“Milady, Sir Holstein awaits your presence downstairs.” Lacey tapped lightly on the bedchamber door as she voiced her message.
Sir Holstein? Of course, she’d forgotten all about the private investigator Papa had hired. Since William was expected any minute, she grabbed her reticule, gloves, and hat and left her room.
Amy held out her hand as she entered the drawing room. “Sir Holstein, how very nice to see you.”
The man looked dreadful. So bad, in fact, that she wondered how his legs were holding him up. He merely nodded in her direction and took a seat.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, sir?” She was about to offer tea, but knowing how soon she would have to leave, there would not be time. With the condition he appeared to be in, she felt she should instead offer him a bed and a visit from a doctor.
“I wanted to explain why I have not reported on my progress in finding your fiancé’s killer.”
“Ex-fiancé.”
“I have been uncommonly ill.” He reached out and touched the arm of the chair, where he sat at the very edge, almost as if he wished to escape as quickly as possible.
“I am sorry to hear that, Sir Holstein. Influenza?” She really wanted to ask if he suffered from the plague, since she’d never seen anyone look so ill.
He shook his head. “No. It seems I ate a bit of bad food.”
Her brows rose. “Bad food?”
He nodded and swayed slightly on the chair. “Yes. I had a terrible time of it. I won’t go into details, since ’tis not proper conversation for a lady, but I have been confined to bed for a few days and am not feeling quite the thing just yet.”
Quite the thing? He looked worse than poor, dead Miss Hemphill.
“Therefore, I was unable to do a proper job. I have come to tell you I can attempt to continue with the investigation or suggest another investigator with whom I am familiar to take over the matter. I will, of course, provide him with all my notes and whatever money your father paid me.”
Mr. Stevens, who had already taken over night duty for the front door, entered the drawing room. “My lady, Lord Wethington has arrived.”
Sir Holstein made to stand up and fell back into the chair just as William entered the room. He took one glance at the investigator and regarded Amy with raised brows.
“Sir Holstein was just leaving.” She looked at the man as he struggled to rise. “Do you have a coach with you?”
“No. I will hail a hackney.”
She took his arm and walked him to the door. “No, you will not. I will have my driver take you where you need to go. And please, don’t concern yourself with the investigation. I will notify you if I need you to turn it over to another investigator. Right now things are going smoothly and it might all be tied up in no time.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. I will send around a note.” She turned to a concerned-looking Mr. Stevens. “Please have the carriage brought forward to take Sir Holstein home.”
William had walked behind them from the drawing room to the front door, and she turned to him and said, “I am ready to go.”
Mr. Stevens helped her into her light coat while Sir Holstein leaned against the wall to await the carriage. With one final glance in the poor man’s direction, Amy and William left the house.
“What the devil happened to Sir Holstein?” William settled into his seat and tapped on the carriage ceiling. “He looked appalling.”
“Bad food.” She smoothed out her skirts and settled back in the seat as the familiar clopping of horse hooves on cobblestones started up.
“Bad food? Whatever did he eat? He looks frightful.”
Amy shrugged. “He never did say more than that, actually. He apparently has been laid up with this problem for some time, and from the looks of it, he is still suffering.”
“Just so. Sounds as though the chap should have sent round a note rather than make the trip.”
Amy grabbed the strap alongside her head as the carriage made a turn. “I imagine it was his sense of duty that made him come in person. But I agree; given the condition he was in, a note would have sufficed.”
The carriage moved along nicely through the streets of Bath. William had allowed the windows to remain open, and the scent of early spring air filled the coach. ’Twould do them good to go to the Assembly Rooms for a spot of pleasure. Too much dwelling on murder and dead bodies had cast a gloom over Amy’s life the past couple of weeks.