A Breach of Promise - Anne Perry [118]
“Yes sir? Can I help you?”
“Good morning, ma’am,” he answered with more courtesy than he would have used in his days as a policeman. He had no power to demand anymore. “I am making enquiries on behalf of a friend whose brother used to live in this house twenty-one years ago. I realize it is unlikely anyone will know what became of him now. It is really his children I am concerned with. She lost touch….” He saw the look of concern and disbelief in the woman’s face. Twenty years was too long to account for renewed interest now without an explanation. He made himself smile again. “Her own circumstances were difficult. She had not the financial means to employ anyone to seek after them, nor the time or knowledge to do it herself.”
“And she has now?” the woman said, skepticism still evident in her voice.
“No,” Monk admitted. “I am doing it as a favor. She is in service in a house where a friend of mine is nursing an injured soldier.”
“Oh.” The answer seemed to satisfy. “Twenty-one years ago, did you say?”
“Yes. Were you in this house then?” The moment he had said it he realized it was a foolish question. She could not be much more than twenty-five herself.
She smiled and shook her head. “No sir, that I wasn’t. Sure I was still at home in Ireland then, but my pa was. He worked here, and he lodged over the road with Mrs. O’Hare. He’d maybe know who was here then. Missed us all, he did, and were terrible fond o’ the little ones. If you’d like to come away in, I’ll ask him for you.”
“Thank you Mrs….”
“Mrs. Heggerty, Maureen Heggerty. Come away in, then, sir.” And she backed into the passageway, pulling the door wide for him to follow. “Pa!” she called, lifting her voice. “Pa! There’s a gentleman here as would like to see you.”
“William Monk,” he introduced himself. She turned her back to him and was awaiting her father’s answer to her summons, so it seemed inopportune to offer her a card.
“Welcome, Mr. Monk. Pa! Are you fallen asleep again now? It’s only half past ten in the morning.”
A man of about sixty came lumbering from the back of the house, pushing a large hand through thick silver-white hair. He was dressed in shapeless trousers and a collarless shirt with its sleeves rolled up. He denied it indignantly, but obviously to Monk, he had indeed been asleep. He looked like a bear woken from winter hibernation. He blinked past his daughter at Monk standing in the passage, silhouetted against the light from the still-open front door and the sunlit street beyond.
“Sure and what is it I can be doin’ for yer, sir?” he said pleasantly enough. He narrowed his eyes to focus on Monk’s face and try to read something beyond his beautifully cut jacket and shining boots.
“Good morning, sir,” Monk said respectfully. “Mrs. Heggerty tells me you lived in this street twenty-one years ago—in the house opposite this one?”
“Two doors along,” he corrected. “On t’other side.” His brow creased. “Why would that be interestin’ to you?”
“I believe a Mr. Samuel Jackson lived here then,” Monk explained. Mrs. Heggerty stood between them, the light on her fair hair, her hands tucked under her apron. “He had two children,” Monk went on. “I am making enquiries on behalf of Mr. Jackson’s sister, who is at last in a position to attempt to trace those children. Since she is their only living relative, as far as she knows, she has a care that if there is any chance whatever of finding them, she may be able to offer them some … some affection, if that is possible.” He knew it sounded foolish even as he said it, and wished he had thought of something better.
“For sure, poor little things,” the older man said with a shake of his head. “A bit late now, mind you.” The criticism was only mild. He was a man who had seen much tragedy of a quiet domestic kind, and it was written in his weathered face and his bright, narrowed eyes as he regarded Monk.
“You knew them?” Monk said quickly.
“I saw them,” the man corrected. “Knew them’d not be the right word. They were only tiny things.”
“Would you not like a cup o’ tea, Mr. Monk?” Mrs. Heggerty interrupted.