City of Bells by Wright Kim

Author:Wright, Kim [Wright, Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-09-07T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

A Carriage in the British District

2:20 PM

The meeting concluded at two and then the group dispersed, each one moving to his or her assigned task. Tom returned to the club to investigate the wiring which had delivered the shock to Amy Morrow and Jonathan Benson the previous evening. Seal and Morass bustled off to, in the words of Morass, “scare up” the female servants of the Weaver household and Trevor suspected that for once this was not a mere figure of speech. After sending a note to Miss Hoffman to alert her that they would indeed be returning in the midday sun, Emma, Davy, and Gerry borrowed Mrs. Tucker’s carriage and set off in the direction of the temple.

And Rayley and Trevor hired a cab to take them in the opposite direction, to the gentleman’s rooming house where Jonathan Benson had been staying before he was killed. Apparently Gerry’s airy claim that there were no hotels in Bombay was not entirely accurate. More likely what she meant was that there were few which accepted both male and female travelers and fewer yet which approached the levels of comfort to which she had spent a lifetime becoming accustomed.

But there were boarding houses aplenty for the men of the Raj, the majority of them probably just like the one now before Rayley and Trevor – a large but humbly appointed dwelling with any number of small rooms for lease. This house is a charmless affair, Trevor thought, as the landlord, with a glance at their paperwork, readily escorted them down the hall to Benson’s room. And not so very different from my own bachelor’s quarters back in London. Buildings without women always seemed to him strangely abandoned, no matter how many men might climb their stairs or walk their halls.

“The poor chap is paid up full for the week,” the landlord said, before leaving them at the door, a remark Trevor initially found irrelevant. But upon reflection he supposed the fellow was suggesting that Benson – or more likely Michael Everlee – had rented the room for a set number of days and thus that Benson’s things would remain there unmoved and unmolested throughout that period of time. Which was fortunate indeed, for otherwise the man’s personal effects might have been packed up in careless haste and stored somewhere, thus diminishing Trevor and Rayley’s chance to get an impression of his personality.

“Just as one might expect to find it,” Rayley said, breaking into his thoughts.

“ Umm…” Trevor said noncommittally. What he assumed his friend meant was that Benson’s room was absolutely neat, without any clothing scattered about or any remains of food or drink. The small desk in the corner was well ordered and Rayley moved to it at once, leaving Trevor to reflect that Rayley must keep his own room with the same sort of militaristic precision as this one. Trevor’s own personal quarters looked more as if a handbomb had been recently deployed.

“See here,” said Rayley, handing Trevor a small framed daguerreotype.

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