Part 2
4 days earlier…..
It was early morning, when Eliza Scarlet descended the main staircase of her house towards the front hallway. Dressed in her smart blue skirt and jacket with a navy collar. Her hair was already styled in her normal plaited bun, but she checked a stray hair in the mirror before heading downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast.
Since her father had passed, she rarely ate in the dinning room, to the left of the main house staircase, choosing instead to eat with her housekeeper Ivy at the small table in the kitchen. When she got to the kitchen downstairs, Ivy had her back to the doorway and was busy pouring hot water from the large steal kettle that had been boiling on the hot stove into a china teapot. A pan of porridge simmered and bubbled away, the warm smell filling the small room.
Ivy was immaculately dressed in her long dark skirt, and grey lace shirt, her brown hair pulled back into a tight plaited bun that rested against the nape of her neck. She had already set the small table with the white lace tablecloth, and the white china with the pink flowers was laid out ready to use.
"Good morning," Eliza said softly, alerting Ivy to her presence without scaring her.
"Ah, good morning," Ivy told her, as she turned around and placed the teapot on the small kitchen table. "Did you sleep well?"
In all honestly Eliza hadn't slept well, she had spent half the night wondering how best to bring in some more business. She currently only had one case, Mrs Reid's ladies club, but that was barely going to make her enough to pay the house bills, let alone Rupert's loan, not that he seemed too worried about how quickly she paid him.
"I slept fine," Eliza lied, with a smile for effect. Ivy knew things were still quite tight for them money wise, but Eliza didn't want her to know it was starting to cause her sleepless nights.
"Busy day?" Ivy enquired. She used a ladle to serve the porridge into two white bowls for them both then she sprinkled a little brown spice over the top.
"Not unless something drastic changes," Eliza complained. "I thought things would start to pick up by now, but still people come in the office, and see a woman behind the desk and walk straight back out again," she sighed frustrated.
Eliza stirred the tea in the teapot, before replacing the lid and pouring a cup for herself and one for Ivy. Ivy placed a bowl of hot porridge in front of Eliza and took up her place at the table opposite.
Eliza poured a little milk then stirred Ivy's cup and handed over the cup and saucer. Ivy gave a smile, but Eliza couldn't help but noticed Ivy seemed a little uneasy.
"What wrong?" Eliza asked. She gave her hot porridge a stir, since it was too warm to eat, while she waited for Ivy's response.
"Nothing," Ivy replied quickly, but couldn't hide her unease. Eliza instantly took it to mean there was something wrong and she gave her a glare, showing she in no way believed her. After a moment Ivy finally admitted. "Our accounts with the butcher … and the grocer need paying…" Ivy trailed off awkwardly.
Eliza sighed, another two bills to add to her list. She would just have to try harder. Perhaps if she could prove herself to Mrs Reid and the ladies at her club, word of mouth between the important wealthy Mayfair ladies might improve business.
"Don't worry, I'll sort you some money for them, just give me till the end of the week," Eliza said confidently with a smile, even if she didn't feel overly confident herself. Ivy nodded and smiled, and tried to hide her worry. She may well be a reasonably good cook, but she still needed ingredients to cook with.
"Oh some post arrived for you," Ivy said, standing up and picking up a couple of envelopes from the dresser by the door and handing them to her.
Eliza flicked through the letters. None looked of any importance, a letter from an old friend, another bill that needed paying, and then she got to the last one, and looked at it curiously.
"What is it?" Ivy asked, noticing a shift in Eliza's expression.
"It's a letter for my father," Eliza told her with confusion.
It was an official looking letter, but her father had passed away months ago, so she couldn't think what this could be about.
Disregarding the other letters on the table, she turned the letter over and ripped the envelope open rather unelegantly with her thumb, and pulled out the folded official looking brown stained paper. She quickly read over the contents slightly astonished. She read closely the fine print, before showing it to Ivy.
Ivy was still learning to read, and most of the words were far too small for her to understand, but even she could work out the perfectly printed words emblazoned on the top of the page, Police Commendation for Mr Henry Scarlet.
"What's it for?" She asked unable to make out the smaller words.
"His work uncovering the forgery gang preceding his death," Eliza said. She was slightly perturbed that nowhere in the letter was she herself even mentioned, let alone given any credit for her work on the case.
