Part 25 (1/2)
”Yet you were cunning enough to evade certain questions”
”I thinkto discuss iven the reaction of your associate”
”I asked why you alone were charged with a cri to do with your mother It was not, however, the actual reason, was it? So I'll ask you again Why were you charged and then separated from the other woht I - theythey wanted”
”Who? The CID? The Special Branch?”
She rocked forith a lowher face with her hands as fresh tears overwhelmed her
”You must trusther head, ”no, I er because of er as well”
He chuckled softly ”Well, though I appreciate your concern, I can assure you I'ard In fact, I believe I aer -” Her head shot up at that and he growled in frustration ”Oh, for heaven's sake, don't look at me so It is not an insult to your self-sufficiency Look around you! You're in well over your head Surely you realise that?”
In the next instant he was crouched before her chair, hands grasping the seat on either side of her She could feel the tension vibrating in his ared her to look him in the eye Finally, she did
”I can help you, Mrs Despain Let ustus Despain, was a proud Marxist He had been a ue even before he entine wones suspected this urge to fight for the workers in another land also had so all of nineteen and she, his wife, thirty-eight Still, his friends in the moves, edited colued the small female membershi+p to join her mission to free poor women of the burden of too many children But she would never have come to the attention of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner or the CID were it not for herit, de evidence they chose to ignore
”My mother had been in prison for six et her sentence co inforroups This was early last year, before I'd met Millie I never had ue is not particularly secretive, and the SDF has sowhatsoever gets done-unless there's a riot, of course It wasn't until the anarchists started up, with their targeted acts of sedition, that I was infor substantial or the deal was off”
”And you did,” Hol?”
She nodded miserably ”It had a false bottom There was an encryption key hidden within the text on a playbill But the police ” He ht of the police She raised her head from the pillow of her dejection-folded arst the anarchist factions, Mr Holht their cause betrayed”
”Hh an object held between his fingers, turning it back and forth in the low light of the desk lamp It appeared to be ain all that wreckage and by the light of a single laine He pushed it across the desk to her, his expression iet her reaction She took it in hand, peering close with the aid of the la stud attached The cuff button itself was a large rectangular shape with a lithograph of an estate house or great hall set under glass, and franise”
”Yet, oddly enough, I do” He gazed at her thoughtfully ”I had no opportunity to ask before, but did you attempt to contact Miss Barnett's family?”
She shook her head ”Millie never spoke of her relations She did not want to speak of the it up”
”This,” he said, holding the cufflink up to the light, ”is an ie is a renowned chemist and was one of my teachers when I attended university In fact, I believe Miss Barnett and I may have had the same teacher of chemistry”
”Millie did not attend university, Mr Holnes had time to react to that statement he said, ”Whoever destroyed Millie's laboratory, they were very careful of the caustic chemicals I found evidence thatwith the books before the real destruction even corateful they didn't do rateful your friend is not in the clutches of anarchists,” he said, then h perhaps no better off”
”What do you mean?”
”Family, Mrs Despain Family” He bounced the cufflink in the palh into the air and catching it neatly behind his back Seehly pleased with himself, he'd slipped it into his pocket when Millie's notebook caught his eye again His fingers flexed and curled into his palms She pulled the book towards her across the desk
”So you think her family found her and took her away?” She should have felt soht of all the equipment, how much it had cost, and the hostility behind its systematic destruction, she was filled with a sick dread
”It is one possibility,” he said as he gathered up his jacket and made to leave ”Have you another place to stay? It will be difficult to find a reputable hotel or lodging house at this hour but I can arrange for you to stay with Dr Watson and his wife-”
”What? No! I don't even like the man I could hardly impose upon his wife” She picked at a loose thread on her skirt ”I want to be here in case she returns Anyway, I've slept in this chair before” She took an old lap rug from a pile on top of the letter cabinet, unfurled it and demonstrated how cosy it would be
He hesitated a moment, then nodded ”I shall be in contact as soon as I'm able”
”Mr Holmes,” she called after him ”I-I'm afraid I shan't be able to pay for your services for some tiht, Mrs Despain”
Two days passed with no word On theto send hientleman instead of a thief, but with a certain funereal air that
He placed it on the desk She stared at it, tears prickling the back of her eyes ”You didn't find Millie”
”The situation is rather co away fro him would make whatever news he had easier to bear He pulled out the chair opposite her and sat anyway ”I have found her She's alive, though the circumstances are not pleasant”
”Oh God She's not been injured or interfered with, has she?”
”No, no Nothing like that My suspicions were confirainst her will!”
”Yes So it would seee is Millie's father He sent her brothers to collect her from the police station discreetly and it was they who destroyed her laboratory I'ally in his charge The books Millie had in your lodgings were taken from his private library Stolen by her One, the herbarum, was printed in Venice in 1499 It's worth a shter to prison, would he?”
”No He has sent his own daughter to the District Lunatic Asylue instead”
She sat with that for a moment, then jerked open a drawer next to her knee Millie's notebook was slapped onto the desk ”Is this insane? You called it unusual, but there was reservation in your tone, a touch of unease I am not a che to do?”
”Not ” He shook his head, embarrassed ”That tone you heard from me? The sin of envy, I'm afraid”
She pulled the Gladstone across to her
”It's not there,” he said quickly, even as she fiddled the catch to reveal the empty compartment hidden in the bottom
”Are you about to betray h ”I've not taken you for a fool yet, Mrs Despain Don't make me start now”
”Then what have you done with it?”