Of Night and Dark Obscurity

“Did something happen, Caroline? Something you wish to discuss later,” her grandmother asked her.

“No. I mean nothing that drastic. Just a misunderstanding. One of my ladies, she doesn’t think she deserves better. She lashed out at me.”

“Not physically?” Her father said sharply.

“No Father. She never would. As I said, it was a misunderstanding.” She shook her head. “How can I help you gentlemen?”

Val took out a small notebook and a pencil. “When was the last time you saw your sister, Irene Derry?”

“Irene?” She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I asked Miss. When did you last see your sister?” Val repeated.

Caroline looked over at her grandmother who seemed tired and aged, and then at her father who hovered near the bar but only lightly touched the bottles and glasses, and poured nothing.

“I saw her this afternoon. At tea,” she said.

“As I told you Inspector,” Malvina interjected.

“Do you know she was out this evening?” He asked her.

Caroline watched him make notations in his notebook as she spoke. “Out? What do you mean out? She often spends the evenings with her friends. Ethel Church and Nell Lewis are her closest friends. They are both respectable girls from good families. She spends her time with them.”

“That may be,” Val nodded. “Miss Church may be quite respectable. And her family too. But she hasn’t seen your sister in months. And she was not with Nell Lewis this evening, as we checked before we arrived here.”

Caroline felt her cheeks grow warm as she looked at the handsome man before her. “What is this about? Why are you here? Has something happened to my sister? She must be at one of their houses,” Caroline insisted.

“It seems that while your sister told the family she was spending the evenings at her friend’s house, she told her friend she was being courted by a gentleman caller. However, Miss Church doesn’t know the gentleman’s name and Miss Lewis knew very little about the man in question. Your sister Irene was very secretive about her gentleman’s name it seems,” Val said.

Caroline blushed and Hubert interrupted. “My daughter is a young woman with a good reputation. She does not have gentleman callers like some lonely widow.”

“I don’t know anything about Miss Irene Derry,” Val said sharply. “What I do know is what has been told to me by yourself and her friends. She is not in her bed and no one has seen her today, apart from afternoon tea and the maid who watched her leave this evening.” Val said matter-of-factly, looking at Caroline who had asked the question about why they were here.

Hubert sighed heavily.

“So, what is happening? She’s missing?” Caroline asked feeling uneasy.

“It’s as the inspector said,” her father explained. “The maid went in to check on Irene and her bed has not been slept in. It seems she isn’t at either friend’s house as I believed her to be, and we don’t know where she is. The late hour caused me to have some concern.”

She gets more brazen the older she gets, Prudie’s words echoed in Caroline’s ears.

“Then she’s fallen ill,” Caroline said. “Has someone checked the hospitals?” She looked at the three men.

“It’s after one in the morning Miss,” Val began. “She could very well be at a—“

Caroline looked irritated. “She could very well be what Inspector.”

“She might be at a hotel.”

Caroline’s cheeks burned brightly. “A hotel.”

“Just so.”

Caroline ignored the man and turned to her father. “Did anyone check the hospitals?”

“I did. I did before I called the police,” he said wearily.

Caroline turned back to face Val and lashed out at him. “You have no right to say such things and make assumptions about my sister!” Caroline said, her eyes flashing bright and her cheeks flushed. “You don’t know her! She has never told me about any male callers.”