A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem (A Lady's Guide #1)(9)
To her credit, Caro looked rueful. “I won’t steal her permanently. Only when you don’t have work for her.”
“I’ll look after him while you go to Scotland Yard,” Flora offered.
And with Ludwig’s care disposed of for the time being, Kate and Caro set out for Westminster and Scotland Yard.
They were several streets away when the traffic became such that the hansom cab they were traveling in drew to a halt. A glance out the carriage door was enough to show them that the streets were teeming with people.
Clearly they weren’t the only ones who’d come out to see what Mr. Wargrove had to say regarding the arrest of the Commandments Killer.
“I wish I’d thought to bring James,” Caro said as they disembarked. “I may dislike being reminded of the fact that I’m not as strong as a man, but I’m not so foolish as to think it’s not true.”
“We should be all right so long as we stick together.” Kate looped her arm through Caro’s.
It took them nearly half an hour to near the entrance to the Canon Row police station, which housed one of the most prominent divisions of the Metropolitan Police Force. A platform had been erected to one side of the door, which Kate supposed was so Wargrove would be able to be seen above the crowd.
“What a spectacle,” she said in disgust. It wasn’t that she begrudged the police a moment to declare to the populace that a dangerous killer had been caught. If the man was found guilty at trial, just as much fanfare would go into his hanging. But Kate had never been easy with that sort of gruesome display either.
“I suppose they’re thankful it’s as well attended as it is,” Caro said wryly. “I’d hate to think they’d put in all this effort at pageantry only to have no one show up.”
As they watched, several men climbed the steps leading up the side of the platform. A portly man with enormous side-whiskers and a world-weary air stepped forward and called for quiet. It took some time for the crowd to settle, but eventually they did.
Finally, the older man introduced himself as Chief Superintendent Max Darrow. He said a few words about how hard his men had worked on the case. How glad he was that they’d finally nabbed the man responsible for the Commandments killings. How he was certain the man would be found guilty by the courts. When he finished, he introduced Inspector Adolphus Wargrove, crediting his quick thinking for the capture of John Clark.
Kate looked on with curiosity at the officer. He was a solidly built man with a barrel chest and wiry red side-whiskers. A receding hairline made him look older than she suspected he truly was. But it was the man’s words that she paid the closest attention to.
“I stand before you today, good people of London, as the man who captured the Commandments Killer,” he said loudly. And as he’d apparently hoped, the crowd roared with approval. “Others tried before me, but I am the one who succeeded.”
“This fellow is proud of himself, isn’t he?” Caro shouted from beside her. “It was our interview with Lizzie Grainger that got him a description of the killer. Yet no mention at all of our assistance.”
“We didn’t do it for the thanks,” Kate reminded her. But she, too, was annoyed that Wargrove was behaving as if he had found John Clark all on his own. “Though they would be appreciated.”
As Wargrove continued to speak, the crowd began to grow restless. More than once, Kate was bumped from behind, and though she and Caro struggled to remain together, one strong jolt separated them for good.
“Caro,” Kate shouted above the din, but before she knew it, her friend had been swallowed up in the maelstrom and she herself was fighting to remain upright.
The feel of a strong arm about her waist had Kate shouting again, though this time with fear. Twisting to get a look at her assailant, she could see only a clean-shaven face and a ruffled head of light brown hair. “Unhand me!”
“Easy there, Mrs. Bascomb,” her captor said in the same way one might soothe a startled horse. Before she could ask how he knew her name, he continued, “Besides, if anyone should be concerned here, it’s me. I’m the one whose career you’ve managed to destroy.”
This last he said calmly enough, but she could hear the leashed anger in his tone.
“I’m afraid you have the advantage of me, sir,” Kate said haughtily. Whoever this man was, he clearly had some quarrel with her and she wished to get away from him with all possible haste. And yet, with the crowd surging around them, it was impossible to move away.
“Stop struggling,” he said curtly. “No matter how much I would rather leave you to this mob, I’m still a sworn officer of the law and it’s my duty to help you.”
His words brought her up short. “Who are you?” But even as she spoke, she knew what he would say.
“Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham,” he said, confirming her suspicions. “Now, stop talking so that I can get us out of here.”
Chapter Three
He wasn’t sure what he’d expected to gain by going to Dolph Wargrove’s self-congratulatory assembly, but Eversham most assuredly had not thought to encounter the authors of the infernal interview that Wargrove had used to arrest an innocent man.
One of them—Miss Hardcastle, he supposed, thanks to Mrs. Bascomb calling out to her as Caro—had been swallowed up in the first wave of unruly attendees. If she was lucky, she’d manage to get far enough away to catch a hansom cab. In the meantime, it was taking every ounce of strength and concentration he had to keep the other journalist, Mrs. Bascomb, from being snatched away into the teeming masses.