“I suspect that she went to meet him the night before last,” Howard whispered. “I had learned her small habits and ways well. I sensed her excitement and anticipation on those occasions when she planned to slip away to be with him. We were to attend a demonstration of animal magnetism performed by a gentleman named Cosgrove, who claims to be able to effect amazing cures with his mesmeric skills. But at the last moment she feigned an indisposition and declared that she would stay home. She insisted that I go. She was well aware that I had very much looked forward to witnessing Cosgrove at work.”
“So you did attend the demonstration?” Lavinia asked. She kept her voice soothing and gentle in an attempt to compensate for Tobias’s interrogation.
“Yes. The man proved to be a complete charlatan and I was vastly disappointed. When I returned home, I discovered that Celeste was gone. I knew then that she was with him, whoever he is. I lay awake all night waiting for her to return. She never came home. The next morning the authorities informed me that her body had been found inside a warehouse near the river. I have spent the past day and a half in a haze, dealing with the funeral arrangements.”
“Was she stabbed?” Tobias asked almost casually. “Or shot?”
“Strangled, they said.” Howard gazed bleakly at the wall. “I’m told the cravat the bastard used was still around her throat when she was found.”
“My God.” Unconsciously, Lavinia raised a hand to her own throat and swallowed.
“Any witnesses?” Tobias asked.
“None that I know of,” Howard whispered. “No one has come forward and I have no hope that any will. As I said, the authorities believe that she was the victim of a footpad.”
“Very few footpads use cravats as murder weapons,” Tobias said evenly. “Generally speaking, they don’t even wear them. Footpads are not much interested in fashion, in my experience.”
“I was told they suspect that the cravat was stolen earlier in the evening from some gentleman the killer robbed,” Howard explained.
“A bit of a stretch,” Tobias muttered.
He sounded exceedingly callous, Lavinia thought. “That is quite enough, sir.”
There was a short pause.
Howard and Tobias met each other’s eyes for that moment. Lavinia recognized the look as one of those silent, extremely irritating, man-to-man exchanges that completely excluded women.
“Who found the body?” Tobias asked.
Howard shook his head. “Does it matter?”
“It might,” Tobias said.
Howard rubbed his temples again, concentrating. “I believe the man who came to inform me of Celeste’s death mentioned that one of the street lads who sleep in the abandoned buildings near the river led the authorities to her. But there is more to this. Something else has happened that I must tell you about, Lavinia. Something very odd.”
She touched his shoulder. “What is it?”
“I received a caller late last night.” Howard gave her a stark look through a fan of spread fingers. “Indeed, it was nearly dawn when he arrived. I had sent the housekeeper away because I could not bear to have anyone else around while I came to terms with my grief. The stranger pounded until I awoke and went downstairs to open the door.”
“Who was he?” Lavinia asked.
“A most unpleasant little man who wouldn’t step into the light, so I never got a good look at him.” Howard slowly lowered his hands to his thighs. “He called himself Mr. Nightingale. Said he was in the business of arranging certain types of transactions.”
“What sort of transactions?” Tobias asked.
“He told me that he acts as a go-between for those who wish to buy and sell antiquities in what he called an extremely discreet manner. Apparently he guarantees anonymity for both buyer and seller.”
“In other words the transactions are not always of a legal nature,” Tobias said.
“I got that impression, yes.” Howard sighed heavily. “This man, Mr. Nightingale, told me that he had heard rumors to the effect that a very valuable antiquity had recently been stolen and that Celeste had been involved in the theft.”
Lavinia was dumbfounded. “Celeste stole a relic?”
“I do not believe that for a moment.” Howard waved the possibility aside with an impatient movement of one long-fingered hand. “My Celeste was no thief. Nevertheless, Nightingale claimed that word had gone out in the underworld to the effect that she was murdered for the damned thing.”
“What was the nature of this antiquity?” Tobias asked, showing the first signs of genuine interest in the proceedings.
Howard’s brows bunched together in a line above his patrician nose. “Nightingale described it as an ancient gold bracelet of Roman design. It was originally discovered here in England, a remnant of the days when this country was a province of the Roman Empire. It is set with a strange blue cameo carved with the image of Medusa.”
“What did Mr. Nightingale want from you?” Lavinia asked.
“Apparently the bloody thing is most unusual and is considered quite valuable to a certain sort of collector.”
“And Nightingale makes his living off unusual collectors who favor odd antiquities?” Tobias concluded.
“So he claimed.” Howard did not look at him. He focused his attention entirely on Lavinia. “Nightingale assumes that I know something concerning the whereabouts of the missing cameo. He made it clear that he can arrange to sell it for a fortune. He offered to pay me a fee if I will turn it over to him.”
“What did you tell him?” Tobias asked.
“What could I say?” Howard spread his hands. “I explained that I knew nothing about the Medusa. I don’t think that he believed me, but he warned me that I am in grave danger, regardless of whether or not I told him the truth.”
“Why are you in danger?” Lavinia asked.
“Nightingale said now that word has gone out that the cameo is floating around somewhere in the underworld, any number of collectors will be searching for it. Some, he says, are extremely dangerous men who will stop at nothing to obtain what they desire. He… he likened them to sharks in the water circling a sinking ship. He said that I was in the position of the sole survivor clinging to the wreckage.”
“He tried to frighten you,” Lavinia said.
“And succeeded rather well, I must tell you.” Howard seemed to fall into himself. “Nightingale claimed that the only safe course of action was to deliver the relic to him immediately. He promised to make it worth my while. But I cannot possibly do that because I do not have it.”
There was a short silence while they all contemplated that news.
Tobias shifted position a little, propping one shoulder against the windowsill and folding his arms. “What else do you know about this antiquity?”
Howard did not look at him. He continued to focus his gaze on Lavinia. She did her best to appear encouraging and sympathetic.
“I’ve never seen the damned thing,” Howard said. “I can only tell you what Nightingale told me. He referred to it as the Blue Medusa. The name is no doubt due to the peculiar color of the stone.”
“Medusa,” Tobias repeated thoughtfully. “A once beautiful woman with glorious hair who managed to offend Athena and got herself turned into a hideous monster for her efforts. She became one of the three Gorgons.”
“The one whose gaze turned men to stone,” Lavinia said.
“No man could slay her because to look at her was to die. She was eventually killed by Perseus, who-rather cleverly, I always thought-backed toward her while she slept, using his shield as a mirror to reflect her image. That way he did not have to look directly at her while he hacked off her head.”