Page 29 of A Whisper at Midnight

“Briefly. Pollard was in the shop speaking with a dark-haired young man, but I’ve no idea who.” He pressed his fingers to his temple as a dull ache spread across his forehead. “They were talking, but I can never hear anything, which is bloody annoying.”

“I’m sorry. But at least you saw something. Perhaps we’ve yet to meet this young man. Will you be able to recognize him if we do?”

“I’m not sure. I only saw his profile. He had a long nose, so perhaps that will help identify him.” He glanced toward his coach. “Shall we be on our way to Beryl’s?”

“I suppose we should, though it’s too bad we can’t listen to Teague interrogate Pollard.” She walked with Hadrian to the coach. “There are times I sincerely wish I was a member of the Metropolitan Police.”

Leach opened the door, and Tilda climbed inside. Hadrian confirmed with Leach that they were going to Beryl’s house next, then followed Tilda into the coach. He decided to take her suggestion and sat next to her on the forward-facing seat.

Her features registered surprise.

“You don’t mind?” he asked, though she’d invited him to do so earlier.

“I encouraged you, if you recall,” she replied with a smile. “It only makes sense with Beryl’s items on the other seat.”

Did that mean he should only sit next to her if they were transporting items? Hell, why was he dwelling on this so much? It was a seating arrangement not a declaration of affection.

And yet perhaps it was. Or at least the deepening of their friendship.

He certainly felt different sitting beside her. The coach felt … smaller. More intimate. Did she sense that too? He wasn’t going to ask. Instead, he would simply enjoy this shift.

Perhaps, though, he ought to inject a bit of levity. “You don’t plan to elbow me again, do you?” Hadrian smiled.

The coach moved forward as Tilda looked over at him, a glint of humor in her gaze. “I was afraid you were becoming upset, or at least bothered by Pollard’s disclosure about what Chamberssaid about you. I didn’t want you to prevent Pollard from talking to us.”

“I admit I was irritated.” Hadrian looked straight ahead. “I should not have been. I just don’t understand Chambers’ hatred of me.”

“It does seem as though he had strong feelings against you,” Tilda mused. “And what did Pollard mean about Chambers not really wanting a wife?”

Hadrian turned his head toward Tilda. “That was interesting, wasn’t it? I wonder if Beryl knows that.”

“Do you think Chambers would have confessed that to her?” Tilda sounded dubious.

“Perhaps in the heat of an argument. But I’m not sure I want to ask her about it in case she doesn’t know.”

Tilda lifted a shoulder. “It’s entirely possible Pollard was mistaken or exaggerating.” She was quiet a moment, her gaze fixed across the coach as she pondered something. Finally, she said, “If it’s true that Chambers didn’t want to marry Beryl, and she knew, it would explain the conflict in their marriage.”

“It also strengthens her motive to kill him,” Hadrian said with a frown.

“Perhaps, but it doesn’t make sense to me that she would pursue a divorce whilst also planning to kill him. Unless she was trying to make it look as though she hadn’t killed him.”

Hadrian blew out a breath as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I suppose that’s possible. If so, she’s a very accomplished liar and actor. I quite believed her distress today. And I was persuaded by her letter.”

“I believed her too,” Tilda said. “Though her upset could be due to the fact that she killed her husband in a fit of passion. But she would have had to fetch a knife from the kitchen—if the missing knife is the murder weapon—and stab her husband in his bed, and that does not support a sudden, uncontrollablerage that could lead to murder. Perhaps it was a little of both—unplanned and then quickly executed.”

“She certainly had plenty of reason to be angry with him, let alone outright despise him.”

Tilda was quiet a moment, then said, “You are right that she had several reasons for hating her husband. She thinks he stole her jewelry, he’s said awful things to her and has treated her violently, and she believes he is having an affair.”

“We know all that to be true, except the jewelry,” Hadrian remarked.

“Thanks to your visions, yes. Would you mind having a vision about the missing jewelry so we can confirm that?” she asked with a smile.

Hadrian chuckled. “I shall endeavor to do so. How many pieces went missing?”

“Nine in total,” Tilda replied. “A set of three pieces disappeared before Christmas and the last ones in recent weeks.”

“That’s a long stretch of thievery,” Hadrian remarked. “I suppose Chambers may have had to continually sell things of value in order to make the necessary payments to Pollard for the shop.”