Murder on Charles Street - Leighann Dobbs Page 0,48
experience already.
“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.” She accepted a cup of tea but turned away the seedcake that Harriet offered. At Harriet’s frown, Katherine whispered, “My ankle. I’m not hungry.”
Papa’s eyebrows knit together. “Is the pain so terrible? Perhaps you should take a few drops of laudanum and go to bed.”
“I will,” Katherine promised. Without the laudanum. She didn’t yet have a well-stocked medicine cabinet, but she didn’t dare admit as much to her father. Apparently, having a new son or daughter on the way had turned him into a nursemaid around his existing children.
“Where did you slip on the ice?” Susanna asked. “This looks fresh, and I didn’t see any ice on your walkway.”
“I slipped on the path out back. You see, my neighbor, Dr. Gammon, died a few nights past. He was old, so Bow Street is not investigating further. That leaves no one but myself to find the truth. I went over tonight to search for clues.”
“And did you find any?”
Katherine shook her head. “I was there a couple nights previous, shortly before he died, and he told me of an old patient that worried him. He was looking over his notes, and I have to wonder if he found something that might have gotten him killed. But I couldn’t find the notes in question.”
“Do you have suspects?”
Katherine nodded. “Three or four. One may not have been in London at the time in question, but we’re searching for the whereabouts of the others on the night of the murder.”
Papa raised his eyebrows. “We?”
Katherine swallowed hard. Tarnation! She hadn’t meant to let that slip. “Pru and me, of course.”
Harriet cleared her throat.
Katherine amended, “And Harriet is helping, too.”
Emma jumped up onto the loveseat and curled into a ball on Katherine’s lap. Katherine stroked her fur, grateful for the pug’s presence. It didn’t lessen the pain in her ankle, but it soothed her somewhat. Katherine sighed gustily. “How am I going to investigate now? I can’t walk.”
A shadow fell across her, and when she craned her neck back, Papa gave her a fond smile. “An investigator’s largest asset is not her legs, but her brain.” He tapped gently at her temple. “I have confidence in your abilities. If you have Miss Burwick and Harriet to help, you will certainly solve this mystery without needing to visit the suspects and scenes in person. I’m sure of it.”
She swallowed back a lump of tears, warmed by her father’s confidence in her. After all, he had taken her under his wing and taught her everything she knew about investigation. If he was certain of it, then so was she.
“Thank you, Papa.”
He scooped Emma out of her lap, replacing her on the seat next to Katherine. “Now, to bed with you before that ankle swells beyond all reason. I’ll help you upstairs, and Harriet can do the rest.”
Katherine knew better than to argue. At least he wasn’t insisting that she move back to Dorchester House. And in the morning, she would turn her mind to solving Dr. Gammon’s murder once again. This matter was far from buried.
Chapter Fifteen
Katherine squeezed her eyes shut against the waves of pain emanating from her ankle. It had taken all of her strength this morning and a good deal of Harriet’s help to get her dressed and down the stairs into the parlor. At the moment, her ankle felt as if it were trying to tear itself free. She gritted her teeth, trying to center herself. After all, if Emma’s impatient barks and scrabbling claws on the wood floor were any indication, her friends had arrived at the door.
Voices drifted from the vestibule, too muffled for Katherine to make out the words, but the timbre was identifiable. There was Pru’s voice—and Lord Annandale’s—followed by McTavish with a suggestive tone and Harriet’s crisp answer. And Wayland. Despite the way she had all but tossed him on his ear last night when her parents arrived, he didn’t sound as if he held a grudge. Katherine didn’t know if that was for the better. As footsteps approached, she lifted her head and hoped her smile didn’t resemble a grimace. She couldn’t afford to indulge her pain if she was to solve this murder. And she wasn’t about to let one twisted ankle hamper her goal.
Pru stepped through the door first, her fiancé in her wake. When she stopped short, he bumped into her. He rested one hand lightly at her waist to steady himself. She didn’t appear to notice