Chapter 23
The interior of this house was refreshingly elegant. The very large front windows poured plenty of light into the hall, as did a skylight that reposed at the top of the winding staircase.
Mr. Fielding shut the door behind me and let out an exasperated sigh.
“You could not trust us to report to you?” he demanded. “After you sent Grimes and me here in the middle of the night?”
“My dear Mr. Fielding, you sit in a kitchen and wait and wait for news, and see if you don’t shrug on your coat and hurry out to see for yourself.
” I looked him up and down, taking in his neat black suit with its dog collar and his brushed and trimmed hair and beard.
“You look well enough. You do know this is Sunday, and you should be up in front of your congregation?”
“I did that earlier. Then I explained that our two lay readers would take over the next service and tonight’s evening prayer. They adore being left in charge, so they eagerly agreed. Who is your lay reader? Tess?”
“Very amusing. It’s Tess’s day out, but yes, I made arrangements too.” I gazed about me. “Is this your house? Or did you commandeer it? Is Mr. Grimes here?”
“I am, that.” Mr. Grimes appeared on the stairwell above me, illuminated by a square sunbeam. “Your lads found me. Our Errol got the gent what leases this house to clear out of it.” He chortled. “It was masterfully done.”
Mr. Fielding winced. “It will cost me a packet, but I was in a rush.”
“Sent him to Paris,” Mr. Grimes said with glee. “Told him it was an urgent matter, but that the gent’s solicitor had paid for all the tickets and his stay in a fine hotel.”
“Clever,” I said, somewhat doubtfully. “What if the gentleman confirms this with his solicitor?”
“I happen to know his solicitor,” Mr. Fielding said. “And he owed me a favor. I gave the man’s servants a holiday, so we have the house to ourselves.”
I set down my basket, which was empty except for my notebook. “Do you know which house Mr. Naismith is in? The one on the corner with the bow windows?” I pointed in that direction.
Both Mr. Fielding and Mr. Grimes stared at me.
“How the devil did you know that?” Mr. Fielding asked in amazement. “Or did you decide the most ornate home around was the only one that would do for an overweening man like Naismith?”
“It is the one most easily visible from your front windows.” I switched my finger to the open door of the drawing room. “You’d have chosen another house if it had been farther along the street.”
“Of course,” Mr. Fielding said, shaking his head. “I only know because one of your urchins told me which one Daniel had been taken into. You sent a horde of lads to find things out, did you?”
“I could hardly do it myself and put meals together,” I said. “I cannot remain here all day to help watch, either, but I wanted to see the lay of the land. Daniel is in there, for certain?”
“He is,” Mr. Grimes said, lumbering the rest of the way down the stairs. “I saw him. As of the dawn hour of this morning, our Danny is alive and well.”
I sagged, my relief so strong I could barely stand. I hadn’t realized I’d been that worried.
Both Mr. Grimes and Mr. Fielding caught me under the elbows before I could fall. They steered me into the drawing room and sat me down on a sofa.
It was a pretty chamber, done in cream and light green, with ivory-colored paneled walls and a thick Brussels carpet on the floor. At any other time, I’d have admired the room and thought about how I might use the same colors in my own sitting room when I had one.
Today, however, I was only interested in staring out to view the house where Mr. Naismith dwelled.
“Do you know what they are doing in there?” I should be making notes of all this, but I could not rise to fetch my notebook. My eyes, for some reason, would not leave the window.
“I do not.” Mr. Fielding stretched out in a chair near the sofa, his gaze going to the square as well. “Neither my lads nor Grimes can get close enough to have a thorough conjecture at what they’re up to.”
“Mr. Naismith said he wanted Daniel to help him stop whatever is going on in Blackfriars,” I said.
“An undertaking run by rivals, he said. I am going to assume he means smuggling or something of that nature, since the docks are involved. There was a ship in on one of them when we were there looking for Mr. Banks. What did you notice, Mr. Grimes?”
“Huh.” Mr. Grimes leaned against the doorframe, as though he couldn’t bring himself to sit down in a gentleman’s parlor.
