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Before he can answer, there’s a click upstairs, metal on metal. The sound of a door being unlocked. It creaks open, and I back in front of Gray,shielding him, but he steps up beside me. Light floods the open doorway, and I squint and blink against it until a figure appears.
Gray’s hand tightens on my upper arm, and he tugs me back. To his credit, he steps back with me. He’s injured, and he acknowledges that, and he doesn’t leap in front of me to fight.
As boots thump down the stairs, Gray backs us away. He stops when he sees it’s a woman, but he keeps his grip on me.
“Elspeth,” I say. “Good. We came looking for Jack, and a couple of—”
I stop as I see the two hulking figures to her rear, one behind the other. “Your bouncers, I presume.”
“My…?” She shakes off the question and continues descending the steps. “Came looking for Jack, you said?”
“We did.” I glance at the two guys, not sure which pronoun I should use for Jack in front of them. “Jack was supposed to stop by Dr. Gray’s house this morning.” I glance at Gray. “This is Dr. Gray—the person your men punched and shoved down the stairs.”
I expect a look of horror—or at least chagrin—but her gaze stays stony. “You take me for a fool, don’t you, lass?”
“No, this is really Dr.—”
“I know who it is,” she says. “My concern is for the part where you pretend to be looking for Jack. Where is he? That is my question toyou.And it is one you are going to answer. If you do not…” She glances back at her two goons.
“Are you saying Jack’s missing?” I ask.
“You have until the count of five to tell me what you have done with—”
“Nothing,” I say. “Jack was supposed to come by Dr. Gray’s at ten. He never showed up.”
“Five,” she says. “Four.”
“We’ve been investigating a murder all damn day,” I say. “The murder of Mr. Ware, a solicitor who was poisoned, like Lord Leslie and the others. I’m sure it’s in the evening papers, but we haven’t had time to check, being a little busy solving the case.”
“Three,” she says.
Now Gray does step in front of me. “You do realize we are working with the police, yes?” he says. “And that Detective McCreadie knows exactly where we are, having sent us here to chase down this lead with Jack?I understand you are upset about the disappearance of your young friend, but to think we kidnapped him is quite the leap of logic.”
“Leap of logic?” She advances on Gray and waves a piece of paper. “Explain this then,sir.”
Gray unfolds the note as I look around him.
Mallory Mitchell and Dr. Duncan Gray
12 Robert Street
Below that is what looks like random letters, and I presume it’s just illegible handwriting, but as much as I squint, I can’t make the groupings form proper words.
“You did not expect Jack to be so clever, did you?” Elspeth says. “He does not go snooping about on his own. He had young Bob, and he sent him back with this note, telling me you had taken him. We were determining what to do about it when you saved us the trouble.”
“What’s that part say?” I ask, pointing to the last line.
Elspeth hesitates. “I was working on that. Jack loves his secrets and ciphers. I have no patience with them.”
“Then how does he expect you to know what it says?”
“He doesn’t,” Gray says. “Jack meant for the note to be delivered to one of us at the town house. That is what this means. It isaddressedto us, notaccusingus.”
“Of course you would say that,” Elspeth says, but there’s the briefest hesitation before she speaks.
“It’s a modified Caesar cipher,” Gray explains. “It says to meet him at the address given.”
One of the goons snatches the letter from Gray and hands it to Elspeth as Gray says, mildly, “It is clear that Jack intended that note for us and is doubtless waiting at the address given.”
