Of Night and Dark Obscurity

“It was a lovely spring evening. Irene was so well regarded. Everyone liked to be around her. She just had that way about her. The older I got the more I envied her. But she was just that way. Lively and pretty. At this particular party I remembered there was a man who paid a lot of attention to her. I completely forgot about it until I saw him again a few days ago at a card party my mother gave,” she recalled.

“What caused you to single him out in particular?” Val asked.

Nell looked away from his gaze and then glanced up at Felix who was standing near the front window. “It was something that happened that evening. I had been out in the garden and heard two people arguing behind a hedge. I didn’t hear all of it and I recognized Irene’s voice but not the man’s.”

“What were they arguing about?” Val asked the young woman.

“It was something to do with sitting for him. Which didn’t make any sense. He said she had promised and that it was almost done. And she said she didn’t want to anymore and that her future husband would deem it unseemly.”

“And then?”

“Then the man got very mad. He said she wouldn’t marry anyone but him and she had laughed at him,” Nell told them. “Then she went back into the house and he had stayed staring after her. I didn’t recall his name or face until I saw him again at the card party.”

“Who is he?”

“His name is Simon Eastoft. He’s a solicitor in London.”

???

Val and Felix placed their hats on as they exited the home of Nell Lewis.

“What do you make of that?” Felix asked his boss.

Val shrugged. “It could be many things. It sounds like Mr. Eastoft was an admirer of Irene’s and something was going on between them. There could have been more than that and she was ending it and he was angry. We won’t know until we speak to him.”

“But if she was killed by one man, then she may not be a victim of the strangler,” Felix said. “Maybe it was just meant to look a certain way.”

“All we have right now are a lot of questions. We need to question this man Simon and we also need to question the servants.”

“Has Miss Derry been more forthcoming? She might tell you more than—“

“There is nothing between myself and Miss Derry, Sergeant,” Val said shortly.

Felix remained quiet.

“Nothing.” He repeated.

Val entered the hansom cab first as Felix followed. He gave directions to the Derry townhouse and his heart skipped a beat at the thought of seeing Caroline again.

Chapter 7

Malvina met the two detectives in the foyer and ushered them into the front parlor.

“My son isn’t home at the moment. He’s lecturing at the medical college. Can I help you with anything?” She said smiling.

“Thank you, Mrs. Derry. We would like to speak to the servants who might have had the most contact with Miss Irene,” Val said.

“We don’t keep that many servants. We have a maid, a footman, a Cook and a kitchen maid who does odds and ends for the Cook. That’s it.”

“Then we’ll speak to the Cook, maid and footman. Can you make them available to us now?” He asked.

“I’ll send the maid in straightaway.” Malvina said.

She left them alone in the parlor only to return with their maid. She was a young girl with bright red hair and small brown eyes. She glanced at the two men suspiciously and then jumped when they told her to take a seat.

Val procured his pencil and notebook while Felix took over the questioning.

“What’s your name then?”