"Is this real?" Ivy queried with shock as she handed it back to Eliza.
"Well if it's not, then it is someone's idea of sick joke!" Eliza replied slightly angrily. There was only one person who would be able to confirm what this letter was.
William was perched on his desk listening to Detective Phillips giving him a round up of the latest cases, and he was hoping that perhaps just one of them they could tie up quickly.
Detective Leonard Phillips was chilled and relaxed as per usual, and he stood in his over sized grey suit, his blonde hair floppy and in need of a cut. He held the brown enveloped files in his hands and read through them like he was a waiter reading through a special lunch menu.
"Well Duke, we've got a dead woman found in an ally in Drury Lane, no identification and no suspects, we're waiting to see if anyone reports her missing. There's a missing 7-year-old boy, last seen walking along Embankment with his governess at 5pm yesterday. Finally, three jewellers in Hatton Gardens have made reports of selling items of jewellery to high class couples, only for the buyer's house to be broken into and the items stolen a few days after purchase."
William gave a low huff but tried not to look annoyed, as he took the files from Phillips and added them to the ever-growing piles on his desk. Not one of them sounded like a simple win to him.
"Have the customers of the jewellers given any details of the people breaking into their houses?"
"No, always done under cover of darkness and the men hide their identities with net bags. We suspect there might be an inside man. That's the only way they could know who has bought the items." Phillips shrugged.
"An inside man for all three shops? Anyone given any suggestions of someone who might be connected to all three?" William asked, thinking this was possibly a long shot.
"Not yet sir, we're wondering about doing an operation, sending someone in to buy something and hope the men then try and steal it later… There's just one problem…" Phillips had a suggestion, and it was one he was almost certain that his boss wasn't going to go for, but he had to suggest it anyway.
"What's that?"
"All the customers that have been broken into are married couples. We can get one of the lads to go in and pretend to be buying a ring for his Misses, but it's been couples houses that have been broken into so ideally… we need a woman…"
"Need a woman for what?"
William looked up and Phillips turned around, as Eliza Scarlet stood in his office doorway, innocent and poised as ever with her brown handbag held in both her hands. Her ears having pricked up like those on a dog at the sound of Phillip' suggestion that they needed a woman.
"Nothing," William replied quickly trying to stifle a sniff. "You shouldn't be listening at my door," William told her annoyed.
"And you shouldn't leave your door wide open, if you don't want people over hearing your conversation," she replied, un-phased but his tone.
She turned and looked at Detective Phillips, and gave him her best award winning innocent smile.
"So what do you need a woman for?" She enquired, ignoring William's suggestion that there was nothing they needed her for.
"A jewellery gang are breaking into couples houses who have bought items from shops in Hatton Gardens. We could set up an operation, but all the customers are married couples. We'd need a woman to pose with one of the lads to be their Misses," Phillips responded, without missing a beat.
He knew this would probably be a perfect job for Eliza Scarlet, if only he could get the Duke to agree. As he expected, it was a resolute and firm NO from the man himself.
"Not happening," William confirmed from his desk, shaking his head to make his point.
"I'm sure I can find some time to help if you need someone," Eliza said, ignoring William. This job could at least get her a little money that she desperately needed.
"No," William said firmly.
"I'll see what I can set up with the lads," Phillips nodded, with a smile. He was certain Miss Scarlet was capable to do the job, and with her agreement, he might just leave it up to her to convince his boss.
"I said NO!" William said again. Though it seemed that neither Eliza nor Phillips were in anyway interested in what he had to say.
"Perfect, just let me know what you need and when," Eliza said with a smile. She'd come to like Detective Phillips, and it was refreshing to have a man agree to let her do a job without having to fight for it.
"Is anyone listening to me?" William shouted again, rather more loudly then he anticipated, as they both finally looked at him.
"I'm sorry, are we ignoring you William?" Eliza teased, sounding annoyed at him. Perhaps he might understand how she felt on a daily basis.
William sighed and shook his head, clearly the Eliza who had turned up in his office today was the one who wanted to infuriate him and not the one who wanted to get along.
"I think we're done here Phillips," William told him, giving him his cue to leave his office.
Phillips looked between his boss and Eliza. She gave him a smile, silently tell him she'd work on William, and he returned it with a wink. With a sigh, he put his hand in his pocket and turned to walk out.
