“Do you have any idea when it was? What year or season?”
“Not really. I…I was working on the ship, so I must have been older than fourteen.” His gaze met Solomon’s. “That was when I escaped and got taken on the crew of a ship called theCurlew.”
“Was it on theCurlewyou saw Chase attacked?”
“I don’tthinkso. There were a lot of ships in between, I’m sure. I didn’t like staying too long.”
He was afraid of being caught again.Dear God…
“Ifeltolder when I saw Chase,” David added. Then he frowned. “Are you telling me Chase didn’t die on the ship?”
“He can’t have, can he?”
“I suppose not.” The idea seemed to please David, for he straightened, then scratched his head. “Then why? Why tell me he’s dead when he isn’t?”
“I don’t know yet. Unless it was something you just assumed without being informed?”
David shook his head. “No. The captain definitely told me. Everybody on board knew.”
“Then you’re right, there has to be a reason for that.”
“I might remember,” David said, more hope in his voice than Solomon had yet heard. “Things still come back to me that I’d forgotten. I thought I couldn’t always trust the memories, but perhaps I can.”
“The more you remember, the more we can investigate and find evidence that should help.” Solomon stood up. “Just rest for the next couple of days. Make use of anything you find here, pictures, letters, books, maps. While we are away, our assistants will be looking into Chase, and any possible witnesses to the murder.”
An odd expression came to David’s face. “It doesn’t enter your head, does it? That I could be any flimflam man just taking advantage of our similar appearance.”
“No,” Solomon said simply.
He left the sitting room for the bedroom, where he fished out a leather bag and began to load into it soap, razors, a comb, and a few clothes suitable for any occasion he could think of. He was in a hurry to leave, and yet part of him wanted to stay, to be with his brother, whom he didn’t know anymore.
Perhaps David felt the same strange conflict.
About to leave the room, his hand already on the door, Solomon caught sight of a wrapped box in the corner. He had been saving it to give to Constance when they finally found thehouse that would be their home. Only they’d had no time to really look.
They had been waiting for too much.
On impulse, he picked up the box and took it with him.
*
Constance, having madeJaney’s day on the way home by informing her of the tasks she was to undertake in partnership with Lenny Knox, retreated to her own sitting room with a heap of post and the establishment’s account books. This was mostly to stop herself worrying about things she could not control, such as how well Solomon and David were getting on together without her, and whether or not Solomon would want a bath when he arrived.
Or would he, after all, choose to stay with his brother, leaving her to go to Sutton May alone? She knew she was being selfish wishing for Solomon’s company.
She finished answering her letters and began noting down the welcome donations to the charitable side of her business which Solomon had helped her formalize and publicize before Christmas. It was working wonders in enabling her to pay for apprenticeships and decent clothing and medical fees and so much more.
He arrived without warning, after the briefest of knocks which she answered without even looking up.
“Come in.”
As soon as he did, she knew. There was something about his very presence that seemed to make the air move. Even before the faint, unique smell of him teased her senses, she knew it was him.
He carried a large leather traveling bag and a box, both of which he set down on the floor to take off his coat and hat.
“Did no one show you up?” Constance asked in surprise.
“They pointed me at the stairs. I accepted the honor.”
