Page 24 of Corpse in the Canal

“Don’t know about friend, but he was with him in Orrie’s Den. He left with us, then went his own way.”

David racked his brains, trying to think what Solomon would want to know. “Were they cordial when they parted? Was Mr. Harvey frightened of him?”

“Not so’s you’d notice. He don’t have the sense he was born with.”

“Did Hope threaten him?”

“Nah. But then, he don’t need to.”

“I see…”

The girl held out her hand, palm up, and David dropped the handful of copper into it. Her hand closed around it greedily.

“Where would we find this Hope? At Orrie’s?”

“Sometimes.” She hesitated. “Look, don’t go sticking your nose into his business. It’s a handsome nose and you deserve to keep it.”

David looked at her more closely. She was younger than he’d first thought, her face and hands too thin, her eyes sunken and shadowed. She was probably ill. She’d followed him for money, money she needed and didn’t have to earn in the usual way.

“You want out,” he said.

She didn’t look amused, only weary. “We all want out, mister.”

“You ever heard of Constance Silver?”

Her lips twisted. “Whores’ fairy godmother? Stories told to get through another day.”

“Tell her I sent you,” David said. “And Ellie? Thanks.”

As he walked on, he had the impression she was still staring after him into the mist. She probably thought he was kind, rather than understanding. We all want out.

But he could breathe and let himself into his comfortable home that his brother had passed on to him as part of his share in their father’s estate. He liked that it had been Solomon’s before him, another connection to the brother he’d been parted from for so long. He even had a manservant and a cook, also inherited from Sol. He was his own man and comfortable.

His situation had been different from Ellie May’s, but even so, he felt stupidly rattled by the encounter. After dinner—the delicious smell of his coming meal wafted from the kitchen—he would take the girl’s information to Solomon. He would want to know.

Jenks emerged from the kitchen, allowing a more intense preview of dinner to hit him, and picked up a note from the hall table. “This came by messenger, sir. From Mr. Solomon.”

David propped his easel up against the wall to take the paper from Jenks and read it. Disappointment hit him first, because Constance and Solomon had left Town with their client. He read on to discover that Solomon had actually written to his art-buying friend urging him to contact David and see his work.

Warmth drowned out the foolish disappointment. Family feeling meant Solomon would always help. But David also knew his brother well enough to acknowledge that Sol wouldn’t have gone so far, so quickly, if he hadn’t been impressed.

“Are you ready to dine, sir?” Jenks inquired. “Five minutes?”

“Perfect,” David replied, running upstairs rather more jauntily than he’d entered the house.

While he washed his hands, he decided to write to Solomon with Ellie’s information. Only the note hadn’t given a specific address, only the name of the town. Channing, Buckinghamshire.

Emerging into the main room where the table had been set for one, he went straight to Solomon’s bookshelves to fetch a map, which he spread out on the floor. He found the town of Channing easily enough, and it was not so far from London. Even on bad roads, he could ride it in a few hours if he changed horses…

Chapter Six

“Constance? Are you well?”

Solomon’s concerned voice broke into her misery like a knife. She was sitting on the edge of the bed feeling as if she existed only of nausea. But as soon as he spoke, she jumped up, smiling.

“Just thinking,” she said, and began to walk jauntily toward the washstand.

He caught her hand, holding her back. She had to look at him, so she lifted her brows as though surprised by his reaction. He was frowning. “You did not seem well yesterday, either. Perhaps the Harveys’ doctor—”