Death of a Courtesan: Riley Rochester Investigates

by Wendy Soliman

  Riley’s sergeant shrugged and resumed his seat. The ladies wandered into the space normally used for a very different form of entertainment and settled onto various chairs. Mirabelle, usually in the thick of things, selected a single armchair apart from the others and curled her feet beneath her bottom. She looked unnaturally pale, but whether that was because she had just got out of bed or because she was worried about Riley’s sudden appearance, he had yet to decide. She caught Riley watching her, lifted her head and tossed her black mane over her shoulders, giving him a challenging look that was better suited to her profession than to a murder investigation. Riley looked away first and cleared his throat. As he did so, he noticed a tiny smile briefly touching Mirabelle’s lips, as though she thought she had tempted Riley with her wiles. Nothing could be further from the truth but he was becoming increasingly suspicious of Mirabelle, and it suited his purpose for her to think that she held the upper hand.

  ‘Good afternoon, ladies,’ he said. ‘I apologise for this disturbance at what must be an early hour for you. However, I know you are anxious to learn what progress we have made with our investigation into your friend’s death.’

  Riley noticed Mirabelle’s upper lip curve derisively. Ruby, on the other hand, clutched a handkerchief tightly in her hand and dabbed at her eyes with it.

  ‘Were you aware, any of you, that Adelaide saved almost every penny she earned?’ All of the girls shook their heads, with the exception of Mirabelle, who looked bored. ‘She actually managed to amass a small fortune.’

  ‘There is a small fortune to be made in this business, inspector,’ Mirabelle said scathingly. ‘Providing you know what you are doing.’

  ‘But it must be unusual for almost all of it to be put aside,’ Salter reasoned. ‘Do any of you save your income with a view to your future? For when you are, excuse me, too old to attract custom?’

  The girls looked at one another and again shook their heads.

  ‘There are always things that I need,’ one said.

  ‘I have debts to settle,’ said another.

  Mirabelle remained silent, which didn’t suit Riley’s purpose. ‘You claim there is a small fortune to be made in this business, Mirabelle,’ he remarked. ‘What do you mean by that?’

  She shrugged. ‘We don’t do it for the dubious pleasure of our clients’ company. We literally sacrifice our bodies on the altar of their collective perversions. I think we deserve every penny we extract from the idiots who frequent this place. That is what I meant. Besides, like you say, it’s a young woman’s game so what we earn now will have to see us through the rest of our lives. Looked at like that, our income isn’t that excessive.’

  ‘You say you sacrifice your bodies,’ Riley replied, watching Mirabelle closely, ‘but Adelaide became a wealthy woman without actually doing so.’

  Mirabelle dismissed Riley’s claim with a sneer. ‘Don’t be naive, inspector. I can see that the little flirt has captivated you, despite the fact that to the best of my knowledge you only ever saw her after she was dead. She might have learned the art of domination and she might have been handy with the whip, but she still had to give her clients the ultimate satisfaction through copulation, just like we all do.’

  ‘Actually she didn’t.’ Riley allowed a significant pause, aware that he had the complete attention of everyone in the room. ‘She died a virgin.’

  Riley kept his attention focused upon Mirabelle as he made the statement. Everyone else gasped, then the ladies all spoke at once, declaring it to be impossible. But Mirabelle’s expression darkened and she didn’t say a word. Riley would wager fifty guineas that what he had just revealed hadn’t come as a complete shock to her, much as she pretended otherwise.

  ‘I can assure you it’s the truth,’ he said, still watching Mirabelle as he spoke. ‘The police doctor who examined her body was adamant on that particular point.’

  ‘You knew?’ Ruby asked Mrs Sinclair, wide-eyed with astonishment.

  ‘I did.’

  ‘How can it have been possible?’ another asked.

  Riley allowed them to talk amongst themselves, noticing that Mirabelle remained sullen and made no contribution to the discussion. The dispute was interrupted by Peterson and Harper clumping down the stairs, waving the diaries in the air that had recently made their way up the same staircase, concealed beneath Peterson’s uniform.

  ‘We found these, sir!’ he cried, brandishing them above his head. ‘Hidden beneath a lose floorboard.’

  ‘Thank you, Peterson,’ Riley said, swiftly standing and relieving the constable of the books that contained nothing more incriminating than notes from old cases that Riley had taken from his desk. ‘Not here.’

