Murder in the East End - Jennifer Ashley Page 0,41

told me the tale, and I heard his anguish anew. I squeezed his hand. “You were only a child. There was little you could have done—you’d have been killed yourself if you’d tried to defend him.”

“I know.” Daniel’s blue eyes were quiet. “Perhaps what I do now is meant to make up for my helplessness then. I can ensure others stay alive and safe, away from those whose only wish is to kill.”

“You do help,” I said with conviction.

“Some days, I believe that. Others . . .” Daniel rubbed his eyes with thumb and forefinger. “What I do makes me lie and trick and be every bit the confidence man I say Errol is.” His voice went soft as he met my gaze. “And when you look at me in anger, Kat, the person in my life I least want angry with me, I wonder if I can be anything but a liar and deceiver.”

My heart gave a jerking beat as he looked at me with his warm eyes. I wasn’t certain I understood entirely what he meant. He wasn’t lying now—this man sitting with me was the real Daniel, telling me of his past and his worries.

But what did I know about him, in truth? Daniel assisted the police, though at the same time claimed he did not work for them. He had several residences throughout London, he disappeared entirely at any given time, and he knew how to transform himself into different guises, all of which were believed by the people he put them on for.

What guise did he assume for me?

“When you refuse to tell me who you work for,” I began, carefully choosing my words, “it is because you’ve been forbidden to. Is that not so?”

Surprise flickered in Daniel’s eyes. “It is.”

“You’ve been free telling me much else,” I conceded. “I am being charitable and assuming the decision to impart information has been taken from you.”

“It has.” Daniel gave me a nod, but his shoulders held tension. “I don’t agree entirely with the decision, but I understand why it has been made.”

“I would certainly not be happy if you were sent to prison for telling me. Am I correct it is that dire a thing?”

“Yes.” Now the corners of Daniel’s mouth twitched. “You are a frightening person, Kat.”

“I am an observant person and a thoughtful one. Slicing twenty carrots and ten turnips for a stew is not the most absorbing of activities. One’s mind wanders, and one makes connections about many things.”

The twitch became a full grin. “I must remember to take up chopping vegetables when I need to ruminate on a problem.”

“You make fun, but it is no joke. A repetitive task releases the mind to think.”

“I believe you.”

I became serious once more. “We must find those children, Daniel.”

“We will.” He twined his fingers through mine. “I have not been idle. I have ideas, and Errol will help. Because he already has the Foundling Hospital’s board and its director trusting him, he will put that trust to use.”

“And I will find things out,” I promised. “You have the police and Mr. Fielding, but I know servants, and foundlings. And Lady Cynthia.”

“Yes, your own forces. Quite formidable they are too. I make no joke—you can go places and speak to people the police cannot, especially policemen as intimidating as McGregor.”

“He is clever and persistent,” I said, defending him to my surprise. “If wrongheaded some of the time.”

“Shall we be a team again?” Daniel lifted our joined hands and turned the hold into a handshake. “Put aside your annoyance with me to find the children and bring Nurse Betts’s killer to justice?”

“I think I will have to,” I said, withdrawing after we’d shaken on it. “Neither of us can do this alone.”

“True.” Daniel did not try to reach for me again, and I suppressed a twinge of disappointment. “We should set up a place to meet—all of us, where we can confer. Not here. Mrs. Redfern does not approve of me, and I don’t want Errol too near the costly silver Mr. Davis guards.”

“Bobby’s flat, perhaps. She has offered to help. Though I will not be able to slip away often.”

“Thanos’s flat is closer,” Daniel said.

“Is it? I thought it was in Bloomsbury.”

“It was. He’s moved to Regent Street, not far from Hanover Square.”

I blinked. “Gracious, that’s a fine address. Did he come into money?” I felt a frisson of hope. If he had funds, he could propose to Cynthia.

“Unfortunately, no.” Daniel shattered my ideas. “A chap