The Sign of Death (Victorian Book Club Mystery 2)

The traffic had been light, so they arrived at the Wethington townhouse sooner than she would have thought. Once she was free of the carriage, with Persephone wailing in distress, she hurried up the steps. A man Amy had not seen before opened the door and gave her a slight bow.

“I am Lady Amy Lovell, here to see Lord Wethington.” Her words came out breathless from her jaunt up the steps. She stepped into the house as he moved back. “Is he at home?”

“I shall check, my lady.” He waved toward the drawing room. “If you will be so kind as to wait here, I will see.”

As he started to move away, she said, “Wait!”

Startled, the man turned back. “Yes, my lady?”

She moved closed to the man and lowered her voice. “Is Lady Wethington at home?”

“I shall check on that also.”

“No!”

His eyebrows rose. Good gracious, the man must think her a lunatic. Like all good servants, however, he merely stopped and stared at her with no indication that he thought there was anything odd about her behavior. She could picture him laughing wildly when he returned to the servants’ quarters and told all and sundry about the daft woman who had just called on his master.

“I, um … I do not wish to, um, disturb her.” She patted her upper lip with her gloved finger. Why did she always get herself into these messes?

“Very good, my lady.” He bowed again and left the room.

She paced as she waited for William to arrive. She glanced out the window, the rain still coming down in torrents, as if she should be preparing for another great flood.

At the sound of footsteps, she turned, then breathed a sigh of relief when William stepped into the room.

“Amy! Whatever are you doing here?” He walked over to her and took her hand in his. “Is something wrong?”

She pulled her hand away and placed her hands on her hips. “Why are we having dinner tonight?”

He stepped back, his brows rising to his hairline. “Because we will most likely be hungry?”

She waved her finger at him. “Don’t try to dodge that question. Your mother invited my entire family to dinner tonight.”

“Yes. I just found out myself.”

Her hands dropped to her sides. “You didn’t plan this?”

“Plan what?”

“I don’t know. Did you?”

“Did I what? Amy, you are not making sense. I feel like I’m in some sort of a crazy dream.”

The man who had answered the door entered the drawing room. “My lord, you have guests.”

“Already?” He turned to Amy. “I thought dinner was at eight o’clock tonight.”

Amy shook her head and shrugged as Detective Carson and Detective Marsh sauntered into the room.

“Well, look who we find together again. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.” Detective Carson grinned.

CHAPTER 14

Before William could even begin to make sense of what Amy was talking about and attempt to answer her nebulous questions, he was faced with the two men who were as irritating as a swarm of mosquitoes.

William ran his hand down his face. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Detectives?” He attempted a smile, trying to at least be well-mannered, although his first instinct was to toss the men out the door. Headfirst.

“We have a few questions for you.” Detective Carson walked farther into the room. William, Amy, and Detective Marsh followed him to a grouping of chairs near the fireplace. As if the man was the host, he waved at the chairs. “Shall we sit?”