Silence in Hanover Close

1

“POLICE STATION, SIR!” the cabbie said loudly, even before the horse’s feet were still. His voice was thick with distaste; he did not like these places. The fact that this one was located in the aristocratic elegance of Mayfair was no compensation.

Pitt climbed out, paid him, and went up the stone steps and in through the doors.

“Yes sir?” the sergeant at the desk said without interest.

“I am Inspector Pitt from Bow Street,” Pitt said crisply. “I’d like to see the senior officer in charge.”

The sergeant took a deep breath, eyeing Pitt critically. He did not meet the sergeant’s conception of a senior officer, not by a long way: he was quite casual. In fact he was downright scruffy, clothes all a mismatch, pockets full of rubbish. The man let the force down. Looked as if he’d never met with a barber’s scissors—more like a pair of garden shears. Still, the sergeant had heard Pitt’s name and spoke with some respect.

“Yes sir. That would be Inspector Mowbray. I’ll let ’im know you’re ’ere. Can I tell ’im what for, sir?”

Pitt smiled dryly. “No, I’m sorry. It’s a confidential matter.”

“Is that so, sir.” The sergeant turned stolidly and went out, leaving Pitt standing until he returned several minutes later, still without haste. “If you go through that door, second on the left, sir, Inspector Mowbray will see you.”

Mowbray was a very dark, balding man with an intelligent face; he looked decidedly curious when Pitt came in and closed the door.

“Pitt,” he introduced himself, and held out his hand.

“Heard of you.” Mowbray took Pitt’s hand firmly. “What can I do?”

“I need to see the records of your investigation of a burglary in Hanover Close, about three years ago—October seventeenth, 1884, to be precise.”

Mowbray’s face showed rueful surprise. “Bad business, that. Don’t often get murder in a household burglary, not in this area. Ugly, very ugly. Never found a thing.” His eyebrows rose hopefully. “Have you got something? One of the stolen pieces turned up at last?”

“No, nothing at all. Sorry,” Pitt apologized. He felt both guilty for taking the man’s case from him and angry because this further poking around was evasive, not his real purpose, and probably futile anyway.

Pitt hated the way he had been brought into the case. Mowbray should have been the one doing this, but because the case involved the delicate question of a woman’s reputation, a distinguished victim from a powerful family, and above all the almost inaudible whisper of the possibility of treason, the Foreign Office had used its influence to place the investigation through Ballarat, where they felt they could keep some control over it. Superintendent Ballarat was a man with excellent judgment of what his superiors required, and a rich ambition to rise high enough in his profession to become socially acceptable, perhaps even a self-made gentleman. He did not realize that those he most wished to impress were always able to distinguish a man’s origins simply by the way he carried himself, by the turn of a vowel in his mouth.

Pitt was a gamekeeper’s son who had grown up on a large country estate. He had been educated as a companion to the son of the house and had a manner acceptable to the gentry. He had also married considerably above himself, gaining an understanding of a social class closed to most ordinary policemen. Ballarat disliked Pitt and resented his manner, which he considered insolent. But Ballarat was obliged to admit that Pitt was unquestionably the best man for this investigation. He had done so with an ill grace.

Mowbray was staring at Pitt with only slight disappointment, and it quickly disappeared; apparently he had expected nothing. “Oh. Well, you’d better speak to Constable Lowther first; he found the body. And of course you can read the reports that were written at the time. There isn’t much.” He shook his head. “We tried hard, but there were no witnesses, and none of the stolen pieces ever turned up. We thought of the possibility of an inside job—we questioned the entire staff and came up with nothing.”

“I daresay I’ll do the same,” Pitt said in an oblique apology.

“Have a cup of tea while I send for Lowther?” Mowbray offered. “It’s a vile day. I wouldn’t be surprised if it snows before Christmas.”

“Thank you,” Pitt accepted.

Ten minutes later Pitt was sitting in another small, chilly room with a gas lamp hissing on the wall above a scratched wooden table. A thin file of papers rested on it, and opposite Pitt a stiff, self-conscious constable stood at attention, buttons gleaming.

