The Jaggard Case (Charles Dickens Investigations Book 10) by J. C. Briggs

Author:J. C. Briggs [Briggs, J. C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2022-10-27T16:00:00+00:00

Elizabeth Jones was sitting with Eleanor Brim by the fire, waiting for news — Eleanor who could not sleep in her bed, but who, at last, was asleep on the sofa. Elizabeth, who had found out from Lady Nora’s former maid that Darius Henchman had asked to borrow a silver snuff box. He’d promised to bring it back. He wanted to have one made just like it, but Lady Nora had found out and said she was a silly girl and must keep away from the foolish young man who would only get her into more trouble. She missed Lady Nora, an’ though she knew that Mr Darius ’ad been wrong — still ’e was a very ’an’some gentleman. No ’an’some young gents called on Lady Pancras.

Nothing useful at all, Elizabeth reflected, just a silly, simple girl, head turned by a silly young man. She wondered if Sam had found him. What about the Jaggard man? And where was Sam in this fog? It was late, very late. She should take Eleanor up to bed — she would sit with her until —

She heard the key in the lock and went out quickly. There might be news that Eleanor ought not to hear. By their faces, she knew that there was.

And there was no way that Jones could hide the truth from her — murder and the possible connection between Jaggard, Matty Miller, Darius Henchman and his French woman that he dreaded to explain. He had promised Eleanor not to pretend — though he would have to. But Elizabeth — he could not lie to her.

And in the gaslit hallway into which the black fog had crept, Dickens and Jones watched her face shrink into white bone as they whispered the news of the murders. She could only nod her understanding of the terrible implications of the story and her acceptance of the fact that they would have to go out again.

At the door, she caught Jones’s arm. ‘Wait. Where’s Scrap?’

Sam Jones hesitated. Dickens had to answer. A half-truth, he thought — if Scrap could not be found, then she would have to be told, and she would know that they had lied if they said they knew he was safe. ‘He was at the Henchman mews. We’re going there now on the way to Bow Street.’

She understood. She knew every minute change in her husband’s face. She knew every nuance of his every word. She knew when it was impossible to speak. She’d lived through enough cases.

She touched his face. ‘I know. You’ll do everything you can. Look after each other.’

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