Whispers in the Reading Room (23 page)

“You mean he owed you.”

“No, I mean the club. Avondale frequented the tables in the basement and had lost—over and over. I had nothing to do with it.”

“Beyond the fact that you own the club and run it.” His voice was dry.

“I do. But just like how you are not responsible for every man’s actions in your employ, I cannot claim total knowledge of each patron’s debts.”

“But you knew he owed the club money.”

“I did.” Sebastian paused. “I also didn’t care for him.”

Captain Ryan straightened. “Why is that?”

“He was a sloppy drunk. Difficult. He lost often and hated to pay his debts.” He paused, and added more. “I had also recently been informed that he was abusing women.”

Ryan stilled. “Abusing?”

“Beating them. For sport.”

Ryan’s eyes flickered in distaste. “Here?”

“No. I don’t keep women here. At the Bear and Bull.”

At last, Sean pulled out a pencil and wrote down some notes. “That’s Sergio Vlas’s club, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Sebastian answered.

“So, getting back to the Hartman. What did you do when you saw Avondale hurt Miss Bancroft?”

“I released her from his grip.” He frowned at the memory. “When she went to sit down, a china pot of tea fell. Spilled hot tea on her hand and burned her.”

Ryan paused. “Was she all right?”

“She was after I got her ice and bathed her injured hand. Avondale, however, was not pleased, and he told her she had to leave with him. When she refused, he ended the engagement.”

“Because of that?”

“I am not privileged to know the workings of either Avondale’s or Miss Bancroft’s mind. All I do know is that I was glad she was no longer linked with him.”

“So you could have her?”

“So she wouldn’t be married to a man who used force to get his way with her. She wouldn’t have been happy.” No, she would have been miserable. He sighed, more than ready to finish the story. “After that we formed a friendship.”

“Which was why you brought her here?”

“Definitely not. I saw her at the library. And then, when I discovered she had no maid, I asked Bridget to act as hers.”

“Miss Bancroft accepted this?”

“Not readily, but she saw the reason for it. After the Slasher’s appearance on our city’s streets, and the recent crime spree around these parts, it’s not safe for women to go anywhere alone. I had discovered that Miss Bancroft had been going back and forth from the library by herself.”

“I thought Bridget worked for you at the hotel.”

“She did. Now she works for me at Miss Bancroft’s house.”

“She didn’t mind when you gave her new duties?”

“If she did mind, she didn’t share. I pay her well enough to keep her opinions to herself.”

Ryan raised his brows. “I see.”

“I hope so.”

Ryan shifted again, looking like he was finding his well-fitted suit uncomfortable. “Why don’t you tell me how Lydia Bancroft ended up here this evening. Did you two become lovers?”

The cop had just managed to shock him, and Sebastian hadn’t believed anything could. “Absolutely not,” he bit out, appalled. “Lydia discovered that I owned the club and asked me to bring her here.” For the first time, Sebastian felt the strain in his voice. “Against my better judgment, I agreed to bring her.”

“I heard she ran into some problems on the street?”

Sebastian would have paid a small fortune to learn all that Ryan knew and was keeping close to his vest. “Yes. I stopped to speak to
an acquaintance, thinking she would keep walking with my staff the last block without stopping. But she did stop, and a gang very nearly attacked her and Miss O’Connell and Mr. Hunt. Hunt can take care of himself in most cases, but there were too many of them. Then an associate and I caught up with them and we got by.” He blew out an irritated blast of air. “After escorting Miss Bancroft inside, I asked her to remain in my office. I needed to check with the floor managers. And,” he added wryly, “I needed to cool down. I was angry with her.”

“Because she disobeyed your instructions?”

“Because she could have been harmed. People are getting stabbed right and left around here, not that the cops on this beat care,” Sebastian snapped. “I don’t care about her disobeying me.”

“What happened next?”

“When I came upstairs, I discovered that she was sound asleep on the couch. I didn’t want to wake her up, so I decided to sit at my desk and work until she awoke.”

“You didn’t want to simply wake her up? It was unseemly for the two of you to be alone together.”

“Captain Ryan, forgive me for being personal, but what did you do the first time you saw Eloisa Carstairs sleeping? Was your first reaction to march over and wake her up?”