“I thought it were funny Banks went down there, instead of heading straight for the pub to meet Danny. Maybe he saw something odd going on, or maybe he already knew all about it.”
I nodded. “What if Mr. Draper himself worked for Naismith? He controls most of the East End, so it’s likely Draper answered to him at some point.
What if he and his friend, Mr. Barlow, decided to begin a sideline of their own, and Mr. Banks knew about it?
Mr. Draper told you and Daniel that Mr. Banks was working for him to pay off a debt. ”
“If that is the case,” Mr. Fielding said, “Banks, if he was intelligent, might well have known whatever it is Draper was up to. Perhaps Draper brought him into it, maybe trusting him as a mate from Mrs. Kerr’s.
The fact that Banks managed to survive horrific battles in the Crimea tells me he’s canny and can think on his feet. ”
“I agree. I have pondered several possibilities.” I counted them off on my fingers.
“Mr. Banks might simply have glimpsed something odd at the docks and gone down to investigate it, startling those who wanted no one there. Or he might have been sent there on an errand—let us assume for Mr. Draper, for now—and decided to complete it on his way to meet Daniel. He got into an altercation, perhaps, or again, saw something he should not have, and was killed for it. Or”—I tapped a third finger—“he noted someone horning in on Mr. Draper’s territory and loyally went to stop it.
In all three instances, he was murdered for what he saw. Or the killer thought he saw.”
“Neatly reasoned,” Mr. Fielding said with approval. “Not that we have any clear evidence of any of this.”
“Yes, but it is a direction to go. Evidence can be obtained if you look for it.”
“Aye, she’s right,” Mr. Grimes put in. “Best way is to wander about the docks and see if anyone tries to kill us.”
Mr. Fielding looked pained. “When you say us—”
“You know you can become a ruffian and have a poke about when it pleases you,” Mr. Grimes said. “Same as Danny. You haven’t always been the stuffy vicar. The Errol I knew as a lad could get in and out of anywhere he liked, with none being the wiser, slick as water.”
“Yes, but I was a stripling at the time. Now my knees play me up and I like to keep my hair tidy.” Mr. Fielding patted his sleek head.
“Mr. Naismith implied that Mr. Banks’s murder had to do with whatever scheme is rivaling his business,” I interrupted.
“Which tells me that finding out who killed Mr. Banks, and why, will help reveal whatever this criminal venture is. Then Inspector McGregor and Sergeant Scott can sweep up the gang, and Mr. Naismith will leave Daniel in peace.”
“I very much doubt that.”
I spun at the sound of Daniel’s voice. Mr. Fielding and Mr. Grimes did likewise.
Daniel, his face lined with exhaustion but his step as energetic as usual, strode into the drawing room, unsurprised to see us here.
I sprang from my seat, abandoning all dignity, ran at him, and flung my arms around him. Daniel caught me, he solid and warm, and held me tightly, his lips in my hair.
I expected Daniel to soon untangle himself and face Mr. Grimes and Mr. Fielding, but he gathered me to him as though he never wanted to let me go. I laid my head on his shoulder and didn’t argue.
Mr. Fielding cleared his throat. “I’d discreetly fade into the distance, but I’d truly like to know what the devil you were doing in Naismith’s house, and why he let you go.”
I was the one who gently pushed Daniel’s hands from my waist and stepped back from him.
“I will make us some tea,” I told the three men. “But only if you don’t say a word until I return.”
Daniel grinned at me, a sight so welcome my heart grew light. Almost giddily I hastened down the back stairs and into the kitchen, hoping the cook here kept things organized enough that I could find things quickly.
The kitchen turned out to be a pleasant room, very tidy and clean. I approved.
I found the box of tea, not a bad blend, and soon had a pot brewing. I found biscuits in the larder that weren’t too stale and put them on a tray with the rest of the tea things. Not liking to simply abscond with the foodstuffs, I left a threepenny bit on the table near the box of tea.
The house had a dumbwaiter, which saved me the trouble of lugging the things up the stairs. I cranked the lift upward, then returned to the main floor and retrieved the tray from the well-appointed dining room.
