Fellows’ face burned. “Good Lord, sir. She is not my mistress.”
“Then why did Dobbs charge in here bright and early this morning and tell me she was? Yes, he gave me the whole story of finding you ravishing the lead suspect in the Hargate case on top of your desk.” Kenton’s mouth tightened. “You need to speak to that lad about going over your head to spread tittle-tattle. A constable should be loyal to his own guvnor, whether that guvnor is ravishing suspects or not.”
“I wasn’t ravishing her,” Fellows said. “Dobbs got it wrong.” And he’d wring the boy’s neck.
“Dobbs’ exact words were: He had her spread across the desk, knees up, and he were kissing her tits.” Kenton mimicked Dobbs’ youthful voice exactly. “Not something I wanted to hear, trust me.”
“It doesn’t matter what Dobbs saw or what he said.” Fellows’ voice hardened. “It doesn’t matter what my feelings for her are either. Louisa Scranton is innocent. I know it. Whatever the world thinks of her, she did not kill the Bishop of Hargate.”
“Climb down off your high horse. I don’t care if you had her naked on her hands and knees and were giving her one up the backside. I care that Hargate’s dad and mum and all the titles they’re connected to want a result. My neck’s being breathed on, and so I’m breathing on yours. You’re too slow. I’m giving the case to Harrison.”
“No.” Cold fear spread through Fellows’ body. “Harrison arrests everyone in sight then sorts out who did what. Sometimes he doesn’t find out the truth until several people have been hanged.”
“But he’s fast and he gets his man. Or woman.”
“No.” Fellows leaned over the desk again, barely stopping himself from grabbing Kenton and shaking him. “Please. I promise I’ll stay the hell away from Lady Louisa. Miles away if need be. But don’t take me off the case. I’ll find the culprit—I promise you. Don’t leave her to Harrison’s mercy.”
Kenton gave him a severe look. “I’ve gone to the wall for you, Fellows. Several times. Worth it to keep you. But by God, you push it.”
“If you give this to Harrison, sir, I’m off the force.”
Kenton scowled. “Don’t threaten me. I’ve been threatened by more frightening men than you in my time, believe me, including my own guvnor.”
“I’m not threatening. If I’m off the case, I’m gone. I’ll not stay where men arrest innocent young women only to prove they’re getting things done. I’ll go, and then I’ll protect her from you any way I can.” He paused. “Sir.”
Kenton sat back in his chair. The look on his face said he knew damn well Fellows wanted to throttle him, but he put up no defenses. “You said you were going off to the races on Monday. To Newmarket.”
“Yes, but I won’t go. Keep me on, and I’ll stay here and work—”
“Let me finish. You’ll go. You need the day out. If, before you leave, you make an arrest—one that will stick—then I won’t pull you from the case. If you haven’t solved it before you go, then you’re off.”
Fellows stared at him in dismay. “That’s only two days.”
“Yes, it is. It’s the best I can do for you.”
“I mean it,” Fellows said. “If I can’t solve this case in two blasted days, and you pull me off, I’m gone.”
Kenton raked papers back toward him. “Then you’d better solve it quick then, hadn’t you?”
Fellows moved his fists from the desk again and straightened up. Kenton was finished, the interview over.
As Fellows walked to the door, Kenton cleared his throat behind him. “And stay away from the Scranton woman. I’ll hold you to that. Unless you’re escorting her to Bow Street and the magistrate, I don’t want you anywhere near her.”
“Yes, sir,” Fellows said stiffly, and made his way through the building back to his office.
He walked in on Dobbs sitting on a wooden chair holding a hand to his bruised and bloody face. Pierce was wringing out his own hand, looking furious.
“Pierce,” Fellows snapped.
Pierce betrayed no shame. “I was just explaining to Dobbs that he don’t go around his chief inspector to tell tales, no matter what. You respect your team.”
Fellows gazed quietly down at Dobbs, who gazed back, half fearful, half defiant. “Dobbs,” Fellows said, his voice as chill as his stance. “It’s not you peaching to my guv that I mind. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. But if you ever speak about Lady Louisa again, especially in those words, to anyone, I will pound you until you can’t walk. Understand?”
Dobbs swallowed. “Yes, sir.”
“Now get me coffee and don’t spill anything this time. Pierce, we’re going to clear up this case before Monday. I want you to—”
“Monday?” Pierce said, springing up. “What the devil did the chief super say to you?”
“Monday,” Fellows repeated. “We’re dividing up the suspects between us, and we’ll poke and prod until we get answers. I don’t care who we annoy, provoke, or just plain make hate us. We’re not out to make friends; we’re out to catch a criminal. The first thing I want, though, is for you to find out everything—I mean absolutely everything—about the Honorable Gilbert Franklin. I want to know where he’s been, what he does when he’s there, what he has for breakfast, and when he shits it out again. All right?”
“Shits it out again,” Pierce wrote down in his notebook. “Got it, sir. I’ll start right now.”
Chapter Thirteen
That afternoon, Louisa sat once more in Mrs. Leigh-Waters’ back sitting room. This time, though, Daniel was with her, and Louisa had come for a purpose.
The fact that Mrs. Leigh-Waters received Louisa at all encouraged her. Mrs. Leigh-Waters had always been a close friend to Louisa’s mother and to Isabella, one of the few to stand by Isabella when Isabella had left Mac.
Today, the lady was full of sympathy for Louisa and also for Hargate. “I wake up with palpitations thinking about that poor man,” Mrs. Leigh-Waters said, pressing a hand to her bosom. “What he must have suffered. It must have been quite distressing for you, Louisa, to watch him die. I am so sorry, my dear.”
She sounded sorry, but also a bit morbidly curious. “Indeed,” Louisa said. “Thank you.”