Page 4 of A Silent Curse

“Yes.” Gideon swallowed and added, “Though I did doubt initially, I have never doubted Miss Poole’s truthfulness. And her insights have proven crucial.”

Vincent and the superintendent nodded as if Gideon’s words had been the answer they were seeking.

“We would like to employ her in the Delacourt case,” Superintendent Mercer said, “and since you are well acquainted with her, we would like you to secure her cooperation.”

Gideon’s mouth went dry and his gut churned at the prospect of Electra becoming involved in another case, not circumstantially but because he had asked her to use her abilities. The flush of guilt heated his cheeks too. Hadn’t he asked her at times to use her skills? This wasn’t so very different, and yet it felt like it was.

“This must all be handled with the utmost discretion,” Chief Douglas added. “We are willing to compensate Miss Poole, but there will be no public acknowledgment that the Metropolitan Police is soliciting the assistance of a psychic.”

“You wish for me to work with Miss Poole and yet conceal that fact?” Gideon asked, perhaps too sharply.

“Everyone connected with the case will, by necessity, know of Miss Poole’s involvement,” the chief pointed out, “but we do not wish to set a public precedent.”

“It is a request of the Delacourt family that we are entertaining,” Superintendent Mercer said.

“I see.” Gideon understood why a family would be desperate enough to employ a psychic, but as far as he knew, Electra had never used her gifts to find a missing person. Was it something she would even wish to do?

“So you will speak to Miss Poole?” Superintendent Mercer asked in a way that sounded a bit like a command. “Today. And if she agrees, I ask that you start by the two of you speaking to the Delacourt family. They are anticipating a call this afternoon.”

It was all happening quickly, and yet something in Gideon still resisted.

“And if Miss Poole does not agree to assist the investigation?”

The three men exchanged a glance.

“Then I will speak to her on behalf of the Delacourts,” Mercer said. “Is there a reason to believe she will be reticent?”

“No.” In truth, Gideon could not imagine her declining, since he knew she had a wish to use her abilities in a way that would prove helpful to others, and she did have an interest—and, dare he admit, talent—for criminal investigation.

If investigatory know-how could be inherited, then Gideon might ascribe it to her father’s influence, but he knew that Electra’s keen and curious mind had been part of her nature since childhood.

“Then shall we disband this meeting and allow you time to speak to Miss Poole within the hour?” Vincent asked. “And then to the family?”

“Yes, sir.” Despite any misgivings, the prospect of seeing Electra was always one Gideon looked forward to.

He tapped the pile of documents on the desk’s edge. “I take it there is more here regarding the death of Miss Collier and the disappearance of Miss Delacourt.”

Douglas nodded. “Constable’s reports and a report from the Thames River Police, who discovered Miss Collier and removed her from the river.”

“You’re the first detective assigned to the Delacourt disappearance since she was last seen two days ago, but you’ll find copies from the constable the family called to their home yesterday morning and Detective Sergeant Hardy’s initial reports in the case of Miss Collier,” Vincent told him. “You have everything there.”

“Right.” Gideon collected the pile in his hands. “Then it seems there is no time to lose.”

“Indeed.” Vincent got to his feet and the superintendent and chief followed suit. “We are willing to employ any means to return Miss Delacourt to her family before tragedy befalls her.”

“I understand.” For the first time since entering the chief’s office, he felt the urgency he did at the start of an investigation, a determination to find answers. The paperwork on his desk could wait.

Unlike most of his investigations, this one could result in one young lady being spared the kind of violence her friend suffered.

As he left Chief Douglas’s office, he’d begun ordering tasks in his mind. As he settled into a hired cab outside of the station, he read the report from Sergeant Hardy about Miss Collier. The young lady had failed to arrive at work the previous Tuesday. Her landlady was the one to give the first report two days later when she could not find Miss Collier to collect her monthly rent payment and discovered none of the other lodgers had seen her on Tuesday or Wednesday. None of Miss Collier’s belongings had been removed from her rented rooms, indicating that the young woman had not simply hied off to avoid paying rent and had planned to return to her lodgings.

Miss Collier had been missing for three days before her body was discovered in the Thames. During that time, Miss Iris Delacourt had not been spoken to regarding her friend’s disappearance, at least not based on the reports he’d been given. But others at the museum had been interviewed, providing nothing of substance that could explain where Miss Collier might have gone.

Then, last Friday evening, she’d been spotted by a shopgirl who was traversing Blackfriars Bridge. The discovery of Calliope Collier’s body was first mentioned in the papers on Monday, and the inquest had been held on Tuesday.

Miss Delacourt had last been seen on Monday. Had she read the news of her friend’s death before her disappearance?

Only when he lifted his head after reviewing the documents did it strike him—the oddity of going to see Electra, uninvited, at two in the afternoon on a Wednesday. Not because she had inadvertently found herself connected to a murder case but because he was purposely seeking to draw her into one.