feet, smoothing out his rumpled shirt. “Tabby? What on earth... You shouldn’t be here.”
“Shh, there isn’t much time.” She was right at the bars, aware that Officer Hodsdon was standing a polite distance away, but still within earshot.
Caleb just stood there, gawping at her as if he were seeing a ghost. “Miss O’Reilly told me yesterday that you were missing... No one knew where you were. I thought...” he trailed off, his throat working convulsively.
“It’s all right, he didn’t hurt me.” She tamped down the memory of Mr. Whitby’s breath on her cheek, the look in his eye that told her he would not only kill her if he could, but would relish doing so.
Caleb’s brows nearly shot off his face and he rushed toward the bars. “Hurt you? Who? What are you talking about?”
She shook her head, annoyed at herself that she had let that slip. “Nothing, it doesn’t matter.”
“Doesn’t matter! Tabby, I—” He broke off, running his hand through his hair and muttering something to himself that she couldn’t catch. “Look, don’t worry about me. Go home to your father. Mr. Whitby will sort all this—”
Tabby shot an alarmed glance at Officer Hodsdon, sure that he was listening, and then leaned closer through the bars so that she could lower her voice further. Despite the unsavory surroundings, Caleb still smelled delicious, like soap and peppery spices. She took a deep breath, composing herself. “Mr. Whitby is the one who had you arrested. He’s the reason you’re in here in the first place.”
Caleb blinked at her. “Don’t be ridiculous. I admit I have no great love for the man, but he’s been with our family for years. He would never cast suspicion on me. Besides, he’s the one who got me out in the first place.”
Oh, but it was worse than that. Should she tell him the truth? Would he even believe her if she did? She had to, it was the only way to get him to understand the severity of the situation, to make him act. “I am not being ridiculous. I went to his house to—don’t look at me like that—I went to his house to find evidence. Here,” she said, producing the earring and holding it close to her body so that Officer Hodsdon wouldn’t see.
Caleb’s face drained of all color as his gaze alighted on the sparkling blue jewel, and he reached a tentative finger through the bars to touch it. “That...that’s from a set I gave to Rose on our engagement,” he said in a whisper. “The police claimed they found the other one in my parlor, but on my honor, I don’t know how it got there.”
Tabby knew how it had. It would have been all too easy for Mr. Whitby to slip the earring into a cushion or drawer in Caleb’s parlor, and then alert the police. Her suspicions about the earring confirmed, she continued. “He killed Rose, Caleb, and he would have killed me if I hadn’t—” She cut herself short, not wanting to alarm him unduly and incur his anger for trespassing in Mr. Whitby’s house. “I don’t know why he killed her, but he’s letting you take the blame while he walks free.”
When he didn’t say anything, she returned the earring to her pocket. “Caleb,” she said softly. “You’ll hang for this.”
He was pale as a sheet. “The business,” he said in a hoarse whisper.
“What do you mean?”
From behind her came Officer Hodsdon’s voice. “One more minute, Miss Cooke.”
Caleb spoke quickly. “He wants the business. He thought my father would leave everything to him, since Whitby was his business partner, but he left it to me instead. He must want me out of the way.” Then color flooded his face and his eyes narrowed and she saw real fury there. “Why would he have killed you, and where did you find that earring? When would he—”
“Hush!” She darted a furtive glance at Officer Hodsdon who was pretending not to stare at them. “You have to get out of here. You have to escape.”
“Escape? You can’t be serious.” He looked at her like she had just suggested that he build a ship to the moon. “There’s still the trial.”
Tabby had no faith in the justice system, not when she had seen Mr. Whitby pervert it so easily for his own gain. Besides, any evidence the jury would hear would be biased against Caleb. They would hear how he was the last person to see Rose Hammond alive, how they