Page 30 of Murder on Harley Street
“They don’t see me the same way as they see you. I’m a Fox, not a Bainbridge.”
“Ha!”
I ignored his reaction and changed the subject. “Is Flossy with your mother? How is she?”
“Mother is resting in her room. Flossy is having afternoon tea with friends.” He nodded in the direction of the sitting room.
“How lovely. I am pleased to see your parents giving her more freedom.” Usually if Flossy wanted to go out socially, she had to be chaperoned. With her mother often ill, and me out investigating, her social engagements had been limited. Lately, however, she’d been allowed to meet her friends for afternoon tea as long as they stayed within the hotel.
When Harry finished chatting to the two ladies, Floyd made sure to catch him before anyone else waylaid him. He said he wanted to know more about the potential threat to Mr. Lombardi’s event, but I suspected he also wanted to warn him to stay away from me. That was a discussion Harry could handle without me.
I left them and headed to the staff parlor, where Harmony was indeed enjoying a cup of tea and game of cribbage with Goliath and Victor. She invited me to join them, but I declined.
“I can’t stay long. I ought to go and look in on my aunt. Harmony, Floyd wants to talk to you.”
She rose to leave, but I asked her to stay a moment longer.
“He told me about Mr. Lombardi’s advances,” I went on.
Victor had been shuffling the deck of cards, but his quick hands suddenly stilled. “Advances?”
Harmony flipped her hand, dismissing our concern. “It was nothing. I’ve experienced far worse from other guests.”
“You have?” I asked, dismayed.
Again, she dismissed my concern with a gesture. “Housemaids are used to it. We learn how to deflect unwanted interest in a way that doesn’t cause offence.”
“While I’m glad you’re not upset, it isn’t all right for men to treat you like that, whether they’re important guests or not. I’m glad Floyd was a witness. He and my uncle need to be aware of these things so they can do something about it. You should inform Mrs. Short when it happens while on maid duty.”
“Nothing will change.”
“Then inform me,” Victor growled. “I’ll see that it doesn’t happen again.”
I eyed his knife belt on the table where he’d laid it beside the cribbage scoring board so that he could sit more comfortably. Like all the cooks, he brought his own tools of the trade to work. Dressed in crisp, clean chef whites, he must be employed on the dinner shift, due to start shortly. While I didn’t think Victor would actually cut anyone who made an inappropriate advance toward his girl, I worried that he’d use a blade to threaten them. That was a dismissible offence, not to mention an arrestable one.
Harmony changed the subject. “How is the investigation coming along?”
“Slowly but surely,” I said. “We have a number of suspects, including a woman who acted suspiciously at the clinic on the day one of the keys went missing. We’re not sure how she is connected to the victim, but she gave a false name and address.”
“I read about the murder,” Goliath said as he stretched out his long legs and crossed them at the ankles. “Apparently the doctor was arrested. Am I right in saying he is Lady Bainbridge’s doctor?”
“Goliath,” Harmony snapped. “That’s none of our business.”
Goliath shrank a little from her harsh tone. “Sorry,” he mumbled.
“It’s all right,” I said. “Dr. Iverson was her doctor, but she is seeing someone else now. The doctor wasn’t arrested, merely taken in for questioning. He was released this morning. Harry and I have already interviewed him.”
“Do you think he murdered his patient?”
Before I could respond, Victor made a scoffing sound. “In his own consulting rooms? He’d be an idiot to kill someone there.”
“That’s the theory Harry and I are working on, too,” I said. “It’s most likely someone else tampered with the machine with the plan of besmirching the doctor’s reputation.”
Goliath pointed a finger at me. “Or that’s what he wants you to believe because it’s a bluff.” He frowned. “Or is it a double bluff?”
Victor clapped a hand on the big porter’s shoulder as he stood. “Don’t think too hard, something might explode.”
“You sound like Frank.”
