Page 61 of Atone, Adonis

“Certainly. I will let Inspector Hughes know this is not an appropriate calling hour.”

“Why is an inspector here?” Julianna asked sharply.

“It is nothing.”

“Then you won’t mind if I meet with him. Gilbert, show the Inspector in.”

“Julianna—”

“No, Fred. If you won’t tell me what is happening, I’ll learn it for myself.”

Fred followed his wife into the front parlor where Gilbert had left the Inspector. He couldn’t very well let Julianna meet the man alone. She may ask him to investigate any number of things, starting and ending with himself.

“It’s good of you to come so soon,” Fred said in greeting and held out his hand.

Inspector Hughes was of middling height and solid through the shoulders. He was lean though, built more for endurance than raw strength. A distance horse, not a sprinter. His coat sat cleanly on him for the most part. It wouldn’t take much, Fred thought, to make the cut as precise as it ought to be to suit him. His hair was a dark brown with the early markings of gray threading through his sideburns.

There was little to distinguish him at first glance—no striking feature to hold the eye. And Fred realized it was a look cultivated to blend into the crowd, one that likely made the Inspector very, very good at his job.

Inspector Hughes raised an eyebrow before he took Fred’s hand. “Most Earls don’t shake hands with their enquiry men.”

Fred didn’t bother to reply to that. He might be an Earl now but that hadn’t always been the case. And that conversation with Jules had made him realize how much he disliked who he was when he was Chester. He just didn’t always know how not to be the Earl, how to not be the coward his wife had accused him of being.

He took in the light Scots burr of the Inspector’s voice, which he imagined might be modulated into any number of accents, fit to any number of different landscapes. Something akin to jealousy rose up in Fred. What might it be like to be able to stand in a room without drawing notice or being the object of commentary? Comforting, he thought.

“Thank you for coming, Inspector,” was what he said aloud.

“Happy to oblige,” Mr. Hughes replied. “Anything for Esmee’s people.”

“Who is Esmee?” Julianna asked.

“This is my wife,” Fred said, introducing her. “Lady Julianna Sedgewick, Countess of Chester.”

Julianna held out her hand. “A pleasure, Inspector. And do forgive my ignorance. We are newly married and I have not yet had an occasion to meet all of Fred’s relations.”

“Esmee Callendar is sister to His Grace, the Duke of Barclay,” Inspector Hughes supplied. “And Her Grace, the Duchess, is your husband’s cousin.”

“Ah, the famous Catherine, is it? I would like to meet her,” Julianna said and turned to Fred. “Shall I call for tea?”

Her words were polite enough but Fred still felt the anger simmering beneath the surface of them. He imagined the Inspector noticed too.

“Please,” he said. And to the Inspector, “Take a seat, sir. We have much to discuss with you.”

Inspector Hughes sat, as he’d been invited to do, but not before Fred noticed his assessing glance around the room, as if taking its temperature. He felt certain his had already been taken as well, or the man would not be sitting in their parlor.

“Where should we begin?” Fred asked.

“Tell me everything,” Inspector Hughes said.

“Yes, do,” Julianna agreed, her tone still so sharp.

Fred glanced at her but said nothing because Gilbert had come with the tea service. The man must have started it before they’d even rung down. The butler truly was practically omniscient.

It was only after Gilbert had left that Fred cleared his throat to say, “You’ve read the papers, I imagine.”

“I have done.” Hughes reached into the brown leather satchel he had discreetly stowed by his feet and pulled out copies of The Poisoned Quill. “I’ve taken the liberty of gathering every one that mentioned you since I received your letter.”

Julianna turned to stare at him. He should probably have told her that he’d hired an enquiry man before the Inspector showed up at their door. But he hadn’t expected him to just arrive unannounced at Chester House so quickly.