Part 13

Eliza was sitting comfortably at her desk in her office, as she flicked through various bits of paperwork. Her workload was a little light which was rather annoying, and meant she had nothing to take her mind off of Arabella and her husband's death. Despite not wanting to see Arabella, she did wonder if going with William to see her would have at least given her something to do for the afternoon.

With no actual work to take her mind off things, she pulled out a few of her father's old casebooks and once again started looking through his musings. He had once kept quite detailed notes on his cases and looking at them reminded her of a time when he and his brilliant mind were her whole world. It was a simpler time back then, when it was just the two of them, and they'd spend hours together talking over his cases while he would willingly share his knowledge with her. A time before all the drinking and the gambling and the money worries. Before she'd watched him disappear into a shadow of himself.

His familiar handwriting was comforting and she quite enjoyed looking over his old cases, finding out his thoughts. Some of the cases she remembered from his stories, and some he'd never mentioned. It surprised her how many cases were not solved, or were incredibly ambiguous.

'You look perplexed," Henry's voice told her from his seat near the fire.

"How did you do it?" she queried, only slightly looking up over the book.

"Do what?" He asked gently.

"The not knowing. The not being sure if you've got the right person."

"You can't win every case Lizzy. The world isn't black and white. Sometimes you just have to accept you've done your job, and that's all you can do," he told her simply.

"But what if it's the wrong person? What if Arabella really did kill her husband, to take the money and run off with her lover? Surely she shouldn't be able to get away with that."

It was annoying her that she didn't know for sure what had happened. That potentially her old school nemesis might have gotten away with murder, and a lot of money to boot.

"If you keep thinking about it you'll never be able to get past it."

Eliza thought for a moment, perhaps she would just have to accept it. She shrugged and looked back at the casebook for a moment, before closing it and putting it back on her desk.

"Why do you keep reading those?" Henry asked.

"You never let me work with you, so I don't how you solved a case. Reading these books are like, going on a case with you."

She pulled open her top desk draw and pulled out another of Henry's old case books and opened it up to a now familiar marked page, and read over her fathers handwriting. She felt him looking at her questioningly, wondering what she was thinking.

"Why him?" She finally asked

She didn't need to elaborate further. He knew she was questioning why he wrote down the name of he would have chosen for her to marry, if he'd had to choose someone for her.

"He's probably the only person I knew who could put up with you!" Henry offered with a laugh, before looking out at the sun coming in through the office window.

Eliza wasn't buying it though. There was more to it then that. The more she had thought it about, the more she couldn't help but think Henry had a plan somewhere along the line. With hindsight, she could recognize he'd spent too much time forcing them together over the years. They of course were always on their best behavior in front of him, never wanting him to see them fight.

"But you chose him for a reason." Looking back now, she realised he would always leave William in charge of her. Always telling him to look after her if he wasn't around, even when she didn't need it. Was it always William in her father's eyes?

Henry kept quite for longer then was necessary, and Eliza wondered if he would even answer her.

"I did a dangerous job Lizzy, look what happened to me. I knew, if something happened to me, I wanted there to be someone who would look after you."

"I don't need looking after," she told him sounding annoyed. She wasn't a child anymore. She could certainly take care of herself now. She was doing an okay job of keeping a roof over her and Ivy's head, making sure they weren't about to be thrown out on the street by Mrs Parker.

"Well maybe I needed it!" He snapped back. "Maybe when I wrote that I just needed to know that you'd have someone keeping an eye on you, if I wasn't here."

Eliza thought sadly for a moment, of how Henry had constantly left William in charge of her over the years. All the times William had come to dinner at the house and she'd had to overhear conversations of police work from behind a closed door instead of being included. She hated him some days… She hated both of them.

"You always said, if I was ever in trouble and I couldn't find you I should find William," Eliza finally admitted, and Henry laughed. He'd also told her William would sort it, and she knew he probably would eventually. Even if it would take a whole lot of groveling on her part, and he'd probably hold it over her for a while.

Eliza closed the book and returned it to her desk draw before picking up another one and flicking through its pages, wondering what other pieces of information she could gather from the pages of her father's old books. Henry sat quietly in the chair by the fireplace watching her, wondering what she was thinking, unable to tell from her expression.

She stopped on a page, and read over the note before laughing, with her eyes wide. So far none of the old books she'd read had properly included any of the cases that her father and William had worked on together, but this book, this one was different, and contained a little bit of information that her father had never shared with her.

"You never told me this?" She told him with a smile. Henry seemed to shuffle uncomfortably in his chair, knowing exactly what words she was reading.

