Page 28 of Cloaked in Deception (Spencer & Reid Mysteries #4)

The details of their first kiss were locked as vividly in Leo’s memory as everything else, and yet she was surprised by what she’d forgotten—the galvanizing sensation of Jasper’s arm, hooking her waist and pulling her against him.

How curiously small and delicate she felt in his embrace.

The magnetic need to rise onto her toes and meet his seeking lips.

The rolling thunder, the spray of rain against them as they stood near the open doorway, those things didn’t matter right then.

And, as if the meeting of their mouths allowed her to read his mind, Leo knew Jasper did not care either.

Her hearing went a bit muffled, the world muting beneath those sounds that were closest: Jasper’s uneven breathing and her own.

The rustle of his coat under her hands. The scuff of his shoes as he slowly guided her away from the door’s entrance in the direction of her desk.

Whether he’d been kissing her for one minute or five, she didn’t know. Nor did she care. She’d become lost in the lovely marvel of it, of allowing him to pull her flush against him. Leo wanted the kiss to go on and on. Forever would have been acceptable.

As such, the pointed clearing of a throat took a prolonged moment to register in her awareness. Then, in a sharp and disorienting flash, Jasper’s mouth and the arm around her waist were gone. Leo staggered back a step as he released her to face the interloper.

Standing just outside the open doorway, holding an umbrella above his head, was Detective Sergeant Lewis. Mortification seared her, and Leo turned away, though not before glimpsing Sergeant Lewis’s chastened, though somewhat amused, expression.

“Roy,” Jasper said, his voice low and rough. There was no mistaking his annoyance even before he snapped, “What is it?”

“Sorry, guv. Woodhouse said you’d run out earlier. I thought you might be here.”

Leo ran her thumb over her lower lip and pushed back the rogue curl of hair again before daring to face the detective sergeant. Her ears burned, and her cheeks would surely be glowing. There was no chance of concealing her embarrassment, however, so she gave up.

Sergeant Lewis carefully avoided meeting her gaze as he said to Jasper, “I need a word,” then stepped away from the door as if to indicate that Jasper should join him under the umbrella.

Jasper slapped on his hat and went outside under the dome of black silk.

As Sergent Lewis spoke in low tones, Leo’s curiosity increased while Jasper’s expression hardened.

Then, he closed his eyes as if he’d been dealt bad news.

With a curt nod of acceptance, he hurried back inside the office.

Drops of rain flicked off the brim of his hat as he removed it.

“What’s happened?” she asked, her lips feeling swollen. His were a shade more pink than usual too.

“I’m sorry, Leo. We’ll need to dine together another evening.” He kept his back to his waiting sergeant. “Lewis and I have been called away.”

“To where?”

His jaw shifted as if in aggravation. “Twickenham.”

The discomfort over the detective sergeant coming upon them in such a private moment dissipated. “That is where the orphanage is located,” she said.

Jasper glanced over his shoulder toward Sergeant Lewis, then nodded. “A nurse there has been found dead. Murdered.”

Her head went a bit dizzy, though not in the same pleasurable way it had when Jasper had been kissing her. “Nurse Radcliff?” she asked, breathless.

He nodded grimly.

“The murders are connected,” she said. “They must be.”

While he didn’t agree, he also didn’t dispute her deduction.

Instead, he reached for her hand. His palm was coarse and warm, and he brought her a little closer.

“It’s a distance, even by train. We’ll be staying over, and I’m not sure when I’ll be back.

I don’t want you involved in anything while I’m gone.

Promise me you’ll stay clear of this case, Leo.

And if Gavin Seabright comes to see you again, send him to Sergeant Warnock. He’s in charge now until we return.”

As much as she hated being given orders, she understood his reasoning.

She also understood the twinge of worry pulling his brow taut as he watched her, waiting for her to reply.

It was ridiculous, but she, too, felt a prickle of unease at the thought of Jasper boarding a train and leaving her.

It shouldn’t have given her pause at all.

He was a detective inspector. Murder inquiries were his stock-in-trade.

He wasn’t in any danger. At least, not that she was aware of.

Leo gave a nod. “All right.”

His answering grin drew her eyes to his lips. She could still feel the phantom pressure of them against her own.