Pitt told him to sit down and be easy.

“Yes sir,” Lowther said nervously. “I can remember that murder in ’anover Close pretty clear, sir. What is it as yer wants ter know?”

“Everything.” Pitt took the teapot and filled a white enamel mug without asking. He passed it to Lowther, who took it with round-eyed surprise. “Thank you, sir.” He swallowed gratefully, composed himself, and began in a low voice, “It was five past three on the mornin’ of October seventeenth, just over three year ago. I were on night duty then, an’ I passed along ’anover Close—”

“How often?” Pitt interrupted.

“Every twenty minutes, sir. Reg’lar.”

Pitt smiled very slightly. “I know that’s what it’s meant to be. Are you sure nothing held you up anywhere that night?” He deliberately gave Lowther the chance to escape blame if necessary without telling less than the truth. “No trouble anywhere?”

“No sir.” Lowther faced him with totally guileless blue eyes. “Sometimes I do get ’eld up, but not that night. I were round exact, give or take no more’n a minute. That was why I noticed the broken winder at number two partic’lar, because I knew it weren’t broke twenty minutes afore. An’ it were a front winder, too, which is kind o’ funny. Burglars usually goes ter the back, wiv a little nipper skinny enough to get through the bars and whip round an’ let ’em in.”

Pitt nodded.

“So I went to the door o’ number two an’ knocked,” Lowther went on. “I ’ad ter raise an ’ell of a row—” He flushed. “Beg yer pardon, sir; a lot o’ noise, before anyone came down. Arter about five minutes a footman opened up. ’Alf asleep, ’e were; ’ad a coat over ’is nightshirt. I told ’im abaht the winder as was broke, an’ ’e was startled like, an’ took me straight to the room at the front, which was the libr’y.” The constable took a deep breath, but his eyes held Pitt’s without wavering. “I saw immediate that there was trouble: two ’ard-back chairs was turned over, lyin’ on their sides, there was ’alf a dozen books knocked on the floor, upset like, and a decanter spilled on a table near the winder as was broke and the glass lyin’ on the floor, shinin’ in the light.”

“Light?” Pitt asked.

“Footman turned up the gas lamps,” Lowther explained. “ ’E were fair shook, I’d swear to that.”

“Then what?” Pitt prompted.

“I went further into the room.” Lowther’s face puckered as the memory of the hard stab of human mortality came back to him. “I saw the body of a man on the floor, sir, ’alf on ’is face, sort o’ legs bent a bit, like ’e’d bin took by surprise from be’ind. ’Is ’ead were matted wi’ blood”—he touched his own right temple at the hairline—“an’ there were a big bronze ’orse on a stand, ’bout ten inches ’igh, lyin’ on the carpet ’bout eighteen inches away from ’im. ’E were wearing a dressin’ robe over a silk nightshirt, an’ ’ad slippers on ’is feet.

“I went over to ’im ter see if there were anythink I could do for ’im, though I thought ’e were dead even then.” The look of an adult compassion for a child crossed his face. “The footman can’t ’a bin more’n twenty, if ’e were that, an’ ’e got took queer an’ sat down rather sudden. ’E said, ‘Oh Gawd—it’s Mister Robert! Poor Mrs. York!’ ”

“And the man was dead?” Pitt said.

“Yes sir, quite dead. But ’e were still warm. An’ o’ course, I knew the winder ’adn’t bin broke when I passed twenty minutes afore.”

“What did you do then?”

“Well, it were plain ’e were murdered, an’ it looked like someone’d broke in: the glass were all inside, and the catch were undone.” His face clouded. “But a shockin’ amacher job it were; no star-glazin’ nor nuthin’—an’ such a mess!”

Pitt did not need to ask what star-glazing was; many expert thieves used the trick of pasting paper over glass to hold all the shards while cutting a neat, silent circle which could be lifted out so a hand could be inserted to open the latch. A master cracksman could do the job in fifteen seconds.

