Page 4 of Dead Beside the Thames
Oliver was delighted to front up and do so.
Charlie smiled and duly offered his hand for Oliver to shake, which the boy did with gusto.
“Er…” Charlie cast a helpless glance at Barnaby.
Understanding the look, Penelope stated, “The boys were about to go upstairs.”
On cue, Hettie appeared in the doorway. She’d heard Penelope’s dictum, saw the way Oliver’s face fell, and, reaching for Pip, brightly said, “Cook has, just this minute, taken a sheet of shortbread biscuits from the oven.” She smiled at Oliver, then at Pip. “Shall we go to the kitchen and see?”
Shortbread biscuits trumped adult conversation every time. “Yes!” Oliver paused only long enough to command, “Come along, Roger!” then, with the dog at his heels, hurried off with Hettie.
Smiling benignly, Mostyn followed the small procession from the room and closed the door behind him.
Immediately, Penelope tugged Charlie to the sofa, sat, and waved him to the place beside her.
Charlie dropped onto the pale-green silk, and Barnaby sat opposite as Penelope directed, “Tell us what’s wrong.”
Charlie looked from her to Barnaby. “I’m a whisker away from being charged with murder, that’s what!”
“Murder!” Penelope exclaimed.
Frowning, Barnaby asked, “Whose?”
“Sedbury’s!” Needing no further urging, Charlie poured out the somewhat amazing tale of Stokes’s morning visit to Jermyn Street and what Stokes had revealed. “In the end, Stokes and I agreed that this was one case where your assistance was most definitely required, and he went off to ask the commissioner for approval.” Charlie glanced toward the door. “He said he would join us here.”
“Sedbury.” Frowning, Penelope glanced at Barnaby. “I can’t remember ever meeting the man. Are we sure he’s of the ton?”
Barnaby grimly nodded. “Most definitely. He’s Rattenby’s eldest child and heir, the only child of his first marriage.”
“Then that I’ve never met him is even more strange,” Penelope pointed out. “I’ve met the marquess and the current marchioness several times, and I’ve met their children. All of them.” She widened her eyes at Barnaby. “Why have I never met the oldest son?” She blinked, then added, “Until now, I didn’t even know therewasan older son.”
Barnaby met her gaze. “The reason for that very likely feeds into the motive for his murder.”
“Indeed,” Charlie averred. “Sedbury was a rum ’un and rarely appeared in wider society. The clubs, hells, and so on, yes. Racing tracks and the like. But generally speaking, you wouldn’t expect to find him in the ballrooms.”
“That said,” Barnaby concluded, “given Sedbury’s status, Stokes was entirely correct in thinking that we need to be involved in this case.”
On the words, the front doorbell rang, and a minute later, Stokes walked into the room.
He smiled at Barnaby and Penelope, who eagerly welcomed him and waved him to join them. Claiming the place on the sofa next to Barnaby, Stokes inquired, “Did Hastings here fill you in?”
“He did,” Penelope replied. “So are we now officially on the case?”
Stokes grinned at her. “If you’re willing.”
Penelope huffed. “Of course we are, on Charlie’s account if for no other reason. Now, is there anything more you can tell us?”
“Such as,” Barnaby put in, “what information led you to Charlie’s door this morning.”
Charlie looked much struck. “I hadn’t thought to ask.” He looked at Stokes.
Smiling faintly, Stokes obliged. “After being informed that the body hauled from the river was presumed to be Sedbury’s—a card in a card case found on the body carried the name and an address—I headed for Sedbury’s rooms and thought to call in at White’s on the way, hoping someone there could give me a decent description of the man. As it happened, the porters gave me an excellent picture and a great deal more. Enough that instead of going to Sedbury’s rooms, I diverted to Jermyn Street and Hastings’s abode.” Stokes glanced at Charlie. “Have you told them of your two run-ins with Sedbury on Saturday?”
Charlie nodded.
“But,” Penelope said, swiveling on the sofa to fix her dark gaze on Charlie, “you didn’t really give us the details. So…”
Stokes watched and listened as she and Barnaby led Charlie through more or less every minute of both altercations in an inquisition of mind-numbing exactitude. Courtesy of Penelope’s connection with the Foundling House and the children of the lower classes she interacted with there, she had incisive insight into the incident in Long Acre, while Barnaby, with his knowledge of White’s and those who inhabited its halls, knew what questions to ask to draw Charlie into giving a much more complete account of the clash there.