  ‘Sorry, sir.’ Peterson looked convincingly contrite.

  ‘Here, what are those?’ Mirabelle demanded to know.

  ‘Since my constable’s enthusiasm got the better of him, I suppose there is no harm in your all knowing that they appear to be Adelaide’s diaries.’ Riley stood, flipped through the books and allowed himself a satisfied smile. ‘I need to return to Scotland Yard in order to study them in more detail. This is excellent work, Peterson!’ he said, slapping the constable’s shoulder. ‘These books could well break the case wide open.’

  Peterson grinned. ‘Just doing my job, sir.’

  ‘Even so.’ Riley took in all the occupants of the room with a single glance. ‘If anyone here has anything further to tell me that might shed some light on Adelaide’s murder I would strongly suggest that you come to the Yard and talk to me before I discover it for myself from these books.’ He again flipped through the pages and then tapped the books against his thigh for emphasis. ‘Adelaide appears to have been a scrupulous diarist.’

  Mirabelle mumbled something indecipherable, got up and flounced back up the stairs. Riley watched her go, then thanked Mrs Sinclair for her time, promising to keep her up to date with developments.

  ‘Well, that put the cat amongst the pigeons,’ Salter said, chuckling as he strode along beside Riley, on the lookout for a vacant hansom. ‘Mirabelle’s actions were right suspicious. There’s more to her than meets the eye, take my word for it.’

  ‘I thought you wanted the uncle to be guilty.’

  ‘Perhaps they were in it together,’ Salter said optimistically.

  ‘Mirabelle was aware of Adelaide’s virginity,’ Riley said. ‘She gave herself away by showing no reaction.’

  ‘I noticed that, too.’

  ‘It would account for her abject dislike of her rival. Mirabelle thought that she was Adelaide’s equal in terms of looks, wiles and tricks of the trade. Yet she has to spread her legs for her customers on a regular basis, whereas Adelaide was devious enough to avoid that fate. I’ll wager that their rivalry came to a head at some point in the recent past and Adelaide took pleasure in telling Mirabelle how she had the last laugh over the lot of them.’

  ‘A motive for murder if ever I heard one.’

  ‘Quite, and if we’re right about it then it was also a foolish miscalculation on Adelaide’s part. She usually remained tight-lipped about her personal affairs, but I expect Mirabelle goaded her once too often and she couldn’t resist taunting her.’ Riley sighed. ‘But will she come to us with a story to explain whatever it is that she thinks Adelaide might have written about her, Jack, that’s the question?’

  ‘Here, what if she tries to scarper? She could disappear into the back streets and we’ll never find her in a month of Sundays.’

  ‘Peterson and Harper are taking it in turns to watch the place, but I’m guessing that she will hold her nerve. She knows that if she runs it would be tantamount to admitting her guilt. Besides, Mrs Sinclair will tell me at once if she does take off. She is well aware that it’s in her best interests to remain in my good books, even if it costs her one of her best girls.’

  ‘If Mirabelle runs she will have lost her anyway and if we think she allowed her to go and didn’t tell us immediately, we coul
d shut her down.’

  ‘Exactly, but I honestly don’t think Mirabelle will take the risk. She has it relatively easy in Mrs Sinclair’s house, especially with her main rival out of the way.’ The cab then had just clambered into moved off with a jolt. ‘Unlike Adelaide, I suspect that Mirabelle hasn’t put much money aside and would have to lower her standards in order to survive on her own. We’d find her soon enough if she went to another house so she can’t risk doing that. Ergo, she’s better off riding out the storm, trying to decide what Adelaide might have written about her and coming up with an explanation.’

  ‘Aye well, time will tell.’ Salter sighed. ‘What now, sir?’

  ‘Now, Salter, we go back to the Yard and wait.’

  Riley had just come back from updating the superintendent upon his activities when Carter and Soames returned from Ware.

  ‘All of the family was there, sir, including the uncle and the brothers. Not sure how efficiently a business can run if its owners take no interest in it,’ Carter opined, sniffing. ‘Employees will take advantage, I dare say.’

  ‘How did they react to the news of our discoveries?’ Riley asked.

