She worked her jaw slowly, as though masticating my words. “I am hardly familiar with these matters, but I cannot believe that a man of your skills can be retained cheaply. Who then inquires into Mr. Pepper’s death?”
I saw now that I had been right to be wary of her intelligence. “I serve both the great and the low. Though not averse to earning my bread, neither do I shy away from righting wrongs perpetrated against the poor.”
This bit of puffery mollified her not at all. “And whom, in this case, do you serve?”
It was time to put my plan to the test. I should either be struck dead upon the battlefield or carry home the victory. “It is ever my policy to keep such matters private, but as the man in question was your beloved husband, it would be inexcusable to stand upon ceremony with you. I have been hired by a gentleman of the silk industry who believes that Mr. Pepper may have been struck down with malicious intent.”
“The silk industry?” she asked. “What concern can his fate be to such as they?”
“Mrs. Pepper, forgive the delicacy of this question, but in what manner did your late husband make his way in the world?”
Her color rose once more. “Mr. Pepper was a gentleman,” she said with great force.
“He had no-?”
“He was to come into money of his father’s estate,” she said, “had not a pack of rapacious solicitors conspired to convert his inheritance into a private pool of wealth from which they might dip.” She once again worked the fan mightily. “He applied all the money of my dowry to his legal fees, but they would not give him justice, and since his death they have been so bold as to deny the very existence of the case.”
“Forgive me once more for the indelicacy of the question-”
“Let us say that you will know I have forgiven the indelicacy of all your questions unless I ask you to leave, at which point you will know that no further forgiveness is forthcoming. In any event, if you truly mean to find justice for Mr. Pepper, then you ask these questions for my own cause as well.”
“You are too kind, madam. As to my question, I have made some inquiries about town, and I have heard the sad rumor that your marriage was not approved by your family.”
“There were those in my family who forbade the marriage, but I had allies as well, who provided me my dowry secretly that Mr. Pepper’s cause might be best pursued.”
I nodded. If Mrs. Ellershaw had taken her daughter’s side in this clandestine marriage, it might explain at least a portion of the rift between that lady and her monstrous husband.
“Again, a most delicate question, but may I inquire into the worth of the dowry?”
From the look upon her face, I had no doubt that our interview came very close to ending precisely there, but she apparently thought better of it. “I hate to speak of such things, but the amount was fifteen hundred pounds.”
With some effort, I kept my face impassive upon hearing this massive sum.
“And this amount was lost to legal fees?”
“As vile as it sounds, so it was. These solicitors are skilled at nothing but lies and tricks and delays.”
I made some sympathetic comments meant to mask my disbelief. “Can you not conceive of any reason why the silk workers of this city might take an interest in the cause of your husband’s unfortunate accident?”
She shook her head. “I cannot think of it.”
“He never spoke to you of silk engines? You never observed him making notes upon such things, contemplating projects, anything of that nature?”
“As I have said, he was a gentleman born, pursuing his just inheritance. I believe you mistake him for a ’Change Alley projector.”
“Then the error is mine,” I said, with my third bow of our session.
“What did these men tell you, sir? Why should they take an interest in Mr. Pepper?”
I could only hope that she knew so little of how these affairs were conducted that my untruth would not surprise her. “I have not inquired into that.”
“And do they believe they know who would do him harm?”
Here I decided to take a considerable risk. If this lady chose to take my accusations to her stepfather I would have exploded my disguise, and I shuddered to think of the consequences for my friends. “Out of respect for you and your loss, I shall tell you, but I must have your word that you will tell no one. There are networks of communication and rumor, channels of intelligence that will undermine my pursuit of justice, perhaps even endanger my life, if what I tell you now is revealed prematurely. No matter the anger this accusation engenders within you, you must keep it locked in your breast.”
Her head snapped violently to her left. “Leave the room, Lizzy.”
The maid started in her chair. She ceased her sewing but did not otherwise move.
“Go upstairs now, I say. If I don’t hear the creaking of the upper stairs in a moment’s time, you can seek another position and without a reference from me.”
This threat provided the girl with the incentive she needed, and she fled the room.
I took a sip of my wine, now grown cool, and set it back down. “I beg you to recall this is but an accusation. Nevertheless, there are men among the silk workers of this metropolis who believe that Mr. Pepper’s death was arranged by the East India Company.”
The color at once drained from her face, and her limbs began to tremble violently. Her eyes grew red, but no tears emerged. Then, at once, she propelled herself to her feet so violently that I feared she might hurl herself at me. Instead, she left the room, shutting the door hard behind her.
I hardly knew how to conduct myself. Had I been excused? I rang for the servant, but no one answered. Then, after what felt like an interminable period, but might have been no more than five minutes, Mrs. Pepper reappeared. As she did not sit, I rose to meet her gaze from across the room.
“They brought him here, you know,” she said. “They dragged his body out of the river and brought him to this house. I held his cold hands in my own and wept over him until my physician insisted I withdraw. I have never known such sadness and such loss, Mr. Weaver. If Mr. Pepper was killed by a malicious agent, I want you to find him. Whatever these laborers pay you, I shall treble as your reward. And if you find that it was the East India Company, I shall stand by your side and make certain that they pay for their crimes.”
“You have my word-”
“Your word is nothing to me,” she said. “Return when you have something to tell me. Trouble me no further with idle speculations. I cannot endure the pain.”
“Of course, Mrs. Pepper. I shall endeavor-”
“Endeavor to show yourself out,” she said. “For now that must suffice.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
I HAD NO NOTION OF WHAT TIME IT WAS WHEN I EXITED THE WIDOW’S house, only that the world had gone dark and the streets were full of the drunken shouts and shrill laughter of nighttime. When I removed my watch-guardedly, of course, for at such a time it only took but one tick of a timepiece for those items to be lost to artful hands-I saw that it was not yet seven o’clock, though I felt as though it were past midnight. At the nearest opportunity, I found a coach to take me home.
I had much to do. I knew of Pepper’s dealings with the mysterious Mr. Teaser, as I knew him to be married to three different women-and I should hardly have been surprised if I were to find more. But why did Cobb care about Pepper? What was Pepper’s relationship with the East India Company-or with Cobb, for that matter? How was this all connected to Forester’s plot or Ellershaw’s need to overturn the 1721 legislation? Did Celia Glade’s presence mean that the French had a hand in all of this, or had I merely stumbled upon a spy-no doubt one of hundreds scattered across the metropolis-who collected information and sent it home, where wiser heads would determine if it had merit?