"You didn't need to know everything, you were too young and something like that should be left in the past," he warned her.

"I'm sorry, I thought William was perfect?" Eliza told him, eyeing his vacant seat cautiously. In the years since they'd met, when her father brought him back to the house to meet her, she had always viewed William as though he could do no wrong in her fathers eyes, and she hated it. The perfect boy, who she often wondered, if maybe her father would have preferred him as his son, instead of her, his daughter.

"No one is perfect Lizzy, not least of all him." Henry shook his head and laughed, if only she knew the whole truth.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs outside her office and after a moment the door handle turned and her office door opened. William looked as perfect as ever, as Eliza looked over at him confused. It had only been a few hours since they had parted at the mortuary and she hadn't been expecting to see him for the rest of the day. Were his ears burning?

"Hello," William offered. He shut the office door and placed his hat on her coat hook then he walked the few paces across the office and sat himself down in the chair opposite her. Eliza shut her father's casebook and gave her guest her full attention.

"I wasn't expecting you?" Eliza said looking at him curiously.

He seemed rather pleased about something, she judged by the expression on his face, a small boyish cheeky grin, with his eyes lit up like the flame of a candle.

"I thought you might like an update on our case?" He told her.

"Okay?" She looked at him confused, his childish grin was off putting. "I assume you found something out during your visit to Arabella's?"

William nodded his eyes alight with a little mischief. He took a moment to revel in for once having a piece of information ahead of Eliza. It didn't happen often, so who could blame him really.

"Well are you going to tell me?" Eliza asked impatiently.

"I'm just enjoying this moment," William shrugged with a chuckle.

"Smugness does not become you William!" Eliza replied with narrowed eyes. "Just get on with what you came here to say."

William sat up and leaned his arm on her desk, his joy at the moment over, he took a breath before revealing his news.

"So I went to visit Arabella, and while I was there the family doctor was in attendance, checking on her condition."

"That's not unusual is it?" Eliza asked with a shrug of her shoulders. Surely in this situation a doctor would naturally want to check in on an expectant mother.

"Not at all, but the doctor pulled me to one side. He advised that he had prescribed the arsenic, as the pharmacist had suggested, because Mr Goldburg was quite ill. He had been suffering with his breathing for some time, and it was gradually getting worse, not better."

Eliza looked confused, how was this news? So Arabella's husband had breathing difficulties, she knew it was rather common that it would be treated with small quantities of arsenic, and they already knew he would have had access to it.

"The doctor advised, that most likely Hugo did not have much time left, he couldn't say for sure, but he was highly concerned by the speed of the progression."

"So Hugo decided to kill himself? Save off a lengthy death?" Eliza assumed.

"Not quite. The Doctor saw Hugo late last Wednesday, and he was incredibly agitated having been told the news of Arabella's condition. Apparently, he was in his office pacing about what could be done about it. He was so angry, the doctor was concerned for his wellbeing."

"Did he tell him the baby wasn't his?" Eliza queried.

"If he did, the doctor didn't share that information with me, and I certainly wasn't going to let that cat out of the bag! In fact, no one in the staff that I spoke to gave any suggestion that the baby wasn't his. So either the staff are incredibly loyal to Arabella or she must have been so discreet that they really didn't know about her affairs."

Eliza was confused, clearly some of the ladies she occasionally took tea with knew that she'd been seen with another man, but her own staff had no idea. It seemed more then a little far fetched if you asked her.

"So what happened after that?" Eliza asked, eager to hear the next twist in Friday night's tale.

"Apparently, Hugo was in such a state that the Doctor was rather concerned that Hugo was planning to something terrible in order to rectify the situation. He'd told him to calm down, think about things, and re-visit him this week to discuss it further."

"So Hugo was planning to kill Arabella, or somehow her baby?" Eliza assumed, it wouldn't have surprised her.

"I spoke to a number of their staff while I was there, and not according to Mr Goldberg's main butler."

Eliza was wondering when William was going to get to his point, because this conversation was having so many twists and turns, she wasn't sure herself if she even knew who the poison had been meant for.

"His butler claims, that the Goldberg's relationship had become rather strained in recent months. He had become extremely concerned about his wife's situation, he'd not spoken to her at all since she told him. ."

"Which matches what Arabella told us on Friday night," Eliza confirmed.

" Yes it does. However, Hugo had been suffering due to feeling so unwell, he confided in him recently that he believed his time was coming to an end, and that he had considered how he would end his life. On Friday night, he saw Hugo put a vial in his pocket before they left for the dinner party, but he insisted he didn't know what was in it was at the time."