I reflected that if I happened to need another post as cook, working in this house would be a treat. One never knew if one’s employer and the other staff wouldn’t be difficult, but the house itself was well-appointed and modern.
From the impatient expression on Mr. Fielding’s face, I concluded Daniel had done what I asked and kept mum until my return. Mr. Grimes sprang from his post beside the door, relieved me of my burden, and carried the tray to the tea table in front of the sofa.
“Thank you, Mr. Grimes,” I said graciously.
“Anytime, Mrs. Holloway. Are those biscuits there? Don’t mind if I do. Haven’t had a bite since Errol roused me out of bed last night.”
“Yes, yes.” Mr. Fielding scowled at Mr. Grimes and flapped his hands at the rest of us. “Sit down, sit down. I’ll be mother, shall I? While Daniel tells me what the devil is going on.”
I had to smile at Mr. Fielding’s use of the term, which simply meant he’d pour out the tea for us all.
“Did he abduct you?” I asked Daniel as I settled on the sofa again. “Or did you go willingly? I couldn’t decide, and this has driven me distracted.”
“A bit of both.” Daniel, who’d sunk down next to me, accepted a cup of tea from Mr. Fielding after I had mine in hand.
“I thought over what he’d told you, Kat, and hadn’t made up my mind whether to approach him, recruit some bullies of my own and charge in, or ignore his summons altogether.
To add to that, I was still trying to locate his lair, which has moved since I last had a bead on him. ”
“He does that.” Mr. Fielding finished serving and sat down. “Moves about. Keeps the eye of the law away, as well as those looking to take vengeance on him.”
Daniel nodded. “I’d gone back to Bethnal Green to have a good snoop around, when a carriage pulls up, and Naismith’s toughs inform me I need to come with them.
I decided I wanted to know what Naismith had to say, and allowed them to bundle me inside.
It brought me to that house over there, which you are so closely surveying. ”
He gestured out the front window with his teacup.
“He let you go?” I asked when Daniel paused to devour a biscuit. Mr. Grimes had already eaten four.
“We came to an agreement,” Daniel said. “As my intentions and his matched, for the most part, it was not difficult. He wants me to stop the smugglers operating out of Blackfriars, and so do I, though I admit for vastly different reasons.”
“He doesn’t want the competition,” Mr. Fielding said in disgust. “Bastard.”
He did not apologize to me for his language, and I did not expect him to, because I agreed.
“How did you know we was here, Danny?” Mr. Grimes broke in. “Could have knocked me down with a feather when you waltzed in. How’d you twig us?”
I’d been wondering the same thing, torn between that question and wanting to know what had happened inside Mr. Naismith’s house.
“You were obvious—to me, at least. Naismith chose an abode with many windows. I saw out of one of them the gentleman of this house suddenly emerge with a valise, step into his coach, and drive away. After that, the stairs from the cellar disgorged all the servants, who also scattered. I concluded that the house had been cleared of its residents, very likely so someone could use it to observe Naismith’s.
I never saw you or Grimes go inside, Errol, so well done on that, but I concluded it was probably you.
You’ve always been good at swindling people out of their homes to use for your own purpose.
However, I did see you, Kat, when Errol’s lad led you in. ”
“I thought I’d been surreptitious,” I said ruefully. “That is the correct word, is it not? Surreptitious? Did Mr. Naismith notice all this with you?”
“No.” Daniel took another sip of tea. “When I deduced that Errol had moved in to keep watch, I made certain to block the view out of any window we were near. Naismith’s ruffians had their eyes on me, and Naismith did too, so they didn’t bother with what was going on in the street.
This is a quiet neighborhood, very little trouble here, which has made his guards a bit negligent, in my opinion. ”
“Well, thank God for that,” Mr. Fielding said. “What are these rivals smuggling that has Naismith so unhappy he’s willing to recruit the man who’s vowed to kill him to help? Antiquities? Weapons? Brandy? Opium?”
“No.” Daniel’s smile became one of delight. “The ships themselves.”