“I asked the footman if they ’ad one o’ them telephone instruments,” Lowther continued. “ ’E said as they ’ad, so I went out o’ the libr’y an’ told ’im to stay at the door. I found the instrument and called the station an’ reported the crime. Then the butler came down—’e must ’ave ’eard the noise and when the footman didn’t go back upstairs, ’e come ter see what was goin’ on. ’E formally identified the dead man as Mr. Robert York, the son o’ the Honorable Piers York, the master o’ the ’ouse. But ’e was away from ’ome on business, so there was nothin’ for it but to tell the elder Mrs. York, the victim’s mother. The butler sent for ’er lady’s maid, in case she were overcome at the news. But when she came down and we ’ad ter tell ’er, she were very calm, very dignified.” He sighed in admiration. “Makes yer realize what real Quality is. She were white as a ghost an’ looked like she were dead ’erself, poor soul, but she never wept in front of us, just asked ’er maid to steady ’er a bit.”

Pitt knew of many great women who were bred to bear physical pain, loneliness, or bereavement by always showing the world a serene face, shedding all their tears in private. They were the sort of women who had sent their husbands and sons to battle on the fields of Waterloo and Balaklava, or to explore the Hindu Kush or find the source of the Blue Nile, and then to settle and administer the empire. Many had gone themselves into unknown lands, enduring appalling privation and the loss of every familiar sight and sound. In his mind Mrs. York was such a woman.

Lowther went on quietly, recalling the somber house and its grief. “I asked them if anything were missing as they knew. It were ’ard to ’ave ter ask a lady at such a time, but we ’ad ter know. She were quite calm and jus’ walked round the room careful like, and she told us that as far as she could say, there was two silver framed minicher portraits dated 1773, a crystal paperweight engraved with a design o’ scrolls and flowers, a small silver jug used fer fla’hers—and that weren’t ’ard ter come at, because the fla’hers theirselves was on the floor and the water spilled on the carpet; don’t know ’ow we missed seein’ it before—an’ a first edition of a book by Jonathan Swift. She said as she couldn’t see anythin’ else.”

“Where was the book kept?”

“On the shelves with the other books, Mr. Pitt—which means as ’e knew it were there! I asked, and she said as it didn’t look nothin’ special from the back of it you’d see ordinary.”

“Ah.” Pitt let out his breath slowly. He changed the subject.

“Was the dead man married?” he asked.

“Oh yes. But I didn’t disturb ’is wife, poor creature. She ’adn’t woke, an’ I couldn’t see no point in ’avin’ ter tell ’er in the middle o’ the night. Better to let ’er own family do that.”

Pitt could hardly blame him. Having to tell the sad news to the loved ones of the victim was one of the hardest duties in a murder case; the only thing even more difficult was seeing the faces of those who loved the guilty when at last they understood.

“Material evidence?” he said aloud.

Lowther shook his head. “Nothin’, sir; least nothin’ as means much. There weren’t nothin’ in the ’ouse as didn’t belong, nothin’ to show the intruder went anywhere ’cept the libr’y. No footmarks, no ’airs nor bits o’ cloth, nothin’ ter see. Followin’ day, we asked all the servants in the ’ouse, but they ’eard nothin’. No one ’eard the winder break. But then servants sleeps at the top o’ the ’ouse, up in the attics like, so maybe they wouldn’t.”

“Anything outside?” Pitt pressed.

Lowther shook his head again. “Nothin’ sir. No footmarks outside the winder, but it were ’ard frost, wicked that night, an’ the ground were like iron. Didn’t leave no marks meself, an’ I weighs near fourteen stone.”

“Dry enough so you left no footmarks on the carpet either?” Pitt questioned.

“Not a one sir; I thought o’ that.”

“Any witnesses?”

“No, Mr. Pitt. I saw no one meself, and never did find anyone else as ’ad. Y’see ’anover Close is a real close, no through road, so no one as didn’t live there’d ’ave any reason to pass that way, specially in the middle of a winter night. An’ it’s not exac’ly an ’arlots’ patch.”

That was more or less what Pitt had expected to hear, but there was always the chance. He tried the last obvious avenue. “What about the stolen articles?”

