Page 31 of The Devil in Oxford
Everything inside the front halllookednormal. “Mary said a boy came around the house to check on her. Did you speak with him?”
“I haven’t seen any boy.” Her answer came too quickly. Her breath too short. “Haven’t seen anyone today at all… been working on a paper. I thought Leona was at the museum. She left here after dawn.”
Annabelle was lying. It was clear as day. But why? I tilted myhead, peering into the welcoming foyer. “Can I come in? Wait until she returns home? It’s damnably cold out here.”
The girl shifted on her bare stockinged feet and tugged her oversized gray jumper tighter around her. “You better not, Miss Vaughn.”
And that was when I heard the voices.
Annabelle heard them too, and her face visibly blanched.
One was definitely Leona’s.
The second belonged to a man.
“Who is with her?” I growled, wrapping my fingers around the door just above hers.
Annabelle released the door, holding up her palms in defeat. “She’s safe. She’s fine. I promise you, Miss Vaughn.”
I raised a brow, my voice far sharper than I’d intended. “Julius Harker is dead. I suspect he also told his own friendshewas fine, until he wasn’t.”
Annabelle wet her lips, glancing back toward the room where Leona entertained her guest. “She said I wasn’t to allow anyone in, to tell them she was out all day. Please, Miss Vaughn. I don’t want to cause trouble with her.”
“Even me?” I raised a brow.
She worried her lower lip unable to meet my gaze. “Yes, Miss Vaughn. I asked. She said even you.”
She may as well have struck me across the face. I stared at her dumbfounded.
Leona had explicitly told her flatmate to not let me in. I struggled to tamp down the betrayal and rage battling within me. Annabelle was an innocent in this. But Leona… Leona had begged me to help her and was now keeping secrets. And secrets were the one thing I could not abide. “Tell her to meet me at the Artemis Club tomorrow morning at seven sharp. Or else I assure you I will be back here tomorrow afternoon, and I will not stand politely and wait to be turned away.” I tilted my chin toward the hall. “Tellher if she wants my help, she cannot lie to me again. Those are my terms. She can accept them, or she can solve Julius Harker’s murder on her own.”
The worried girl nodded. “I will. I promise. I’m sorry, Miss Vaughn. I am…”
I turned on my heels and stormed down the street and back toward the townhome. It made no sense. Why would Leona come begging for my help and then behave in such a way? And moreover, who had been in the house that both Annabelle and Leona didn’t want me to see?
CHAPTERFOURTEENOther, More-Academic Pursuits
GOLDENlight filtered out the windows of a nearby pub as I tugged my coat tighter around me. My temper hadn’t eased one little bit in the last half hour, and I was most of the way home. All my concerns—my mysterious shadow, the prospect of yet another imposter, the fact Imightbe seeing people who aren’t really there, and the tangled web with Ruan—all of those minor problems took a back seat to the fact that Leona hadliedto me. Lied to me and explicitly had her flatmate turn me away. I blew out an irritated breath. Mary told me Leona had been arguing with Professor Reaver over Julius Harker, and now here she was having secret assignations. I’d bet my life the two things were connected.
Pausing outside the pub, I blew into my half-frozen hands. I’d forgotten my gloves when I set out this afternoon—a fact I already regretted as my fingers were quite numb and stinging from the cold. The proprietor here had trimmed the windows and doorways in cheery shades of red, gold, and green. A sprig of mistletoe hung over a nearby doorway. The main taproom was full of souls gathering around a pint—or three—and having a bite of supper before returning to their homes for the night. The door opened and a teetering rosy-cheeked old man stepped out into the cold, allowingthe roar from inside to flood the street. I did not long to be inside among them—cozied up by the fire and veiled by frosted windowpanes. For some, the idea might bring a sort of wistfulness for days gone by, but I simply wanted to walk away from this world and not look back. My chest tightened.
Leona was keeping secrets from me. She might well know the answers to my questions about Harker’s missing cache, but I could no longer trust her words. My heart ached at the thought.I should go home. Wash my hands of this whole sordid affair and return to Exeter, away from murderers and antiquarians.And yet I could no more abandon poor Mr. Mueller to his fate than I could forego the sea. It was an impossibility. Unthinkable. And if I could no longer trust Leona, then there was only one person in the world who could help now. Me.
I would simply have to return to Harker’s museum and search for the missing antiquities myself. I already possessed a notion of the lay of the museum. The bulk of his collection likely lay beneath the public floors, as in any other museum. I was perfectly able to translate both hieratic and demotic on my own. While it took me longer than Leona with translation, I knew my way around an ancient text. What’s more, I even knew what objects I sought. It should be a simple enough task. Let myself in, look around, leave.
Easy.
“Miss Vaughn! It’s lovely to see you again this evening.”
Emmanuel Laurent stepped out of the pub, the wind catching the door and slamming it hard behind him. He turned, embarrassed by the sound, before returning to my side. “My dear girl, I did not expect to see you tonight. How is Owen this evening?” He adjusted his bowler before tucking his fine red-and-navy-striped scarf into his overcoat. I met his warm smile with one of my own, unable to resist the warmth of his presence.
“Mr. Owen is well. I was headed home just now. I’m late for supper and I suspect he will be worried.” It was a harmless fiction.Mr. Owen worried in his way—but he seldom let it show. If I had to guess, he was most likely sitting in the kitchen playing gin rummy with Mrs. Penrose while she plied my greedy housecat with tinned fish.
Laurent stretched, running his hands over his belly. “I met some friends for dinner and was about to head off to a lecture tonight. You are more than welcome to join us, my dear. I do so enjoy your company. You are a breath of fresh air amongst our staid set.”
I started to tell him no, that I really ought to go home, but for some strange reason I could not make the words come.
His brows drew up as he studied me. “Are you quite all right, my dear?”