Ryan’s eyebrows rose, then a small smile touched his lips. “No, I didn’t do that. I watched Eloisa sleep.” His gaze flickered back to Sebastian’s. “But we were married.”

“Well, we are not. I stayed in here with her until Hunt pounded on the door and told me there was trouble.”

“Which brings us to the present.”

“At long last.”

“Mr. Marks, surely you have to see that there is a lot of evidence against you. You have motive and no alibi.”

“I do have an alibi. I was in here with Lydia Bancroft. She simply happened to be asleep and therefore cannot vouch for my company. Furthermore, I would like to point out that I had no motive.”

“How so?”

“Killing Avondale would not get my money back. And he owed me a great deal of money.”

“But killing him would make Lydia safe.”

“I’m not a fool, sir. The majority of the people in the city could harm Lydia. She is a very naïve woman with a very large brain. As the gang of thugs who circled her outside the club made very apparent, men prey on foolish women. It is the responsibility of men to keep women safe. I did that. I would do that again,” he bit out.

“Is that so?” Ryan folded his hands on the table, looking a bit like a cat that has just been given a new bowl of cream.

That look was irritating. After taking a fortifying breath, Sebastian forced his voice to become impassive again. “I did not kill Jason Avondale.”

He readied himself for the next probable question: Had he had Avondale beaten? But the detective surprised him.

Ryan leaned forward, one hand dangling from where it rested on a knee, his other still clutching the pencil and notebook. “Mr. Marks, may I offer some advice?”

“If you would like,” he said grudgingly. Actually, he couldn’t care less about any piece of advice Captain Ryan could offer him.

“Be very aware of the precarious situation Miss Bancroft is in now. A lady’s reputation guards her against most all ill will. If the general public learns that she slept alone in a room with you, her reputation will be ruined.”

“I was already aware of this.” He stood up. “Is there anything else you need to know?”

“Not at this time. You are free to leave the premises.”

“I’ll leave when my employees and Miss Bancroft are free to leave as well.”

Captain Ryan stood up and gave a small bow. “In that case, you might be here awhile longer, Marks,” he threw over his shoulder as he walked out of the room.

Unwilling to spend another minute in his office with his ghosts haunting him, Sebastian followed.

T
hough he had quite the reputation of being a gentleman detective, Lydia had surmised rather quickly that Lieutenant Owen Howard was anything but that. Especially since he seemed most determined to prove that she was not much of a lady.

He had been interrogating her for over an hour. She was growing weary of his continuous questions and even more tired of having to repeat the same answers over and over again.

Which was what she was doing at the moment.

“As I said before, Lieutenant, I fell asleep on the couch in Mr. Marks’ office,” Lydia repeated with an edge to her voice. “I only awoke when Mr. Hunt knocked on the door and informed Mr. Marks that a body had been discovered.”

“I must say I find your explanation difficult to believe,” he replied, his cultured voice as elegant as his mannerly way. “You have told me you asked to visit the Silver Grotto, had been stunned to see to what extent it is a rather disreputable gambling club, and had been further taken aback to see just how seedy this part of town is. Yet, you promptly fell asleep?”

“I never said promptly.”

“Yet you did sleep not long after you arrived.”

“It was late, and I was weary. I fell asleep reading, waiting for Mr. Marks to have someone ready to take me home. What I find confusing, sir, is the fact that you seem to find my story difficult to believe.”

“I’ve told you my reasons.”

“You have. However, you are missing the point. It is the truth.”

He leaned back and crossed his legs. “Miss Bancroft, what do you intend to tell your mother?”

“I assume I will tell her the same thing I told you. I fell asleep in a place I should never have been in the first place. It is regrettable but in the past now.”

His brown eyes flickered, whether because he found her amusing or exasperating, Lydia was not sure. After taking a sip of water, he said, “Tell me again when you first noticed Mr. Marks had entered the room.”

She gritted her teeth. This was now the fourth time he had asked her this. It was also going to be the fourth time she answered. She was starting to find his interrogation methods a terrible misuse of her time. “Lieutenant Howard, as I stated before, I only realized Mr. Marks was in the room when Mr. Hunt knocked on the door. I was asleep.”

