“I want my sister to be happy,” Lucien said at last. “I want her to have a husband and children. I don’t want to see her spend the rest of her life all alone, expending all her time and energy trying to atone for Roger’s sins by doing good works.”
“What are you saying?” Quinn asked uncomfortably.
Lucien waved a hand, a Machiavellian look on his face. “You’re right. I should have spoken to Allison first. Once I do, I’m willing to let the matter drop if she refuses to marry you. But if I can get her to say yes, will you do the honorable thing?”
Quinn couldn’t escape the feeling that he’d somehow played right into Hawkesmere’s hands. “Yes,” he said, swallowing thickly. “I will.”
* * *
AFTER LEAVING THE EARL of Hawkesmere’s stately townhouse, Quinn went directly to the stationhouse, determined to put the whole thing behind him for the time being. Lucien had not insisted that Quinn marry Allison. Since the matter was being left to her, he really didn’t think he had anything to worry about. She’d made her opinion on marriage known. He didn’t think anything he’d done in the past few weeks had done anything to change that for her.
Besides, a killer was still running free in Bethnal Green, and he needed to figure out who it was. That should be all he was worried about at the moment, and guilt overwhelmed him as he realized how much he’d let himself be distracted. Polly deserved justice, and he would hate himself forever if he didn’t give it to her.
“Nice of you to put in an appearance,” Ness said wryly when Quinn walked in.
Quinn didn’t dignify that with an answer, though he knew his sergeant had every right to wonder what he had been up to lately. Unfortunately, he was quite certain Ness had a good idea.
Ness gestured at Quinn’s nice suit. “Tea with the queen? Or perhaps a certain lady?”
Quinn kept walking down the hall toward his office as Ness and the desk sergeant laughed merrily behind him. He had a feeling that Ness saw far too much of his feelings for Allison, which was disconcerting because up to this point in his life, he’d prided himself in giving very little of his emotions away.
He sank into his chair and stared blankly at the piles of paperwork he’d left on his desk at dawn. The morning had already been so draining, and he had no idea where to even begin to dive back in. Not only was Polly’s killer still out there, but he was also backlogged on all his day-to-day duties as well. Every day, more reports were added to the piles.
Ness stepped into the office and shut the door behind him. “I was just teasing you, but your reaction makes me think I might have hit the nail on the head.”
Sitting back in his seat, Quinn sighed. Ness was his best friend, and he really could use some advice. “I was called before the Earl of Hawkesmere this morning to answer for ruining his sister. I thought I’d be forced to marry her, but the earl has decided to let her choose whether she’d rather be publicly shunned or be my wife.”
Ness was rarely speechless, but for once, he seemed to be. For a full minute, there was silence between them, but then he shook his head. “There are worse things that could happen to you than marrying a beautiful heiress. Do you care for her?”
He’d expected that his friend would ask him about the ruining, not the emotions. Clearing his throat, he met Ness’s sympathetic gaze. “I think you know the answer to that.”
Ness grinned. “Well, then I think the problem might be more that you fear the lady won’t marry you than that you fear she will.”
And for the first time, Quinn admitted the truth of it to himself. Now that he’d had a taste of how things could be between them, he couldn’t imagine his life without Allison in it. He cared for her too much to want to let her go. “I am afraid you’re right.”
Ness laughed. “Well, there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it right now, is there? So, let’s focus on trying to get that bastard who killed Polly.”
Quinn nodded, glad for his friend’s pragmatism. “You’re absolutely right. Tell me what you discovered when you went to the Viper Club.”
Leaning back against the door, Ness got right to business. “Apparently, only some of the members of the club indulge in the sorts of parties that Belle told us about. I’ve narrowed the list down to perhaps thirty men.”
“Excellent,” Quinn said approvingly, feeling suddenly cautiously optimistic.
Ness shook his head. “Don’t get too excited. The list contains a duke, a marquess, and five earls. Not the sort of men we can just pull in for questioning.”
With a sigh, Quinn tapped his fingers on his desk. “Any ideas on how we can eliminate some of them?”
“No, but I did find out that one of these parties is taking place this Saturday night. I have a location. Apparently, these occasions are masked, so perhaps we can get in without too much trouble. Once we do, maybe something will jump out at us.”
Quinn wasn’t certain that it would be that easy to get into such an exclusive party, even while masked, but he was willing to give it a try. At least it would keep his mind off Allison.
“All right, see if you can get us some masks.” Quinn pulled a pile of reports toward him, feeling suddenly re-energized. “We’ll head over there on Saturday and see what we can find out.”