Page 21 of Cloaked in Deception (Spencer & Reid Mysteries #4)

Chapter Eleven

D etective Sergeant Warnock was waiting outside Jasper’s office at eight o’clock when he arrived, a surly mood already setting in for the day.

He’d slept, though poorly, and only after apologizing to Mrs. Zhao for not eating most of the dinner she’d prepared.

After Leo had left, his thwarted desire for her still stringing him tight, he’d been impossible to please.

That morning, before leaving for the Yard, Jasper had gone to the kitchen and apologized to Mrs. Zhao again.

“Did the two of you argue, Mister Jasper?” she had asked, her forgiveness clear when she poured him a cup of coffee at the kitchen table.

“No.” He’d considered leaving it at that, but the truth was he’d wanted someone to talk to. Rubbing his jaw, he’d continued, “Mrs. Zhao, there is something I should tell you.”

The housekeeper pulled out a chair and sat, her grin effusive. “Does it have to do with Miss Leo and how you would like to court her?”

Jasper’s shock had him spilling the coffee over the rim of his cup.

“How the blazes did you… I have not asked to court her.” His defensive reply had only made Mrs. Zhao chuckle.

“We are not courting,” he’d insisted as he’d risen to find a towel. She’d taken it from him and mopped up the spill, smiling widely.

“How did you know?”

Mrs. Zhao shook her head. “The way you look at her.”

“And what way might that be?”

At this, the housekeeper had leveled him with a stare and tucked her chin, her answer all too clear in the chastising arch of her brow.

“Forget I asked,” he’d said, before making his way out of the kitchen.

Now, meeting the eager, new detective sergeant outside his office door, Jasper questioned if other people had noticed the way he looked at Leo. Constance certainly had.

“What do you have for me, Warnock?”

The young man followed him into his office. “Two hansom companies are registered in London with the word Best in them: London Best Carriage and Frank’s Best Livery and Cab.”

“Good. Look into them. Miss Spencer mentioned the cab appeared dated. You have her description of the interior?”

Warnock nodded. “I’d like to check into Frank’s Best first. There was something I noticed with that one when Sergeant Brooks gave me the files.”

Jasper arched a brow, waiting for him to go on.

“It’s registered to a Francis Green,” he said. “Yesterday, I heard Sergeant Lewis say the server who ran off after the murder at Sir Eamon’s home was Philip Green. I wondered if there is a relation.”

“Excellent work, Warnock,” he said, impressed. It could be something indeed. “Take Price with you.” Two men would make quicker work, and if either Francis or Philip Green was connected to the masked thieves, he didn’t want to send the sergeant in alone.

Shortly after Warnock and Price left the Yard, a wire came in that noted a sapphire necklace matching the description of one stolen from the benefit dinner had been located at a jeweler near Picadilly Circus.

However, when Jasper arrived there to question the proprietor, he was told an old widow who had fallen on hard times had pawned it.

The piece had been a gift from her late husband, and she’d parted with it tearfully.

Jasper examined the necklace, and while it looked like one that had been worn by a woman at the dinner—the woman flirting with Commissioners Danvers and Fraser—he couldn’t be certain.

Besides, he was looking for men who had pawned jewelry, not old widows.

Annoyed, he returned to the Yard in time to update Chief Inspector Coughlan, who had not been pleased that another body had been found in connection with the benefit dinner robbery and initial murder.

His instruction to Jasper to make some headway, fast, had not been helpful in the least. He had held his tongue and prepared to go out to Marylebone to try the Blicksons’ home again.

However, before he could put on his hat, two visitors arrived to see him: Mrs. Paula Blickson and her cousin, Mr. Felix Goodwin.

Jasper welcomed them into his office, taking note of Mrs. Blickson’s mourning dress.

A brimmed hat with a veil obscured her face, though the lacy tatting was sheer enough to provide him with a view of her features.

She was pretty, with dark hair and eyes, thick, black lashes and eyebrows, and a striking mole on the side of her right cheek.

“My servants informed me that you had stopped in yesterday, Inspector,” she said as she took a seat, clutching a black lace handkerchief in her hand. She did not provide any excuse for where she’d been.

Leo had failed to mention the cousin, Felix, in her report. He, too, was dressed somberly, though the black suit was a little snug for his tall, athletic frame. Jasper guessed it was not his own but one that had been borrowed.

“Thank you for coming in, Mrs. Blickson.” He had not left any request for her to do so; she’d taken it upon herself, it seemed.

Felix Goodwin settled into the chair next to his cousin. “My mother informed us that a woman had stopped by her rooms yesterday. She claimed to have been sent by Scotland Yard.”

Jasper clenched his molars. It was precisely what he’d hoped Leo would not say, but apparently, unofficial capacity meant something different to the stubborn woman.

“I authorized Miss Spencer to call on Mrs. Goodwin,” he said, grateful that no one else was in his office right then.

“However, I do have questions for you, Mrs. Blickson, regarding your mother. My condolences,” he added when the young woman reached underneath her veil to touch the lace hankie to her nose.

“Thank you, Inspector. I wasn’t close with her,” she admitted. “But I find what happened horrific.”

Witnessing it certainly had been, Jasper thought, though he kept that to himself.

“You were extended an invitation to the orphanage benefit dinner,” he began. “But you chose not to attend.”

Mrs. Blickson lowered her hankie. “I couldn’t stomach the thought of celebrating that awful place.”

“It was unconscionable of them to ask my cousin,” Felix said, his voice low and gruff. He grasped Mrs. Blickson’s hand, which was resting on the arm of the chair, as if to show support. “How could they think she would look back upon her time there with happiness and gratitude?”

