A Conspiracy in Belgravia (The Lady Sherlock #2)

Prologue

Thank goodness for a blatantly obvious murder.

Inspector Treadles did not say those words aloud—that would be disrespectful to the deceased. But he most certainly entertained the thought as he made his way, Sergeant MacDonald in tow, to the house where the body had been found.

After the taxing irregularities of the Sackville case, a run-of-the-mill murder would be calming and restorative. He looked forward to gathering clues. He looked forward to questioning witnesses. He looked forward to assembling an account that would serve as the crown’s evidence.

He looked forward to handling every aspect of the work on his own, without needing to turn to anyone else for help.

The district was unexciting, the streets without character, the houses unimpeachable in their blandness.

Inspector Treadles was beginning to like this case more and more, even as in the back of his mind, a voice whispered that it was all he was good for: the utterly ordinary.

The cases that required only dull, plodding work.

Grimly he pushed the thoughts away. They were for the small hours of the night.

At the moment his time and his mind belonged to the business of the Criminal Investigation Department.

And he would show his superiors that with or without Sherlock Holmes, he was a capable and effective man, an asset to any police force.

“That’s the place ahead,” said Sergeant MacDonald.

They were on a street that could have come from anywhere in the ring of suburbs that surrounded London: macadam lane, two- and three-story brown-brick buildings, a newsagent’s at one end and a pub at the other.

A constable had been stationed at the murder site, outside the front door.

As they approached, curtains fluttered in nearby houses.

A hackney drove past and came to a stop. A man alit.

“Is that . . .” murmured Sergeant MacDonald.

It was. Lord Ingram, Inspector Treadles’s esteemed friend—a little less esteemed these days, perhaps, given his association with “Sherlock Holmes.”

Lord Ingram stood by the side of the hackney and helped a lady descend. No, not a lady, a fallen woman, one who had never seemed remotely bashful of either her past or her present.

They saw Treadles, exchanged a glance with each other, and came toward him.

“Inspector, Sergeant, how unexpected,” said Lord Ingram. “Trouble in these parts?”

Treadles noticed that his friend was less warm than usual in his greeting.

Had he read the tension in Treadles’s jaw and deduced his discomfort in the presence of Miss Charlotte Holmes?

It was natural that as a friend to both, he might feel himself constrained.

But Treadles couldn’t help a sense of injury, a feeling deep down that Lord Ingram would choose Miss Holmes over him any day of the week.

“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to discuss police matters,” he said, hating the stiffness of his voice.

A tall, red-faced man emerged from the house. “Ah, Inspector Treadles,” he said loudly. “You are here. The body’s inside and it’s not pretty.”

“Let me not keep you from your work.” Lord Ingram nodded. “Inspector, Sergeant, good day.”

He and Miss Holmes returned to the hackney and drove away. Inspector Treadles stared after them. He had no idea how they had learned of the crime when he himself had been informed less than an hour ago, but he had a presentiment that their involvement in the matter was only beginning.

And he did not like it.