Chapter 28 #2
Dr. Boland vowed he’d look after Mr. Patterson well while he was in the parish’s care, then shook Daniel’s hand and Mr. Fielding’s, and mine this time.
Mr. Fielding walked out with us as we left Mr. Patterson to Dr. Boland.
“I will have to find a place for him to live,” Daniel said. “He can’t stay in a Bethnal Green workhouse. He’ll soon die in there.”
“He left you in it,” Mr. Fielding pointed out. “We have only his word that he intended to return for you.”
“No matter,” Daniel said. “If he truly is my grandfather, I can’t do the same to him.”
Mr. Fielding turned away impatiently, waving at Lewis, who lounged against a light post down the street. This was an uncertain neighborhood, but Lewis was a tough cabbie with a large and hard-eyed horse. I noted that passersby left him and the horse alone.
“You know he might have been spinning the story so you would do that very thing,” I told Daniel. “Move him into better lodgings, see that he was fed.”
Daniel slid his arm through mine. “You are very wise, Mrs. Holloway. What you say is true. That is why we will visit this Munro family in Richmond, to put together the final pieces. But if he truly is my grandfather, well…”
Daniel’s optimism broke through the bleakness that had rested on him all afternoon.
“Then I have a family, Kat. I will put up with the old duffer for that. He’s had a hell of a life.
He lost the daughter he’d argued with for leaving him alone, then failed her when he lost her son because of his own actions.
He might have been right—if my father’s brother was hard on his children, at least he saved me from that. ”
“We’ll know when we go to Richmond,” I said.
Daniel’s linked arm tightened on mine. “I was hoping you’d come with me.”
“Of course I will.” I patted him. “You try and stop me.”
I was as curious as he was whether Mr. Patterson’s story was true. Also, I’d give anything to meet the family he’d been pulled from.
“We’ll go on Monday,” Daniel said. “For now, I have another person to visit. I believe I now know who murdered Banks, and why. Errol can escort you back to Mount Street.”
“No, indeed,” I returned. “It is not a good idea for you to confront Mr. Naismith on your own. I am coming with you.”
Daniel started, then his grin reappeared, though it didn’t replace the grim light in his eyes. “How did you know?”
“I drew the same conclusion while we were interviewing Mr. Patterson. I thought he might have killed Mr. Banks—they’d known each other in the past, and perhaps Mr. Banks knew exactly what Mr. Patterson had done with you all those years ago.
I thought perhaps Mr. Banks put together who you were based on the fact that you and James resembled Mr. Patterson.
He might have told Mr. Patterson about you, and Mr. Patterson, fearing what you’d do, killed him before he could speak.
” I let out a breath. “But seeing Mr. Patterson now, I know he did not. He’s guilt-ridden and grief-stricken, but not a killer. ”
“Yes, I thought Patterson might have done the murder as well, but not for those reasons. I never dreamed—” Daniel stopped and cleared his throat. “That leaves the only other villain who was interested in the docks at Blackfriars. Very well, come with me,” he surprised me by saying.
“Truly?” I asked.
“Indeed. The last time I tried to speak to Naismith, you, Errol, and Grimes turned up in a house across the way to spy on him. We’ll take Errol along as a reinforcement. But you will wait in the hansom.”
“I knew you would insist on that,” I said as Lewis drew the cab to a halt before us. “Shall we?”
* * *
Mr. Naismith’s house off Barnsbury Square was quiet, as was the rest of this neighborhood. None would believe that a viper lived in their very midst.
Mr. Fielding had gone through his pockets as we’d traveled, locating a surprising number of small weapons that he tried to share out with Daniel, who refused them.
Mr. Fielding did press the hilt of a thin knife into my palm. “Keep it in your pocket, and use it if anyone tries to pull you out of this cab,” he instructed.
I did not answer, because I had no intention of letting Daniel and Mr. Fielding enter that house alone. I hadn’t promised to wait, as Daniel no doubt recalled. If we were to perish, we would perish together.
I did not believe we would, however. Mr. Naismith knew exactly what he was about. Our knowing something did not mean we had hard evidence that the police could use to make an arrest. He’d be too careful for that.
Daniel only shook his head, resigned, when I scrambled out of the hansom after Mr. Fielding and stood behind them as Daniel rang the bell at the front door. The door swung open, revealing a hard-faced man.
This manservant, who, by the size of him, doubled as a bodyguard, didn’t bother to ask our business, but led us inside.
Mr. Naismith’s home was both splendid and understated. White paneled walls held paintings that looked real and valuable, and, if I was not mistaken, the gilded furnishings came from Paris. I’d worked in enough homes throughout London to distinguish quality goods from cheap reproductions.
The manservant led us silently up a curved staircase that wound elegantly under a domed ceiling up to the gallery on the first floor.
Daniel followed him without qualm to a pair of double doors at the top of the stairs. When they were opened, anyone inside could look out over the entire first floor and the ground floor below it, including the front door. Very strategic.
The cold Mr. Naismith was seated on a sofa in the middle of the room we were shown into, one lacking the scattering of cushions Joanna would have added to such a piece of furniture.
A portable desk on a low frame stood in front of this, where Mr. Naismith was scribbling something on a piece of paper that rested on an open ledger.
When we entered, he shoved the paper into the ledger and closed it, dropping the pen and moving the desk aside.
“I was not expecting you,” Mr. Naismith informed us without rising. “Mrs. Holloway, you are not wise.”
“No, I am annoyed, rather,” I said before Daniel could stop me. “You had a kind and innocuous man killed to attract Daniel’s attention, didn’t you? So that Daniel would become interested in what was going on beneath Blackfriars Bridge and stop it for you. I am correct, am I not?”