Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Mungo moved to the window as the room fell silent. It put him near Eliza, but he didn’t care. Right then, he needed to see open space.
The sky was darkening, even at the early hour, bruised clouds sliding over each other as the first hints of night crept in.
Lights filtered through the gloom as lamps were lit along the street and candles flickered in nearby windows.
He could almost feel how cool the air would be on his skin were he to walk outside.
Inhale a lungful of frigid air. Let it burn the tightness from his lungs.
There were too many people in the room, even with Anna, Fred, and Matilda having left. Mungo felt like someone had a fist clenched around his chest and was applying pressure every few seconds.
Fenella was missing.
His sweet niece was out there, and he didn’t know where.
Was she suffering? In pain or…. No. He blocked that thought. She was alive, and they would find her. Had to find her.
Looking at his brother, who was staring into the cup of tea Ivy had handed him, he felt like he’d woken this morning as he always had, ready to deal with life, and yes, the interruption Eliza Downing had put into it, and then everything had changed with his brother’s arrival and the disappearance of his niece.
He’d had control over his emotions for so long. Dealt with them through action because the Nightingales had needed him, and he’d thought that was enough. But now he felt like he was running toward something and could do nothing to halt the progress.
But he would. Had to.
He found Eliza Downing again. She was uncomfortable being in here and wanted to leave, but he knew Gray wasn’t done with her yet.
Knew that she’d shortly be leaving the house with them to visit this tea shop in the hope that someone there knew something about Polly Watts.
It was their only lead, unless the clairvoyants among them found another.
Fenella could not have made enemies in the time she was here, or she’d have told him. It made sense to him that her disappearance could be to do with the maid.
“Miss Downing, this may be an odd question, but do you wear a bracelet with a silver dog attached?”
Ellen was now standing beside Eliza, her words spoken softly, but he knew Gray and Bram had heard, as had he.
The color drained from her face. “Wh-why would you ask me that?”
“Do you?” Ellen persisted.
Eliza held out her arm and pulled back the cuff of her sensible gray dress. On her delicate wrist was a silver chain, and hanging from it was a small dog.
“I don’t understand how you knew that.”
Mungo watched Eliza’s gloved hand curl into a fist as she lowered it to her side once more.
Why did she always have gloves on? Theo had commented on it a few days ago, but he’d not thought about that again until now.
“I’m unsure why I was holding Fenella’s note when I had that vision, but it was of a man seated in a room.
He was speaking to another who wore handcuffs,” Ellen said.
“Then the vision changed quickly, and it was of you with that man—a younger you, but I’m quite sure it was you, Miss Downing, as the child had your eyes, and I’ve confirmed that now, as she wore that bracelet. ”
“You saw nothing of my daughter?” Calder demanded.
“It is a process, and what we see is not always direct, but it does usually in some way involve the person we need to find,” Ellen said, which made no sense to anyone but a Nightingale.
Mungo knew better than to question the process. He’d been awed for years by this family and what they could do and had done for others with their talents.
His eyes connected briefly with Calder’s. His brother was here in this room. The thought left him with a mix of emotions he would deal with later, alone, with Eliza Downing sleeping above him.
“My father was in law enforcement,” she said. “Could you have seen him?”
“He had your coloring,” Ellen added. “Tall with a moustache.”
The governess nodded.
“It’s possible your father could have been interviewing someone connected to Fenella and Polly Watt’s disappearance,” Gray said, coming to his wife’s side.
Mungo also stepped closer to Eliza until he could see her face. It was stark white now, but she stood tall, shoulders back, eyes locked on Gray.
“My father was a district superintendent.”
“Jonathan Downing?” Gray asked, surprise clear on his face.
Eliza nodded, looking like she wanted to cast up the contents of her stomach. Mungo just wasn’t sure why yet.
“How is it you know his name, Gray?” Ellen asked.
“Jonathan Downing solved a murder case that no one else could. A couple were found murdered in their homes, but there appeared to be no motive. It was he who found it and the killers. They imprisoned the culprits for life.”
“What was the motive?” Ellen asked.
“The victims had refused to pay the large sum of money to a gang for supposed protection for their four businesses, which they said were under their area of control. The deaths were meant to send a warning to others who refused to pay.”
“Dear lord,” Ellen whispered.
Eliza took a step back. It seemed instinctive, like she hadn’t even realized she had done it.
“Easy,” Mungo said, moving closer. His hand settled briefly on her stiff spine. “No one here means you harm.”
She didn’t speak or look at him. Instead, her eyes remained fixed on Gray and Ellen.
“I’m sorry, Miss Downing,” Gray said gently. “Clearly my words have upset you. Please allow me to offer my condolences for the loss of your family.”
She’d lost her entire family?
“Thank you.” The words sounded calm even as she was clearly far from that. “It was many years ago now.”
“But you never forget the pain.” Gray’s tone was somber. “Their deaths were avoidable, and had I been working with your father, I would have ensured he was better protected than others did.”
