Page 70 of Courier of Death
Jasper had a decent idea why.
Shortly before Mrs. Bates had been subdued, Sergeant Lewis had arrived at Holloway Prison with news from her home on Rupert Street. Her maid had nervously insisted yet again that she could not tell him anything about her mistress. Mrs. Bates was a dragon with the worst temper, and the maid provided an example of her wrath.
“Her first day on the job, the maid was cleaning in Mrs. Bates’s bedroom when she found a leather case stuffed under the bed,” Lewis explained, a grin pulling at his mouth as he spoke. “She took it out and was going to set it with the other luggage stored away when Mrs. Bates saw her and flew into a rage, telling her to put it back or she’d be sacked. I asked the maid to describe the case.”
Jasper had caught on. “Let me guess. Brown leather with floral embroidery and a monogram that did not match the initials of her mistress?”
At Lewis’s nod, Jasper knew they had her.
The detective sergeant was tasked with bringing their new prisoner to Scotland Yard to be booked and held for questioning. Meanwhile, Jasper would deliver Leo to her uncle, so that Claude could determine whether the gash along her side needed sutures.
Leo resisted, of course. “You should go with Sergeant Lewis. I’m perfectly capable of seeing myself to Spring Street.”
“Get in the cab,” he’d replied, holding the door open for her. The sight of her blood-darkened shirtwaist elevated his pulse—and fortified his determination to see her safely into Claude’s care.
On the drive back to Westminster, Leo divulged what Emma Bates had revealed during her hasty escape attempt.
“She didn’t exactly confess that she took Geraldine’s valise,” Leo said, pressing the handkerchief Jasper had given her to her hip. His heart rate evened somewhat when, after several minutes, the amount of blood on the linen hadn’t increased.
“She didn’t say anything specific about who helped assemble the bomb, but she did mention Constable Lloyd and how the plan hadn’t been for him to die. He was simply supposed to place the bomb.”
Her voice cracked over the last words as she’d likely thought of her friend, Miss Brooks, and the future that had been stolen from her.
“So, he was working for the Angels then?” Jasper asked.
“It doesn’t sound like he had much of a choice, given he was in the gang’s debt.”
The depravity of Mrs. Bates’s mind sickened and infuriated Jasper. Added to that was the frustration that Leo had been harmed—and that he had not been able to shield her.
After she’d alighted from the cab onto the pavement in front of the morgue, Leo held out her arm to stay him when he’d tried to walk her to the door. He bounced his chest off her palm before stepping back.
“I am perfectly well, and you are needed at the Yard.” She swung out her arm, pointing in the direction of Whitehall Place. “Go.”
She was right. So, he’d assented with a nod and climbed back into the cab. Now, as Jasper reached the CID, he braced himself for impact.
It came at him like a runaway train.
“What the devil have you done, Reid?” Blood infused Inspector Tomlin’s cheeks and lit the tips of his ears red. “I told you to keep your nose out of my investigation.”
The room went silent. Constables and detectives hung back to view the brewing altercation and give it plenty of room to unfold. Jasper could understand Tomlin’s reaction. His slapdash work, which had led to a hasty arrest, was about to be thrown out. It was a bad look and a black mark on his reputation.
“I’ve brought in the woman who arranged for Niles Foster’s murder and the bombing that killed PC Lloyd,” he replied as he removed his coat and tossed it over his chair. “It will all be in my report. You’re welcome to look through it once it’s finished. But for now, I have an interview.”
Lewis stood near the closed door to the interview room, a pane of frosted glass obscuring the sight of Mrs. Bates seated inside.
“You have nothing solid,” Tomlin said, sticking to Jasper’s heels.
“In fact, I do. A witness who saw Mrs. Bates with the valise in her home, and a confession Mrs. Bates made to Miss Spencer.” He’d gotten damn lucky. Without the maid and Leo, Tomlin would have been correct. Jasper would have been able to implicate her in the bribery scheme involving Mr. Stewart and Sir Elliot but not the bombing.
Tomlin scoffed loudly, emitting a snort. “Miss Spencer? As I said, you have nothing. Neither the chief, the superintendent, nor the commissioner will trust a single word out of that deluded, interfering cow’s mouth. The woman belongs in Bedlam.”
Jasper reacted without thought. He whirled around and grabbed ahold of the belligerent detective. Grasping Tomlin’s collar in his fists, he slammed him against the wall just outside the interview room. The tense quiet surrounding them shattered.
“If every woman who proved herself to be smarter than you was sent to Bedlam, they’d be spilling out the bloody windows.” Jasper’s broken ribs burned as he held a thrashing Tomlin in place.
“Guv,” Lewis said, barring a few other officers who’d scrabbled forward to peel the two men apart. “Coughlan’s on his way. Let him go.”
Jasper tossed Tomlin aside, who then immediately lunged for him. The other officers intercepted, holding him back with hands and arms to his chest. Jasper readjusted his tie and threw open the door to the interview room. Mrs. Bates, seated at the table in handcuffs, peered at him coolly.
