Page 25 of A Shop Girl’s Christmas (Pennington’s Department Store #3)
Stephen strolled past the entrance to Pennington’s men’s department, his mind filled with what Herman Angel had told him about a possible suspect squatting near Pulteney Bridge. The need to pursue Herman’s lead continued to nag at Stephen, no matter how much he wished to quash it. However, as far as Cornelia becoming embroiled in this tangled mess… that was another thing entirely.
God only knew how he would persuade her to leave the situation in his hands. He had dealt with a hundred and one women who had her fighting spirit, but he’d yet to encounter one who touched his buried feelings. The woman had reawakened something inside him. Something deeper than he’d even felt for his ex-fiancée. Their relationship now felt as though it had been a cordial romance. A joining of two people who liked one another’s company. Whereas a mysterious tension crackled between him and Cornelia. Good tension. A connection with the possibility of real, in-depth passion that might lead them to trouble of the emotional kind.
As Stephen walked, the sensation he was being watched stole over him and he turned.
Damnation .
Joseph Carter strode towards him, his determined gaze steadfastly focused on Stephen, despite the crowds of people who walked back and forth, excitedly chattering and calling to one another. The second floor of the mammoth store buzzed with its usual, endless activity.
‘Mr Gower. A word, if I may?’
Stephen blew a heavy breath. As if he had any choice in the matter. ‘Yes, sir.’
‘Walk with me.’ Carter stared ahead, lines of fatigue showing around his eyes and the corners of his mouth. ‘I understand there was some trouble at the store entrance a couple of days ago. A vagrant wanted access. A man I’m told you are acquainted with.’
‘Hardly acquainted, sir.’ They descended the grand staircase and Carter led them around the first-floor landing. ‘I claimed to know him, so the matter was settled as quickly and as quietly as possible.’
Carter abruptly stopped, his gaze annoyed. ‘Is that so? Well, I’m sorry, Gower, I’m not entirely sure I believe you. It’s one thing if you don’t want to do what I ask of you, quite another if you willingly lie to me.’
Stephen paused, mildly disturbed by the vehemence in Carter’s tone and the anger in his eyes. This was not the charismatic and charming man who spoke with one customer after another, the staff more than willing to delay their work if it meant sharing a few minutes with an employer they held in such high esteem.
Yet, he completely understood the hopelessness and despair so clearly etched on Carter’s face.
Stephen gazed out over the crowds. ‘Fine. He was a man I bumped into near the slums. I’ve also read the clippings and your thoughts about the similarities between this latest murder and your wife’s.’
‘You met this man while pursuing a lead?’
Stephen faced Joseph. ‘Not a lead. Rather, I felt compelled to see where your wife’s body was found.’
Carter’s eyes were shadowed by deep pain. ‘And the man who came into the store, he was there? Is he… do you think he could be—’
‘No. Absolutely not.’
‘How can you be so sure?’
Despite the sympathy that rose inside him, Stephen drew himself up straighter. If he was to pursue the exploration into Lillian Carter’s demise, he had to exert his authority. Carter’s emotional reaction was understandable, but Stephen would do all he could to manage it. ‘You want me to look into your wife’s killing, Mr Carter. Correct?’
He nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Then you must believe my instincts for what is true is as strong as they are for what is false. I sense the vagrant who came into the store, whatever his circumstances might be now, was once doing all right in the world. He is fundamentally a good and honest man, to whom something happened, as it does to us all at some time.’
Carter’s gaze bored into Stephen’s. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Hopelessness, sir. The fear that what life has handed you is all there is and there is nothing anyone can do to change it. Having such a fear doesn’t make us bad people, but it does make it damn hard to look at yourself in the mirror.’
The cacophony around them increased in volume, as Stephen lapsed into silence, hating that he might have shown too much of his personal feelings. Slowly, Carter walked forward and clasped his hands to the balustrade that ran around the circumference of the landing.
Stephen gave him a moment alone. Carter’s shoulders were high and stiff, his back straight. His wife had died almost five years ago, but Carter had somehow managed to go on to make a success of his life. Had been moved to take a second wife, not to mention maintaining a good relationship with his father. The problem was, the most recent murder had ignited a deep-seated passion in Carter to reopen old wounds.
