Late For The Wedding

Twenty-Nine

Tobias held the lantern up so that the glare illuminated the back door of the hairdresser’s lodgings. Anthony and Dominic stood slightly behind him, watching tensely as he tried the knob.

“Unlocked.” Tobias handed the lantern to Dominic and took out his pistol. “I doubt if he is still here, but I do not want either of you to take chances. Stay behind me.”

“He will be miles away by now,” Anthony grumbled. “We almost had him, Tobias.”

“If he had not had the wit to set that fire, we would have caught him,” Dominic agreed.

“You did the right thing,” Tobias said. You had no choice but to deal with the blaze. Do not blame yourselves for Pierce’s escape. If you had not interfered, Sir Rupert would be dead by now. The old cook as well, I suspect.”

He opened the door so suddenly that it banged against the wall.

The lantern light slanted across the empty kitchen.

He moved warily through the small room. Anthony and Dominic followed.

“Give me the lantern,” Tobias said quietly.

Anthony handed it to him. He set it on the floor and used the toe of his boot to push it out into the narrow hall. No shadows flickered on the wall. There was no movement in the small parlor.

Tobias leaned around the corner. From here he had a clear view of the sitting room. Satisfied that it was empty, he stepped out into the hall, picked up the lantern, and, hugging the wall, went swiftly toward the door of the darkened bed chamber.

The scent of fresh death hit him before he saw the body on the floor.

“The hairdresser is still here,” he said flatly.

Dominic and Anthony came to stand beside him. They stared at the horrific scene.

“His head.” Dominic sounded odd. “His head. There’s so much blood and… and other stuff.”

“God have mercy,” Anthony whispered.

It occurred to Tobias that this was the first time either of the younger men had encountered violent death.

“Stay here, both of you,” he ordered.

He went cautiously into the room so as to avoid damaging any useful evidence. But there were no bloody footprints, no bits of fabric torn in a scuffle. No signs at all that anyone other than Pierce had been here tonight.

The hairdresser lay sprawled facedown in a dark pool of congealing liquid, lifeless fingers loosely wrapped around the handle of the pistol.

“He must have known that it was over.” Anthony swallowed audibly. “He realized that we were hard on his heels and that it was only a matter of time before we saw him hang. So he elected to cheat the gallows.”

“He took his own life.” Dominic wiped his brow with the back of his hand. “The gentleman’s way out.”

Tobias looked down at the dead man. “Just like his brother.”

Shortly before daybreak, Lavinia went with Tobias to give the news to Aspasia. She came downstairs at once when her sleepy housekeeper informed her that she had callers. She had obviously still been in bed, but Lavinia noted that she somehow managed to appear very fashionable in a dark satin dressing gown, soft kid slippers, and a little lace cap.

“Pierce shot himself?” Aspasia sank down onto the sofa. “Dear heaven. Just like Zachary.”

“After Anthony and Dominic nearly caught him in the act of committing murder tonight, he must have realized that it was finished,” Tobias said.

Lavinia watched him move to stand in front of the darkened hearth. She sensed the tension in him. He had been like this, restless and brooding, when she opened the door to him a short while ago. She had given him a large glass of the brandy he had provided for himself, but it did nothing to soothe his spirits. He told her the tale of the night’s events. She had elected to accompany him when he said that he was going to take the news to Aspasia.

“I don’t understand,” Aspasia said, clutching the edges of the dressing gown at her throat. She looked bewildered. “From what you tell me, he had a head start. Why would he not simply flee the country?”

“I cannot pretend to know his mind,” Tobias said. “But from the beginning, this entire affair has been about imitating his brother.

“Perhaps when he realized that he had been found out, he decided to leave this world the same way Zachary did.”

“By his own hand.” Aspasia closed her eyes briefly. “It is all so dreadful.”

“Tobias talked to an old woman in the stews tonight who once sold babes and children,” Lavinia said gently. “Several years ago she provided two young boys to a man who told her that he had no sons of his own and wanted apprentices to take over his business.”

“I think her client was the original Memento-Mori Man,” Tobias said, never taking his eyes off the cold hearth. “It appears that his apprentices did, indeed, try to carry on in his footsteps.”

“And now both are dead,” Lavinia said quietly.

The battered hackney carriage that had conveyed them to Aspasia’s address was waiting for them in the street when they left a short time later. Tobias handed Lavinia up into the cab and then got in and took the seat across from her. In the weak glow of the interior lamp, his face was stark and grim.

“I know how this case has plagued you.” She grasped the handhold to steady herself as the aging vehicle jerked into motion. “But it is over now.”

“Yes.” He looked out the window into the night.

She sensed the darkness in him and knew that he was in danger of sinking down into his own private little corner of hell.

“You will no doubt feel more yourself in the morning,” she assured him.

“No doubt.”

She searched her brain for some other means of breaking through the ice in which he had encased himself. When she came up with nothing helpful, she decided to take the forthright approach.

“Very well, sir, out with it. You are in a very odd mood for a man who has just concluded a successful inquiry into a case of murder.

“What is wrong?”

For a moment she did not think that he would respond. But eventually he turned his head to look at her.

“Pierce was not much older than Anthony and Dominic,” he said without inflection.

Quite suddenly she understood.

“And not much older than Sweet Ned either.” She reached across the small space and took his big hands in hers. Tobias, you cannot save them all. You do what you can and that is all that you can do.

“It is enough. It must be enough. If you do not accept that truth, you will succumb to a sense of despair that will make it impossible for you to save anyone.”

His fingers clamped fiercely around hers. The storms in his eyes threatened to sweep her down into the depths. He did not speak, but after a while he pulled her into his arms.

They held each other until the hackney came to a halt at her front door.

Tobias got out, handed her down, and walked with her up the steps. She opened her reticule and found her key.

“There is something else,” he said, watching her fit the key into the lock.

She looked up quickly. “What is it?”

“This affair is not yet finished.”

“But Pierce is dead by his own hand. What else is there to discover?”

“The identity of the Memento-Mori Man.”

“But, Tobias, you said yourself, it is likely that he is no longer alive and, if he is, he will be quite elderly. Why do you feel you must find him?”

“I want to know who was responsible for turning two young boys into professional murderers.”