Part 2
Friday evening came around quickly, and William was finishing up in his office at Scotland Yard. Having trimmed his beard, he took off his normal navy blue work waistcoat, and removed his tie and grey shirt. Gradually he re-dressed himself into his smart white evening shirt, collar and black waistcoat. He looked in his mirror above the fireplace and expertly folded his bow tie.
He had finally managed to afford to purchase a new dinner jacket, after his last one had been destroyed by Eliza to wrap his injured arm, when he had been attacked at Woolwich prison. He shrugged the jacket on and straightened himself.
God he felt uncomfortable in formal wear, he grumbled as he pulled at his bow tie to straighten it and moved his body around trying to get the new jacket to sit properly on his shoulders. He was not looking forward to spending an evening with a group of high-class strangers, potentially passing judgment on him.
Whilst there was a part of him that wished a major incident would come up, giving him an excuse to get out of the evening, he was also quietly intrigued at spending an evening with Eliza at a dinner party.
When they weren't arguing about a case, William had to admit they could get along quite well. In their quieter moments, he actually enjoyed her company and he hoped that perhaps tonight might actually be one of those times where they might, dare he say it, have fun together.
A knock at his office door pulled him out of his thoughts about what the evening might hold, and he checked the time on the clock behind his desk. He knew for once this shouldn't be Eliza, unless of course she'd somehow landed herself in trouble, yet again.
"Come in," he called out, as he moved away from the mirror and moved over to his desk.
His newest colleague, Detective Leonard Phillips opened the door and walked into the office. He was a younger lad, from Southend who had only recently moved to London and joined the department. He had floppy sandy coloured hair, and wore a dark grey suit and waistcoat that was probably two sizes to large for him. He was always cheery and seemed far too relaxed to William, given the job they did.
"Looking nice Duke," he commented happily, as he strolled over to William's desk, his hands tucked into his trouser pockets.
"Thought you'd like to know we arrested the butcher, over the murder of his brother. He's not admitting to much though," Phillips told him with a shrug. He was seemingly unbothered about the fact their prime suspect in a murder enquiry wasn't talking, or that their evidence was currently flimsy at best.
"Keep him over night, we'll see how he talks after a night in cells," William told him with a sigh, while Phillips nodded in agreement.
William stood behind his desk, and took the top file off his pile, opening it up to make a note in it of the recent development.
"You off out somewhere nice?" Detective Phillips asked, looking over William's formal attire.
"Just a dinner. Here's the address, in case you need me." William didn't look up from his file, as he picked up and offered Phillips a piece of paper from his desk that he'd already written Rupert Parker's address on.
Phillips took the piece of paper and looked over the address. He was still getting to know the different areas of London, to know what was a good area and what wasn't, but given what William was wearing, he could only assume he was off somewhere posh.
"You out with your Eliza?" The detective queried politely.
William suddenly jerked his head and looked up from his paperwork stopping mid-sentence. He gave his detective a pointed look, as if to warn him to think carefully about his next words, but Detective Phillips just looked at him confused, unaware of the implications of his words to his boss.
"Don't let Eliza hear you call her that. She's not anyone's and she'd sooner slap you if she heard you call her mine," William warned seriously, with raised eyebrows.
"I just thought…." Phillips started, and then stopped.
Miss Scarlet was often seen around Scotland Yard these days. The place was awash with suggestions as to what the relationship was between her and the Duke. Of course, no one would ever have the guts to actually ask Duke about it directly, but many of the lads assumed there was something between them. Why else would he let a woman walk around the place and work with him on occasion like he did?
Phillips had even joined them, when the two of them had dinner at the restaurant his Emily sang at in the evenings. Though he had to admit that they hadn't seemed to make any show of being together. In fact, many would say they were purposely keeping their distance when they were together, so others did not assume they were a couple. Yet, he couldn't work out what was going on between these to, and perhaps it was easier not too.
William returned his attention to finishing what he was writing in his file for a moment. If Phillips seemed confused about their relationship standing, how did he think he felt?
They had perhaps become a little friendlier towards each other in recent months, and had spent more time together just the two of them in those months then in all the previous years they had known each other put together.
Even still, Eliza had an uncanny ability to make a nuisance of herself, and frustrate him to the point of him losing his temper with her. There were some days where Eliza seemed to act like she might potentially see him as more then a friend, and others it seemed like she wanted to murder him. He couldn't keep up himself.
"Right I'm going to head off, emergencies only tonight, please," William confirmed, closing his file, before leaving his Detective in charge.
Eliza's housekeeper, Ivy, had just finished in Eliza's room, helping to tie up her hair and fixing her evening dress. Ivy pulled down on the sleeve of her grey shirt with lace detail down the front, and then held up her black skirt slightly as she walked carefully down the main stairs. As she walked, she brushed a stray brown hair that had fallen out her tight bun behind her ear.