Mungo saw the curiosity in Ellen’s gaze and knew his eyes would hold the same, but they both stayed silent. What had happened to her family, and further to that, what had happened to her?
“Thank you, and I wish that had been the case also, Detective Fletcher,” she whispered, but they all heard the pain laced in the words.
“Make her a cup of tea, Ellen,” Mungo said. He then urged Eliza forward. Reaching a chair, he nudged her into it. That she went willingly told him just how upset she was.
Mungo took the cup from Ellen and brought it to Eliza, then moved to stand behind her chair, where he could lean on the wall.
Bram’s eyes met his briefly before he spoke. “Why is Ellen having a vision of Miss Downing’s father if we are trying to find information about Fenella?”
Calder sat silent, watching what was playing out before him, clearly also trying to understand what he was witnessing.
“The gang,” Gray said. “It’s believed the members started a new one when their leaders were put in prison.”
“What was the new one called?” Bram asked, but Mungo knew.
“The Baddon Boys,” he said.
Gray nodded.
“I’m sorry, Miss Downing, but I need to ask a question of you,” Alex said then in a voice Mungo rarely heard him use. Timid, almost as if he didn’t want to say the words.
“Of course. I will help in any way I can,” she said after a fortifying gulp of tea.
“A child has been in my head a great deal lately, and I could not work out why, but since you entered this room, my mouth has flooded with the taste of almonds and sugar—marzipan is my guess. Also a name starting with L.” Alex frowned, which he often did when he was trying to relay the information someone from the afterlife was telling him.
“Li—”
“Lizzi,” Eliza said, the name sounding as if she’d forced it through a sieve.
Alex nodded, his smile gentle. “The child, a boy,” he added. “Was he young when he passed? He inhaled something is the feeling I am having.”
“Y-yes.” Eliza’s fingers clenched so tight around the teacup, it flew out of her hand and landed on the floor with a soft thud. “I’m sorry.” She tried to rise, but Bram held out a hand.
“It’s a few drops of tea, no harm done, and if it gets rid of this god-awful carpet, then you’d be doing me a favor.”
Alex moved to crouch before Eliza, face gentle, as it always was when he was speaking to someone of a loved one who had passed.
“This is all excessively unsettling for you, and almost too hard to believe, but then, that is our family. We are clairvoyants, as you know, and when voices come through from the other side, they want to be heard. Do you understand, Miss Downing?”
Mungo didn’t understand, and he’d lived with them for years, but she nodded.
“This boy. I feel his name starts with H. Harry or Henry,” he added.
“H-Henry.”
“Henry.” Alex nodded. “Was he your brother, Miss Downing?”
Her hands were now clenched together in her lap. Alex placed one of his over them.
“I have your father, and a woman, who I believe could be your mother, is also coming through.”
The sob was small, but it slipped from her lips.
Mungo got out his handkerchief and moved closer. “Here.” He handed it to her.
She took it, pressing her face into it.
“All died from the same cause, didn’t they, Miss Downing?” Alex asked gently.
She nodded. “A house fire. No one was charged, but I know it was them. Black Harridan’s Boys. In their eyes, it was retribution for what my father did.” The words came out flat and emotionless.
“Your family wants you to know they are together,” Alex said.
“Henry,” she whispered.
“Was your brother a cheeky young man, Miss Downing? The way he’s talking to me suggests that is the case.”
“He was seven years younger than me, and yes, he was spoiled and cheeky.” She was winding his handkerchief round her fingers as she spoke.
“I’m so very sorry for your loss, Miss Downing,” Bram said from behind her.
Unlike Mungo, he was good at offering sympathy. It was genuine and came from his big heart.
“Thank you.”
Alex rose and looked at Mungo, and then Calder.
“It’s quite busy inside my head at the moment. Your grandfather is here, along with another man. This one has a stern demeanor, and I’m sensing his death was related to his heart.”
“Our father died of heart failure,” Calder said.
Alex nodded. “Right, let me see if I can make some sense out of all this, and what it has to do with Fenella’s disappearance.”
“I think we need to find out more about this Polly Watts,” Gray said. “To do that, we need to visit the tea shop and see if anyone from the Holton agency is present and knows her.”
“Surely it’s a long shot anyone would be there now?” Mungo said.
“It’s Thursday,” Eliza said suddenly. “That is one of the days they meet if they have that night off.”
“Do you think you can take us there, Miss Downing?” Gray asked.
She nodded.
“We shall have to see if anyone there knows Polly Watts. But right now, we shall take our tea,” Bram said.
Eliza Downing had lost her entire family in a fire. Mungo couldn’t imagine the torment she’d suffered. The hell that had plagued her for many years and likely still did.
He didn’t want to feel sorry for her. He wanted to have a reason to put distance between them.
He wanted to stop thinking about what she made him feel, and yet now, all he could think about was the life she’d lived after losing everyone she’d loved, because unlike Mungo, who had walked away from his family… Eliza hadn’t had a choice.