Lowther made a face. “Nothin’. An’ we tried ‘ard, because of it bein’ murder.”

“Is there anything else?”

“No, Mr. Pitt. Mr. Mowbray took over talkin’ to the family. ’E could tell you more, maybe.”

“I’ll ask him. Thank you.”

Lowther looked puzzled and only slightly relieved. “Thank you, sir.”

Pitt found Mowbray back in his office.

“Get what you wanted?” Mowbray asked, his dark face puckering into an expression of curiosity and resignation. “Lowther’s a good man: if there’d been anything he’d ’ave found it.”

Pitt sat down as near the fire as he could. Mowbray moved fractionally to make room for him and lifted the teapot, offering more tea by raising his eyebrows. Pitt nodded. It was dark brown, stewed, but it was hot.

“You went the following day?” Pitt pursued the subject.

Mowbray frowned. “Early as seemed decent. Hate having to do that, go and talk to people the moment they’re bereaved, before they’ve even got over the first shock. Still, has to be done. Pity. York himself wasn’t there, only the mother and the widow—”

“Tell me about them,” Pitt interrupted. “Not just the facts; how did they impress you?”

Mowbray took a deep breath and sighed slowly. “The elder Mrs. York was a remarkable woman. Been something of a beauty in ’er day, I should think, still fine-looking, very ...”

Pitt did not prompt him; he wanted Mowbray’s own words.

“Very womanly.” Mowbray was not satisfied with this description. He frowned and blinked several times. “Soft, like—like one of them flowers in the botanical gardens. ...” His face eased with the flash of memory. “Camellias. Pale colors and perfect shape. All ordered, not higgledy-piggledy like a wildflower, or one o’ them late roses that falls open.”

Pitt liked late roses: they were magnificent, exuberant; but it was a matter of taste. Perhaps Mowbray found them a little vulgar.

“What about the widow?” Pitt kept his voice level, trying not to betray any extra interest.

But Mowbray was too perceptive. A very slight smile curved his mouth and he kept his eyes on Pitt’s face.

“She were ’it so ’ard wi’ shock she were as white as a corpse ’erself, I’d swear to that. I’ve seen a lot o’ women in times o’ grief; it’s one o’ the rottenest parts o’ the job. Them as are puttin’ it on tend to weep an’ faint and talk a lot about ’ow they feel. Mrs. York ’ardly spoke a word an’ seemed sort o’ numb. She didn’t look at us, like liars do; in fact I don’t think she cared what we thought.”

Pitt smiled in spite of himself. “Not a camellia?”

A bleak humor flickered at the back of Mowbray’s eyes. “Quite different sort o’ woman altogether, much more . . .”

Again Pitt waited.

“More delicate, more easy to ’urt. I suppose partly because she were younger, o’ course; but I got the feelin’ she didn’t ’ave the same strength inside ’er. But even shocked as she were, she were one o’ the best-lookin’ women I ever seen, tall and very slight, like a spring flower, ’ceptin dark. Fragile, you might say; one of those faces you don’t forget, different from most. ’Igh cheeks, fine bones.” He shook his head a little. “Face all full o’ feelin’.”

Pitt sat quietly for a moment, trying to picture the woman. What did the Foreign Office really fear—murder, treason, or merely scandal? What was the real reason they had asked Ballarat to open this case again now? Was it just to make sure there was nothing sordid that could come out later and ruin an ambassador? Even in this short interview Pitt had formed a respect for Mowbray. He was a good professional policeman. If Mowbray believed Veronica York was stunned by the shock, then Pitt probably would have thought so too.

“What did the family say?” he asked.

“The two ladies had been out to dinner with friends. They’d come home about eleven and gone straight up to bed,” Mowbray replied. “Servants confirmed that. Robert York had been out on some business; he worked at the Foreign Office, and he quite often had business in the evenings. He came home after the ladies, they don’t know when. Neither did the servants. They’d been told not to wait up, by York himself.

“It looks as if he was still awake when the burglar broke in. He must have come downstairs, interrupted the intruder in the library, and then got killed.” Mowbray pulled a face. “Don’t know why. I mean, why didn’t the burglar simply hide, or better still, get out that window again? The latch was open. Unnecessary. Very unprofessional.”

