Chapter Thirty-Four #2
So much for him being gentlemanly. “‘What we got up’ to is a bit of adult entertainment to pass the time and relieve some stress of an otherwise fraught situation.”
“Is that what it was?”
“It was,” Jack asserted. “And it’s a situation that I don’t intend to repeat again.”
“Oh, you don’t, do you?” He smiled at her, and there was a look of indulgent amusement in his eyes that Jack disliked intently.
“No, I don’t. At the end of the day, you’re a police officer, and that truly makes whatever this thing is between us”—she waved her hands in the air, gesturing to him, then her—“pointless, in the long run.”
“Why do you hate the police so much?”
“Because police are meant to save people, not hurt them.” She sighed. “You’re the only police officer I know who does actually try to save people. Most want to use their positions of power to extort all they can from those weaker than they are. Women most especially of all.”
“What happened?” he asked, leaning forward and pinning her eyes with his.
“Honestly, many things over the years. Thankfully, though, I’ve always been lucky to come away mostly unscathed.
Many other women I know have not been so lucky.
However, I think what really colored my perception was the time when I was cornered by three men in an alley.
I was relieved when two police officers came rushing in, scaring the men away.
But once the men had fled, the officers turned on me, so instead of three unruly men trying to defile me, I was confronted by two constables who sought to use their power to abuse me. ”
His eyes turned thunderous. “How old were you?”
“Fifteen.” She remembered being trapped in the alley, thinking she was being saved, only for the police to turn into predators. And worse predators than the others because they were the untouchable kind.
His jaw clenched shut and his hands curled into fists in his lap. “Do you know their names?”
Jack shook her head. “No. But luckily for me, I used their cuffs against them, cuffing them together to each other before they even knew what I was about, and I then quickly made my escape. If it hadn’t been for my magic skills, I would have very much been at their mercy that evening, and by men whom I should have been able to trust.”
“That’s disgraceful.”
“It is, though it wasn’t the only time I’ve had to get out of a tricky situation involving the police. I’ve had to do so many times over the years.” She took in a deep breath and glanced back to him. “So that, Tobias, is why my opinion of the police is less than stellar.”
“That’s understandable, but we’re not all like that.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “I’m truly sorry you had to experience such things. If I’d been there, I never would have let that happen.”
“I know you wouldn’t have. But you weren’t there, and let’s be realistic, you most likely won’t be most of the time, either.
Which goes back to my original point: after this investigation is done, we cannot enter into a courtship.
We’re from two very different worlds, you and I. Worlds that aren’t compatible.”
“You know there’s something between us, Jack. An attraction and an awareness that neither of us can deny.” He reached over and took her hand in his, his fingers lightly squeezing her own.
He was right—she couldn’t deny it, but that didn’t mean she had to acknowledge it. “I’ll wait for you at the mortuary.” She deliberately removed her hand from beneath his.
“Really? That’s it?”
“My life is far too busy for the complications of a—I don’t know…whatever this thing is between us.” As much as her body might be trying to convince herself otherwise.
“A liaison?” he replied. “A courtship?”
The very idea of a courtship had her breaking out into a cold sweat. The last courtship she’d had, if she could even call what she’d had with Caleb that, had ended in her being heartbroken. She had absolutely no intention of ever letting that happen again.
And at the end of the day, Tobias was a man she knew deep down for whom she could start to feel something… and if she did that, she’d be lost when he eventually moved on and married a debutante from Society as he eventually would, being an earl’s son.
No. It was far better to stop things before they even got started. Yes, that sounded like a plan.
“It doesn’t have to be serious at all, just monogamous,” Tobias replied.
“I don’t want it to be anything. Things get far too complicated when they become something.
” Jack thanked the Lord when the carriage started to slow down, obviously getting close to their destination.
Which meant they could both refocus their attention on the case rather than discussing complicated topics that Jack really didn’t even want to consider, let alone continue to discuss.
*
The woman was as obstinate as a damn mule. But if she didn’t want to discuss their future until after the investigation, then so be it. But they would be discussing it—Tobias would make certain of it.
