Chapter Seventeen
As soon as Jocelyn left the police station, she was assailed with doubts. What had she done? She couldn’t believe she’d come here today with the intention of propositioning him in such a way. She’d become a person that she didn’t even recognize, and she didn’t know whether that thrilled or terrified her.
She sank back into the comfortable cushions of her coach in a very unladylike slouch, her heart racing as she thought about the deliciously wicked things she and Sebastian had done in his office. Even now, just the thought was enough to send little shivers throughout her body. Every time he touched her, she understood more clearly why Allison had risked so much to be in Inspector O’Brien’s arms. If he’d made her feel even a tenth of what Sebastian made Jocelyn feel, it suddenly all made sense.
The thoughts of what had just transpired kept her mind busy nearly all the way across town, but as her carriage lumbered through Mayfair, thoughts of Evelyn took control once more.
Sebastian seemed certain that Evelyn’s killer had been someone she’d rejected, and she began to wonder whether her sister had rejected Mortimer Blackstone. She’d like to believe that Evelyn would have told her, but it would have been years ago, probably around the time of her sister’s eighteenth birthday.
Jocelyn had still been just a girl, so maybe Evelyn hadn’t yet felt that she could confide such a thing to her. She might also have still been struggling with the fact that she did not want to ever be in a relationship with a man. Perhaps she’d been frightened and confused by her own feelings.
If Evelyn had rejected Mortimer, he probably wouldn’t have made that public. But she could see how it would have hurt his pride. Had he been letting that fester within him all these years?
More importantly, did a man like that have it within him to do such a horrific thing to another human being? She’d always thought of Mortimer as a weak-willed dandy.
Shivering for an entirely different reason, she waited for her footman to open the carriage door as they pulled up in front of her house.
Once inside, she found herself drawn to Evelyn’s room. She wandered around for a while, her fingers skimming over her sister’s things, still finding it hard to believe that Evelyn would never return. She’d never again wear her favorite scarf or reread any of her favorite books. She’d never again write the small occurrences of her life in her diary.
With a sob, she sank down on Evelyn’s bed, burying her face in the pillow that still vaguely smelled of her sister’s subtle rose-scented perfume. She’d been fine most of the day, but here, surrounded by her sister’s things, she couldn’t pretend that everything was okay, that Evelyn was simply at the library, the park, or one of her meetings.
* * *
A FEW HOURS AFTER JOCELYN had left, Sebastian looked up as Constable Pond led Miss Morton into his office. He was a bit surprised that the constable had managed to bring her in so quickly.
“Miss Morton,” he said, gesturing for her to have a seat and nodding his gratitude at the young constable, who flushed at the unspoken praise and shut the door behind him.
“Inspector Ness,” Miss Morton replied, taking a seat and staring at him with red-rimmed eyes.
“Thank you for coming down,” Sebastian said, his pity for the girl growing as he took in her absolutely devastated mien. “I know this is a difficult time for you.”
He couldn’t imagine how hard it must be to love someone, yet have to hide it.
Or maybe he could.
She simply nodded, her dark eyes pooling with tears. “Lady Aston told you... About me and Evelyn?”
“Yes.” Sebastian handed her his handkerchief. “I’m glad you came forward. It couldn’t have been easy, but you’ve saved me a lot of fruitless investigation.”
Miss Morton nodded jerkily, dabbing at her eyes. “I w-want to help you catch the... m-monster who did this.”
If she’d had anything to do with Lady Evelyn’s death, she was a magnificent actress.
He cleared his throat and reached for his notebook. “Can you tell me what you know about the man who was harassing Lady Evelyn? The one she’d rejected but wouldn’t leave her alone?”
The puzzlement on Miss Morton’s face didn’t seem feigned. “Evelyn never said anything about such a man.”
The hope he’d had going into the conversation fizzled into frustration. Who was Miss Morton trying to protect? If Evelyn had talked to Heather Fields about the man who’d been bothering her, surely she’d spoken to the woman she loved about it as well.
He sighed. “Miss Morton... Please... You have to tell me everything you know.”
She shook her head, crying even harder now. “Evelyn would never have told me about something that was troubling her. She always tried to protect me. She didn’t want to worry me. That was one of the only things we ever fought over.”
His eyes narrowed. “Did you fight a lot?”
“No!” she said on a sob. “Hardly ever. We were very happy together. She’s the only one who ever truly loved me.”
Miss Morton buried her face in her hands, and he knew he’d gotten everything out of her he was going to. She’d loved Lady Evelyn Lindsay, and Evelyn had apparently loved her enough to shield her from anything ugly that was going on in her life.