“What did you conclude, finally?”

Mowbray’s eyebrows rose. “Case unsolved,” he said, then hesitated for several seconds, as though weighing whether to commit himself further.

Pitt finished his tea and set the empty mug on the hearth. “Odd case,” he said casually. “Man knows exactly when to break in without P.C. Lowther seeing him coming or going, even though Lowther passes every twenty minutes; yet instead of going round the back, away from the street, and using a snakesman to wriggle through the pantry bars, or a ratchet and pinion to loosen them, he breaks a front window—and doesn’t even star-glaze it to stop the noise and hide the hole. Yet he knows enough to find a first-edition Swift, which is not an obvious thing at all—Lowther said it was on the shelf with other books—but on the other hand he’s so clumsy he makes enough noise to disturb Robert York, who comes down and catches him. And when York does come, instead of hiding or running away, the intruder attacks him so fiercely he kills him.”

“And doesn’t sell any of his haul,” Mowbray finished. “I know. Rum, very rum. Wondered if it were someone Mr. York knew personal like, some gentleman ’ard up turned to robbin’ ’is friends. Started lookin’ in that line, very discreet like. Even looked very casual at young Mrs. York’s acquaintances—and got told very gracious and very cool by the powers that be as I should keep to me place and not add to the distress o’ them as is already sufferin’ ’orrible bereavement. Nobody actually said as I was to mark it unsolved; nothin’ so blunt. Just an expression o’ sympathy for the family, and a cold eye on me. But I don’t need to ’ave it spelled out for me.”

It was what Pitt had expected; he had experienced the same unspoken but unmistakable sort of thing himself. It did not necessarily indicate any suspicion of guilt; just a deference for breeding, money, and the vast indefinable power that went with it.

“I suppose I had better pursue the next line.” Pitt stood up reluctantly. It was raining outside; he could see the long wet streaks beating against the window, blurring the shadows of the roofs and gables outside. “Thank you for your help, and the tea.”

“Don’t envy you,” Mowbray said wryly.

Pitt smiled back. He liked Mowbray and resented having to retrace the man’s steps as though he were in some way incompetent. Damn Ballarat and the Foreign Office!

Outside Pitt turned up his coat collar, tightened his muffler, and put his head down against the rain. He walked for a little while, feet sloshing up spurts of water, hair dripping down his forehead, thinking over what he had just learned. What was the Foreign Office after? A decent resolution of a case which involved one of their own, so it would cause no future embarrassment, as Ballarat had said? The widow of Robert York was informally betrothed to one Julian Danver. If Danver were headed for an ambassadorship, or higher, no shadow must touch the reputation of any of his family, especially his wife.

Or had some new discovery pertaining to the murder of Robert York pointed to treason, and were they using Pitt to unravel it for them? He would take the blame for the tragedy and the scandal which would inevitably follow, the careers and reputations ruined.

It was an ugly job, and everything Mowbray had told him only made it uglier. Who had been the other person in the library, and why?

Pitt turned from Piccadilly down St. James’s, then across the Mall and down the Horse Guards’ Parade past the,bare trees and wind-whipped grass of the park, up Downing Street to Whitehall and the Foreign Office.

It took him a quarter of an hour to persuade the right officials and finally to reach the department where Robert York had worked until the time of his death.

He was met by a distinguished man in his late thirties with black hair, and eyes which at first appeared to be equally dark, but as he turned to the light proved to be a startling, luminous gray. He introduced himself as Felix Asherson and offered to be of any help within his power. Pitt took that for the limited offer it was.

“Thank you, sir. We have had occasion to look again into the tragic death three years ago of Mr. Robert York.”

Asherson’s face showed immediate concern, but then it would, in the Foreign Office where impeccable manners were part of his trade. “Have you caught someone?”

Pitt approached the subject obliquely. “No, I am afraid not, but there were several articles stolen at the time. It seems very possible the burglar was not a casual housebreaker but a person of education, perhaps after something in particular.”

