Stalking Jack the Ripper (Stalking Jack the Ripper, #1)(35)
He glanced at the clock, then back at me. “I’m leaving shortly myself. I probably won’t be home until after you’re already asleep. Please, for my sake, try to get home before it gets dark out. We’ve both had enough excitement for one evening. Were I to have another fright like it, I might end up dying on the spot.”
As we stepped into the hallway, I really looked at my brother.
Stress was still getting the better of him. Little lines were deepening around his eyes; exhaustion taking an even greater toll on him than it had a few nights ago.
I felt horrible adding to his already full plate. He was always busy studying, and now with Father gone he was tending to the house and me all while some murderer was running around, slaughtering women. I wasn’t making his job any easier by sneaking out at night and finding dead men in the afternoon.
I twisted Mother’s ring around my finger one way and then the next.
“How would you feel if I asked Thomas to come by here for a bit instead?” I knew it was an outrageous question since he wouldn’t be home to chaperone us, but figured it might ease his mind knowing I wouldn’t be leaving the premises after all. Plus, Aunt Amelia and Liza were in the house; it wasn’t as if I’d be all alone with him.
“Audrey Rose… I’m not certain about that.”
He stared at me for a painfully long few seconds, struggling with what was socially proper and what would make him inevitably feel better. He pulled his favorite comb out, running it through his hair, then placed it back in his jacket pocket before finally answering.
“Very well. I’ll telephone him on my way out. You’re not to close any doors.” He took a deep breath and glanced down the hall. “Please keep to the dining room and parlor. Be sure to stay a decent length apart. Last thing we need are rumors circulating. Father will be home in less than two weeks. He’ll slay us both if your reputation is tarnished. Especially since he’s…”
Nathaniel snapped his mouth shut and turned. He wasn’t getting away with keeping secrets that easily. I charged after him and grabbed his sleeve, tugging him back around.
“Especially since he’s what?” I demanded. “What aren’t you telling me, Nathaniel? Has he been back in London? Is he still unwell?”
My brother looked as if he’d rather be speaking with the detective inspector again, and an awful feeling bubbled up my throat. I shook his arm, my expression pleading. He sighed. It never took long for him to give in to his only sibling, and I felt only slightly terrible for exploiting that weakness.
“Your father has been receiving callers in both town and country,” Aunt Amelia said, emerging, it seemed, from out of thin air. She looked like a feminine version of my father and uncle; tall, fair, and beautiful.
One would never imagine she was in her early forties. Aunt Amelia embodied the very essence of what a woman should strive to be at all times. Everything from her neatly styled hair to her silk-adorned feet was immaculate and delicate.
Even the disapproving, pinched expression on her face was royal-looking. “Though after tonight’s debauchery, and the rumors surely following, I’m not sure he’ll have much success. If I didn’t know any better, I’d assume you were trying to ruin all of your prospects.”
I stared from my aunt to my brother. “You said he hadn’t left Bath at all.”
“A young man’s been writing to Father for weeks now. From what I’ve gathered his family is very well connected politically.” Nathaniel straightened his suit. “The merging of our families would make sense. Father returned to London to meet with him, but it was only for a day.”
It was as if the ground had split open in a giant yawn that swallowed me whole. I couldn’t stop thinking about Father secretly meeting potential husbands while he was supposed to be recuperating.
“But I haven’t even come out in society yet!” I said. “I’ve got an entire year before worrying about balls, and parties. How am I supposed to deal with this on top of working for Uncle and the murders going on in Whitechapel? I cannot possibly entertain the notion of anyone courting me.”
Except for possibly one boy with mischief in his soul. Then a thought struck… Thomas’s family was connected politically, as far as I knew. And we had been interacting for weeks. Could his flirtations be real, then?
Aunt Amelia crossed herself. “It will be a miracle if they remain interested in that merger now. You’ve got some serious mending to attend to. I’m organizing a tea for tomorrow afternoon. It’ll do you a world of good, interacting with girls your age who are interested in decent things. There’ll be no more childish games or discussions of murder. Certainly no ‘working’ for your uncle and his unnatural science. If your father learns of this he’ll relapse. Have I made myself perfectly clear?”
I stared at my brother for assistance, but he was preoccupied. “But—”
Nathaniel checked the clock in the hallway, then gave me a sympathetic look. “Try not to dwell on it now. I’m sure it’ll all work out fine. I really must be off. I was supposed to meet the head barrister half an hour ago.”
Without waiting for my response, my brother tipped his hat to Aunt Amelia and me, then walked briskly down the hallway and out the front door, leaving me alone to deal with the aftermath of the bomb he’d just dropped on me.