Mr. Henderson removed the cigar. “You should be questioning that damnable Carter. All of this is his doing. I didn’t want my Gabriela to marry the bastard in the first place!”He gesticulated wildly toward Miss Geary in dismissal, who scuttled out of the office, closing the door behind her.
“You aren’t on good terms with your son-in-law?” Jasper presumed.
The man scoffed and returned to puffing on his cigar, giving no answer.
“Were you on good terms with Gabriela?” he tried next.
At this, Mr. Henderson seemed to deflate. After pausing, he answered, “We hadn’t spoken since the wedding.”
Jasper sensed he felt sadness for that, rather than anger.
“Can you think of any enemies Mr. Carter has, or those your daughter might have had? Anyone who may have wished her harm?”
The answer to this standard question was almost alwaysno, which was less than helpful.
“Andrew Carter doesn’t go anywhere without forming a new enemy,” Henderson said with a huff of derision. “However, Gabriela was kindness itself. The girl was unfailingly sweet and caring. All I can think is that he took advantage of her natural disposition. Manipulated her into marrying him.”
Mr. Henderson’s hatred for Andrew sparked Jasper’s interest; it might have led him to attempt to be rid of his son-in-law entirely. All they had was Andrew’s word that the drink had been meant for Gabriela,compliments of Mr. Bloom. It was entirely possible the drink had been delivered tohim, and Gabriela had taken it. Then, when she died as a result, Andrew realized he’d been the original target. His animosity toward the police would lead him to keep this information to himself and seek vengeance all on his own, outside the bounds of the law. It was, after all, how the East Rips and every other gang in the city operated.
But Mr. Henderson would have been risking much by arranging for a deadly drink to be delivered to his daughter’stable. Who was to say she wouldn’t sip it? There were other, more direct ways to be rid of someone. Besides, men usually did not select poison as their murder weapon of choice.
“I’d like to speak to a woman you employ here, Miss Regina Morris,” Jasper said. “It’s possible she was seen at Striker’s Wharf that evening, sitting with your daughter just before her death. Miss Spencer and Miss Brooks can verify her presence, if indeed it was her.”
The cigar smoke was clouding the room more rapidly, with no window through which to vent it. The haze reminded him of the gentlemen’s clubs Oliver brought him to, where upper-class men smoked, drank, boxed, and whored. Jasper partook in the first three without compunction, and the fourth only irregularly before he’d started seeing Constance, always with a bit of self-reproach afterward. It had been some time since he’d indulged at a club with Oliver. Though it wasn’t a thought he should be entertaining just now.
Mr. Henderson stubbed out his cigar. “Miss Morris was my son’s secretary. You say she was with Gabriela that night?”
“Was? You mean to say she is no longer employed here?” Leo asked, speaking up before Jasper could.
“She certainly isn’t,” Mr. Henderson answered. “She quit her position without so much as a say-so in person. Left a note on David’s desk! A note—after two years of employment here. My son was utterly staggered.”
“When was this?” Leo asked, again cutting off Jasper. He sent her a quelling look, which she pretended not to see.
“Last month.”
She’d disappearedlast month? Jasper frowned.
“Around the same time as your daughter’s wedding to Mr. Carter?” he asked.
“I suppose so, yes. Why?”
“Were you aware Miss Morris was courting Mr. Carter before he met Gabriela?” Leo asked, again not paying any mind to Jasper’s look of reprimand.
“Of course, I wasn’t bloody aware! I don’t keep tabs on my employees’ love lives. Do I look like a gossip column in the godforsaken newspapers?”
Jasper raised his hand, having had enough of the man’s blustering. “Mr. Henderson, you’re entitled to your grief, but I’ll ask you to hold your tongue against any more outbursts. We are here to help. Now, I’ll need Miss Morris’s home address.”
The manufacturer fumed as though wanting to command him to leave, but his temper lowered enough for him to decipher the reason for Jasper’s request.
“You think she has something to do with Gabriela’s death?”
“We’re following all leads and possibilities,” Jasper replied, giving the standard, vague reply to keep anyone from jumping to conclusions.
Mr. Henderson shouted for his secretary through the closed door, and a moment later, she rushed inside.
Leo turned to Jasper. “Show him the photograph.”
“What photograph is this?” Miss Brooks asked.
