t there. I’ll try again tomorrow.”

“Leave it to me,” Adrian said, his voice dark. “I’ll be in touch should I need your assistance.”

Samantha placed her hand over his. If a new killer was on the loose, time would be of the essence. No matter the danger, she would support Adrian’s effort to catch the murderous scoundrel.