Page 21 of A Silence in Belgrave Square (Below Stairs #8)

Inspector McGregor went so still for so long I wondered if he’d ceased breathing.

I’d expected him to launch himself to his feet snarling at me to leave off asking ridiculous questions and depart his presence, but instead he merely stared at me, color suffusing his face.

“So I am right,” I said softly. “There is a department of secret police, and that makes you very unhappy.”

Inspector McGregor’s face reddened still more, revealing his distress well. “Did McAdam tell you that? Damn the man.”

“Mr.McAdam never breathed a word,” I said in truth. “He would not breach a trust, not even to his closest friends. I have simply drawn the conclusion.”

From the relieved flicker in his eyes, Inspector McGregor believed me, but his ire remained high. “Never, ever speak of this, Mrs.Holloway. Not to me, not to McAdam, and not, for the love of God, to Monaghan.”

“A man you dislike intensely,” I said. “What has he done that is so unpardonable? Mr.McAdam implied that he was worse than the most dangerous criminal in London.”

“He killed people,” Inspector McGregor said bluntly. “Assassinated them, I mean. Instead of hanging for it, CID decided they needed his insight into criminal activity, and he walked free. That is not a secret. Everyone knows it.”

I might have guessed something of the sort, with Monaghan’s cold gaze and complete lack of compassion, but I shivered.

“That was long ago, was it not?” I asked in a faint voice.

“Does it matter?” Inspector McGregor snapped. “Yes, it was many years ago, and for a long time now, Monaghan has helped the police bring down dangerous men, so I suppose he has paid his dues. He hunts villains with the ruthlessness with which he must have hunted his targets.”

“He puts Mr.McAdam in perilous situations because of it,” I stated. Daniel had asked me not to discuss his current assignment with Inspector McGregor, but that was before a man had been murdered. I doubted Inspector McGregor would rush from this room to tell tales about me to Mr.Monaghan.

“I know,” McGregor snapped. “I understand your concern, Mrs.Holloway, because I share it. But there is damn-all I can do.” He cleared his throat. “Pardon my language.”

“Think nothing of it, Inspector. Is there no one higher up than Mr.Monaghan? Surely he answers to someone. I am not averse to him stopping people who set off bombs in public places, but I wish he would not throw Daniel in front of them to do it. Daniel has proved to be a good detective, has he not? Surely he could be employed elsewhere.”

McGregor listened to all of this with a scowl, and not because of anger at me.

“I agree with you, but Monaghan has McAdam tethered. McAdam is not even a proper member of the police. He’s considered more of an adjunct detective, meaning he answers to Monaghan alone.

He can ask for assistance from any department, but those departments are not obligated to render it. ”

I recalled that when I’d gone with Daniel to the bridge on the Tamar between Devon and Cornwall, uniformed and plainclothes policemen had rallied around him, obeying his commands. I wondered now whether Monaghan had ordered them to be there or whether Daniel had compelled them himself.

I felt cold. “You mean, if he runs into trouble, he might be completely on his own.”

“That is the truth of it, Mrs.Holloway. The reason McAdam has received help in the past is because the rest of Scotland Yard respects him as much as they fear Monaghan. However, if Monaghan instructs them not to assist McAdam, then they won’t.”

A wave of fury washed away my chill. “That is unfair.”

McGregor’s voice went hard. “It is how the ambitious, or those who simply want to keep their jobs—including me—remain employed.”

“Daniel has been placed in great peril, but if Monaghan tells you not to help him, you will refuse?” I demanded.

“I did not say I wouldn’t help,” Inspector McGregor said. “If I could cause Monaghan’s downfall, I would, though I doubt I can do anything about that. But I’ll tell him to go to the devil if he endangers McAdam too much. I share your distaste for him sacrificing others for his cause.”

McGregor’s statement, delivered in his usual grumpy manner, made me feel marginally better. I realized I might have found an ally, but how much he could do remained to be seen.

“How will you determine when the danger is too great?” I asked him. “When Daniel is half dead or fighting for his life to escape? You might act too late.”

Inspector McGregor planted his elbows on the desk, lacing his blunt fingers.

“McAdam is a resourceful chap, remember. The chief supers wouldn’t let an incompetent fool set Monaghan’s snares for him.

McAdam has probably already roped in assistance from among the many villains he knows from the streets.

