Of Night and Dark Obscurity

“I will do as you ask.” He told her.

“Thank you.” She stood up and he did as well.

“Caroline.” He said her name unconsciously as he had done that night. “I’m not going to apologize for what happened between us. Because I’m not sorry. I wanted it to happen. But if I harmed you in any way—“

Caroline smiled. “I’m not harmed. And you can rest easy. I haven’t given that indiscretion a moment’s thought. Good day Inspector.”

Opening the door, he watched her leave and sighed. She had not given him a moment’s thought. Something inside him winced at the words. Did he believe her? Was she lying? He had the strong suspicion she was lying. Suddenly Felix filled the frame of the door with a cocky grin on his face.

“What did Miss Derry need?”

Val ignored his comment. “We’ve work to do.”

???

Caroline took the steps quickly away from the Metropolitan Service building and breathed in deeply. She could feel her corset biting into her and she winced. She had not expected to feel anything at the sight of the Inspector’s face but she had. The moment his handsome face had come into view her heart had flipped.

Silly girl, she told herself.

Then just as she was about to leave, he had said something that had caught her completely off guard. His words still echoed in her ears: I’m not going to apologize for what happened between us. Because I’m not sorry. I wanted it to happen.

She shivered at remembering his face as he said it. He had been in earnest. And she knew he was telling the truth. He was not a man who apologized at every turn and lived his life in the shadow of others. He was his own man. She had seen that herself when she had watched him with Charles Lyttleton. Charles was a foolish man. Inspector Pierce was not that at all. He was a man, as she had said, with knowledge and dignity.

She stepped into the cab she had hailed and settled against the cushions as it took her home. She could feel the cool London air and the many noises that filled London. The clip clop of the horses’ hooves on the pavement, the whistles of the policemen; but they were all drowned out by his words that kept repeating in her ears all the way home; I’m not sorry…I wanted it to happen…I’m not sorry…I’m not sorry…I’m not sorry.

Chapter 11

Val knew by law they could only hold the good doctor for a certain number of hours so he let him stew while he and Felix went to visit the coroner.

The coroner, Dr. O’Brien, was a slight man with a small beard. His work was accurate and he had a fondness for Humbug sweets. The striped mint candies could always be found in his work area in a used tin, usually next to a body he was working on for an autopsy.

He greeted the Inspector and his Sergeant and asked them what he could help them with.

“A woman who died, she might be listed as homeless and the body not claimed. I would like the cause of death,” Val said.

The doctor nodded and handed them his tin, “Humbug?”

Val shook his head while Felix took one.

“What’s the name?” O’Brien asked.

“Annette Gardiner.”

O’Brien licked his fingers and began flipping through his pages. He stopped suddenly and nodded.

“Here. She’s here. She was claimed.”

“Whom by?”

“Looks like her sister.”

“Name and address?” Val asked.

The doctor provided them for him and he wrote them down in his book. “And cause of death?”

O’Brien shook his head. “Suicide. It looks like she cut her wrists.”

Val nodded and thanked the man for his time.