The Masked Heart

by Karla Darcy

"I swear by me sainted mother, that nobody in the 'ole bleedin' place knows anythin', guv." Jasper Pickles hung his head at the shame of it all.

  Talbott Stoddard glared at the ragtag creature who shifted from foot to foot as if uncomfortable in the handsomely paneled library. He had to keep himself in hand not to shout at the shuffling figure but his patience was sorely tried.

  It was three days since he had seen La Solitaire at the Rose and Trellis but in all that time he had not been able to discover the present location of the beautiful actress. She had not returned to the Green Mews Theatre and according to John Tibbles, she had sent a note saying she was ill. The only bright spot in all of this, was the fact that he had seen Drew Farrington and, by the surly look of the man, he did not know where La Solitaire was either.

  "What about the little abigail that you said offered such promise?" Stoddard snarled across the desk at Pickles.

  "She was ripe for a tumble, is all," he said.

  Shuddering at the gap-toothed smile of the man, Stoddard prodded, "Did you even question the slut?"

  " 'Course I did. And she tol' me that aside from the little blond, the brat and the ol' lady, there was no one else in the 'ouse than there oughta be."

  Pickles voice had the nasally whine that Stoddard associated with the more deplorable members of the servant class. He was sorry now that he'd paid the little weasel to get information, but the rogue had demanded payment before he would take on the task. Despite that, or maybe because of it, the man had produced practically nothing.

  "And you are quite positive that you have told me everything?"

  "On me word, guv." Pickles raised his hand as though testifying before a magistrate. "Nobody saw nobody in the 'ouse what shouldn't have been there. At first, I thought it might o' been the sister but me fluff tol' me she ain't ever been there."

  "Sister? Whose sister?" Stoddard asked irritably. He hated to prolong the interview with the odious man but he couldn't believe that his three day watch of the Portman Square house hadn't turned up a single clue to La Solitaire's whereabouts.

  "The little blonde’s sister," Pickles said. By the sudden tension in the figure across the desk, he suspected that he finally had reported something the nobleman didn't know. He smiled triumphantly as he announced, "The sister's name is Blaine Meriweather."

  "Where does she live?" Stoddard asked, sitting forward in his chair.

  "Dunno," Pickles answered. At the flash of anger in the nobleman's eye, he hurriedly continued. "Ellen said no one knew where this Blaine was. She'd only 'eard the little blond talking about 'er. Do you want me to go back and see if I can pick up anything else?"

  "No, thank you, Mr. Pickles," Stoddard said. "You've been of inestimable help."

  After Stoddard had waved the man out of the library, he leaned back in his chair and considered the nuggets of information he had. He had seen La Solitaire entering the Portman Square house. Obviously she had slipped out sometime that night or the following morning before Jasper Pickles had arrived to watch the place. The only significant piece of information his informant had come up with was the fact that Fleur Meriweather had a sister.

  Was it possible that Fleur's sister was La Solitaire?

  On the face of it, the idea was clearly ridiculous. The more he thought of it however, the more the ridiculous theory seemed to fit. For one thing, it would explain the lack of information on Maggie Mason's background. He had never considered the fact that the actress might be from a respectable family. If true, he could understand why no one knew where she had come from or where she lived. It was, at the least, worth pursuing because as it stood he had absolutely no other avenues to follow.

  A smile touched Stoddard's face but it did not reach his eyes. Perhaps he ought to have a little chat with Fleur Meriweather. He suspected once he pointed out to her the magnitude of the scandal, if the identity of her sister became known, the girl would cooperate. For the price of La Solitaire's address, she could purchase his silence.