Chapter 6

Lord Reeds had some files prepared for me by the time I walked into his study room. “Take it,” he instructed, as he handed me a stack of paper tucked neatly into a beige folder. “All of the names I could remember that were at the party in case you want to interview them. The one with the stars next to the names are the ones you can interview first, the others… I prefer them not to know that my daughter is missing.”

“I understand.”

“There is the address of the party, and everything. The time we arrived and left; mind you it was with the same carriage. I don’t know if we were being followed. I’ll have to ask Tage next time I see him.”

“Tage is your servant, I presume?” I questioned him. “Do you think you were being followed?”

“Tage is the cab driver,” he briskly replied. “And I am entertaining every possibility.” He rose from his seat and pulled out a cigarette that he left inside of a case on top of his desk. “You and I both know how valuable my name is in London society. If they kidnapped her for money, I should have heard from them by now.”

“It is possible that she left this house willingly.”

“I know,” he grumbled, and pulled a match out from one of his pockets to light the end of the cigarette. “I’m pretending it’s not a possibility.”

“Ignorance isn’t necessarily a good thing, my Lord.”

“Christ!” he cursed. “Why would she go out alone?”

“To go somewhere. Perhaps, meet someone? A young man… a lover.”

“The scoundrel,” he grunted with severely lowered eyebrows. “He probably took her virginity and then…” A trail of smoke escaped his lips as he dropped his gaze from mine. “Help me find that man, Detective Varon.”

“I will.” I lifted the folder off the table and tucked it underneath my arm. “I promise.”

“Before you go, I wrote down the names of all my staff members. I want you to talk to my boy, Nicholas, before you go. His music lessons should almost be done by now.”

Lord Reeds tied his house coat tighter around his waist and motioned me to follow him out of his room. He blended in nicely with his elegant surroundings; the posh ruby-coloured house coat went well with the tan-coloured walls and golden lampstands curled out of the wall in the shape of ivy leaves. The carpet floor was red with tight spirals of golden yellow, which made my eyes get lost in the intricate pattern. The sound of a violin filled the air, low and eerie as a melancholy sound echoed down the hall. Lord Reeds enjoyed his smoke, hardly bothered that it was only men beneath his station that smoked that specific brand of cigarettes. He’s not as pompous as he presumes to be.

“Nicholas!” His father yelled out the second he burst open the creamy white French doors. “I want you to speak to someone!”

The young man lowered his violin and looked away from his instructor to glare at me. I gave him a customary bow. He performed the same action with his violin lowered gracefully at his side. He was tall and thin, with a physiognomy that was nothing like his father. “Afternoon,” he greeted me in a polite, almost serene-like voice.

“Good afternoon. My name is Detective Varon, and I come from Scotland Yard. I am here to investigate your sister’s sudden disappearance.”

Nicholas looked at his instructor, and that was enough for him to bow and leave the room silently. He was a few years older than Nicholas, I silently noted. Could he be a potential suitor for Victoria?

“Why have you come three days later?”

“Because your father sent a message to Scotland Yard early this morning,” I informed him. “He believed your sister would turn up after a day or two.”

“I wanted to keep it quiet,” Lord Hugh excused himself through gritted teeth.

“She won’t come back. She never liked it here,” Nicholas relayed. “She wanted to be with her friends, travel the world…” He stopped to put his treasured violin back in his casing. “She wasn’t happy here.”