Page 69 of Dark Tidings on the Thames
“What are they?” asked Beth.
“Bobbins,” Gyda answered grimly. “The sort used in cotton mills.”
Beth abruptly sat in one of the stuffed chairs. “Why isn’t she here? Where is she?”
“Let’s spread out,” Niall suggested. “Search everything. Under each cushion and in every nook and cranny. Let’s see if we can find a clue as to where they might be.”
He helped Gyda move the chest of drawers once she had been through it, but the space behind it was clear, if dusty. Niall straightened, though, when he heard a strange, strangled sort of sound from the bedroom. “Kara?” He dashed into the other room, his heart in his throat. Had he missed something? Someone?
But no. Kara stood alone in the small room. On the other side of the narrow bed stood a washstand and a wooden chair. At the foot sat a simple locker. A case had been set atop it. Niall wasn’t sure if it had been left open or if Kara had opened it, but she stood, staring down into it, her face gone white as a sheet.
“What is it?” He hurriedly stepped in behind her to peer down, but wasn’t sure what had spooked her.
“Gyda,” she called, her voice wavering.
His friend and assistant was there in an instant, and she too whitened as she noted the contents.
Niall stared down. It was a case full of smaller cases. Some small, some a little larger. Each was a box with a lid, but each box had been nestled inside the lid, as if leaving the treasure inside on view.
Except they didn’t appear to be treasures. One was a coin. Several contained ribbons. There was a small book of verse, a bracelet…
“A simple thing,” Gyda whispered, lifting a necklace from its box. “Twisted leather and a green stone pendant.”
As she looked up into Niall’s face, Kara’s eyes filled with tears. “Royston gave this to Mary’s sister, Maggie. The one she has come looking for.”
“The bracelet,” Gyda said hoarsely. “Mary said he gave the first girl at the mill a bracelet. They found her in the water.” She looked at all the trinkets. “Does this mean…? Do each of these represent a girl?”
A dead girl, was what she meant.
“There is one more box,” said Niall.
The lid was still on that one. Kara reached for it with shaking fingers. “I cannot,” she whispered, drawing her hand back.
Before Niall could move, Gyda reached out and lifted the lid.
No one made a sound.
Finally, Niall lifted out the soft green smock that had been folded inside. Recalling Beth’s descriptions, he shook it out and turned it so that he could fold down the bit around the buttonhole, where the shoulder strap would fasten. It shone in the dim light, the bright, pink-striped lily that had been lovingly embroidered there.
“Oh, no,” Kara moaned.
“Is that…?” Beth stood on the threshold, staring at the smock in Niall’s hands. “Are those Lily’s things?” She came forward to look in the case. She frowned—and then it registered. “The girls at the mill. The bracelet. The necklace.” She went completely pale. “He’s… He’s…”
Niall began to fold the smock up again. When he started to put it back in the case, Beth tried to stop him. “No,” she said sharply. “No! Don’t put it back. That means—” She stopped, horrified.
“We must,” Niall said gently. “We have to put everything back the way we found it. The police need to see it that way. They need to hear the story about the mill in Manchester. We need to go to Wooten.”
“It’s so late,” Kara said, sounding weary with worry and grief. “Surely he’s at home. Should we wait until morning?”
Niall shook his head. “I’d say the odds are high they are all still at the Yard.” He considered. “Even if Wooten or Frye are not there, there will be men there familiar with the case. We need to let them know about this place, and discover what they found when they went to the charity.”
“Perhaps they have Royston,” Rob said from the doorway. “Perhaps that’s why he’s not here.”
“Then where is Lily?” Beth demanded. She glanced back at the case, dread and certainty warring in her expression.
“Maybe they have her, too?” Rob offered.
Beth didn’t answer. She just stared into the case. “He needs to be stopped.”
