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The note simply read:I have been inside Madam Christina’s.They didn’t suspect me of anything. So far, the search has turned up nothing. Never to fear, Mr. Conolly! I have no doubt that tonight may produce something.
It was growing dark out. Charles went to the next note in the pile. He frowned. There was a blob of black wax sealing it. The handwriting was spidery—distinctively familiar.
Heart racing in anticipation, he opened it.
Dear Mr. Conolly,
By now, you know that I’ve been setting you up to take the fall. I have not, actually. I was merely using you as a screen, to get Constable Mills off of my back while I finish my kills list. I apologize for any inconvenience. However, I believe that you have been smart enough to keep yourself to an ironclad alibi.
As I write to you, I am preparing for my final kill. By the time that you bring this to the constable, it will already be too late. Despite what you may believe, I truly wish you all the best. By now, I already know of your affair with the Lady Arabella. Soon, you will be free to pursue her, without the road block that her father was settling in your way.
You are far more sterling than any gentleman could ever be.
Warmest regards,
Nemesis
Charles knew that if he was going to save his future father-in-law, he needed to act fast. He quickly scrawled a note to Lord Dunsmore. He folded up the letter, and then folded it inside of the one for Lord Dunsmore.
“Mrs. Osbourne!” he yelled, running down the stairs. His housekeeper came running out of the kitchen, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.
“What’s all the ruckus, Sir?” she asked.
“I need you to deliver this to Lord Dunsmore,” he said, placing the letter into her capable hands. “Immediately.” He pulled some coin out of his pocket, placing it into her other hand. “Take a cab.”
“Where are you headed, sir?”
“Tell Lord Dunsmore that I’ll be by Madame Christina’s.”
“Mr. Conolly! That’s a brothel!”
“A gentleman’s life is at stake, Mrs. Osbourne!” he said, getting into his coat. “We must hurry!”
“Mr. Conolly, you should bring a pistol,” she said, as she stuck her arms into her coat sleeves.
“I don’t have one!” he replied, thinking to himself that it was a categorical mistake on his part. There was nothing to be done, at that point, however. “Hurry, Mrs. Osbourne!”
“I will!” she yelled as he closed the door after him.
* * *
Arabella snuck upstairs, her heart pounding. She made her way into the secret passage, and thence into the secret room. She pulled out the list of names, and then opened up the ledger.
The flickering light from the candle threw light across the pages. She went through, scanning. She went between both of them, stopping every time she came to a feminine name that she didn’t know and cross-checking it with the list.
Nothing. There was no name from the list that Lord Dunsmore had given her and the names in the ledger. She wondered what the connection could be.
She noticed that her father hadn’t moved the letters, since she had been there last. She opened them up, perusing them at her leisure. There was another—this one, with the same spidery handwriting. The seal had not been broken.
She dared to break it, opening it up.
I have been following you, as you make your way through the city. There’s not a single step that you’ve made that I have not haunted. There’s nowhere that you can go, that I will not follow.
I know all of the secret places in your home. I’ve heard a rumor that you’ve accepted Charles Conolly to be your son-in-law. I can hardly believe it.
What’s more—I wonder, why do you accept him, but not me?
Arabella gasped. This was an actual clue. This person knew her father.
