by Anna Elliott
Mrs. Arden sat back and released a long, slow breath. “Then I am quite content. If only … if only it need not come out that I am her mother and Phineas’s estranged wife?”
She looked at me, anxiety sharpening her gaze.
“I don’t see that Inspector Lestrade needs to know anything about it,” I said. “He certainly won’t hear about it from me.”
“Thank you.” Mrs. Arden released another breath. “If Clarissa is safe and need know nothing of all this, I shall not mind standing up in court—or even serving a prison sentence for attempted murder.”
I studied her faded, still-pretty face. When she was young, she must have been very much like Clarissa indeed.
“Do you know,” I said, “I think we can do a little better than that.”
“And you think Lestrade will be willing to drop the charges against her?” Jack asked.
We were outside of Scotland Yard, walking along the embankment. River barges sounded their horns and glided past on the Thames just beside the open walkway. Ahead of us loomed the sharp spire of Cleopatra’s Needle and the dome of Somerset House.
“Lestrade is bound to be feeling charitable just now, after all the credit he’s earned for breaking up Meyer’s spy ring. Besides, Mrs. Arden may be able to provide us with valuable information if she can tell us where exactly Eric went when she followed him. That alone ought to be worth a reduction in the charges against her.”
“Do you think she’ll go and see her husband and daughter if she does get free?”
“I don’t know.”
That was exactly what I’d suggested to Mrs. Arden before we left: that she ought to visit Lovejoy & Sons and make one last attempt to speak with Phineas, and ask him to let Clarissa decide whether she would like to meet the woman who had given her birth.
“But how can I—how can she ever forgive me for abandoning her?” she had asked.
“She may not, of course,” I had told her. “But your daughter is a generous, warm-hearted girl, and both she and Phineas have been through a terrible ordeal. I think that both of them may be inclined to value forgiveness just now, especially where family is concerned. Besides, how will you ever know for certain if you don’t try?”
Now, walking beside Jack, I looked up at him. There was a line between his brows, and his eyes were focused on the far distance, but I couldn’t guess at his thoughts.
“If they are reconciled—or at least some version of reconciliation, whatever that looks like for them—they’ll have you to thank for it,” I said. “If it hadn’t been for you, we would never have found the house on Betterton Street or known where to find Meyer—or stopped Eric from escaping from the museum yesterday.”
Jack shrugged. “You did just as much as me. If Mrs. Arden gets let out of prison, that’ll be thanks to you.”
“Maybe.” I hesitated, then asked, “What was in Meyer’s envelope?”
“Payment to Hobbes. Banknotes. About five hundred pounds.”
“And?”
“Funny thing. A visiting police inspector who looked a good deal like your father offered to take the envelope down to the evidence lockers for me. And somehow when he left, the envelope was empty, but that metal cashbox of Phineas’ had an extra five hundred pounds in it.”
“And you were willing to look the other way while all this happened?”
“I’m just a sergeant; it’s not my business to question an inspector’s actions.” Jack flashed a quick grin. “Besides, I agree with your father. Phineas deserved some kind of apology for Lestrade’s treatment of him.”
I smiled in return, then said, “Last night, I asked Becky if she wished sometimes that we didn’t have such dangerous jobs. And she said that if we didn’t, there would be no one to help people like Clarissa and her father and mother.”
“She’s a smart girl. Must run in the family.”
I looked searchingly up at him again. “So, are you all right?”
Jack straightened, looking out across the river. Up ahead, the Houses of Parliament towered resplendent, their rows of lighted windows glowing amidst the lengthening afternoon shadows. And all around us spread London: dirty, beautiful, dangerous, awe-inspiring, and above all, teeming with life.
“Maybe not yet,” Jack said. He drew in a breath. “But I will be.”
THE END
HISTORICAL NOTES
This is a work of fiction, and the authors make no claim that any of the historical locations or historical figures appearing in this story had even the remotest connection with the adventures recounted herein.
However …
1. The grand circular Reading Room of the British Museum Library opened in 1857 to high praise and received acclaim for more than a century as one of the great attractions of London. It remained a world-famous centre of learning until 1997, when the Library moved to its own building. Those wanting to use the Reading Room had to apply in writing and were issued a reader’s ticket by the Principal Librarian. Among whose tickets have been preserved are: Karl Marx, Lenin (who signed in under the name Jacob Richter) and novelists Bram Stoker and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The voluminous space, modeled on the domed Pantheon in Rome, may still be visited at the Centre Court of the Museum, where it is used for special exhibitions and available as a location for filming.
2. There has been a bookshop on Great Russell Street across from the British Museum since at least 1890. The storefront building, at Number 46, is presently occupied by the firm of Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers. The basement is said to be haunted.
3. Lucy James will return, in “The Curse of Cleopatra’s Needle,” available on Amazon in September 2020.
A NOTE OF THANKS TO OUR READERS
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Anna Elliott is the author of the Twilight of Avalon trilogy, and The Pride and Prejudice Chronicles. She was delighted to lend a hand in giving the character of Lucy James her own voice, firstly because she loves Sherlock Holmes as much as her father, Charles Veley, and second because it almost never happens that someone with a dilemma shouts, “Quick, we need an author of historical fiction!” She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and four children.
Charles Veley is the author of the first two books in this series of fresh Sherlock Holmes adventures. He is thrilled to be contributing to the series, and delighted beyond words to be collaborating with Anna Elliott.