Page 19 of In Want of a Suspect

He supposed she was right. He’d known Lizzie nearly a year and he’d yet to tell her this. “It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you, you know. I wasn’t trying to hide it. It’s just... we never discuss this sort of thing.”

He waited for what she’d say next, hoping that she wouldn’t be angry. Honestly, he might have told her sooner if it wasn’t for the fact that whenever he even made mention of attachments or intentions, she seemed to vigorously change the subject.

Like now. “What does she look like?”

For a moment, Darcy thought she was asking because she was jealous. But then, understanding slid into place. “Lizzie, you can’t actually think that Josette—”

“Why not? I asked the Frenchwomen back there for help finding this woman, and I described a lady who was tall and brunette and the only name they gave me was Josette Beaufort. How else might they have come across her, if she hadn’t been present in the area?”

“That’s quite a leap!” Darcy wasn’t sure why he felt so defensive, except that Lizzie didn’t know Josette. “If she had been skulking about the Mullins Brothers storehouse, someone would have noticed. And besides, it doesn’t make any sense that she would want to set it on fire!”

“But Jack did say he thought he’d seen her before. Is she tall and brunette?”

Darcy sighed. “Yes.”

“Well, then. Let’s go ask her where she was yesterday afternoon!”

“I can’t simply call on her after not seeing her for two years and say, ‘Good day, are you well, and, by the way, have you set fire to any storehouses near the docks lately?’”

“I agree,” Lizzie said. “That would be a terrible interrogation strategy.”

“Lizzie, be serious!”

“I am! Josette is a lead.”

“You must trust me when I say that it is not in Josette’s nature to do something like this,” Darcy said.

“I do trust you. But I also must follow leads. Don’t think of her as a suspect but as a person of interest. Perhaps there’s a simple explanation.”

“Perhaps,” Darcy allowed.

“Now that’s settled, what is her address?”

Darcy merely gaped at her in astonishment. “We aren’t going to call on hernow.”

“No time like the present!”

“Lizzie. Look at your hems.”

Lizzie looked down. Guy sat on the floor of the carriage, tucked into Lizzie’s skirts, brushing soot and muck on the pale gray linen. He looked up at her rather balefully, but Lizzie didn’t seem to mind.

“Oh,” was all she said.

“I don’t know how well Josette will receive me,” Darcyadmitted. “We parted on... not exactly unfriendly terms, but awkward ones. And she is a proper lady. We must be careful about how we approach her. And we’ll need a chaperone, or her grandmother will think it awfully improper that we are calling on her together.”

“Fine,” Lizzie relented. “I’ll clean up, and I’ll find us a proper chaperone. Can we go tomorrow, though?”

Old Tomlinson would just love that. But Darcy couldn’t think of a good reason to tell her no, so he nodded. He’d deal with work tomorrow.

“Now, there is still the matter of getting inside that building,” Lizzie continued. “If there is any evidence that’s been overlooked, I want to get in there before work crews start making repairs and trample all over everything.”

“I suppose I could petition the magistrate for a special search permit,” Darcy said.

Lizzie’s eyes went wide with excitement. “Is that something we can do?”

“It is a good alternative to breaking and entering,” Darcy told her dryly.

“Can you take care of that? And if you drop me off at Longbourn, I’ll see what I can find about who owns the buildings around the Mullinses’ storehouse. Perhaps there was a jealous or angry neighbor who wanted to destroy the business.”