Page 81 of Death of a Courtesan
Carter nodded.
‘Well, well, the plot thickens.’ Riley explained about Huxton’s shenanigans. ‘Take his statement and then lock him up. I don’t have time to worry about him now. Salter,’ he yelled. ‘With me.’
Riley borrowed two uniformed constables from Sergeant Barton and the small procession made their way rapidly to Battersea.
‘They are in it together?’ Salter asked, looking bemused.
‘So much for honour amongst whores,’ Riley replied bitterly. ‘No wonder Celeste asked to see me alone. She put up a show of caring about Adelaide that totally fooled me.’
‘It’s what these women do.’ Salter curled his upper lip disapprovingly, setting the ends of the moustache twitching. ‘They are expert manipulators, and we’re just men.’
‘Even so, I shouldn’t have taken her word at face value.’
‘No reason not to, until you knew that she stood to inherit,’ Salter said as the cab conveying them to Battersea rattled along at a dangerously fast pace, the driver having been promised a large tip if he got them there in record time. The constables he had borrowed followed behind them at a more sedate pace in the wagon used to transport prisoners. Riley knew that he would not be leaving Battersea without making arrests. ‘Did Mirabelle cut her rival’s throat?’
‘That is a question I fully intend to put to her,’ Riley said with grim determination. ‘I have had quite enough of being taken for a fool.’
Riley had the cab stop a short distance away from Celeste’s abode. He paid the jarvey the promised amount and he and Salter then walked the remainder of the way. Peterson greeted them upon their arrival.
‘They’re still both inside, sir,’ he said to Riley. ‘They’ve been in there for some time but I didn’t dare get any closer for fear of being seen.’
‘You did well, Peterson. Is there a back entrance?’
‘Yes, there’s a long garden that leads onto a pathway behind this row of houses. You get to it round this end house.’
Riley summoned the two constables who had just arrived. ‘Round the back,’ he said. ‘If anyone, man or woman tries to flee from that house, detain them by whatever means necessary.’
The constables saluted and quickly disappeared from view.
‘Right then, Peterson, you’re with us, and keep your wits about you.’
Peterson grinned. ‘You can depend on me, sir.’
Salter didn’t bother to knock and warn the women of their arrival. He simply turned the handle, found the door unlocked and walked through it, followed by Riley. A maid rushed forward, noticed Peterson in his uniform and as quickly disappeared. Raised voices came from the parlour that Riley had been in once before. He stayed Salter with a signal and they listened to what was being said.
‘You owe me,’ Mirabelle said. ‘And I want what’s mine.’
‘You’re talking rubbish. No one forced you to do anything.’
‘I’ll tell ’em what I know.’
Celeste chuckled. ‘And implicate yourself in a murder? I don’t think so. You shouldn’t be here. Now go and don’t bother me again or you will live to regret it.’ Celeste paused, her voice shrill, the cultured, modulated tone that had taken Riley in on his previous visit no longer in evidence.
‘She kept a diary. The police found it, so they’ll know all about you and Adelaide.’
‘They will know what I’ve already told them, which is the truth. Adelaide was my friend and I helped her. In return, she was helping Michael and me.’
‘Michael? Who the devil is Michael? The cove who set you up in this place, I suppose.’ Riley could hear the sneer in Mirabelle’s voice. ‘You’re no better than Adelaide was.’
Celeste’s chuckle held a wicked edge. ‘I, my dear, am a survivor.’
‘And you do whatever you have to in order to keep it that way.’
‘Don’t we all?’
‘If Adelaide was such a good friend to you, why did you kill her?’
Riley tensed as he shared a look with Salter, waiting to hear Celeste condemn herself with her own words.
