Page 26 of Honor Unbound

He held it up. “What about it? It will smooth the edges of the replacement stones.”

My pulse beat quicker. “Can I borrow it?”

“Uh….” He scratched his jaw again. “Sure.”

I took the metal piece and hurried from the kitchen, calling for Southey to follow. I rushed into my office.

Mr. Burton and Marie were leaning toward each other, speaking in low tones. When I came back in, they snapped apart.

“Marie, do you still have those sketches you made of Trent’s stab wounds?” Southey trotted ahead of me, and I frowned at the dusty pawprints he left on my hardwood floor.

“I have them.” Burton dug in his pocket and pulled out a notepad. He opened it to the correct page. “Why?”

I took the pad and laid it on my desk. I placed the file next to it. The tool had a pointed end and both of the flat sides were etched with cross-cut teeth. “What do you think of this?”

Marie and Burton stood and crowded close. “Think of what?” Marie asked.

Burton caught on quicker. He turned the file so it lined up with the wound on the page. “It would have had to be smallerthan this one, but it would explain the rough edges of the stab wounds. The file grated against the skin, tearing up the edges.”

“Mr. Trent had several files for smoothing the edges of his tin cans lying about his office.” I drummed my fingers on the desk. “Giving his manager, Mr. Hicks, easy access to the murder weapon. If it was the murder weapon.”

“I can go back to the coroner and see what he thinks,” Burton said.

“No,” I said slowly. “You implied that you were working for Sir Kelsey when you visited the coroner. When he reports his findings back to the magistrate, that might confuse the matter.”

“Then what?” Marie asked.

I slapped the file against my own palm. “I’ll speak with Sir Kelsey myself. He can ask his man to confirm it.”

Someone knocked at the open door, and I turned. The workman stood there, holding his cap in his hands. “Ma’am? If you don’t mind, I need my file back.”

*

The worker didn’tget his file back, though I did give him some money to go purchase another. His I took to Sir Kelsey’s offices after going back home to pick up Jane.

“I’ve never been inside a magistrate’s office,” Jane said, peering about as we entered the building.

“Don’t get your hopes up.” I told a clerk we wanted to see Sir Kelsey and watched as he scuttled away. “It is no more interesting than a tax collector’s.”

The magistrate must have been free as we were bid to follow the clerk back into his office. Sir Kelsey rose when he saw us. “Lady Mary. Miss Smith. I have that statement for you to sign right here.”

We sat as he placed a sheet of paper, pen, and inkwell before us. Jane pulled the paper toward her and squinted at the writing.

“Although I am glad to have this task done, Sir Kelsey, it was not my primary purpose in coming here,” I said.

“No?”

I dug into my reticule and pulled out the metal file. The point had torn a small hole in the bottom of the satchel, a hole I couldn’t blame on Southey for once. I put the file on the desk. “I think I’ve discovered the weapon used on Trent.”

The magistrate arched a dark eyebrow. “That file?”

“Well, not this one in particular.”

Jane elbowed me and jerked her head at my face. Sighing, I pulled off my spectacles and handed them over to her so she could better read her statement.

I turned back to Sir Kelsey, whose face was just a bit blurred now. “Trent’s factory has loads of files lying about. They’re smaller than this one, meant to file the edges on the tin cans, but have that same cross-hatch pattern on the sides. Trent’s wounds were jagged, yes? I think it was from a file.”

Sir Kelsey picked up the tool and eyed it more closely. “That’s an interesting idea,” he said, not sounding particularly interested. “How did you know the wounds were jagged?”