Chapter Three
As Jocelyn walked toward Postman’s Park with Inspector Ness at her side, her fear and sense of dread grew. Their inquiries of the butler and the footmen who’d been working in the front of the house last night had yielded nothing. Evelyn had left on foot about 5:30. She hadn’t told anyone where she was headed.
She wasn’t quite certain what Inspector Ness hoped to find at the park, though she couldn’t question his logic in searching there. She just didn’t understand why her sister would have met someone there, then not have come home all night.
Evelyn certainly wouldn’t still be in the park nearly twenty-four hours later.
And who was “M?”
“This is a nice walk,” Inspector Ness said stiffly, obviously trying to make small talk to put her at ease, though he didn’t seem the type to think much of talking just for talking’s sake.
She gave him a grateful glance, struck once again by the sharp contrast of his sky-blue eyes against his thick, black lashes. “Yes, I think my sister comes here several times a week.”
“What about you?” he asked. “Don’t you ever walk to the park to read?”
She shook her head. “When I have time to read, I prefer to do so in the comfort of my home. Evelyn has always been more outdoorsy than I am. This red hair and pale skin of mine tend to make me fry like an egg in the sun.”
He smiled a bit at that but didn’t comment.
Heat crept up her cheeks at that needlessly intimate detail. Why had she said that? He could probably tell just by looking at her that she had not been made for bright sunlight.
They walked in silence for a while after that, but it didn’t seem awkward. He strode beside her, a large, comforting presence, and for perhaps the first time in her life, she felt truly safe. She had no doubt that no one would approach or accost her with him at her side.
But it was more than just his physical size and power. Those gorgeous eyes of his were full of wisdom and inner strength as well. She’d reached out to him today simply because she’d known no one else who could help, but as the day progressed, she’d begun to think she couldn’t possibly have picked anyone more suited to her quest to find Evelyn.
Still mulling this strange feeling over in her head, she realized they’d passed the huge General Post Office building and reached the park's perimeter. “Here we are,” she told him unnecessarily. “What are you hoping to find?”
He stopped and looked around, taking in the entire area. “I’m not sure,” he said with a shrug. “I suppose I’ll know it when I see it.”
Unsatisfied with his response, she looked around herself. She’d been here before, of course, though she didn’t frequent it as often as her sister did. The park was a lovely place with an abundance of trees and flowers, though it was surrounded by tall homes and buildings, making it seem a bit smaller than it actually was. A large wooden loggia with a tile roof housed the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice, which had only recently been completed to honor ordinary people who’d died to save someone else, and a small stone building that looked to be some sort of groundskeeper’s cottage.
“Did you know they dug up two cemeteries to make room for this park?” she asked him, shivering a bit at the thought of it. “I’ve always found that a little disturbing. All those bodies moved elsewhere in the name of progress. I hope their souls were able to find peace, but I can’t help but feel this place must be a bit haunted.”
“There’s nothing to fear from the dead,” he told her, and in his eyes, she saw that he’d experienced more than his share of death. “It’s the living you need to be concerned about.”
She wondered if he’d been forced to kill during his time in the service. He might have had to as a policeman as well.
“I know,” she murmured, feeling foolish. “It just seems that some of those souls, buried here for years, might have lingered.”
“If you believe in ghosts, you have to realize that in a city as old as this one, they must be everywhere, not just this park.” Though his words were a bit teasing, she didn’t think he was making fun of her, just pointing out a truth.
She sighed. “I know. I just don’t want my sister to join them.”
He reached over and squeezed her hand in reassurance, then suddenly became all business. “Let’s split up,” he suggested. “We can cover more ground that way. Just look for anything that might belong to Evelyn and ask anyone you come across if they’ve seen her. Look for anything that seems out of place.”
She nodded, realizing he must do this all the time, but her hand still tingled a bit from his touch, even through her glove. It was rare for the people she knew to touch each other for any reason, but she appreciated his attempt to offer comfort.
What she did not appreciate as much, however, was his casual attitude about the whole thing. She found it frustrating, but only because her sister meant so much to her. Other than her son, Evelyn was the only family she had left. She couldn’t bear it if anything had happened to her.
He headed to their left, and she went right, crisscrossing across the paths and flowerbeds as she kept her eyes out for something that could help her find her sister. She only came across a few people, and none of them had seen anyone resembling Evelyn, although none of them had been here yesterday either.
Occasionally, she’d look across the park to see Inspector Ness meticulously searching his section, and the sight of him kept the rising panic at bay. She had no doubt if there was anything to be found, he would find it.
She lingered in front of the memorial, reading the plaques of some of the people who’d already been honored, saddened by the case of Alice Ayres, a servant who’d run into a burning house three times to save her employee’s children, only to be overcome by smoke herself. She wondered if Abbie would do the same for Oliver and hoped they never had to find out.
Nearly an hour passed before she finally met Ness back where they’d started. Her feet were killing her. She should have changed into walking shoes when she’d had the chance. The February chill had also cut through her until she was chilled to the bone. Exhausted, she looked at him hopefully. “Did you find anything?”
He shook his head, killing her hope. “No, but the gardener’s shed is locked, so I’m going to have to find who has the keys and ask if we can search it. How about you?”