Chapter 6 #3
The memory soon shifted, and she stood in the sunlight, strolling through a park.
Hyde Park. The Serpentine stretched out ahead and someone’s sleeve brushed hers.
Electra looked up to find a handsome man at Cordelia’s elbow—dark hair, sharp features, eyes that were likely brown but looked as light as honey in the daylight.
He smiled too, then took Cordelia’s arm and hooked it around her own.
The images shifted to the darkness of a carriage’s interior.
The same man gripped her hand, and she pushed at him as he surged forward, tears in his eyes.
“Please” he seemed to be saying. “Please, Cordelia.”
In the memory, Cordelia shoved past him, scrambling down to the pavement, glancing back once before rushing away.
Darkness came again, and Electra realized she was holding Cordelia’s hand too tightly.
“Forgive me,” she whispered when she opened her eyes and released her.
Cordelia watched closely, looking fretful, but also curious. “What did you see?”
“How did your conversation with him end yesterday?” Electra asked.
Looking toward the fireplace, pointedly away from Electra, Cordelia furrowed her brow, settling back against the damask-covered settee.
“He was quite upset.” She twisted her hands together. “Did you see that in your mind?”
“I think I did.”
Cordelia glanced over with a sad smile. “You didn’t believe me then?”
“I…” Electra swallowed thickly. “I still don’t always trust what I see when I employ my abilities. But, of course, I trust you. You are my dearest friend.”
Cordelia wore a weak smile. “He was reluctant to let me go.”
Electra tipped her head. “You argued, I take it. I saw you push him away.”
Cordelia nodded. “Can you imagine the guilt I have felt that Kit ended his connection with that woman soon after he met her, and yet Percival continued to pursue me for months? All I want now is for Kit to come home again. For us to move forward.”
Electra could not stop her mind from churning over Gideon and what he would make of these details.
“I never wished any ill on Percival,” she said quietly before turning back to face Electra. “And nor did Kit. I’m sure of it.”
“Why did Kit speak to him?”
“He wished to resolve the matter.” With a tilt of her head, Cordelia reached out and smoothed her hand over the pillow at her side.
“Do you know the specifics of what occurred when they met?”
Biting her lip, Cordelia said quietly, “According to Kit, he told Percival never to speak to me again, never to write or visit.”
“But Mr. Pennington did not heed that request, did he?”
“No.”
Electra watched as her friend swallowed thickly, then pressed the back of her hand against her flushed cheek.
“Kit would never attack anyone, Electra, let alone kill a man. I know Kit. You know Kit.”
“I do, yes.” Electra met her gaze and tried for a reassuring smile.
Cordelia took up her cup of tea. “I’m frightened,” she whispered. “I’ll admit it.”
“Do you have any notion who might have done this to Mr. Pennington?”
Cordelia shook her head with an adamance Electra had never seen in her before.
“I do not. I swear it. The father who wished to bring the breach-of-promise suit was angry with Percival, but he had met with him, and Percy gave me to understand there had been some arrangement reached between them.” She sounded exhausted, sapped by all she’d revealed.
“His name is Roderick Beecham,” she added, almost as an afterthought.
Such details would be significant to the investigation, surely.
Electra reached for the pendant underneath the top buttons of her gown. A necklace her mother had given her. It gave her comfort to feel its familiar shape under her fingertips.
“Gideon will, I’m sure, find out about Mr. Beecham and his daughter as he investigates Mr. Pennington’s circle of acquaintances.”
Cordelia bent forward, sitting her teacup on the low table in front of the settee. “Will you tell Inspector Pierce what we’ve discussed here today?”
“I must, Cordelia.” She hoped her friend would understand. “He will wish to speak to you. And to Kit.”
“May I ask this of you then, Electra?” She reached out a hand.
But before she could say more, voices filtered in from the hallway beyond the closed drawing room door. A moment later, Kit burst in, striding forward to pull Cordelia up from the settee and into his arms.
“I saw the newspaper,” Kit whispered. “It will be all right. I promise you. It will be all right.”
She let out a keening wail and allowed herself to be engulfed in his embrace. The two held each other so tightly that Kit’s knuckles whitened where he gripped Cordelia’s shoulders. The sound of her friend’s weeping filled the quiet of the room.
Electra watched the two and felt her own heart constricting. The love between them was palpable, yet so was the fear.
“If you’ll both excuse me, I must go.”
They didn’t pull apart, but Cordelia lifted her head.
“Please petition him, Electra, that you may remain in the room with us when he comes,” Cordelia whispered, her voice ragged. “That’s that I wanted to ask of you.”
Electra didn’t know if Gideon would allow it. She had sat in while he’d questioned witnesses on several occasions now, but none of them had been as close to her and Cordelia and Kit.
“I will ask him,” she said, knowing Gideon would likely refuse.
Most of all, she needed him to know what she’d learned.