Asherson waited patiently. “Indeed? And you didn’t know that at the time?”

“We did, sir. But I have been asked by certain persons in authority”—he hoped Asherson’s Whitehall training in discretion was sufficient to keep him from asking who —“to pursue the matter again.”

“Oh.” Asherson’s face tightened almost imperceptibly, just a faint movement of muscles around the jaw, a thickening of the neck, so the stiff wing collar hugged the skin. “How can we help you?”

Interesting how he used the plural, making himself a representative of the office, not personally involved.

Pitt selected his words carefully. “Since the burglar chose the library and not one of the more obvious rooms, like the dining room, where the silver was, we have to consider that he may have been looking for documents, perhaps something Mr. York was working on at the time.”

Asherson was noncommittal. “Indeed?”

Pitt waited.

Asherson took a deep breath. “I suppose that’s possible— I mean, he may have hoped to find something. Does it help now? After all, it was three years ago.”

“We never abandon a murder case,” Pitt replied blandly. Yet they had buried this one after six fruitless months. Why had they opened it again now?

“No—no, of course,” Asherson conceded. “What can the Foreign Office do to assist you?”

Pitt decided to be blunt. He smiled very slightly, holding Asherson’s eye. “Has any information been missed from this office since Mr. York first came to work here? I appreciate that you may not be able to tell when it was taken, only when the discovery was made.”

Asherson hesitated. “You make us sound remarkably inefficient, Inspector. We do not mislay information; it is far too important.”

“So if information has reached unauthorized places, then it was deliberately given?” Pitt asked innocently.

Asherson breathed out slowly, grasping for time to think. Confusion was momentarily naked in his face. He did not know what Pitt was leading up to, nor why.

“There has been information ...” Pitt said gently, testing, making it something between a question and a statement.

Asherson affected immediate ignorance. “Has there? Then perhaps that was why poor Robert was murdered. If he took papers home with him, and somehow people got to know of it, a thief may have . . .” He left the rest unsaid.

“Then he could have taken such papers home on several occasions?” Pitt pursued. “Or are you suggesting it might have been only once, and by some extraordinary chance the thief chose the precise night?”

It was preposterous, and they both knew it.

“No, of course not.” Asherson smiled faintly. He was caught, but if he was resentful, he hid it superbly. “I really don’t know what happened, but if he was indiscreet, or had friends who were unworthy of his trust, it hardly matters now. The poor man is dead, and the information cannot have reached our enemies or we should have suffered for it by now. And we haven’t. That I can tell you with certainty. If there really were such an attempt, it was abortive. Can’t you leave his memory in peace—not to mention his family?”

Pitt stood up. “Thank you, Mr. Asherson. You have been most frank. Good day, sir.” And he left the uncertain-looking Asherson standing on the bright blue and vermillion Turkish carpet in the middle of the floor.

Back at Bow Street in the icy dusk, Pitt climbed the stairs to Ballarat’s office and knocked on the door. At the command he went in.

Ballarat was standing in front of the fire, blocking it. His room was quite different from the functional quarters of the lesser police on the beat, downstairs. The broad desk was inlaid with green leather, the chair behind it was padded and moved comfortably on a swivel. There was the stub of a cigar in the stone ashtray. Ballarat was of average height, portly, a trifle short in the leg. But his rich side whiskers were immaculately barbered and he smelled of cologne. His clothes were perfectly pressed, from his bright oxblood boots to the matching brown tie round his stiff white collar. He was the antithesis of the disheveled Pitt, whose every garment was at odds with another, pockets weighted down by nameless objects. Even now, a piece of string trailed from one, and a hand-knitted muffler half obscured his soft collar.

“Well?” Ballarat demanded irritably. “Close the door, man! I don’t want half the station listening. The matter is confidential, I told you that before. Well, what have you got?”

“Very little,” Pitt replied. “They were pretty thorough at the time.”

