Chapter 1

The house was typical of the upper class in Toronto, and even boasted a nice little garden that was well cared for, Constable George Crabtree thought as he looked around the back of the house, trying to find evidence of the kidnapping that had just occurred at the residence.

The house belonged to the owner of a manufacturing plant, who produced fabrics for various stores throughout Toronto. The owner, Charles Hencroft, was a quiet man with silver streaked hair cut in the latest fashion. His wife, Anna, was stern and had a bit of a pinched face. Her words were sharp, and she didn't particularly seem to care that her niece, Tabitha, had just been kidnapped right off the front walkway of the house, by what witnesses were saying were three men dressed in rough clothing. Her main complaint was that the chores and the baking weren't going to get done, and she was sure that Tabitha had simply run off like, to quote her, the selfish, lazy girl she was.

"Except there are several witnesses who claim they saw two men grabbing your niece from the walkway, with a third waiting in a carriage," Detective William Murdoch said, speaking to Charles privately. "Constables are attempting to get descriptions, as we speak."

"Good, good. Do you know if there'll be a ransom demand?" Charles asked, looking tired.

"I don't know," Murdoch admitted. "There's a number of reasons why someone might kidnap your niece, and not all of them involve money or revenge. We won't know more until someone either calls or drops off a note, if they do."

Charles nodded. "Please keep me posted. Her parents were very dear friends and I promised both Claira and Adam I would take care of their daughter."

"If I may ask, sir, how is Tabitha related to you?" Murdoch asked.

Charles smiled sadly. "Claira was my wife's sister. My wife attempted to court Adam, who happened to be one of my best friends, but he was smitten with Claira right from the first moment he saw her, not that I blame him," he explained. "I courted her hand as well, but she chose Adam, and they had Tabitha, whom Adam absolutely adored. We remained friends over the years, and when they were killed in a boating accident about three years ago, I took Tabitha in. She's a quiet young girl, but according to my wife, she's become quite lazy."

"You don't seem too sure about that," Murdoch said, sensing the hesitation in the other man's voice and mannerisms.

"Anna has a bit of a sharp tongue, I'm afraid, and her standards are both high and exacting, when it comes to certain things," Charles admitted. "When it comes to household matters, I let Anna do as she pleases, which also includes the area of discipline with the children and servants."

"I see," Murdoch said. "And is Tabitha one of the servants?"

"She shouldn't be, but then again, as I've said, my wife handles such matters, and if Tabitha is doing the household chores, then I suppose Anna has her reasons," Charles said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm afraid I have a company that needs my attention. Again, please keep me posted. If I can help, I will."

"Of course," Murdoch said, dipping his head. He turned his attention to Crabtree and Higgins, who had been waiting patiently. "Did you find anything, George, Henry?"

"Signs of a struggle," Higgins said. "I found a broken milk bottle and fresh milk on the walkway, along with five other bottles knocked over. Based on the milk on the ground, and the bottle, I daresay someone is hurting, because the body of the bottle is broken but not the neck."

"As if someone, possibly Tabitha, had used it as a means of defense," Murdoch realized, seeing the scene in his mind's eye.

"And those bottles are strong," Crabtree said, wincing. "I got on the wrong end of one once, during a bar fight. Had a headache for several hours afterwards."

"I'm sure. Did you find anything?" Murdoch asked patiently.

"Nothing in the garden or the back of the house. The kidnapping clearly happened at the front of the house, when Tabitha was getting the milk," Crabtree said. "The strange thing is, if Tabitha is the niece of Charles Hencroft, she certainly isn't treated like it. I briefly saw her room, and it looks like a servant's room, with just the bare basics. John and Mary, on the other hand, their rooms are what one might expect of adult children in this kind of family."

"Grand?" Higgins asked.

"Very," Crabtree said.

"I think we need to take a look at Tabitha's room," Murdoch said.

Before the men could head to room, they were accosted by Anna Hencroft, who didn't look happy about the going-on's.

"And just where are you going now?" she demanded, shoving a lock of greying hair out of her face. "Thanks to that lazy child, the daily laundry is not getting done, and neither is the baking! The sooner you get out of here, and stop tracking dirt through my clean house, the sooner things will get done, and the happier I'll be!"

"Are you not worried about your niece?" Murdoch asked.

Anna sneered. "She was a lazy, spoiled child, just like her mother, and we're better off without her. Whoever took her can have her, for all I care," she said, gesturing sharply.

"I see," Murdoch said. "Unfortunately your husband is very fond of her."

"My husband does not run this house. I do," Anna shot back. "Hurry up. Find what you need, and get out."

"Yes ma'am," Murdoch said. He watched as the woman stomped away, eyebrows raised, before turning back to the two constables, who also had wide eyes.

"No love lost there, sir," Crabtree commented.

"Indeed," Murdoch said. "Tabitha's room?"

In the sparsely furnished room, the men found the bare basics. There were a few clean dresses in the closet, simple in style and showed signs of repairs. There were no decorations, not even a mirror, and just a simple wash stand and towel. On the stand was a comb and Bible, and nothing else. The bed was made but didn't look like the blankets kept Tabitha very warm. There was a wooden trunk at the foot of the bed, with no lock on it. In the trunk were winter clothes, both indoor clothing and outerwear, footwear, and undergarments.

"I'm not finding any personal effects, like pictures or jewelry or little keepsakes, things that are normally in something like this," Murdoch said, scowling.

"Nothing in the closet," Higgins said.

"Found something, and from what we just saw of Anna, I can see why Tabitha kept it hidden," Crabtree said, emerging from under the bed.