She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, slightly confused, when she heard the firm knock at the front door. Eliza hadn't mentioned expecting any visitors tonight, and it certainly wouldn't be Mr Parker on this occasion, since it was his house she was going to. Ivy slowly walked across the small hallway and opened the front door slightly, checking to see who was there.
"Inspector Wellington." Ivy greeted him with a surprised smile, relaxing a little as she stood back and opened the door wider to let him in.
"You're here to collect Miss Scarlet?" she queried, noting that he too was dressed his smart evening clothes and coat.
"Yes," William confirmed, as Ivy shut the door behind him.
Ivy gave a curious smile, which went unnoticed by William. Eliza had failed to mention to her that The Inspector would be joining her at Mr Parker's dinner party this evening.
She had noticed that they'd been spending a lot of time together recently. William's name was coming up more often while they ate dinner in the kitchen together. Yet whenever she tried to question Eliza on it, she'd insisted they were friends and were purely working cases together.
However, Ivy was far from a fool, and she'd known the pair of them for as long as they had know each other, and she wondered perhaps if there was more to this relationship then Eliza was letting on. She was almost certain that William was going out of his way to keep an eye on Eliza since her father, Henry, had passed, and she had noticed the way Eliza had soften when speaking about him recently.
"I'll just get her coat, then let her know you're here." Ivy smiled, keeping her thoughts to herself as always and she headed down the stairs towards the kitchen where Eliza's dress coat had been freshly pressed, leaving William waiting alone in the hallway.
It wasn't long before he heard Eliza walking along the hallway above then he saw her round the corner and start to walk down the stairs. She had a black evening shoe in one hand, and was attempting to put the other on her foot as she walked down the stairs, before wobbling and placing a hand on the banister, steading herself.
"Stairs, then shoes," she muttered to herself, before straightening herself and continuing to glide down the stairs with her usual grace and elegance, and both shoes in her left hand.
William felt his breath catch as he watched her descend the stairs. She was in a deep blue, almost purple, long A line silk evening dress with a small train that bounced down the step behind her. The dress had a semi circle neckline and long sleeves covering her arms, and then matching coloured lace covered her neck and shoulders then continued down to the waist of the dress.
She had tied her blonde hair back in a plaited bun as normal, but softened it with a few lose curls falling against her cheeks. She looked incredibly beautiful, and the colour of her dress made her bluey green eyes sparkle and pop.
"William, what are you doing here?" Eliza asked, jolting him from his thoughts. She had made it half way down stairs when she noticed him standing by the front door staring slightly wide-eyed at her.
"Rupert's dinner party," William confirmed as if it was obvious, as he quickly recovered himself and found some words. "I figured we'd walk over together."
"I thought we were meeting there?"
Eliza looked at him confused, as she sat down on the stair a few from the bottom and slipped on her evening shoes. They hadn't actually seen each other since Rupert had invited them to discuss whether they were attending the event together or separately.
"Oh, well I'm here now," he shrugged. He noted the somewhat frosty tone to her voice that perhaps this didn't seem a welcome gesture.
"Yes." Eliza was slightly confused and a little uncomfortable.
This felt a little odd to her, the two of them turning up at a dinner party together. Rather like a couple, which they were not. She took her time fiddling with the buttons on her shoes, as they both remained uncomfortably silent, till she heard Ivy walk up the stairs from the kitchen with her burgundy red evening coat.
"Ah, here you go Miss," Ivy said, as Eliza stood up, firming her feet in her shoes.
"Thank you." Eliza moved across the hall to Ivy and turned round so she could help her put on her coat.
"That's a pretty necklace," Ivy noted, when Eliza turned back around to faced her, of the gold E pendant that she wore half hidden under the lace of her dress.
"I don't think I've seen that one before," she lied, giving a cheeky teasing grin and with a glint in her eyes.
It was the necklace that William had given Eliza for her birthday not that long ago and Eliza was certain that Ivy knew it, judging by the face she was giving her. She would also know that Eliza hadn't taken the necklace off since she'd received it.
"Thank you, it was a birthday present," Eliza answered with a slight smile and narrowed eyes.
She was smart enough to know that Ivy was clearly bringing it up on purpose at this moment in front of William. She gave Ivy a knowing look, and Ivy just offered a teasing smile in return.
"Its very nice. Well, have a lovely evening both of you. I won't wait up for you," Ivy confirmed, as Eliza finished buttoning up her coat.
"Good night Ivy," Eliza gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek before leaving for the night.
William held the front door opened for Eliza and smiled politely at her. She confidently strode past with her head high whilst giving him a look. Silently telling him that she was still a little mad with him, and he'd better not get any ideas.
William gave a silent groan and a heavy sigh as he moved to close the door behind them and watched Eliza walk down the front steps ahead of him. Not only did she look rather amazing to him, but he now somehow felt this was going to be a very long night of her teasing him.
Any of his earlier thoughts of this being a fun evening spent with Eliza were quickly being replaced with questions as to why he'd agreed to this evening of potential torture.
To be continued…