Chapter Fourteen
February 28, 1818
Fanny didn’t know what to think or how to feel as she sat in William’s closed carriage on the bench opposite him. He’d come by not twenty minutes before, asking that she accompany him to yet another crime scene, but her annoyance of yesterday hadn’t dissipated. Despite that, the urgency to help him solve the cases was stronger than her ire.
“Thank you for including me today.” Some of the things he’d said to her yesterday when she sat atop that horse held merit. It had been extremely bad form of her to string both him and Lord Wainwright along this whole time, especially when she knew where her heart was leading. Though, her abhorrence of making a scene or causing conflict had prevented her from speaking her mind. She would rectify that straight away.
“Your perspective is needed.” He didn’t make a move to sit next to her or otherwise try to charm her with grins or kisses, and part of her heart shivered with the new coldness that had sprung between them. “I feel we’ll either fail miserably at solving the cases or we’re hovering at the threshold of a breakthrough.” The scratch on his cheek had scabbed over and was well on its way to healing.
“Things can’t possibly continue on as they have before,” she answered in a soft voice. Would he realize the double meaning in those words?
“Agreed.” Finally, he peered directly at her, but the emotion in his stormy eyes was unreadable. “You’re still angry with me.” It wasn’t a question.
“Of course I am, but you also remain angry with me. Perhaps it’s a natural course.”
“I’d like to try and repair our relationship.” He delved a hand into a pocket of his greatcoat and withdrew a shallow rectangular box. “If you’ll let me?”
Her heart shivered with renewed hope. “That largely depends on what’s in that box.” She took it from him. Carefully, she undid the short length of satin ribbon that had been tied into a bow. With a shaking hand, Fanny removed the lid and peeled back the white tissue paper. Resting inside was a lady’s fan featuring exquisitely carved mother of pearl handles. “Oh, William.”
“I noticed you always wear mother of pearl hair combs and wanted this to match them.”
Oh, my.No one had ever taken the time to notice small things about her. “They were my grandmother’s. She gave them to me at my Come Out, told me I would marry a powerful man and become a great lady. Sometimes they give me confidence if I’m afraid.” Never had she owned anything like this. Once she’d taken the fan from the box, she snapped it open. Light blue silk had been painted with a gorgeous scene of Georgian detail. A man and a woman in their finery were engaged in a dance. The spines of the fan were also of mother of pearl. “This is so beautiful.” And so costly. It was too much.
“So are you.” Nothing but honesty filled his expression. “I chose this one because the color reminds me of your eyes.” He rubbed a gloved hand along the side of his face. “Forgive me for what I said to you yesterday. It wasn’t well done of me.”
“Yet it needed to be voiced.” Again, she admired the fan. The fact he’d gone shopping for a trinket merely to give it to her had butterfly wings brushing through her belly. “I needed to hear what was bothering you, and in turn put my own shortcomings to the forefront.” Loathe to consign the fan to its box, Fanny stowed it into her reticule and set the box on the bench next to her. When she glanced up, her gaze collided with his, strong, intense, heated. “We’ve made rather a mess of this courtship.”
“Agreed.” A muscle ticced beneath his left eye. “When I asked to pay my addresses to you, I couldn’t fathom the adventure we’d embark upon together.” He paused, and she could almost see the wheels of his mind turning. “I suspect we’re both damaged to some extent.”
A chuckle escaped. “Imagine how boring life would be if we weren’t.” Then she sobered. “If nothing else, this week has driven home to me the fact that I can so easily lose you in the field.” How tragic would that be to fully give her heart to his man and then have him end up dead? “And it… it, uh, bothers me more than it should.”
“I know that feeling well.” He blew out a heavy breath. “That shot, one inch more… If I hadn’t been in the way, you…” His Adam’s apple bobbed above his cravat. “I can’t bear to see you hurt, or worse. Perhaps having you accompany me on cases was a bad idea.”
“That’s not for you or me to say. I’ve gone into this—all of it—with my eyes wide open.” She leaned forward and briefly touched his knee. “But do not shut me out or attempt to push me away again. What happens between us will do so because it was meant to. I will guide my future to where I want it to go. Do you understand me, Inspector?”
The ghost of a grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Quite clearly, Miss Bancroft. Thank you for the reminder.”
No more was said, for the carriage rocked to a halt. Fanny frowned, for this wasn’t an isolated stretch in Hyde Park, but the middle of the bustling commerce district of Brook Street. “How very odd.”
“Indeed.” William peered out the window, but his face had blanched. “I didn’t pay attention to the address on my summons, but this is the shop I visited yesterday when searching for your fan.”
Oh, dear.That didn’t bode well.
When the door opened and the driver put down the steps, William left the vehicle. He turned back and offered her a hand, and when she slipped her fingers into his gloved palm, familiar warmth eased upward to her elbow.
The shop would be a treasure trove on any other day, for the fripperies lining the wooden shelves and glass cases pulled her attention in all directions. However, today, with the body of a female lying in the middle of the floor and a large dark pool of blood beneath her, it was a scene straight out of a nightmare.
“Good heavens.” Fanny pressed her fingers to her mouth as her lips trembled. “This is quite different than the others.”
“In the fact that it appears she was killed here instead of dumped? Yes, that’s correct.” William nodded to the constable that stood guard. He kneeled beside the woman who rested on her side, and when he urged the body onto its back, he sucked in a breath. “Dear God.”
“What’s wrong?” Fanny came around the other side of the body, careful to avoid the blood pool. Thank goodness she’d worn a serviceable navy wool dress. It would hide any detritus she collected while here.
His eyes were wild as he looked across the body at her. “I spoke with this woman just yesterday, when I came to buy your fan.”
Anxiety pulled in her stomach. She forced a swallow into her tight throat. “Did you flirt with the shop keeper?”
“Not overly much. Just enough to garner a fair price and to encourage her to wrap the fan pretty.” He lifted the torn panel of her skirting. Like all the rest, she’d been brutally stabbed and torn open. “I was kind to her.”