Murder on Charles Street - Leighann Dobbs Page 0,13

didn’t see the contents. He left the papers in the parlor. Will you let me fetch them?”

The grooves framing Lyle’s mouth deepened. “If they pertain to a murder—”

“If he died peacefully, it won’t hurt the investigation.”

Lyle gritted his teeth audibly. He glanced over his shoulder, looking at his compatriots before he turned back to her. “Quickly. And you’ll have to leave out the back.”

She nodded “That won’t be a problem. I usually come and go by the garden door in any case.”

He beckoned her forward with his hand, at the same time turning on his heel and striding toward the front door. With a yip, Emma hurried after him. Lyle approached the door—now shut—with a confidence Katherine tried to mirror. The tension in her shoulders eased once she was inside, with the door shut behind her.

Lyle waved his long-fingered hand. “Lead on.”

She didn’t waste time talking, but bustled into the parlor, where she had sat with Emma last night. Her gaze fell on the spotless table before she strode to the corner where Dr. Gammon had deposited the sheaf of papers. She stopped short when she’d walked far enough around his armchair to see that the corner was empty. The papers were gone. Mouth agape, Katherine turned to Lyle.

He raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment.

“Maybe he moved them to the study.” Without waiting for an answer or for permission, she barged farther into the house, climbing the stairs toward the room where she had found Dr. Gammon’s body. Outside the gaping door, she hesitated. Her breath hitched as she braced herself for what she would find within. When she stepped inside, she searched the room. No one. In the hours spent with Pru and her fiancé, discussing wedding details, the constables must have removed the body.

Thank heavens.

Katherine gulped for breath and set about searching the room for the loose papers she had seen downstairs the night before. Not seeming worried that she would disrupt the scene, Lyle conducted his own investigation. She ignored his mutterings, growing more frustrated with every drawer and bookshelf that yielded her no results.

“He was sitting here?”

Lyle repeated his question before she looked up. Since arriving in the room, she had avoided looking at the leather chair, half afraid that her friend—or maybe his ghost—would appear in it. Perhaps it was irrational, but she felt far better when focused on learning what had happened to him than when facing the fact she would never speak with him again.

She forced herself to look. It was only a chair, an empty one at that. The brandy glass, on the other hand, had been left. The liquid had dried along the bottom edge. “Yes. I found that tumbler next to him and crumbs on his shirt, no sign of a plate. Not anywhere in the house.”

Lyle hummed tunelessly under his breath as he bent to examine the chair. When he didn’t continue his line of questioning, Katherine returned to her search, an uneasiness building in her stomach. One last drawer. If the papers weren’t in here…

The drawer emitted a hideous screech as she opened it.

“Who in the blazes are you?”

Katherine jumped at the unfamiliar, harsh male voice. She stood from the desk chair to meet the eyes of a stranger. Or… is he? The shape of his face and set of his nose looked familiar. If she squinted and imagined him with a few more wrinkles… “James Gammon?”

His eyebrows plummeted over his eyes in a hawkish expression. “I demand to know—”

“I am an officer of Bow Street.” Lyle never managed that authoritative tone outside of his work. Katherine was always impressed at the results.

This man, however, never lifted his gaze from her. His imperiousness matched that of the Prince Regent, whom Katherine had had the misfortune to meet once or twice. With a curl of his lip, two words dripped from Mr. Gammon’s lips. “And her?” His tone spoke volumes of his opinion regarding women in the workplace. Katherine had encountered his ilk before, far more times than she’d care to.

“I’m a neighbor. I was a friend of your father’s.”

His nostrils flared. “Leave at once. I don’t need my father’s neighbors intruding on his privacy or helping themselves to his things.”

Katherine gasped. “I would never!”

He pointed to the corner of the room. Frowning, Katherine followed his gaze. Her attention caught on a winding abandoned lead. Stomach sinking, she followed it to her golden-haired dog, who used the bulk of her body to shield the item she currently chewed on.

Cursing