Jasper didn’t disagree with him entirely. The orphanage was a charitable fund and did some good for the wives and children of fallen officers, but the idea of displaying Martha Seabright and her children as indebted recipients smacked of arrogance.

Mrs. Blickson stiffened her back and slid her hand out from under Felix’s. Jasper sensed she didn’t want her cousin’s pity.

“I also did not wish to see my mother or speak to her,” she said. “If I am honest, that is the main reason I declined the invitation.”

“You bore your mother ill will?” Jasper asked.

“Why the hell wouldn’t she?” her cousin snapped loudly, causing her to startle in her seat. “Paula never should have been sent there. None of them should have been.”

Mrs. Blickson angled her head down, the lace veil obscuring her face.

“Your mother would have helped care for them?” Jasper asked Felix, recalling what Leo had imparted about Esther Goodwin.

“My mother offered numerous times, and yet Martha refused. I think she was envious of my mother. Paula and Gavin preferred our home to their own.” Felix reached over to cover his cousin’s hand with his again. “I’m sure Edward would have too. Had he been given the chance.”

Paula Blickson put her hankie to her nose again, wracked with new tears. She stood up from her chair quickly and paced away, putting her back to them.

“Did Gavin decline the invitation to the dinner for the same reasons?” Jasper asked.

She turned and with a tremulous voice, replied, “I don’t know. I haven’t seen or spoken to my brother in a long time.”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Felix demanded, his temper still high.

Jasper wasn’t inclined to relate the trouble at Gavin’s lodgings the previous day. “As soon as I can locate him, I will.”

Paula walked back toward Jasper’s desk. “You can’t find him?”

“He has not returned to his lodgings since yesterday morning.” A rotation of constables had been placed on watch outside Mrs. Beardsley’s home. So far, there had been no sighting of Gavin.

“That is curious,” Felix said. “Right after Martha’s killing, he’s nowhere to be found?” He scrunched his forehead, skeptical. Jasper was as well.

At least one of the masked intruders had known Gavin and gone to his room, ostensibly to inform him of his mother’s death. Jasper thought it highly likely Gavin was involved with the robbery, even if just the planning of it.

“Can you think of any specific reason your brother would hold a grudge toward your mother?” he asked.

“The same reason I held a grudge, I suspect,” Paula answered plainly.

“Where were you on the night of the dinner?” he asked.

The lace veil could not obscure her frown. “At home, with my husband. Why?”

“I’m trying to build a picture of that evening,” he said vaguely. He peered at Felix, curious as to why he had accompanied Paula and not Mr. Blickson. Archibald Blickson had been absent from the house yesterday as well.

“And yourself, Mr. Goodwin?”

“I was not invited to the benefit dinner,” he replied.

“I’d like to know where you spent the evening, just the same.”

After a loud sigh of annoyance, he tossed up his hands and answered, “I went to Evans in Covent Garden for some entertainment.”

Jasper knew of the music and supper room. It catered to men only, and while some of its acts were mild, its license had once been revoked for a full year before being reinstated due to an overly lewd entertainer.

“Inspector, my aunt informed me that Scotland Yard believes my mother was targeted at the dinner,” Mrs. Blickson said. “Are you saying this wasn’t a robbery that went wrong?”

He gritted his molars again. Leo . Telling Esther Goodwin that had been premature. For all Leo knew, the woman could have gone to the press and spouted off everything she’d shared with her. Had that happened, Coughlan would have skewered him.

“It is a robbery, Mrs. Blickson, but we are also looking into the possibility that the assailant chose to shoot Mrs. Seabright on purpose.”

“She was a horrible woman, but to murder her…” Felix sighed heavily, head shaking.

“Have you any idea where Gavin might have gone to lay low awhile?” Jasper asked.

Mrs. Blickson shook her head, as did her cousin. “As I said, we’re not close,” she replied. “I’m sorry. I wish there was more I could do to help.”

She went toward the office door, and Jasper stood from his chair. Apparently, she was ready to conclude the interview.

“One last thing,” he said, thinking of what Sir Eamon had told him the day before at the Law Courts. “Do you remember a Nurse Radcliff from the orphanage?”

Mrs. Blickson went stone still for a moment and then whirled to stare at Jasper. The glistening of her eyes was visible through the lace veil. By her startled reaction, it was evident she did remember the nurse.

“I haven’t heard that name in…in years.” She gasped as emotion swarmed her again. Standing next to her now, Felix Goodwin touched her elbow. Mrs. Blickson blinked rapidly, appearing to battle more tears.

“Your mother mentioned the nurse to someone the evening of the dinner,” Jasper provided. “Do you have any idea why she might have been asking about this Nurse Radcliff?”

Paula Blickson lifted her chin, her gloved hands curling into tight fists.

“She was the nurse who was caring for my baby brother when he died. I don’t know why my mother would have been curious about her now, all these years later.

Forgive me, Inspector, but I’m finding it difficult to think.

I’ve spent so long trying to put that place behind me. ”

Felix wrapped his arm around her shoulders, which were now trembling as fresh tears cut down her cheeks. Paula appeared to sink inward, as if trying to escape the memories Jasper had dragged up for her.

“Of course, my apologies,” he said. He could understand the desire to keep the past firmly in its place. “The Spring Street Morgue will release your mother’s body to you or to whatever funeral service you choose.”

Paula and her cousin turned to leave without comment, and Jasper wondered if they would even bother to claim the body.

Felix’s arm was still holding her steady, and as Jasper watched them go, he felt no closer to answers.

Paula had despised her mother, just as he’d already known.

She had not attended the dinner, as he’d already known.

And the distance between her and Gavin would give Jasper little to go on in his search for her brother.

He went to stand in the doorway of his office, agitation threading through him at the lack of progress. Looking into the department, the stirring of tension amplified when he saw he had yet another visitor.