Part 9

Eliza had returned home from her office reasonably early for her, especially since she'd already sent Ivy a message that William would be joining her for dinner. Her trip to Spitalfields Market had been disappointing and brought no new information. Either the workers weren't interested in talking unless she was buying something, or what they were selling was of such poor quality that the likelihood they would have been approached by anyone looking for the most talented workers was slim.

The knock on her front door was also much earlier than she expected. William's arrival had been imminent, but her stomach jumped a little realising that he had already arrived. She's spent most of the time in her office downplaying her eagerness for the afternoon hours to slip away quickly whilst attempting to reason away the thoughts and feelings that were bubbling regarding William. It was a peculiar feeling to be looking forward to seeing him after their years of annoyance and frustration, as they now grew closer over their recent cases.

She checked her appearance in the hall mirror and fruitlessly tried to remove the smile on her lips as she moved to open the door to him. Whilst she was expecting William, she wasn't expecting the large box stuffed with papers that he held effortlessly in his arms as he patiently waited for her to open the door.

"What is this?" Eliza asked confused, as she stepped back to let him in without a proper greeting.

"This is everything Phillips and I managed to pull on both factories for you and me to compare, along with the employment records from Oswald's factory and some additional ones we managed to acquire from the Robinson factory. Hold on to this, there is another in the carriage."

Eliza took the heavy box from him and awkwardly moved to place it on the dining room table, while William went back to his carriage and collected another box. He carried them in and kicked the front door shut with his foot before moving next to Eliza and placing the boxes on a chair.

"When you say Phillips and you?" Eliza teased with a knowing smile.

"I of course mean Honeychurch and a few other Constables," William replied, half chuckling because he'd overheard them all grumbling about being stuck in the dusty, windowless archive room for the afternoon instead of being out on the street of London. "I hope you didn't have any other plans for your evening?" William joked.

"I'm all yours," Eliza said, before realizing the words that had tumbled out of her mouth.

William stopped a moment, as he started opening one of the boxes and lifted his eyes to hers as she spoke. Her eyes widened at the implication of her words, before pulling away from him embarrassed. While he knew what she had meant, he couldn't help but hope that perhaps her slip of the tongue had a different meaning. She certainly seemed happy to be spending an evening with him, though he was unsure if it was him or the work that she seemed excited about.

"Well then, we should make a start," Eliza said, trying to recover herself.

She held her hand out as William removed his bowler hat and handed it to her, followed by his overcoat and jacket. Relieved to have a moment to escape the awkwardness, she moved to the hall and hung William's items on the hooks before going to get a map from her father's old office.

When she returned, William had rolled up his shirtsleeves and had started to pull out the paperwork and Eliza took a moment to realise how comfortable he looked. She looked down at the fact she was still formally dressed in her jacket. After a moment, she moved quietly to the coat stand and removed it, hanging it next to William's. Her shirt was plain, and she could see the outline of her corset through it, but she pushed away any thought of impropriety. For once she wanted to feel as comfortable as William seemed.

William gave her a glance over the file he was reading but said nothing as she walked in and rolled out the map and held it flat with two silver candlesticks from the mantlepiece and she join William in emptying the boxes. Soon they had laid out the files from the boxes into ordered stacks until barely a space was clear on the table.

Meticulously they started their work, side by side in comfortable silence, each taking a file and focused on making their notes to compare, and occasionally pointing out something that might be of interest. While they read looking for clues, they had lists of details on each factory, dates of workers starting or leaving to check with disappearances, names to investigate further, and a plot of locations on the map. Eliza almost wished she was in her office where she could pin up all the important information on her board with string to make the connections they needed.

Eliza was desperate to find the name of the woman who had hired Mari but was so far coming up with nothing in any of the files she'd read, as most of the names linked to the businesses were male.

She read over Verla Kelly's employment file that they had taken from the Robinson factory the previous evening, but it gave little information. It seemed all the employment records contained were addresses, dates that the women had worked, and how much they were paid. Eliza was slightly shocked at the meagre wage they were paid for such long hours. women.

As they looked through the employment files from the Robinson factory, there were more letters of resignation seemingly not written by the women themselves. When they compared the resignation letter from Verla's file with those from both factories, it was clear that whilst the handwriting was on occasion slightly different the wording used was always the same, so they both concluded that Verla's death was connected to the other missing women from both factories. Despite the number adding up, William still wasn't sure the letters alone were enough to convince Hall, so they continued looking through the files hoping to find the needle in their haystack of papers.

Eliza began to cross off on her map where the women who had false resignation letters lived, it seemed most were from the East End slums. Most were within walking distance of the factory they worked in, which given their wage, made sense that none of the women would want to waste funds on transport.