“Write down your statement about your meeting with Seabright. Word for word. Then give it to Warnock,” he said.

After tensing his hand around hers an extra moment, he released her and stepped back out into the rain.

He put on his hat and turned up his collar as he joined Sergeant Lewis under the umbrella, and the two of them set out at a swift pace.

Letting out a long exhalation, Leo closed the door and went directly to her desk.

She gently scooted Tibia from the blotter and prepared her typewriter.

Detailing her brief interaction with Gavin Seabright helped to draw her mind from the last several perplexing minutes.

It would be so easy to simply close her eyes and return to the memory of Jasper’s kiss.

However, she prided herself on being neither daft nor prone to daydreaming and she also took pride in writing thorough reports.

After typing her statement, Leo locked the morgue’s front doors, put out the gasoliers, and fed Tibby a couple of tinned sardines for her dinner.

She went out the back, grateful the rain had ebbed to a light drizzle, and by the time she reached Scotland Yard, she barely needed her umbrella.

Another constable was at the receiving desk, as Constable Woodhouse had left for the evening, and this officer asked her what her business was.

Leo started to explain when the building’s doors opened, and Lord Oliver Hayes and his cousin, Constance, entered.

In a drop of silence, the three of them peered at one another.

Constance’s eyes flared when they settled on Leo, and though they were filled with dislike, that wasn’t what bothered Leo most. They were also swollen and red from crying.

All the envy she’d felt toward the young woman dissipated. “Miss Hayes,” she said, stepping away from the desk constable. “What is the matter?”

Lord Hayes removed his hat and, with some visible apprehension, replied, “We are looking for Inspector Reid.”

“I’m sorry,” Leo replied. “He’s left for the train station.”

“No!” Constance’s voice broke. “He can’t have gone. We need to speak to him!”

She turned to her cousin, as if pleading with him to snap his fingers and make Jasper appear. He tried to calm her with a hand to her shoulder, but she only shrugged it off in a huff of temper. The viscount turned to Leo.

“Do you know if he has gone to Hampshire?”

“Not to Hampshire, but to Twickenham,” she answered. “He won’t be back until later tomorrow, I expect.”

Oliver swore under his breath.

“We don’t have time to wait,” Constance cried, nearly shouting in her panic.

“Madam, sir, would you like to report something? Some crime?” the desk constable asked.

Constance grunted in frustration, a sound which somehow managed to be graceful.

“What has happened?” Leo asked.

“As you are not a detective, Miss Spencer,” the other woman snapped, “I fail to see how you can help.”

Leo stiffened.

“ Constance ,” Lord Hayes said, his tone commanding. She crossed her arms and looked away but didn’t say anything more.

“Miss Spencer,” the viscount began in a conciliatory manner.

“I am aware that you’ve worked with Jasper in the past on some inquiries…

even though it was surely in an informal capacity,” he tacked on, with a guarded look toward the listening desk constable.

“I’m not sure if you can assist, but I don’t see the harm in telling you that yesterday, my uncle, Constance’s father, arrived at my home in Kensington. ”

“I thought Mr. Hayes was traveling to Hampshire,” Leo said.

Constance peered at her. “How did you know that?”

“That may take too long to explain,” she answered, not wanting to divert from what Lord Hayes was saying.

“He was stopping over on his way to Beechwood,” the viscount continued. “The strange thing was that Stanley was unnerved. So was George.”

“My brother,” Constance said, then added more sharply, “Or perhaps you already knew that too.”

“Yes, in fact, I did,” Leo replied, growing impatient with her attitude. “Unnerved how?” she asked, turning back to Lord Hayes.

“Stanley wouldn’t say much, just that he was tired with Town and wanted to retreat to the country.

But there was something more he wasn’t telling me.

I could sense it.” The viscount exhaled slowly.

“Anyhow, it was around eleven o’clock this morning when Stanley came to me, asking if I’d seen George.

I had not, not since the evening before.

Neither of us had. We searched the house and the grounds.

We scoured Holland Park near my home and even went round to my neighbors’ homes to see if they had seen him. No one had.”

Alarm shuttled up Leo’s back to her scalp. “Are you saying George is missing?”

“That is exactly what he is saying,” Constance replied, her voice quavering with dread. “My brother is gone.”