Page 64 of A Dangerous Vision

Miss Beecham smiled, almost wistfully. “I observed him rather closely while he testified today. He does seem like a man determined to find the truth.” She nodded. “He had a manner which made me wish to trust him. You think he’ll speak to my father?”

Electra thought it a certainty. “Your father is a likely person to have felt enmity toward Mr. Pennington, and Gid— Inspector Pierce will wish to exclude him.”

“As a suspect, you mean? But what if he decides my father had the greatest motive of all?

Electra offered the pen in its box back to Miss Beecham. “He will speak to your father and then verify his whereabouts with Mr. Eames.”

“You've given me reassurance, Miss Poole, and for that I must thank you. I must compensate you in some way.” Miss Beecham pulled a few sovereigns from her reticule and placed them on the table near the tea tray.

“Thank you.” It was a bit more than her usual fee, and she was grateful.

“I appreciate your willingness to speak with me with no prior notice, Miss Poole. I did not love Percival Pennington, and I do not believe he loved me, but no one should be struck down in the middle of the street.”

The young lady’s words put Electra in mind of her own father. “I agree.”

“He was not an awful man, just one who was not very likable sometimes. But who among us is likable at all times?”

Electra quite appreciated the young woman’s perspective. “That is very true, Miss Beecham.”

“I should depart and allow you to get back to whatever it was you’d planned to do with your evening.”

As Electra bid the young lady adieu, she debated asking about the one aspect of the sitting she hadn’t mentioned. She wasn’t sure why it seemed like something it might be best to not disclose.

“Miss Beecham?”

The young lady turned back, an expectant look in her eyes.

“Are you acquainted with a Mrs. Jane Wilson or a Mrs. Demeter Devlin?”

Miss Beecham pouted thoughtfully. “No, I can’t say that I am. Neither of those names sound familiar. Should I be?”

“No, not at all.”

The young lady frowned, as if Electra had confounded her, but then she took her leave. Electra watched as she climbed into the carriage she’d come in. The driver had been waiting for some time.

And as the carriage rolled away, Electra tried to sort it all out in her mind. Why had Demeter Devlin come to her under a false name? And did she give the calling card that Electra had given her to Pennington? It made no sense. And why on earth had Roderick Beecham accosted the lady in Hyde Park?

She decided to stop in at Vine Street to see if she could catch Gideon or leave him a message, asking him to seek her out at Russell Square. She needed to tell him what she’d seen.

Chapter Fourteen

Before heading to Mount Street, Gideon stopped at Vine Street Station to check on any reports from the constables he had assigned the task of confirming alibis for Sir Christopher Redmayne, Lucy Faraday, and Lance Pennington.

He found one report on his desk confirming Sir Christopher’s presence in the House based on the voting register. He also discovered Constable Thacker at his own desk, head bent, writing what looked to be another of the reports Gideon was waiting for.

“Thacker? Have you made progress with your inquiries?”

“Yes, sir. I spoke with Miss Greene, who confirmed that Lucy Faraday spent several hours with her, dining and conversing on the evening of the twenty-eighth of July.”

“The times of that visit?”

Thacker consulted his notes and read from them. “Approximately half four in the late afternoon until approximately nine in the evening.”

Miss Faraday had never been a suspect in Gideon’s mind, and he was not surprised to hear she had been honest about where she’d been that evening.

“And regarding Mr. Lance Pennington? Did you speak to anyone at the theatre?”

Thacker nodded and reached for his notebook, flipping through pages. “Yes, sir. I spoke to several people at the theatre. The ticket attendant said he could not recall if he saw Mr. Pennington that night.”