Page 60 of Cloaked in Deception
“Do you have any idea when she might return?”
His clasped hands squeezed a little tighter.
“I do not.” The succinct answer was guarded and cool. There was something behind it; some knowledge he didn’t wish to share with her. If his young wife had disappeared, the man would likely want to conceal it, if only to keep his pride intact.
“How long has she been gone, Mr. Blickson?”
Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t pleased with the question. “That is none of your concern, Miss…? What is your name anyhow? You’ve not said.”
“Spencer,” she replied. “Leonora Spencer. And it is my concern since I believe your wife is very likely involved in the disappearance of a young boy.”
Shock stiffened his back. His hands unclasped to grip the arms of his chair. “That is preposterous. I won’t stand for such an accusation.”
As Leo’s tenuous welcome had now come to an end, she set aside polite restraint. “Has Mrs. Blickson ever mentioned the name George Hayes to you?”
He had started to rise but then, with a cock of his head, slowly floated back into his seat. “Hayes, you say?”
Recognition softened the older man’s scowl, and Leo’s skin prickled with excitement. “Yes. George Hayes. He would be thirteen.”
He blinked, flummoxed. “Are you saying George Hayes is the boy who is missing?”
Leo leaned forward. “Do you know him?”
“I believe he is the son of one of my clients.”
“Your client is Stanley Hayes?”
Mr. Blickson appeared awed that she knew the name. “Yes, well, he is a rather new client.” According to Esther Goodwin, Mr. Blickson owned an estate insurance firm. “But you are mistaken, Miss Spencer. My wife has no reason to take the boy. They got along famously when they met.”
Leo leapt to her feet. “When was this? Where did they meet?”
“Last month, at a dinner,” he spluttered. "The Hayeses invited my wife and me to their home.”
And there, Paula had met George Hayes.
Leo could only imagine how she must have reacted when she saw the boy. Had she known right away who George truly was? The prominent mole on his right cheek had been partially hidden in the photograph, appearing more like a dark smudge of ink, thanks to the camera’s careful angle, but Paulawould have seen it fully. She would have surely recalled baby Edward’s same marking and seen George’s strong resemblance to herself. And she would have noted, as Leo had, how very little George resembled Stanley and Melanie Hayes. Her old belief that Edward had not died but instead been taken would have resurfaced with a vengeance.
“George Hayes has not been seen in over a day,” Leo said. “I must ask you again, Mr. Blickson, how long has your wife been gone?”
For a protracted moment, he lifted his chin as if to refuse to answer. But he must have already been stewing with worry and uncertainty because his resistance summarily fractured. “Since Friday evening.”
George was first noted to be missing from Hayes Manor on Saturday morning. If Paula had not been seen since Friday night, that aligned with the timing of George’s disappearance.
“Did your wife ever speak of her childhood? Of her baby…” Leo paused. “Of her baby brother, Edward?”
She was certain Paula would not have shared with her husband what Leo now believed to be true—that Edward had been her child, not her brother.
Mr. Blickson squinted, his liver-spotted hands now rubbing at his chin with anxiousness. “The one who died? She mentioned him only once, but…honestly, Miss Spencer, we do not often speak deeply on such matters.” Mr. Blickson emitted a defeated sigh, no longer looking as though he wanted to toss her out. “I am not foolish enough to believe Paula is in love with me. I wanted a companion, and she needed security. Stability. I offered her both. Constricting her, trying to make her love me, would have ruined what we have.”
A marriage to someone like Mr. Blickson would not be such a bad arrangement, Leo conceded. It was pragmatic, really, and it did seem as if he was a kind and patient husband. He maynot have even demanded consummation of their marital vows. Perhaps, at the time, those had been the most important things to Paula.
But a marriage based on friendship could not hope to compete with love. Love in any form, really.
“Do you have any idea where she could be, Mr. Blickson?” Leo asked. “Have you checked with her aunt, Mrs. Goodwin?”
He shook his head. “I had planned to tomorrow, if Paula did not return by then.”
Leo knew where to find Esther Goodwin. However, not Esther’s son, Felix. He and Paula had to be close, considering he’d escorted her to Scotland Yard. “What about Felix Goodwin, her cousin?”
