That morning, Jasper had sent Lewis to Barnaby & Davis, the Carters’ solicitor in Pimlico, with a warrant to view the Carters’ life insurance policies. Recently, an increase in policies being purchased in the city had proven a direct link to a surge of husbands killing their wives for a payout, and vice versa. There were even parents who took out policies on their children, then killed them for the money. However, what the common men and women who were intent on such evil had failed to understand was that coroners like Claude Feldman could detect what was and wasn’t an accidental death. Their deeds were almost always discovered. And they made a hell of a lot of work for detectives like Jasper.
Andrew Carter checked his fob watch, counting down the seconds until his pledged ten minutes were up. He tucked it away, then cocked his head as he peered at Jasper.
“Have we met before? I don’t usually forget a face.”
Jasper’s pulse slowed, the way it often did whenever he was preparing for a challenge. He’d worried about a moment like this, but he schooled his pulse, refusing to let it unravel at a wild pace. Logic calmed him. Sixteen years had passed since he’d last seen Andrew Carter, and Jasper looked nothing like he had back then as a thirteen-year-old boy. Neither did Andrew, who’d been roughly eight years old at the time. Jasper doubted their limited interactions had been all that memorable.
“We haven’t,” he answered shortly. “Tell me about Miss Morris.”
The unexpected question creased Andrew’s forehead. “Who?”
“The woman you were courting when you met Gabriela Henderson.”
His confusion cleared. “Regina? I wasn’t courting her. What does she have to do with any of this?”
Regina Morris. Jasper filed away the woman’s full name.
“What was your relationship with her?” he asked.
Andrew frowned. “That’s personal.”
“It’s a question I want answered,” Jasper said. “Were you lovers?”
The East Rip sighed. “Yes. But we weren’t anything official, and I made it clear from the start that it wouldn’t ever be that way.”
“Why not?”
He waved a hand through the air. “I needed to make a stronger match when it came to marriage.”
Jasper understood. “More lucrative, you mean.”
“If you want to make it about money,” Andrew said with a dismissive shrug.
Of course, it was about money. Jack Henderson and his business had to be worth a great deal, and he’d also have connections the Carters could exploit.
“Was Miss Morris upset about your marriage to Gabriela Henderson?” Jasper asked.
Andrew drew a deep breath, his fingers drumming on the arms of the chair. “You think she’s the cloaked woman your mystery lady saw at Bloom’s club?”
Jasper battled against showing a grimace. The last thing Leo should have been doing was discussing the case with the dead woman’s husband, let alone giving a criminal someone on whom to focus his wrath.
“I didn’t say that. When did you last see or speak to Miss Morris?”
“November. I ended things when I decided to marry Gabriela.”
“How did she take the news?”
Andrew’s expression said the answer should be obvious. “Sure, she was upset. But it was never anything serious with Regina. Hell, she’s the one who introduced me to Gabriela.”
It corroborated what Mr. Wilkes had told Jasper earlier. If Miss Morris had worked at the wallpaper factory and become friends with her employer’s daughter, only to have the wealthy, beautiful Gabriela steal the attention and affection of the man she loved, that gave her quite the motive to exact revenge.
If Regina had approached Mr. Wilkes, wanting to commiserate together, the jilting must have affected her more deeply than Andrew seemed to realize. Deep enough for her anger to simmer for months until she finally developed a plan of revenge? Arsenic, according to Mr. Wilkes, was in ready supply at the wallpaper factory. Easy enough for Miss Morris to access.
“Your ten minutes are done.” Andrew stood, but Jasper wasn’t finished yet.
“They’re done when I say they are.” He took the photograph of the two dead children on the rocking horse from the case folder on his desk. “This was found in your wife’s handbag.”
Andrew scowled at the photograph. The two silent thugs at his side each peered at it with distaste too. “I’ve never seen it before.”