The hackney pulled up in Pall Mall, stopping in front of a modest two-story townhouse that was immaculately tidy, with a freshly washed red brownstone facade and gleaming windowpanes that were reflecting the morning sunlight as it glinted off the shiny, glass surface.
The front entrance had a painted white wooden door with a gold brass knocker, and to its right was a gold plaque on the wall, announcing the townhouse was a Doctor’s Surgery, along with the opening hours.
“Is this the surgery of the doctor who arranged for us to attend Broadmoor?” Jack asked, peering out the window at the facade of the brownstone.
“Yes, and I’m hoping he might be able to shed some light on the baron and Thomas.”
“I’m praying he can, because I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling rather like we’re chasing our tails.”
It was how Tobias was feeling too. “Come on.” He opened the door to the carriage, then held it for Jack as she descended onto the footpath, and he then followed her as she walked up to the front door of the residence.
“We might just be in luck,” he said, noting the opening times for Saturday, and that they’d arrived well within the clinic’s operating hours.
He leaned over and rang the bell, which sounded loudly from beyond the door into the interior of the building. They stood there waiting for a moment, but no footfalls sounded in reply. He pressed the bell again, and as the echo from the sound disappeared, a hollow silence replaced it.
“It should be open,” he commented, given they were attending during the hours listed on the plaque. Reaching down to the door handle, he twisted it and it was locked. “That is odd.” He glanced over to Jack and saw she was already reaching into her pockets.
“I’m thinking some bending of the law might be required. What are your thoughts?”
He pressed his lips together but gave a quick nod. “You’re a bad influence, Jaqueline Maguire, but yes, go ahead.”
She gave him a quick nod and then deftly got to work on the lock of the door. Not even a minute later, the sound of the lock clicking open echoed, and she stepped back, waving him ahead of her.
Shaking his head but deciding that given the pressing circumstances of the urgency of the case, perhaps some bending was required, he reached out and pushed open the door wide.
The hallway entrance was just as tidy as the outside, with polished, wooden floorboards, a set of stairs against the right wall, and a room to the left, opposite the staircase.
An odd sense of unease tingled along his spine as he glanced around the silent entry space. It was a feeling to which he’d learned to pay great attention over the years, as it often signaled danger.
“Something’s not right,” Jack whispered next to him, her words mirroring his thoughts.
“I agree,” he replied before walking farther into the entrance, careful to tread lightly with his footsteps, to make little sound.
Glancing into the entrance room, he noted it appeared to be a waiting area, with some chairs lining both sides of the room, a reception desk at the end of the space, and a door leading into another room.
But it was absent of anyone. In fact, the whole house had the echoing silence of being empty.
Though that could have been an illusion.
“Will you even listen if I ask you to stay here?” he whispered behind him to Jack.
“No.”
Of course she wouldn’t. “Then stay behind me.”
Swiftly and silently, Tobias walked through the lower level of the residence that had been converted into a doctor’s surgery.
The first two rooms adjacent to the waiting area were consulting rooms, followed by a room that was obviously a small surgical space, with some minor tools a doctor would use, along with some medicine cabinets filled with various drugs and tonics.
Then at the back of the residence was a kitchen area.
It didn’t look as if anyone had been there recently at all; however, there was no dust anywhere, either, suggesting someone had been very diligent in cleaning the space.
They quickly checked the basement floor, their footsteps creaking slightly underneath the wooden floorboards, but the space consisted of nothing more than an area to store old furniture and a few rooms with bric-a-brac.
And again, though, just like the ground level above, the floor was spotless, the wooden floorboards polished to a high shine, without any footprints or dust anywhere.
“Why would he keep his storage area so clean?” Jack whispered.
“It’s odd, isn’t it?” he replied before turning and climbing the stairs up to the first floor.
It didn’t take them long to conduct a quick inspection of the front portion of the upper level, which consisted of several bedrooms. They were all empty, with nothing out of order and everything clean and tidy. There wasn’t a hint of neglect or any human presence, either. It was disturbing.