Anno Dracula - Kim Newman [98]
Miss Reed did not appear to notice the irony. ‘Do you think the assault has anything to do with your interest in the Whitechapel murders?’
That had not occurred to Geneviève. She considered a moment. ‘I doubt it. Whatever you might have heard, I am scarcely an important figure in the investigation. The police have talked to me about the effects of the murders on this community, but that is the extent of my involvement...’
‘And you’ve been consulted by Charles... by Mr Beauregard. The other night...’
‘Again, he has spoken with me but nothing more. I understand I owe him a debt of gratitude for distracting the elder.’
Miss Reed was rather intent on digging out something. Geneviève had the impression that the lady journalist was more interested in Charles than in the Ripper.
‘And what is Mr Beauregard’s actual involvement in the investigation?’
‘That, you would have to ask him.’
‘I shall,’ Miss Reed said. ‘When he can be found.’
‘He can be found here, Kate,’ Charles said.
He had come into the foyer a few minutes ago. Geneviève had not noticed him standing quietly in the corner. Miss Reed’s eyes narrowed and she slipped on a pair of smoked glasses. She had the new-born’s pallor, but Geneviève discerned the ghost of a blush on her cheeks.
‘Um,’ Miss Reed said. ‘Charles, good evening.’
‘I come to call upon an invalid, but I find her quite recovered.’
Charles bowed to Geneviève. Miss Reed’s line of questioning had petered out.
‘Thank you for your time, Miss Dieudonné,’ she said. ‘I shall leave you to entertain your caller. Charles, good night.’
The new-born flitted out into the night.
‘What was all that about?’
She shrugged, and her neck hurt. ‘I don’t know, Charles. Are you familiar with Miss Reed?’
‘Kate’s a friend of my... a friend of Penelope’s.’ At his own mention of his fiancée – whose veiled face and guardedly hostile eyes Geneviève had cause to remember – Charles’s face fell, and he shook his head. ‘Maybe she has been talking with Penelope,’ he suggested. ‘It is more than I have been.’
Despite herself, Geneviève was interested. She should be beyond such things, but in her weakness she reverted to a silly gossip.
‘I had the impression that you were required to call upon Miss Churchward this afternoon.’
Charles half-smiled. ‘You were not alone in that impression but circumstances intervened. There was trouble in St James’s Park.’
She found Charles holding her hands as if feeling the bones for damage.
‘Forgive me for being overly inquisitive but there is something about your domestic arrangements that puzzles me.’
‘Oh, really,’ he said, cooling.
‘Yes. Am I correct in assuming that Miss Churchward, Penelope, is a connection of Mrs Beauregard, Pamela, your former wife...’
Charles’s face betrayed nothing.
‘I would assume them sisters were it not for the fact, demonstrated by Mr Holman Hunt and Miss Waugh, that if such were so, your engagement would constitute incest under English law.’
‘Penelope is Pamela’s cousin. They were brought up in the same household. As sisters, if you will.’
‘So you intend to marry the pseudo-sister of your late wife?’
He picked his words carefully. ‘That was indeed my intent.’
‘Does this not strike you as a peculiar arrangement?’
Charles let go of her hands and turned away with a suspiciously casual aspect. ‘No stranger than any other, surely...’
‘Charles, I do not wish to embarrass you, but you must remember... the other night in the cab... through no fault of mine, I have some, uh, some understanding of your feelings, for Pamela, for Penelope...’
Sighing, Charles said, ‘Geneviève, I appreciate your concern but I assure you it is quite needless. Whatever the motives for my engagement might have been, they now mean nothing. It is my understanding that, through no action of my own, I am released from my promise to Penelope.’
‘My condolences.’ She put her hand on his shoulder and turned him so she could see his eyes.
‘Condolences are unnecessary.’
‘I was flippant about Penelope the other night. I was light-headed,