Anne Perry - Belgrave Square

There were also the ordinary accounts of his daily household expenses, purchases and investments, which were considerable.

It was Pitt who found the other list of names and far larger sums written beside them, this time without dates. But there were addresses and they were not in Clerkenwell or any area like it, but Mayfair, Belgravia and Hyde Park. His eye skipped over them again for the name of Sholto Byam, but he did not see it. It was a short list, too short to make such an error.

“Got something?” Innes was looking at him with interest.

“Another list,” Pitt replied. “It seems our Mr. Weems had a second and quite different clientele.”

“Nobs?” Innes said quickly.

“Looks like it,” Pitt agreed. “I’ve heard some of these names, and the addresses are certainly nobs. Not likely their servants-wouldn’t get the chance to spend this kind of money, for a start, and no usurer in his right mind would lend more than a few shillings to a servant.”

“Interesting.” Innes stopped what he was doing.

“Very.” Pitt looked at the list again. “Most of the amounts had already been repaid in full. There are only three outstanding: Addison Carswell of Curzon Street, Mayfair; Samuel Urban of Whitfield Street, Bloomsbury; and Clarence Latimer of Beaufort Gardens, Knightsbridge.” He stopped with a sick jolt. The name Samuel Urban was familiar. Surely it was a coincidence? The Urban he knew was an inspector of police in his own station of Bow Street! He could not possibly be in debt to a usurer like Weems. Not for the figure here, which was in excess of two years’ salary.

“What is it?” Innes’s face was totally innocent. Obviously the names meant nothing to him.

“One of these people is a colleague,” Pitt said slowly. “In my own station.”

Innes looked stricken, his sharp features touched with both confusion and pity.

“You mean one of us? Is it for much?”

“It would take me two years to earn it,” Pitt replied unhappily. “And he’s the same rank as I am-in uniform.”

“Oh my Gawd!” Innes was obviously shaken. “What about the other two? D’yer know them?”

“No-but we’ll have to look into them.”

“Maybe that’s why you were put in,” Innes said, pulling a face. “Maybe it in’t only ter protect the nobs, mebbe we got some tidying up of our own to do.”

“Maybe.” Pitt folded the list and put it in his pocket. “But that isn’t all.”

“D’yer find anything about the nob on ’ose account yer came?”

“Not yet,” Pitt said, beginning to go through the drawer below the one he had just finished. “Let me know if you find any more names on lists other than routine household accounts.”

“Right.” And Innes also resumed his task.

But three hours later when every piece of paper on the premises had been examined, and the office and the bedroom, the kitchen and the bathroom facilities had been searched, even the mattress turned and the carpet lifted, they had found nothing more of interest. They finished in the kitchen, staring despondently into the dead fireplace.

“Easy to see ’ow Mrs. Cairns just made ’is breakfast in ’ere an’ seein’ the light through there”-Innes gestured towards the office-“took it as ’E was up, called out it was ready, and then left ’im to it. I gather she weren’t overfond of ’im neither. She lives local, so I suppose she knew ’is reputation.”

Pitt debated whether to see the woman himself, but decided Innes was efficient and he would not slight him by redoing his job.

“Yes,” he agreed absently, staring at the wooden dresser with its racks of blue-and-white plates.

“I can’t see anything but keeping our noses to the ground, and following up these lists,” Innes went on, his eyes on Pitt’s face.

“Nor can I, for the moment.” Pitt made as if to look through the kitchen drawers one at a time, then abandoned it. He had already done it twice.

“Find any traces o’ your nob?” Innes asked anxiously.

“No…” Pitt replied slowly. “No I didn’t-and that is very strange, because he was sure I would: that is why I was sent for. Weems actually told him he had records of their dealings, for his own protection.” He did not mention the letter.

“Then whoever killed Weems took them,” Innes said, pushing his lips together grimly. “Looks bad for your nob, sir-I’m afraid.”

“But if he took them, why did he call us?” Pitt reasoned. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Mebbe ’E wasn’t sure ’E ’ad ’em all,” Innes suggested.

“So he called us and confessed the connection anyway?” Pitt shook his head. “He’s not a fool. He’d have ridden it out and called us only if something did come up. No, he expected us to find his name here.”

“Mebbe he tried ter find it an’ couldn’t.” Innes was playing devil’s advocate.

“Does the place look to you as if it has been searched?” Pitt asked.

“No,” Innes conceded. “Or, if anyone took anything, they knew where ter find it. It was all as neat as yer like.”

“So either there was nothing here, or the murderer knew where it was, and took it with him.”

“Can’t think of anything else.” Innes frowned. “But it’s curious, I’ll give yer that-very curious.”

“We’ve a long way to go yet.” Pitt straightened up and looked towards the door. “We’d better get on with finding some of Weems’s customers.”

“Yes sir,” Innes agreed obediently. “Poor devils.”

C HARLOTTE P ITT was frantically busy. Her sister Emily, remarried less than a year after her widowhood, was now expecting a child, which was a source of great happiness both to her and to her husband, Jack. But since Jack had very recently committed himself to seeking nomination as a candidate for Parliament, her rather erratic health was something of an embarrassment. Her first pregnancy with Edward several years before had been relatively easy, but this time she was suffering moments of dizziness and nausea, and found herself unable to stand for the long hours necessary for greeting and receiving at all the sorts of functions it was required both to attend and to host, if Jack were to succeed.

Therefore Charlotte had accepted Emily’s offer of a little financial assistance to go toward employing extra domestic help in her own home, several quite marvelous new gowns, and the loan of three or four pieces of Emily’s jewelry, her first husband having been both titled and extremely wealthy. All of which was held by Emily to be a fair exchange for Charlotte’s time, thought and endeavor to act as hostess for her, or with her, when the occasion required.

Tonight was just such an occasion. Emily was lying in her room, feeling distinctly poorly, and this was the night of the ball she had arranged in order to meet several of the most important people in Jack’s campaign for selection. The seat for which he was hoping was a safe Liberal stronghold, and if he could obtain a nomination for the candidacy, when election time came he was sure to win, so the competition was strong. The Conservatives had not held that seat in decades.

This function was of great importance, therefore Emily had dispatched a footman with a letter only this afternoon, and now Charlotte was pacing the floor in the hall, her heart in her mouth with nervousness, going over arrangements for the umpteenth time. She looked yet again at the banks of flowers at the top of the stairway, in the reception rooms, in the withdrawing room and on the dining room table. The table had been a source of immense anxiety, even though it was Emily’s plan and the cook’s and the kitchen staff’s execution, yet Charlotte still felt it was her final responsibility.