“I know that, damn it! I’ve read the papers on the case!” Ballarat pushed his short fingers further into his pockets, fists clenched. He rocked back and forth very slightly on the balls of his feet. “Was it a chance break-in? Some amateur who got caught in the act and panicked, killing young York instead of escaping like a professional? I’m sure any connection with the Foreign Office was coincidental. I have been told by the highest authority,” and he repeated the words, rolling them on his tongue, “the highest authority, that our enemies have no knowledge of the work York was engaged in.”

“More probably some friend of York’s who ran up a debt and turned his hand to burglary to try to get out of it,” Pitt answered frankly, and saw the look of displeasure on Ballarat’s face. “He knew where the first-edition Swift was.”

“Inside help,” Ballarat said immediately. “Bribed a servant.”

“Possibly. Assuming there was a servant who knew a first-edition Swift when she saw it. Not the sort of thing the Honorable Piers York would discuss with the tweeny.”

Ballarat opened his mouth to tell Pitt not to be sarcastic with him, then thought better of it and changed course. “Well, if it was one of their social acquaintances, you’d better be damn careful in your questions, Pitt! This is a very delicate investigation we’ve been entrusted with. A careless word and you could ruin reputations—not to mention your own career.” He looked increasingly uncomfortable, his face flushed to a dull purplish hue. “All the Foreign Office wants us to establish is that there was nothing—untoward, nothing unseemly in Mrs. York’s conduct. It is no part of your business to blacken the name of a dead man, an honorable man who gave distinguished service to his queen and to his country.”

“Well, there has been information disappearing from the Foreign Office,” Pitt said, his voice rising in frustration, “and the burglary at the York house needs a great deal more explanation than it’s had so far.”

“Then get on with it, man!” Ballarat snapped. “Either find out which friend it was, or better still, prove it wasn’t a friend at all! Clear Mrs. Veronica York of the slightest possible mark against her character, and we’ll all be thanked.”

Pitt opened his mouth to retort, but saw the pointlessness of it reflected in Ballarat’s black eyes. He swallowed his temper. “Yes sir.”

He went out with his mind seething. Then the cold air hit his face, stinging with rain, and he was jostled by passersby on the dark pavements. He heard carriages clattering by, saw shops with windows lit and gas lamps burning in the streets, smelled chestnuts roasting on a brazier. Pitt heard someone singing a carol, and he was overtaken by other things. He imagined his children’s faces on Christmas morning. They were old enough now to be excited; already Daniel asked every night if it was Christmas tomorrow yet, and Jemima, with a six-year-old’s elder-sister superiority, told him he must wait. Pitt smiled. He had made a wooden train for Daniel, with an engine and six carriages. He had bought a doll for Jemima, and Charlotte was sewing dresses, petticoats, and a fine bonnet for her. Lately he had noticed that when he came in unexpectedly she pushed her sewing in a bundle under a cushion, and looked up far too innocently at him.

His smile broadened. He knew she was making something for him. He was particularly pleased with what he had found for her, a pink alabaster vase about nine inches high, simple and perfect. It had taken him seven weeks to save up enough. The only problem was Emily, Charlotte’s widowed sister. She had married for love, but her husband George had had both title and wealth. After the shock of her bereavement last summer it was only natural that she and her five-year-old son, Edward, should come on Christmas Eve to spend the holiday with her sister.

But what could Pitt possibly afford to give Emily that would please her?

He had still not solved the problem when he arrived at his front door. Pitt took off his wet coat and hung it on the hook, undid his sodden boots, and started towards the kitchen in his stocking feet.

Jemima met him halfway along the passage, cheeks flushed, eyes shining.

“Papa, isn’t it Christmas yet? Isn’t it even Christmas Eve?”

“Not yet.” He swung her up into his arms and hugged her.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, my sweetheart, I’m sure.” He carried her into the kitchen and put her down. Gracie, the maid, was upstairs with Daniel. Charlotte was alone, surveying the final touches to her Christmas cake, a wisp of hair curling over her brow. She smiled at him. “Any interesting cases?”

“No. An old case that will go nowhere.” He kissed her once; then kissed her again with growing warmth.

“Nothing?” she persisted.

“Nothing. It’s only a formality.”