Also, he has you to come and bother the police. ”

“Which I will continue to do until Daniel is safe,” I said with determination.

“Being a policeman is never safe, Mrs.Holloway. This is a building full of men who risk their lives to stop criminals robbing, beating, and murdering people. We investigate crimes committed by some powerful villains, and as long as McAdam does that, he will not be safe.”

“I know that,” I said in irritation. “I’m not a foolish woman wondering why my menfolk don’t stay tamely at home.

This is a different situation. Daniel is alone, in a nest of said criminals, and I have the feeling Monaghan will be happy if he perishes there.

I’m certain your chief superintendents will praise Daniel’s nobility for dying to protect the queen, but I’d rather he not need that honor. ”

McGregor thumped back in his seat in exasperation. “What would you have me do, Mrs.Holloway? March to my commanders and tell them to boot out Monaghan, disband the new branch, and set McAdam to investigating ordinary burglaries?”

I rose. “Yes, that would be a splendid idea.”

McGregor also got to his feet, following gentlemanly rules in spite of his vexation with me.

“I will assist McAdam in any way I can with his current investigation. If you have any information from whatever villains he’s pulled in to assist, tell me right away.

Monaghan doesn’t necessarily need to learn about it. ”

Inspector McGregor’s indignation and his dislike of Monaghan was heartening to observe. I decided to trust him with what I knew.

“Very well. In addition to the murdered secretary, there might be blackmailing letters coming out of the house in Belgrave Square, instructing ladies connected to prominent gentlemen to influence their husbands and brothers to grant Irish Home Rule and lift other restrictions. Otherwise, indiscretions will be revealed. I can’t tell you which wives, because it’s not fair to expose them.

One of the letters mentioned the secret branch of police, which is how I came to hear about it. ”

Inspector McGregor grew red in the face again. “You are saying the Fenians know what we’re up to?”

“I imagine they’ve guessed. There have been so many bombing incidents lately, they’d have to realize the police would respond in some coordinated way.”

Inspector McGregor came around the desk to halt closer to me than he’d ever been comfortable with before.

“You must remain silent about this.” His quiet voice held steel.

“For your own good and for the safety of the men who are trying to thwart the bombings. The Fenians and those they fund believe that nothing but violence will do until Ireland is an independent state. The violence is what we are trying to stop.”

I saw a mixture of fear, anger, and loathing in his hazel eyes. “I have said nothing to anyone but you, I promise. You agree with what this new branch is trying to do, but not with their methods. Am I correct?”

“They spy and pry,” McGregor said in disgust. “Sometimes on people who turn out to be perfectly innocent. They do such things on the Continent, I know, but I thought we were above that here.”

“Needs must, perhaps?” I suggested, though I shared his disquiet. “The Fenians are quite dangerous.”

“Is it worth having a policeman at everyone’s shoulder, including mine?” Inspector McGregor growled. “Go home, Mrs.Holloway. If you learn anything more, you tell me and no one else. Do you understand? Trust no one, not even Constable Greene.”

I raised my brows. “Surely Caleb could help. He has proved resourceful in the past.”

“No one.” Inspector McGregor herded me to the door. “If I’ve found out you’ve peached to anyone, I will arrest you myself.”

“No need for that,” I said quickly. “I can keep mum.”

“See that you do.”

Inspector McGregor abruptly swung open his door. The constables in the outer office were all bent over their desks, making a show of working diligently.

Before the inspector could shove me bodily out, I hastened from him. I nodded at the constables and hurried into the outer hall, thanking the lad who’d leapt to open the door for me.

* * *

I did not breathe easily until I was out in the street and then joining the crowds in Trafalgar Square. A juggler entertained passersby in one corner, and a busker sang in another. A few beggars lined the sides of the square, cups out for stray coins.

Trafalgar Square was wonderfully normal, with Londoners hurrying on their business or loitering to watch the juggler or busker.

Tourists from outside the city gawped at the classical edifice of the National Gallery, craned heads to peer up Nelson’s Column, and took in the pretty church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

I slid through the masses, cutting along Cockspur Street to Haymarket.

I felt eyes on me. I wasn’t certain whether Monaghan’s plainclothes constables dogged my steps, or Mr.Fielding’s lads, or minions of the Fenians. I’d just left the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, a suspicious thing to do.

I couldn’t be certain of help if anyone cornered me. I was on my own, alone in a city of multitudes.