"So Hugo brought the arsenic with him to the party?"

"Exactly. I made a trip to the family law firm just to get a little bit more information on him, most spoke pleasantly about him, but gave a similar assessment as Mr Thompson. I spoke to one of the junior members of the firm, who reluctantly revealed he overheard on Thursday, Hugo speaking to his father about how he could disinherit his wife should he die. Apparently it was not a good conversation, and it didn't go in Hugo's favour. "

"So why kill himself at the party? She'll still inherit everything now, unless he somehow changed his will on Friday during the day."

"Well, we can't know for sure of Hugo's motives, but I believe that he planned to kill himself at the party, make it look like his wife had done the deed, and therefore she would hang for his murder. We can only assume this would be so his unfaithful wife and her lover didn't inherit his fortune."

Eliza was only marginally shocked. It wasn't hard to imagine that a man could be so calculating so as to kill himself to frame his unfaithful wife. Even if he was just as unfaithful as she was.

"So she really didn't kill him?"

"I can find no evidence that Arabella was involved. She was still the dutiful grieving widow when I spoke to her. She maintained that she knew he had some medication, but not what it was. She was very convincing that she had no reason to want him dead, and no plans to leave London with her lover."

"Did you meet her lover?"

"Yes, briefly on Saturday, he seems like a genuine, nice guy, a gardener. He was in a tavern all Friday night, and the bar man there confirmed it. I would suspect being a gardener and having a way with plants, if he wanted to poison someone it would not be with arsenic."

Well, Eliza resolved, at least Arabella hadn't gotten away with murder, that had to stand for something at least.

"So that's case closed?" She asked.

"Yes, I will agree with the coroner on this, death by misadventure."

Well she had her answer as to why Hugo had killed himself at the party, then gone to the library presumably for one last liaison with a woman before he knew he would die. Rupert's maid Mary was well and truly in the clear and wouldn't be facing any charges, which was a relief.

"At least Arabella isn't getting away with murder," William offered, since he noticed that Eliza wasn't exactly thrilled by his revelation. He thought she'd she would be happier that they knew either way. He eyed her curiously, as if he were trying to read her mind. She eventually offered a smile and a shrug.

"What?" She asked, wondering what he was expecting her to say. "It's not like I wanted it to be her," Eliza said defensively.

William broke into a smile, perhaps her old enemy going down for murder would have satisfied her more.

"I mean I might not like her, but I never wanted it to be her…" William's smile grew and he started chuckling to himself, while Eliza just narrowed her eyes on him. "Okay you've had your moment!" She told him, trying to be angry, but the smile on her lips gave away her true feelings.

She wanted to throw him out of her office, or perhaps even throw something at him, but his chuckling while he was staring at her was infectious and quickly Eliza couldn't help but laugh too as she rolled her eyes and shook her head at him. By god he could be annoying.

Just as they were starting to control their laughter there was another knock at Eliza's office door. William quickly stood up, he was due to leave anyway. He still had to finalize the paperwork for his murdered butcher and he was rather grateful the brother had finally admitted he was responsible.

"Good day Eliza," he smiled

"Good day William," she returned.

She watched as he opened her office door and held it open for an older lady to enter the office. She was perhaps in her 50's, judging by the way she dressed and her grey brown hair.

Eliza stood up at her desk to welcome her new guest, as William collected his hat and nodded in her direction, then shut the office door behind him. The lady seemed well dressed, in a smart green coat and matching hat, with a dark handbag in her hands. She held herself rather formally as crossed the room to stand opposite the desk to Eliza.

"Miss Scarlet?" The lady enquired, with a posh London accent.

"Yes," Eliza offered with a smile. She motioned for the lady to sit down, and they both quickly did.

"I'm Mrs Reid. Mr Trewsbury said you might be able to help me," she said nervously.

Eliza was surprised. She'd not spoken to Mr Colin Trewsbury in a few weeks, since Scotland Yard had now officially closed Clara Wilson's murder case. He had said that he would keep in touch, but she hadn't dared hope that he might recommend her to anyone, since no one knew of his involvement in the case.

"Of course. Please, how may I help?" Eliza asked with a polite smile.

"I'm part of a ladies club, and we've each received some disturbing correspondence of late." Mrs Reid pulled out an enveloped letter from her bag and handed it over to Eliza for her inspection…

The End... of this one anyway.

A/N: Thank you all so much for coming on this crazy journey with me and all your kind reviews and comments. I love these characters, and they have totally inspired my imagination. I'm working away on the next one, after all, what did Henry write about William that Eliza didn't know?