Seven Dials - Anne Perry [115]
Without taking a second to think, she smiled at him dazzlingly. “Then you had better enlighten me, Mr. Narraway. What danger is it? Who is likely to hurt me, and how? Obviously you know, or you would not have taken time from your own case to come to tell me . . . at this hour.”
He was disconcerted. Again it was there only for an instant, but she saw it with sharp satisfaction. He had expected her to be cowed, humbled by censure, and instead she had turned his words back on him.
He sidestepped her challenge. “You are afraid something unpleasant has happened to Martin Garvie?” he asked.
She refused to be defensive. “Yes,” she said frankly. “Mr. Ferdinand Garrick says that his son and Martin have gone to the south of France, but if that is true, then why in three weeks did Martin not write to his sister and tell her so?” She was not going to let Narraway know that Tellman had also tried and failed to find any record of their having sailed, or even a witness to their taking a train. Tellman could not afford to attract the notice of his new superior, still less his criticism, and she did not trust Narraway not to use information in any way that suited his own immediate purpose.
“Do you fear an accident?” he asked.
He was playing with her, and she knew it.
“Of what sort?” She raised her eyebrows. “I cannot think of one that would cause the danger to me that you suggest.”
He relaxed and smiled. “Touché,” he said softly. “But I am perfectly serious, Mrs. Pitt. I am aware that you have concerned yourself with this young man’s apparent disappearance, and that he is, or was, manservant to Stephen Garrick. The Garrick family is of some power in society—and in government circles. Ferdinand Garrick had a fine military career, ended with a good command—lieutenant general, before he retired. Rigid, loyal to the empire to the last inch, God, Queen, and country.”
Charlotte was perplexed. She stood in the middle of the room looking at Narraway while he relaxed a fraction more with every second. If Garrick were as upright and honorable as Narraway said, the “muscular Christian” Vespasia knew, then simply he would not be party to any abuse of a servant, let alone the kind of danger she and Gracie had come to fear.
Narraway saw her hesitation. “But he is a man of little mercy if he feels he is being criticized,” he went on. “He would not like his affairs questioned, by anyone. Like many proud men, he is also intensely private.”
She lifted her chin a little. “And what could he do, Mr. Narraway? Ruin my reputation in society? I do not have one. My husband is an officer in Special Branch, a man the authorities use but pretend does not exist. When he was superintendent of Bow Street, I might have entertained social aspirations, but hardly now.”
He colored very faintly. “I know that, Mrs. Pitt. Many people do great things and are publicly unappreciated, possibly even unthanked. The only comfort is that if you are not praised for your successes, at least you may not be blamed for your failures.” His face shadowed, fierce emotion suppressed under a tight control. “And we all have them.”
There was such a heaviness in his voice, carefully as he disguised it, that she knew he was speaking of himself, and something painfully learned, not observed from others. It was not belief that moved him but knowledge.
“I am concerned for you, Mrs. Pitt,” he went on. “Of course he will not change your value in the eyes of your friends, but he can wield a cruel influence on all your family, if he wishes to, or feels himself vulnerable.” He was watching her closely. She found his look gripping—almost as if he physically held her.
“Do you think some harm has come to Martin Garvie?” she asked him. “Please speak honestly, whether I can do anything to help or not. Lies, however comfortable, will not improve my behavior, I promise you.”
There was a quickening in his eyes, a spark of humor in spite of the other emotions crowding close. “I have no idea. I cannot