“Whom did you think was knocking? Were you afraid it was Mr. Avondale?”

“What?” This question had taken her completely off guard. “Of course not. I didn’t know Jason was anywhere in the vicinity.”

“I thought he called on you.”

“He came to my home not long after our failed tea. But we soon realized it was best that our engagement ended. You see, he had thought I was an heiress. I thought he had money too. I did not—” She bit her lip before she inadvertently told a fib.

He noticed. “Miss Bancroft, perhaps you could expound on this?”

She did not care to, but it seemed she had no choice. “I did not
want to patch things up with Jason because I realized that he and I would not make a good match.”

“I’m shocked. He is of your class.”

“He is of
our
class, Lieutenant,” she gently corrected. “I would also like to point out that you did not seek a woman of our class to marry.”

“Touché. Why, exactly, did you decide you would not suit?”

After a pause, she decided to blurt the rest. It seemed Lieutenant Howard would wheedle it out of her eventually anyway. “I had developed an affection for Mr. Marks.”

“You wanted to marry him?”

He sounded shocked, and she supposed his surprise was justified. Even taking into consideration that Mr. Marks ran a disreputable club, he was also everything she was not. Not only was he extremely wealthy and debonair, he was well-known. Famous, even. He was outgoing and rather forceful.

“Well, I wanted to get to know him better,” she corrected.

“I’m surprised your mother allowed this.”

Of course, her mother didn’t know Sebastian’s true colors. “One cannot help one’s heart.”

“Did your infatuation with Mr. Marks lead you to wishing Avondale harm?”

“Of course not! I did not wish him harm. I simply wished to end our engagement.” She sighed. Surely this interrogation would be ending soon?

But like a dog with a bone, Lieutenant Howard continued, circling back to essentially the same subject again and again. “You must have ascertained that you and Mr. Marks would not be a good match.”

“I suppose that is true. But we are mainly friends anyway. Who but the Lord knows what our future entails?”

Lieutenant Howard leaned back, crossing one leg over the other,
just as if he were sitting in the middle of a club. “If you did not step out into the alley and accost Avondale and you don’t believe Mr. Marks did, who do you think murdered him?”

“That’s just it, sir. I don’t know. I mean, I have truly no earthly idea.” Her mind started spinning. “This is the first time I have been in this section of Chicago. Camp Creek Alley seems to be a rather dangerous area. I tried to get a good look around as we were walking, but Mr. Marks didn’t want me to tarry.”

“That was probably a good idea.”

“It was good for him, but it left me feeling like I was walking into a strange world. Why, the only time I stopped, I thought Mr. Hunt was going to be very angry with me.”

“What happened?”

“I stopped to look at something, and a gang of thugs, I mean, rough-looking men, practically surrounded us. Mr. Hunt had to talk harshly to them. Come to think of it, Bridget wasn’t pleased with me either.”

“Bridget is your maid?”

“Well, she’s actually Mr. Marks’ maid. He simply lent her to me for a while.”

His eyebrows rose. “Lent?”

How strange that he was focusing on the odd phrase and word instead of her point. “Lent, perhaps, was a poor choice of word. Mr. Marks asked Bridget to act as my maid when he learned that my current financial situation necessitated my mother and I letting go of our servants. Mr. Marks seems to think that all young ladies need proper escorts.”

“He is not wrong.”

“Beg your pardon, but in this instance I believe he was.”

“How so?”

“I am not all that young, and I’m not necessarily a lady.”

His eyebrows rose. “You don’t consider yourself a lady?”

“I am not a lady, Lieutenant Howard. I’m a librarian.”

Lieutenant Howard stared at her in confusion for a long moment before he laughed. The sound was so out of place, so loud in the empty gaming club, it seemed abnormally loud. “I’m sorry, Miss Bancroft. But you truly are remarkable. My fiancée would adore you. She is a rather forward-thinking young lady as well.”

Lydia smiled, liking the idea of the city’s gentleman detective finding true love. “My felicitations, sir.”

“Thank you. I’m rather thrilled about it myself.” Leaning forward, he confided, “I’m going to marry Captain Ryan’s little sister.”