Curiously to Eliza, none of the women seemingly had family members in London with them, was that perhaps a choice of the kidnappers so no one noticed they were gone? Mari was the only exception as she had her children, but Eliza noted her employment record made no mention of any dependents, so was it possible that Mari had never mentioned them to whoever employed her? Did whoever had her not know about them?

William was pouring over financial records and having just a little joy at finding anything out of the ordinary. It seemed clothing sales were impressive, as were rugs and carpets, but wages to make the items seemed disproportionally low compared to the cost to sell them. Whilst this was nothing new in business, it did lead to the question of the lengths someone would go to, to make even more money. Yet, he was no closer to working out who would want to kidnap these women.

"What on earth is this?" Ivy exclaimed from the doorway as she startled them both.

They both looked up from their files to see Ivy standing with her a hand on her hips and cutlery in her other, sternly staring at the table and then back at them.

Ivy had heard William's knock on the front door from the kitchen, but they were both so quiet she had assumed Eliza had shown him into the drawing room for drinks before dinner. So, she'd been surprised, not only to find the pair in the dining room but standing shoulder to shoulder almost touching and the dining table completely covered in their paperwork.

"What is all this?" She asked waving her hand over the mess.

"It's police files…" Eliza started to answer before Ivy glared at her that it was a rhetorical question.

"You do realise that this is a dining table, not a desk in one of your offices! There isn't even an inch of space for me to set the cutlery or lay the plates!"

Eliza smirked as she caught William's eyes while Ivy scolded them as if they were both children.

"Honestly! The pair of you!" Ivy complained.

"We'll clear some space," William started to reply before Ivy shook her head, and with a clash placed the items in her hand on top of one of the piles of files.

"You can set the table yourselves," Ivy told them, before turning around and muttering away to herself crossly.

They both managed to hold back their smiles and laughter till Ivy had disappeared back down the hallway, before sharing a look. As William started to pile up some of the paperwork to make some space for Ivy, Eliza picked up another file and glanced at it.

"Interesting…" Eliza began.

"What is?" William queried.

"Didn't you say Mr Oswald Senior's sons were taking over running the Oswald factory? That his oldest son James is running the factory while his youngest son Stephen is supposed to be in India looking for new silk suppliers?"

"Apparently yes. Why?" William shrugged.

"Well, Natalie mentioned the man named Gus, and Stephen Oswald's middle name is Augustus. It's possible that Gus is a nickname and he's somehow involved…"

William nodded his agreement to the possibility even though the idea filled him with dread. They would need to find a motive or a firm link if they were to pursue him. Whilst the Oswald family weren't a high-class family, they were well-known in certain circles, and likely protected by those around them. He wouldn't be able to get close enough to accuse them of any wrongdoing.

"He could have gone rogue, unhappy with the family business?" William suggested with an uneasy sigh.

"Why would the family suggest he's in India?" Eliza queried.

"Save face. They are a high-profile family in the clothing industry and employ a lot of workers in that area. Maybe they don't want to admit that they can't control him. The Black sheep of the family, and they don't want him as part of the family business, or he doesn't want to be part of it. Either way, they wouldn't want their dirty laundry aired out in public, and certainly not with the police sniffing around."

"I'm not sure what motive he would have to kidnap a group of seamstresses."

Eliza wasn't convinced by her conclusion, it a was loose connection at best, but it was better than nothing.

"What about the Oswald factory Manager, Faraday? Could he be the man Natalie described?"

She asked the question innocently but didn't admit that she'd already sent word to Moses asking him to do some digging on the man for her. When William opened a file and shared it with her, he flicked between two pages while Eliza looked over his arm to read it.

"Faraday's a family man who worked his way up in the company from a floor boy to factory manager. That doesn't necessarily mean he's loyal to them though. He's been the manager for a few years now, so he could be involved, but how much is questionable. He did seem more irritated than surprised by the fact the letters were all written by the same person. What is his motive though? Money?"

"Would he risk his family life, getting fired and possibly jail for the sake of more money, this is the question," Eliza admitted.

They both knew the great lengths people would go to if it meant being a little more secure in life.

"I sent Phillips to investigate the shops around Saville Row this afternoon. Most hand-make their suits to order with their in-house seamstresses and tailors, but some do have cheaper pre-made options, which are around half the price. From what he found out those are made elsewhere, and not by their own tailors."

Absentmindedly, Eliza reached out and touched her fingertip against William's waistcoat near his chest and felt the quality of it. William always seemed to look smart in his suits.

"Where do you get your suits made?" She wondered out loud before she even realized she was interested in the answer.

"Well, I'm certainly not able to afford a suit made on Savill Row," William joked.

He stared down at her, slightly unnerved by Eliza's thumb rubbing over the edge of his waistcoat, and her fingertip tracing over the sewn leaf pattern, as he wondered if she was admiring the quality of the fabric or perhaps him wearing it. Did she feel his heartbeat quicken under her touch?

