Page 46 of Murder at Madame Chambon's
For it was not yet midnight and, distasteful as he founded it, he would have to return to Madame Chambon’s.
For here, he was hopeful he’d find proof that would exonerate LuluBelle.
He was disappointed,when he reached the dwelling, to learn that Madame was out that evening.
“Perhaps there’s a special young lady with whom you’d like to enjoy the evening, sir?”The young girl assigned to look after him while he waited in the drawing room smiled suggestively.“Does your fancy lend itself to brunettes, perhaps?Or blondes?There are also several redheads—”
“No, please, I need to speak to Madame,” William interrupted, sending a desperate look about the room and glad he was the only gentleman waiting, though, being peak time for the occupants of the house, several young women in sumptuous clothing reclined on sofas, while gentlemen from society’s upper echelons trod the corridors.Some were at pains to disguise themselves, though not all.William, who’d been careful to keep his identity hidden by replacing his white silk scarf, gloves and top hat with a checked cap pulled low, and muffler,
“You look lost and lonely, sir.”
William swung round as the soft words purred in his ear seemed to envelope him like her cloying violet perfume, despising himself for the unexpected sensations the young woman’s words evoked within him.
“Sonia,” he said, recognizing the young woman, embarrassed when she looked at him blankly.
He was not a man who paid for sex, but it had been a long time since he’d had relations with a woman.Not since a brief but highly passionate affair the previous summer during a two-week house party, when he’d been seduced by the wife of a fellow guest whose husband’s mistress was their hostess.
The memory reflected well on no one, but that was how physical needs were navigated in the circles in which they moved.
It was why it was so refreshing to feel only the truest, purest love for innocent Evelina.
“I was here with Lady Bradden yesterday.I hoped for a few moments to speak to you,” he said to the titian-haired beauty whose two front teeth, he noticed, were slightly crooked, though, surprisingly, this only added to her charm.
He didn’t chastise himself for finding the woman attractive.Instead, it bolstered his resolve to be true to Evelina.No one was without flaws and that perfect woman did not exist.When one’s heart was engaged by the right levers, pursuing that love determined the caliber of the man.
“Then we shall go upstairs,” she replied, hooking her hand in his arm.
He shook his head.“I…I was concerned about what had happened to LuluBelle.”
“You are a …friendof LuluBelle?”She dropped her hand, frowning.
William was struck by how beautifully she spoke, her words well modulated, her sentence construction so artful.Yet her talents were employed in a house like this?
“I was never a friend in that sense, but I don’t believe she murdered Lord Dunstable, who was, in fact, an acquaintance of mine,” William said.“I came here to speak to someone here who might tell me what they think happened that night.”
Sonia looked at him suspiciously, then shrugged.“The police have questioned us all, but they made up their minds as soon as it was convenient to charge LuluBelle, when of course….”She lowered her voice and glanced about her before adding, “Madame would be more likely since it happened in her office.But Madame didn’t do it.She was with the police inspector, or as near as makes no difference.”
“Do you have any other suspicions… considering no one here appears to have actually witnessed the event?”He hesitated.“Captain Blackheath?”
She was thoughtful.“I did wonder, considering Captain Blackheath was blackmailing Lord Dunstable, and they were bitter enemies.But the captain is a friend of Lulubelle’s.He’d not see harm come to her and he’d surely not see her hang for a crime he committed.”
William’s eyes widened.“His fondness for LuluBelle does not preclude the fact he might have murdered Dunstable if he had a good enough motive.How do you know they were bitter enemies?”
Sonia settled herself on the arm of the sofa when it was clear William did not wish to go to her room.“They came to blows during a conversation I overheard during which Dunstable told the captain to mind his own… business, though in more colorful language than that.It sounded like Blackheath didn’t like the idea of Dunstable marrying Madame’s—” She put her hand over her mouth.“I’ve said too much.Madame has spies everywhere and if she knew I’d said half as much, I’d lose my place here.Then where would a girl like me go?”
William’s mind was whirring.He understood he couldn’t say Evelina’s name, though that was what Sonia intimated.So,Blackheathhad actively sought to dissuade Dunstable from marrying Evelina?“Do you know why he objected to the idea of Dunstable marrying this … young lady?”
“Did I say that?No, sir.They argued and I have no idea of the cause.”
“And there was no one else you recall in the house at the time who might have been motivated to kill Lord Dunstable.”
“I cannot speak to anyone’s motives, sir, but Captain Blackheath was not the only man here with the opportunity to kill Lord Dunstable.”
“Five others have been interviewed and let go,” said William.“Was there someone who springs to mind?”
A furrow speared Sonia’s brow.“A gentleman I’ve seen several times over the years, though he does not come here to see the girls.Just to visit Madame, who is always anxious and over-bearing afterwards.”
“What is the name of that gentleman?”