  ‘The father seems befuddled, and I don’t reckon he understood much of what we told him,’ Soames said. ‘Consumed with guilt for having let his daughter down, I shouldn’t wonder. But the uncle and aunt took it all in, that’s for sure. The look that passed between them was one of outright shock.’

  ‘Fear, more like,’ Carter added. ‘Anyway, we told the uncle that you’d appreciate seeing him here at the Yard tomorrow morning. Right put out by that demand, so he was. He said there was nothing more he could do to help but that he’d be here anyway.’

  ‘I’ll bet he will be,’ Salter said scathingly. ‘It’ll be interesting to hear what he has to say for himself this time.’

  ‘It will indeed,’ Riley said, glancing at the clock and standing to reach for his hat and coat. ‘Time’s getting on. If Mirabelle and Ray Clement don’t make an appearance tomorrow then we shall have to call them in as well and you’ll finally get your chance with them.’

  ‘I look forward to it,’ Salter snarled.

  ‘In the meantime, you’d best come with me. I’m for Battersea and Celeste Clement. Since we now have reason to believe that she’s not quite as innocent as she would have us believe, it would be better if I didn’t call upon her unaccompanied.’

  ‘Need a chaperone, do you, sir?’ Salter asked, grinning.

  Riley treated his subordinate to a droll look. ‘Naturally, we won’t tell her that we are aware of her windfall, but we will make it clear that we’ve tracked down Adelaide’s solicitor and plan to visit him tomorrow in the hope of learning who benefits from her demise.’

  ‘Should prove interesting,’ Salter said, grabbing his own hat.

  ‘I want all of our suspects feeling desperate enough for the actual killer to do something foolhardy,’ Riley said. ‘Adelaide deserves justice.’

  Chapter Fifteen

  Riley presented himself at Grosvenor Square at the appropriate hour that evening. A whirlwind descended upon him in a flurry of petticoats and bouncing curls.

  ‘Uncle Riley, there you are!’

  ‘Hello, Cabbage.’ Riley draped an arm affectionately around his niece’s shoulders. ‘What have you been up to?’

  ‘Oh, I have had the most tremendous time. Carolyn Morton and I are already the best of friends. She comes out this season. The lucky thing! We have been visiting the shops and choosing endless pretty things for her to wear. Of course, she is pretty enough in her own right and is bound to be admired wherever she goes, but still…Papa has returned home. I thought he might insist that I go with him, but in the end he didn’t even come to say goodbye. He just sent a message.’ Sophia seemed unperturbed by her father’s disinterest in her. ‘I should be used to that, I suppose, and it used to bother me but this time I was glad for it and…’

  Laughing, Riley held up a hand to stem the breathless flow of words. ‘I almost regret asking,’ he said, unsure if he was relieved that his brother had left the capital or angry with him for continuing to ignore his delightful daughter.

  Olivia joined him with her daughter Carolyn at her side. Riley greeted them and watched the girls wander across the room, heads together, talking one another’s ears off.

  ‘I’m sorry if Cabbage is being too exuberant,’ Riley said with a fond smile. ‘I enjoy that aspect of her character, but it’s definitely an acquired taste.’

  ‘I am very glad that she and Caro get along so well. My daughter is serious like her father, doesn’t make friends easily and isn’t as outgoing as Sophia. They are good for one another.’

  There were twenty people present and Riley was absorbed into their midst. But as always, it was Amelia who held his attention. He made his way to her side and she smiled a greeting.

  ‘I suppose you are still delving the murky depths of London’s demi-monde,’ she said by way of greeting.

  ‘Something of that nature,’ he replied, raising her hand to his lips and lingering over it. ‘How are you? I hope Cabbage is not taking advantage of your good nature.’

  ‘I think it is rather more a case of me enjoying her lively company. It’s impossible to brood when I’m in the same room as her.’ A burst of laugher from the corner of the room occupied by the two girls had everyone smiling and proved Amelia’s point. ‘When did we become so jaded, Riley?’

  ‘Life tends to make one cynical, I find. I hope that doesn’t happen to Cabbage for a very long time.’

  Dinner was announced and Riley offered Amelia his arm. The meal was excellent, and the company entertaining. Cabbage, seated across from Riley, behaved impeccably at what had to be one of her first adult dinner parties. Only when the ladies had withdrawn and the port was making its second circuit did Riley have an opportunity to discuss progress on the case, or the lack thereof, with Jake and his brother-in-law, Daniel Gaston.