In his desperation to find Walker, Hettie and Fay’s killer, Stephen had turned from a good, capable officer of the law to a man obsessed. It had consumed him. Ruined him as a man and a detective. He could not stand by and allow the same to happen to Carter when he had so much to lose.
Walking forward, he curled his hands around the balustrade next to Carter’s. ‘I will do what I can to help you, sir, but…’
Carter turned, a flicker of hope mixing with the sadness in his eyes. ‘But what?’
Stephen inhaled a long breath, determined Carter understood the ramifications of what he was asking. ‘You have to leave me to my investigation. I am a man, not God. I can’t make you any promises. The cases I’ve worked on have not always been solved or resulted in justice. Finding a killer can take time. Finding the evidence to convict a suspect, even longer. If I’m to pursue this search to the best of my ability, you have to promise to give me the space and time to do that. If I were to fail you—’
‘You won’t.’ Carter’s impassioned gaze bored into Stephen’s. ‘You came into this store for a reason. I have to believe that reason has everything to do with me. With Lillian. I promise to believe in you as one man to another. I will neither pursue nor bother you again, but I ask that you do not leave me to linger in ignorance. You will keep me abreast of what you discover. Agreed?’
Stephen held his gaze. To give Carter premature or false hope would be fatal, but he would tell him what he could. He dipped his head. ‘Agreed.’
‘Good. Then I will leave you to your work.’
Carter moved away from the balustrade and marched along the landing, somehow adopting an expression of smiling affability as though his anxieties had miraculously dissipated.
Leave me to my work .
Stephen clenched his jaw. His work was supposed to be walking around a department store, ensuring nothing was stolen or any trouble made. Now he’d landed himself in a whole lot of complication, so much worse than he could ever have imagined when he’d first come here.
He strode along the landing, not giving a damn that customers hurriedly glanced at him apprehensively. It was Carter’s job to be the man at Pennington’s helm, maintaining the pretence that all was well within the store. Not Stephen’s.
Goddamn it .
Pressure squeezed around him like tentacles. He would have to visit Pulteney Bridge sooner rather than later, but he couldn’t until after Cornelia’s divorce hearing. His dreams the previous night had been riddled with visions of her weeping, hands reaching for her children, as they were tumbled into a carriage, the phantom-like face of her husband leering through the window.
He’d awoken bathed in sweat and his heart pounding, failure taunting him as the nightmare dissolved with the emerging daybreak.
How was he to leave Cornelia to her own devices tomorrow? How was he to stay away while she publicly revealed her husband’s torment and abuse? Would her brother be after David Parker’s blood? Lord knew, Stephen understood the potential for that completely.
His choice to go to the hearing was already made. He had to be there. Had to find a way to get an hour or two away from his duties at Pennington’s in order to support Cornelia.
Thoroughly agitated, Stephen strode down the final stairs and into the bustling atrium. If he allowed Cornelia to help him find Lillian’s killer, would that provide some relief from her fears for her young family? She had said her sister-in-law was close to Elizabeth Pennington, which meant she could possibly come to trust Cornelia, too. A murder investigation always started with the victim. This meant if he was to uncover more about the motive behind Lillian Carter’s killing, he needed to learn more about the woman herself.
Cornelia could be the best person to speak to Elizabeth Pennington about Carter’s first wife. Conversing with Elizabeth had to be easier than it would talking with Carter. He was a man on the edge. A man consumed by torment and tragedy. To use Cornelia and Elizabeth Pennington was a roundabout way of investigating, but it was a way.
Carter’s wife would be able to provide a more distinct picture of Carter, the man he once was and the man he was today. Information that was vital, if Stephen was to develop a picture of his marriage to Lillian. Of the type of person she was, what compelled her to venture into the lowest parts of poverty and desperation. If there was a link between her and the latest victim, maybe it lay in the type of women they were… or who they knew.
Either way, Stephen knew he was tangled up in the case now. Whether he liked it or not.