He had a small wooden box in his hands, and when he opened it, they discovered what appeared to be small treasures. There was a photograph of a couple and a young woman, with the man seated, and both women standing behind the man, with the older woman's hand on the man's shoulder. The date on the back was about three years ago, suggesting the photograph was of Tabitha and her parents before their deaths. There was a slender chain with a little gold cross pendant, a gold and silver locket, two wedding rings, and a men's gold ring with a rose cut diamond in it. The ring with the diamond looked like it had been cleaned recently, because the diamond sparkled in the sunlight.

"Interesting," Murdoch said.

There was also a bank book for an account at a local bank, and the deposit number written in it was enough to make their eyebrows go up.

"If she has this much money, why hasn't she done anything?" Crabtree asked in a low voice.

"I don't know, but it is a possible motive for her kidnapping," Murdoch said.

"This is pretty," Higgins said, carefully unwrapping a tissue-wrapped dried yellow rose. There was a date carefully written on the tissue paper, one of several weeks ago. "Someone courting Tabitha, perhaps, or a lover?"

"Possibly," Murdoch said. "Whoever it is, Tabitha didn't want anyone knowing about it, and if she wouldn't admit she was being courted, then whoever was courting her might not admit it either."

Crabtree opened his mouth to say something but there was a sudden crashing noise from downstairs, followed by panicked shouting and screams.

"George, put everything back where you found it," Murdoch ordered, before dashing out of the room, Higgins right behind him.

Downstairs, Anna's daughter, Mary, was fussing over a newcomer with a bleeding hand. Glass littered the floor, and there was the smell of alcohol in the air.

"What happened?" Murdoch demanded.

"My fault, I'm afraid," the newcomer said, wincing. "I squeezed the glass a little too hard and it shattered in my hand. I'll be fine, as soon as I get someone from the hospital or doctor's office to tend to it. John, I'll replace the glass as soon as I can."

"Ah, no worries. It's just a glass," John said, waving his hand lazily.

John bore a resemblance to his father, but that was where the similarities ended. Where Charles looked tired and worried, dressed in a business suit that was suitable for working in a warehouse, John was wearing a leisure suit and looked like he had just crawled out of bed, without a care in the world.

Mary was all blonde curls and dainty appearance, right down to her dress, nothing like the girl Murdoch had seen in the photograph in Tabitha's room, as she cooed and fussed over the newcomer, who also wore a business suit. He had dark hair in a neat cut, and was clean shaven. What was striking about the man, however, was his pale blue eyes that stood out against his hair, eyes that looked less than amused by Mary's attention.

"Did I hear you correctly when you said Tabitha has been kidnapped?" the man asked, wincing as Mary bandaged his hand.

"Yes," Murdoch said. "I'm Detective Murdoch, Toronto Constabulary," he said, showing his badge inside his jacket. "Who are you and how do you know Tabitha?"

"We're friends," the man said shortly. "My name is Michael O'Connell, Charles and I are business associates, and John and I were college mates."

"I see," Murdoch said.

"Oh Michael! It was so horrible, all the screaming! I was so scared that whoever was taking Tabitha might come after me," Mary burst out, batting her lashes Michael. "But you won't let anything happen to me, will you?"

Michael just stared at her, his lips twitching in a barely concealed look of disgust, as he held his injured hand. Then he carefully extracted himself from her fussing hands, adjusted his puff tie as best as he could with his injured hand, and said, "I'm terribly sorry to hear about Tabitha, and I do hope you find her soon, but I'm afraid there is business I just realized I must attend to. Good day, gentlemen." And with that, he quickly left.

By now, Crabtree had joined them. "Follow him," Murdoch said. "I want to know where he's going and what this business is." Crabtree nodded, and quickly left. "Unfortunately there is nothing else we can do here," Murdoch said to the rest of the family. "I am going to head back to the station house for now, and hope that the kidnappers make contact. If any of you think of anything that might help us with the case, please contact me at Station House Four."

"What about all the chores and cooking and whatnot?" Mary demanded, stamping her foot. "That's Tabitha's job, and I am most certainly not doing servant work!"

"Then, might I suggest you hire one," Murdoch said politely.

"And may the good Lord help the poor soul they hire," Higgins muttered to Murdoch as they left.

"Indeed," Murdoch muttered, adjusting his hat.

"When I was talking to the neighbors, the general opinion was that Anna was a bitter woman who took out her frustrations on Tabitha, making the poor girl work harder than any servant," Higgins said. "In fact," he continued upon seeing Murdoch's interest, "there were times Tabitha was seen doing the work of at least two or more servants, with Anna constantly berating her for one thing or another. One neighbor noticed that the two servants the Hencrofts had, well, they left shortly after Tabitha arrived. I think one of them was hired by a family just down the street."

"Go talk to them, find out what you can about the family," Murdoch said. "Meet me back at the station."

Higgins nodded and bustled down the street, leaving Murdoch alone with his thoughts.

From what he could figure, Tabitha had been abducted when she went down the house walkway to pick up the milk, which had been placed at the end of the walkway, instead of on the stoop, suggesting the possibility that someone had deliberately moved the milk, knowing Tabitha would have to go down the walkway to get it, which meant the three men were waiting for her. Given the differences in appearance between Tabitha, Anna, and Mary, and the way Tabitha was being treated, Murdoch suspected it was highly unlikely that Tabitha was mistaken for someone else in the family, unless someone had targeted the wrong family, which could lead to a whole new set of suspects.

He sighed heavily. Time to look into the family and Charles' business, because until Tabitha was found, everyone was a suspect.