"Ivy usually makes my dresses…" She told him without much thought if he even cared where she got her clothes from.

"There's a shop near my house, Winston's. The tailor there is an older gentleman who has been running the shop most of his life, his parents ran it before him and theirs before them, I think. As a long-time customer, does a good job for me at a quarter of the price of Savill Row."

Eliza looked up noticing how he was staring down at her, with those questioning eyes, as she suddenly realized what she was doing touching him. She quickly moved her hand away from him as she drew in a breath.

"We still have no location where these women might be," Eliza said quickly changing the subject. She took a step sideways moving away and pointing to the map of London that she had been marking against. She licked her lips and tried to ignore the feeling in her stomach, which was slowly becoming more and more difficult.

William laughed to himself at his ability to make the unflappable Eliza Scarlet uncomfortable just with a look, so as she moved away, he took a step to keep the closeness he had been enjoying with her.

"Well, it needs to be big enough to hold the rolls of fabric, possibly some machinery unless the women are made to hand sewn everything and of course the women themselves…" he told her, keeping up with her change in subject.

"An old, abandoned factory perhaps?" Eliza asked scanning the map and wondering where one might be. She could sense William right next to her and did her best to ignore it.

"Or a large house. Somewhere quiet where people wouldn't notice the noise or the women."

Eliza stared at the map, there wasn't anywhere that she could see that was quiet enough that someone wouldn't notice. She looked over her markings and her mind stopped on one north of Thames.

"Or, busy and built up…" Eliza tapped a finger against her mark on the map next to the Beckton gas works before picking up another file she'd already read.

"The Oswald family have links to the Beckton family who own the gas works. Mr Oswald Senior went to the same school as Simon Beck who owns them. Stephen Oswald and Mr Beck's son are similar ages so it's possible they went to the same school, or know each other," Eliza surmised. "Could be a connection there?"

"The gas works are noisy and would likely be busy?" William wrinkled his nose unsure of the validity of the connection.

"It's fairly near the Thames and the boats for exports, also out of the way too…" Was it possible they were on to something, Eliza wondered, her mind fully focused back on the case.

"But surely someone around the gas works would notice? It wouldn't be easy to come and go from that area, not if they are transporting these clothes. I'd be more inclined to suspect they are selling the goods on the local London market rather than shipping them out to the continent."

Their eyes met, and Eliza smiled. This was what she wanted, to be working together at William's side, and she had to admit it felt good. To not be fighting but complimenting each other's investigations. They made a damn good team, she told herself.

William caught her eyes once more and returned her smile, shuffling his feet a little as he swayed closer as the world around them seemed to slow. He was happy to have a file in his hands, otherwise, he wasn't sure he would be able to stop himself from pulling her into his body and holding her against him.

"And where am I putting these?"

Eliza and William jumped apart at the sound of Ivy's voice, and they turn to look at her. She was standing in the doorway of the dining room with two bowls of stew steaming in her hands looking exceedingly unamused, as they realized they had gotten distracted and forgotten to clear the table for her.

Dinner was casual and comfortable after they cleared a section at the end of the table to sit, and they both ate and read and talked. They shared their thoughts and ideas on the case, and at times they smiled and laughed together. For once there was a calmness about them, one that didn't include their bickering or teasing. Privately they both admitted to themselves that it was a nice way to spend an evening.

Following their dinner, they went back to their reading and were just finishing up looking over all the paperwork and cataloguing the files back into the boxes whilst returning to the dinner table to its purpose, much to Ivy's relief.

"First thing tomorrow, I think we should take a carriage and look around near the Beckton Gas Works. See if there is any sort of disused building in the area that could be used to house everything," Eliza said confidently, so William wouldn't think about not bringing her with him.

"Eliza," William attempted to interrupt her. Whilst he agreed with the suggestion and hoped it could lead them to a clue to help locate exactly where the women were being held, he in no way wanted Eliza going off on a wild goose chase.

"Wherever they are, it needs to be big enough to house everything needed to make the clothes," Eliza continued as if William had never spoken. "If our theory is that Faraday is working with Stephen Oswald selling off the clothes to high society for a large fee, then they must have access to some quality silks and the machinery needed to produce the clothes they are selling. I suppose Stephen may be the man who wrote the resignation notes…."

"You do realise I have a team of officers that I can send to do this, you don't have to…"

William stopped what he was doing and stood tall attempting to gain Eliza's attention with his body presence since he wasn't sure he liked just where Eliza's mind was going.

"I want to find Mari and bring her home to her children, why should I not be there?" Eliza replied, feeling suddenly defensive as if William was about to stop her from working the case.

"Because it's dangerous, and we don't know what we're walking into… Or did our dealings with the Banyan family and you being shot, teach you nothing?"