"You still need a woman Duke!" he called out cheekily as he left the office and closed the door behind him.
William huffed, he didn't need a woman, what he needed was some damn respect around here. He looked directly at Eliza, who clearly had no interest in leaving his office just yet.
"Did you need something?" He asked impatiently.
"Actually yes," she said, opening her brown handbag bag and pulling out the letter she'd received for her father, and holding it out for William to look at.
"This arrived this morning addressed to my father. Is it real?"
William eyed her confused, wondering why she was bringing it to him, before he opened up the letter and looked it over. He gave a proud smile as he realised what it was and he nodded approvingly whilst reading it over.
"Looks real to me," William confirmed.
"Did you do this?" She asked him. It came out slightly more cross then she had meant it to, but if he had arranged it, the least he could have done was mention her name on it. That would have at least done something for her reputation as an investigator and help her business.
"What makes you think I did this?" He asked looking up at her confused, surely he thought, if he had then she should be happy about it, and feel as proud of Henry receiving it for his final act as he was.
"I don't know how these things work, but last time I checked they don't usually give out Police Commendations to private detectives, even those that are former Detective Inspectors of Scotland Yard."
William gave a laugh, she wasn't wrong. Even getting a Police Commendation when you were part of the department wasn't an easy feat.
"Well, I love that you think I have that much power around here, but no, this has nothing to do with me. All I did was put Henry's name in my report," William shrugged, handing the letter back to her.
"And what about my name? You did mention me in your report?" She'd never actually seen the report that William had written on the forgery gang, she only had his word that he had done as he said and included her in what he had given his superiors.
"I told you I did," he said offended.
William looked at her a little hurt and confused that she would question if he had included her, when he had already told her that he had done so. There was no way he could have actually kept her out of his report even if he had wanted to. He had no other explanation for being at Woolwich prison, other then to find her, no way to explain how he'd arrested Frank without mentioning her assistance on the case.
"Fine," she sighed, returning the letter to her bag.
"Is this a problem?" William asked, wondering why she seemed annoyed, when a Police Commendation for Henry was, to him anyway, a good thing.
"No," she said simply, but with no less irritation. Somehow, with her tone, William didn't believe that all was okay with her.
"You should have that framed and hung in your office," he told her.
She shook her head, dismissing the idea. Whilst it was lovely that her father was getting recognition for his final piece of work, it would in no way help her, or her business since he was no longer with them.
"It just would have been useful to have my involvement mentioned on it also," she finally admitted, hoping William would finally understand her irritation. "It's getting a little tiresome having to continually prove myself to everyone," Eliza admitted frustrated.
William nodded, unsure what she expected him to do about it, and he was certain that anything he said on the matter would not be right by her standards. It wasn't like he was having much of a better time of things currently. If he thought Sterling was bad, the new Superintendent was equally as demanding if not worse, and he was currently breathing down his neck for improved rates of solving crimes. Like it was just that simple.
"I'm sorry," he finally offered genuinely.
"I don't suppose there's anything I can help you with?" She asked gesturing to the piles of paperwork on his desk.
"I won't even barter with you on the fee?" She offered with a smile, in the hopes that there might be something, anything, that would give her just a little money.
William sighed, there really wasn't anything remotely interesting for her in his pile of work, since it was mainly reports to read through, sign off, and allocate to various officers to look into. He wanted to help her he really did, and if he were being honest, he would have enjoyed having her company in his office while she worked. However, with the new Superintendent lurking around the station, if he came in and saw him working with a woman in his office, it wouldn't exactly set the best impression for him.
"You know I would if I could…" he tried.
"…But you can't," She finished for him, a little disappointed.
He sensed her disappointment at his lack of forthcoming help, and racked his brain for something he might be able to get her to help with.
"Look, I'll see what I can find for you…" he replied, hoping that it might placate her mood.
"Don't go out of your way on my account!" She growled at him, before turning round, swinging his office door wide open and leaving him alone, without so much as a goodbye.
William sat back against his desk once more and rubbed his beard with his knuckles. Not for the first time, silently cursed his old friend for his daughter's troubles.
To Be Continued…
A/N: Oh dear... poor Eliza isn't seeming to happy right now... I wonder if William can find a way to cheer her up... As always, thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who leaves a review.