“Are you investigating his murder, Reid? Tell me something is being done.”
“I’m already following some leads,” he assured the viscount. “And I have a few questions for you before you go.”
Leo took the signed paper and, with a curious glance between him and Oliver, left the lobby without a parting word. Once the postmortem room door closed softly behind her, Jasper spoke.
“You said your row with Foster was about money.” Oliver nodded, and Jasper continued, “It seems the amount he requested was the amount his landlady required for the yearly lease of his rooms.”
Oliver swore under his breath. “I didn’t know.”
“Did Niles let slip anything having to do with his gambling? Maybe a name like Olaf or Reubens? Or John Lloyd?”
The viscount took a moment to consider the names, turning his bowler around by the brim between his hands. “No, I’m sorry.”
Jasper shook his head. “It’s all right. What about the Spitalfields Angels?”
This grabbed Oliver’s interest. “The criminal syndicate? You think he was involved with them?”
Jasper wanted to be careful with what information he provided, even to Oliver. “I have reason to believe Foster had an altercation with a man associated with the Angels the week before his murder. It occurred at a gambling casino.”
Disappointment clouded Oliver’s face, and he shook his head. At the same time, a soft brushing sound against the postmortem room door turned Jasper’s ear.
“He really did know how to mess up, didn’t he?” Oliver said with a sigh. “No, he never mentioned anything to do with the Angels or any other criminal gang. But I keep thinking…”
Jasper pushed aside the notion that someone—namely, Leo—had been listening at the door and focused on Oliver. “Tell me.”
“Why my duck pond? I can see if Niles was inebriated and came stumbling onto my property only to fall into the water anddrown, but now, knowing that he was killed—stabbed—well, that means whoever did it knew of my connection to him.”
It was the same conclusion Jasper had been pondering.
“The question is whether the killer is a mutual acquaintance or if Niles, before his death, told the killer of your connection,” Jasper said.
There was, of course, no easy way to determine the answer.
“If I can think of anything to help, I won’t hesitate to contact you.” Oliver paused a moment longer, then said, “Niles was troublesome and a weight on my shoulders. But he didn’t deserve this. Whatever you need for your investigation into his death, you have only to ask, Reid.” Oliver clapped him on the shoulder, then left.
Jasper tucked his chin before pushing open the postmortem room door. The dreary weather had left the stained glass windows dull and muted, but the gasoliers were turned up to provide enough light for Claude to work by. However, the coroner was alone.
“Where is Leo?”
“I hope you will join my niece, Inspector. I don’t think she should go to that prison alone,” the old man said as he was making an incision along the back of a corpse’s skull. “You might want to look away.”
Jasper did, but not before Claude began to peel back the dead man’s scalp. With a sick twist of his stomach, Jasper started for the back office.
“What prison?” he asked as he entered, his thundering voice bouncing off the high ceiling.
Leo was buttoning her coat. “I’m visiting Mrs. Stewart at Holloway.”
A prickle of anger surprised him.
“You are not going to a prison,” he heard himself say. Instantly, he knew it had been stupidity to do so.
“I am free to try to visit her.” She finished with her buttons and pulled on a pair of gloves. “And I am more than capable ofgoing alone.” Leo raised her voice just enough so that her uncle might hear.
“Women visitors aren’t permitted inside prisons,” Jasper said. She wasn’t family, and the warden was under no obligation to allow Mrs. Stewart a visitor at all.
“There was a burglary about four weeks ago at the Stewart home. Did you know that?” Leo asked, circumventing his comment, as she so often did. “Mr. Stewart said he didn’t report it because nothing appeared to have been taken. However, something had—a monogrammed valise from the attic. The one used to house the bomb that John Lloyd was carrying.”
Jasper rubbed his temple. “You don’t know that for certain.”
