Belle - Lesley Pearse [231]
‘So he’s still at large?’ Belle asked nervously.
‘Yes, but there’s a huge manhunt going on. Every policeman in London is out; there’s nothing that motivates them quite as much as one of their own being down.’
‘If they knew he owned Pearl’s, why didn’t they stake it out before?’ Jimmy asked.
‘I don’t think they did know that. Pearl has been arrested. I dare say we’ll find she was too scared to turn him in.’
Mog had come into the kitchen, her face was pale with fright. ‘Where have all Pearl’s girls gone?’ she asked.
Noah shrugged. ‘No idea, but as I came past there the police had it cordoned off. If the girls have got any sense they’ll stay away for a while.’
‘That’s their home, Noah,’ Belle reminded him, remembering how it was when Millie was murdered: so much hysteria and fright, yet at least the girls were allowed to stay in the house. ‘All their belongings will be in there and most won’t have anywhere else to go.’
‘Do you think we should go away somewhere?’ Mog asked.
Garth looked at her, saw how scared she was and went over to her and put his arms around her protectively. ‘I can’t leave here even if I wanted to,’ he said. ‘The place would be broken into as soon as we’d left the street, and I’m not letting you or Belle out of my sight. But Kent won’t dare come here. He’s not a fool or he’d have been caught days ago. So we stay, business as usual, only we keep vigilant.’
‘We’ll all sit down and have breakfast,’ Belle said. She lifted the frying pan down off the hook, knowing that would spur Mog into laying the table.
Some fifteen minutes later they were all sitting around the table eating bacon and eggs, and calm had returned.
‘I meant to come round last night,’ Noah said as he took another slice of bread. ‘We got a telegraph yesterday at the office from Paris saying the police have found the other girl’s body. But I was there so late working on a piece about it, it got too late to call here.’
‘Was she buried in Pascal’s garden?’ Belle asked. She could feel goose bumps popping up all over her.
‘No, they dug all that up but found nothing. It was on some waste ground round the back of the Sacré-Coeur. A workman found it when they were levelling out the ground to pave it. They identified her by a necklace her grandmother had given her.’
‘How did she die?’ Garth asked.
‘Must we talk about this as we eat?’ Mog said, her voice shaking.
Noah apologized, but went on regardless to say the girl had been strangled.
‘But can they prove Pascal did it?’ Belle asked.
‘They found some items of her clothing in his house,’ Noah said. ‘They were ones she was wearing on the night she disappeared. That seems to be enough to convict him.’
‘If I was one of the police there I’d beat a confession out of him,’ Garth said darkly.
‘I would be surprised if they hadn’t already done that,’ Noah smirked. ‘His trial will be set any day now. I shall go to Paris to cover it.’
‘Will I have to go too?’ Belle asked.
‘I doubt it very much. Philippe said when we were there that your statement was enough for them. They have arrested Madame Sondheim too. They might need you there for her trial, but that’s a way off yet. They are still gathering more evidence about her crimes and of course the others’ in the chain.’
‘What about Lisette?’ Belle asked. ‘Will she give evidence?’
‘You’ll be able to talk to her about that yourself, she’s on her way here.’ Noah smiled broadly, excitement showing in his eyes. ‘I got a letter from her just two days ago. She and her son were in Normandy then with her aunt, and they will be arriving in Dover in a week’s time. I’m going to look at a place for her later today. It’s close to where I live.’
‘Will Etienne know all about this?’ Belle had to ask about him, she just couldn’t help herself. She felt Jimmy’s eyes on her and hoped he hadn’t picked up on her eagerness and guessed he’d got a rival.
‘He might not have been told about the body by the church, but he’ll know about Madame Sondheim – by all accounts he’s been of great