An Affair So Right (Rebel Hearts #4)(63)

“I am happy,” he said quietly. “But there is something I need to investigate. I am afraid I cannot stay long.”

“Oh? Sounds very serious.”

“It could be.” If he was correct, and not imagining what he’d seen that morning, it could have a great impact on someone he cared about very much. “I think I might have seen someone who was dead today.”

When Quinn finished explaining himself, Hasting’s helped him escape the Cabot home in search of answers.





Chapter 25





The carriage dipped as Mr. Banks joined Quinn inside the dim interior at last. “Thank you for seeing me at such short notice,” Quinn began immediately.

“Your message claimed the matter was important, so here I am.” Banks sat his hat on the empty seat beside him.

“It could very well be,” Quinn promised. He tapped the roof and the carriage lurched forward. He’d given orders that they circle around until his discussion was done. “It is about the night of the Dalton fire.”

“You know the fire was ruled an accident, my lord. It is unfortunate the rumors began and I’ve done all I can to quash them. But Mrs. Dalton has a fortune in gems. I’m not sure there is anything else I can do for them.”

“What of the other man I told you about?”

“The fellow you claimed to have died that night, too?” The investigator shrugged. “I’ve found no trace of his body.”

Quinn grunted. “You’re sure?”

“I had seven of my best men scour all the usual places anatomists hide bodies or take them. They found nothing.”

Quinn thought he might know why that was. “Mr. Small was in the house the night of the fire, and he got out, although he suffered burns. I saw his suffering and injury with my own eyes. I saw what appeared to be his death.”

“Appeared to be?” Banks sat up straighter, eyes widening. “Are you saying he did not die?”

“I’m not convinced he did now, although it seemed a very convincing death at the time.” Quinn leaned forward. “I believe I saw Mr. Dennis Small on the street today, here in London.”

“I say. Where was this?”

“St. James, outside a property I inherited from my father.” Quinn had realized, almost too late, that a man in a wide-brimmed hat and coat had been following his carriage on the other side of the street for quite some time, and had seemed familiar to him. Except the fellow shouldn’t have been, since he was supposed to be dead. It might have been merely a trick of the eye or his imagination, but he would swear he’d seen the late Mr. Dennis Small in St. James today.

“A chance sighting from a distance, perhaps? Are you sure it was him and not his twin?”

“No. Dennis Small had no family, as far as I know. But I am not certain it was him, which is why I wished to speak with you immediately.” He shook his head. That brief moment of surprise and recognition troubled him greatly. “You’ve been looking for a body when the man might be walking around whole and hearty.”

Quinn had only had one good long glimpse of the man’s face—a familiar fresh burn pinking his right cheek—before the fellow had turned away. Small had suffered an identical burn. He’d disappeared as soon as Theodora had called out to Quinn and when he’d turned back, the fellow had already disappeared.

“A fellow with a new burn to the side of his face, one that matched my recollection of Mr. Small from the night of the fire, followed my carriage for several blocks, and then rushed away when Miss Dalton stepped out onto the street. He was watching me, or he was watching her. The ladies describe him as a harmless enough fellow, but what if they were deceived in his character? What if I was, too, about his demise? If Small knowingly acted to convince us of his death, there must be a reason for doing so.”

Banks whistled. “That’s very disturbing.”

If Dennis Small was actually alive, was it possible that trouble lay ahead? The fellow had been following Quinn’s carriage. If Quinn hadn’t imagined the sighting, and Mr. Dennis Small had indeed survived the fire, he had a bad feeling that Mr. Dalton’s death might not be the accident he wanted it to be. “I need to know if Mr. Small is alive or not. I need to see his body—alive or a corpse.”

“Small’s surviving the fire would have changed the focus of my investigation somewhat from the very beginning.”

“You said yourself Dalton was alive when the fire reached him. He might have gotten out, you said. But what if he couldn’t? What if he was prevented from seeking safety by Small for some reason, and the man suffered those burns not as a result of bravery, but from malicious intent? Those gems found on Mr. Dalton could have been motive enough for murder.”

Banks’ eyes narrowed with suspicion. “That would mean Miss Dalton’s suspicions were correct after all. That the fire was not an accident by her father. And it was Small who’d claimed Dalton had started the fire with his last breath.”

“Indeed, he was the only person who could have known the truth. Perhaps it all comes back to this Small fellow. But no matter what the case may be, I must know that Miss Dalton and her mother will always be safe once they leave my protection.”

“Of course, of course. I completely agree. Two women are no match for a murderer, if that is what this Mr. Small turns out to be. And they are wealthy, which could make them a target for unscrupulous scoundrels.”