  ‘I now think that my superintendent was right to suggest the entire affair hinges on money,’ he said quietly as the three men wandered, glasses in hand, towards a window.

  ‘Do you really think Celeste Clement could be that conniving?’ Jake asked.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Riley admitted. ‘Salter and I visited her this afternoon and she showed no alarm when we told her that we’d tracked down the solicitor who handed Adelaide’s affairs and plan to visit him tomorrow in the hope of discovering who stands to inherit her wealth. Then would have been the time for her to admit that she knew it was her, but she said nothing. She seems genuine, a true friend to Adelaide who is distressed at her murder and wants to see the killer brought to justice.’

  ‘But the amount of money involved would be enough to turn a completely honest person’s head,’ Jake pointed out.

  ‘Quite.’ Riley acknowledged the point with a grim nod. ‘Celeste, to the best of my knowledge, is not dishonest but she is becoming increasingly desperate to be rid of her husband’s judgemental step-sibling. She can’t live openly with her husband and feel safe until she achieves that ambition, which makes her a prime suspect in my book.’

  ‘She wouldn’t have cut the girl’s throat,’ Daniel said.

  ‘No, but her husband might have been persuaded to do the deed. His wife is a trained seductress and Clement is besotted with her. It wouldn’t have been hard for her to talk him round.’

  ‘Wasn’t he supposed to be in France?’ Jake asked.

  ‘He could easily have slipped back into the country. He knew which day of the month the parties took place because he was required to deliver fresh stocks on wine on that day…or rather Ray delivered them on his behalf. If I ask to see his travel receipts you can be sure that they will show he left on the day that he said he did and returned well after the murder. But there’s nothing to say that he couldn’t have come and gone again in the meantime. He knew his way around Mrs Sinclair’s establishment and could easily have left a message for Adelaide to mee
t him in her workroom after the close of business. She trusted him and would have kept the engagement without suspecting anything.’ Riley paused to take a sip of his drink. ‘I’ve been wondering why she didn’t put up much of a fight, so assumed it must have been Mirabelle who cornered her. It very well might have been, but equally it could have been either of the Clements or her uncle. All four had compelling reasons to want her out of the way.’

  ‘And all four of them had the means of accessing that room,’ Jake said, nodding. ‘I don’t envy your task, Riley, but I think you have done the right thing to try and force the killer’s hand. Don’t dismiss Ray Clement simply because Adelaide wouldn’t have relaxed in his company. Bear in mind that he guts fish for a living. Sorry to be so blunt but if he somehow lured her into that room, she wouldn’t have had a chance to fight back. Rage, strength and proficiency with a knife meant that she wouldn’t even have had time to raise the alarm.’

  ‘Have you considered the possibility that perhaps Mirabelle recognised in Ray the resentful character that we know him to be?’ Daniel asked.

  ‘You think she persuaded him to do the deed on her behalf?’ Riley asked. ‘No, I had not thought of that aspect but it’s entirely possible. She could have got Adelaide into the room, accounting for her willingness to be there, and left Ray to do the rest.’

  ‘Ray disliked prostitutes. He might be willing to kill one, but not at the behest of another.’

  ‘You tell me that Mirabelle is beautiful and manipulative,’ Jake reasoned. ‘She desperately wanted Adelaide out of the way and recognised in Ray the means to make it happen.’

  ‘How?’ Daniel asked.

  ‘He delivered the wine to the premises and probably wouldn’t have been able to hide his disgust for what went on in there,’ Jake replied. ‘She would simply have had to spin him a yarn about being forced to do what she did against her will. That would put him in mind of his mother, although Mirabelle couldn’t have known that. If we are right, she must have thought that all her Christmases had come at once when Ray fell for her yarn so easily. My advice, Riley, for what it’s worth is that if she doesn’t come to you tomorrow then you should call her in and put that suggestion to her. She will let Ray take the fall in order to save her own skin, you just mark my words. “Oh yes, inspector. Now you come to mention it I did see the man who delivers the wine acting strangely. He seemed to be obsessed with Adelaide but never could have afforded her” Jake shrugged. ‘Or something of that nature.’