Chapter Four
Sebastian hailed a hack outside the countess’s townhouse, still a bit flustered by the way Lady Aston’s soft lips had felt against his, the passion she’d stirred in him, and the even more alarming fact that she was the mother of a young son who would one day take the reins of a vast estate. He didn’t know why the fact shocked him so. The first thing an old aristocratic man with a beautiful young bride would do was get an heir in her.
But he’d started to think in directions he had no right to, and the boy’s mere existence stopped those thoughts cold.
Sebastian had been raised by a widowed mother. He’d seen her parade a stream of lovers through her bed, each worse than the last. But she’d become completely enamored with each one, thinking he would be the one to change their circumstances, that he’d marry her and pull them out of the poverty they’d sunk to. Her eternal quest to do so had left her very little time or energy to spend on her young son.
He’d always promised himself that he’d never become involved with a woman with a child. And this child... this child was a bloody earl.
He scoffed at himself as the hack turned toward Scotland Yard. What a fool he was, to pretend like he was the one who would have decided whether Lady Aston would have become his lover. Just because Quinn O’Brien had managed to marry a lady didn’t mean that a woman like Lady Jocelyn Layton would ever want a relationship with someone like him.
Although she was a widow and could discreetly take a lover if she chose to do so, she’d made it perfectly clear that she did not believe in love, and a woman like her, a lady, would never dally with a man with only the intention of a physical release.
He should never have kissed her. Not only had it been highly unprofessional, but he’d also been so swept away in the moment that he hadn’t even checked if the door was locked. As a result, they’d been caught by both her son and the nanny. He could only hope the woman was discreet, and that seeing his mother kissing a stranger hadn’t scarred the child for life.
With a sigh, he turned his thoughts back to the matter at hand. Lady Aston had probably allowed his kiss not because she was attracted to him in any way but because he was helping her find her sister. And as the day had worn on, he’d become less convinced that Lady Evelyn had simply run off with some man and hadn’t bothered to let her sister know.
She’d most likely met someone at that park, and it seemed more and more certain that the meeting hadn’t gone as planned.
His mind drifted from Lady Evelyn to the killer he’d been hunting for months. Once again, he felt a spurt of guilt for having abandoned his search for the day, but perhaps this was exactly what he’d needed to clear his mind and help him look at things in a new light. This was a reminder that terrible things happened all over the city, not just his little corner of it.
Ten minutes later, he was walking through the hallowed halls of Scotland Yard in the Norman Shaw building on the Victoria Embankment, nodding to people he knew as he made his way toward his supervisor’s office. The original building on Whitehall Place had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard, and that had become the public entrance. Over time, the street and the police headquarters had become synonymous. Although the building had moved, the name, which was originally derived from the street name, had remained.
He squared his shoulders outside the door, always a bit intimidated by Mandrake Blackstone’s pedigree, though he tried to never let it show. It had been that way in the army too—always a man born to the aristocracy who gave the orders. He should be used to it by now.
He knocked lightly, hoping that Blackstone had time to see him.
“Come in,” Blackstone called, sounding annoyed.
Sebastian entered Blackstone’s immaculate office, which had forest-green walls and carpet and heavy walnut furniture, and found his supervisor at his huge desk, bent over a stack of papers with a look of grim concentration. However, his face cleared when he saw Sebastian standing there.
“Inspector Ness,” he said, sounding surprised. He had inky-black hair, dark piercing eyes, aristocratic features, and a tall, broad frame. Sebastian thought the man was a few years younger than himself, his family name having helped him jump the ranks, but nothing in his bearing made him seem too young for his position. “Did we have a meeting today?”
Sebastian shook his head as Blackstone gestured to an empty chair in front of his desk. “I’ve come to ask for help on a matter that came my way this morning. I’ve done what I could, but it really isn’t my jurisdiction.”
“If it isn’t your jurisdiction, then why are you bothering with whatever it is?” Blackstone snapped. “Don’t you still have a killer on the loose?”
Sebastian decided to ignore that. Blackstone was frustrated. They all were. “Lady Jocelyn Layton showed up at my precinct this morning, wanting to know if I was holding her sister in one of my cells,” he answered instead. “She’s very upset, said that her sister, Lady Evelyn, did not come home last night. Lady Evelyn is active in the women’s suffrage movement, and Lady Aston thought she might have been arrested. I had my sergeant call around, and that does not appear to be the case.”
Blackstone pushed his stack of papers away and leaned back in his chair. “I know the ladies well. I have since we were children. I wonder why she didn’t come to me.”
Sebastian wondered that as well. Why ask for help from a lowly inspector when she knew the assistant commissioner? His heart gave a strange thump at the thought that perhaps she’d been looking for a reason to see him again.
“I helped her search her sister’s room, and we found a diary entry that said she was meeting someone named ‘M’ at Postman’s Park yesterday afternoon. We then searched the park, but we didn’t find any sign of her. However, I am inclined to believe that something did happen to Lady Evelyn. From everything Lady Aston told me, her sister doesn’t seem the type not to come home or at least send word.”
“I agree,” Blackstone said, his sudden tension palpable. “Lady Evelyn is a very sensible woman. She would not like to cause the countess to worry.”
“There was a locked gardener’s shed that I couldn’t access, but we searched the park pretty thoroughly. I wonder if you could have someone try to find the keys to that and also mobilize some more men to aid in the search? I’m afraid I don’t know the area well enough to be of much help.”
“Of course.” Blackstone ran his fingers through his black hair, leaving it standing on end, his dark eyes troubled. “The last thing we need is a missing lady.”
“Let me know if you find her,” Sebastian said, pushing to his feet.
Blackstone nodded. “Of course.”
* * *
AFTER INSPECTOR NESS left, Jocelyn paced the sitting room, feeling as though she’d go mad from frustration and worry. She knew he’d been right to say that she should stay home and wait for Evelyn’s return, but as the hours passed with still no sign of her, her dread that something horrible had happened grew.