Deception at Sable Hill by Shelley Gray

Author:Shelley Gray
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2015-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

When Constable Barnaby appeared at Sean’s office a little after eight the following morning, his ears were red. After the briefest of knocks on the molding surrounding the door, he sputtered, “Lieutenant, sorry for interrupting, but you’ve got a caller.”

Sean had gotten home in the early morning, fallen into an exhausted slumber for three hours, then had gone back to the fairgrounds to look over the site of the murder in the light of day. June’s appearance at the fair had been something of a mystery. As far as they could tell, she had gone to the Midway Plaisance with a group of men and women who bordered on the fringes of good society.

Owen had even been disturbed when they’d pieced together the names of many of the crowd she’d been with. Only when Owen told Sean most of the men had been friends of Douglass Sloane had Sean understood. If June had been keeping company with men like that, it stood to reason that she wouldn’t have been as closely protected or sheltered as a woman of shining reputation like Eloisa Carstairs.

Sean was groggy from lack of sleep, stressed from the vision of cement stained with June’s blood—which seemed determined to be forever embedded in his mind—and was currently doing his best to catch up on the latest crime reports with his sergeant before Owen came in.

Which was why he was in less than a charitable mood to be interrupted in such a fashion. “Protocol, Constable.”

“Sorry, sir. But—”

Sergeant Fuller interrupted. “Now, obviously, the lieutenant is busy, Barnaby. Tell whoever has come calling that he will see him in his own time.”

“It’s not a him. I mean, a woman is here. I mean, it’s a lady.”

From time to time, they received visits from some of the more wily prostitutes near the shipyards. They’d come in with a story about a pimp or a young gent, usually in the winter, as an excuse to warm up a spell. Sean had no idea why Barnaby would call one of those women a lady.

However, today was not the day for that. “Tell her I don’t have time for that,” Sean said. With a wink at Fuller, he added, “But you can listen to her grievance, if you want.”

“Just beware, lad,” Fuller said with a wicked smile. “Most likely she’ll be riddled with pox.”

As expected, Barnaby’s entire face lit up like a flame. Then he blurted, “Lieutenant, your caller is Miss Carstairs. Sir.”

At once, all thoughts of ribald humor fled. He straightened. “Pardon?”

“The lady downstairs is Miss Eloisa Carstairs, sir, and she’s sitting in the main lobby with a pair of thieves and about half the uniforms on duty. And when I tried to tell her this station weren’t no place for the likes of her, she said she wasn’t going to move until you had time to meet with her.”

Sean got to his feet. “Good Lord.” Already walking toward the door, he said, “Sergeant, we’ll have to finish this discussion later.”

Fuller sauntered down the hall, trailing behind him.

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