Eliza glared at him, she knew he had the fact that she'd suffered, what was to her a minor injury, during that case in his back pocket ready to pull out and use against her.

"It is no more dangerous for me than it is for you?" Eliza exclaimed.

"Well, I don't have a habit of running headfirst into trouble…" William pointed out.

William stared at her with a glint in his eyes teasing her and Eliza caught them with her own steadfast eyes. Silently they stared each other down, waiting to see who would break first. They knew that neither would back down, but a smile slowly appeared on both their lips.

He half wondered if he should suggest a drink in her drawing room, somewhere they could sit a little more comfortably, and perhaps discuss what he thought was happening between them. Although, given the direction of their conversation it was likely that this was only going to end in a frustrating squabble when she refused to listen to his rational argument regarding her safety.

However, the sound of an urgent knocking at Eliza's front door distracted them both before he had a chance to voice his thoughts of a potential quiet evening nightcap.

Eliza looked a little confused, it wasn't that late, but even still she wasn't expecting anyone so she couldn't be sure who it would be. She watched as William took a step backwards and appeared to roll his eyes. After all, this was becoming a bit now, someone turning up and interrupting their evenings at her house. Eliza at least tried to look apologetic as she moved towards the door.

"Next time, we're eating at mine, there are fewer interruptions," William grumbled slightly under his breath but loud enough that Eliza heard it and Eliza just chuckled at him. She opened the door with a smile that quickly dropped as she saw Tilly Hildegard standing on her steps.

"Is he here?" she asked in a worried tone, her German accent for once soft and almost scared.

"Who?" Eliza asked as Tilly entered her home without waiting to be welcomed. Instead, she almost pushed past her and walked straight down her hallway towards the drawing room.

"Rupert!" Tilly told her as if she'd be looking for anyone else, her eyes glanced into the room, and on realising he wasn't there, quickly turned back into the hallway. "Rupert?" She called up the stairs and waited for a reply.

Eliza closed the front door and shared a confused look with William, unsure what Tilly was doing.

"Rupert's not here Tilly," Eliza said softly. Only, Tilly didn't seem like she was listening, as she moved towards the drawing room once again calling his name.

"Tilly!" Eliza said a little more firmly. "I said, Rupert, is not here."

Tilly finally noticed William standing in the dining room and finally heard Eliza's words. She turned around with worry written all over her face and looked at Eliza, still standing near the front door.

"What do you mean, he's not here?"

"Exactly that. I haven't seen Rupert since yesterday afternoon at my office. Why on earth would you think he's here?"

Tilly started to pace the hall and mumble something incoherently in what Eliza presumed was German since she didn't understand a word she was saying.

"Oh nien, nein, das ist alles meine schuld…. Oh Rupert….Er ist weg….nein…"

Eliza stared at her confused, and William too was. Tilly was visibly worried, which in turn caused Eliza's heart to beat a little quicker, and she raised her concern.

"Tilly, what on earth's the matter?" Eliza asked, her concern growing as she watched Tilly pace back and forth while she mumbled.

"Tilly please," Eliza said a little firmer, but it did nothing to stop her from her pacing and muttering.

In the end, Eliza moved and almost grabbed her by the arm to get her attention.

"Tilly!" Eliza shouted at her.

Tilly almost did a double look as she stared at Eliza wondering how dare she raise her voice at her like that.

"What's happened to Rupert?" Eliza asked, calmly trying to focus Tilly on the matter at hand.

Tilly's face crumpled as if she were about to burst into tears. Eliza wasn't sure she'd ever seen Tilly look anything other than terrifying, yet here she looked like a broken woman.

"I went to his house, they said he never came home last night. The last time he didn't come home, I know he stayed here, so I thought he would have come to you…" Tilly trailed off before moving to slump down on the steps of the main staircase as she held her head in her hands.

Eliza was shocked. Whilst she knew Tilly and Rupert were close, they had a fake engagement after all, but she never thought for a moment that Rupert would share with Tilly that he'd spent the night at her house.

William stared firmly at Eliza, questioning what Tilly had meant by the fact Rupert had spent the night at her house, but Eliza raised a hand a shook her head signaling it was not how it looked, but now wasn't the time for that discussion. Eliza was incredibly worried. She had brushed Rupert off so easily when she saw him at her office, she hadn't had time to stop and deal with his problems. Regret flowed through her, and she dearly wished she'd made time for her friend.

"Tilly… Did his staff say where he went last night?" Eliza asked.

"No," she shook her head, before looking up sadly. "It's all my fault."

"How is it your fault?" Eliza queried since she was under the assumption Rupert's troubles were with his mother, not Tilly.

"Because… I called off our engagement…Yesterday…" Tilly admitted dejected.

Eliza sighed, unsure how to proceed because whilst she knew the engagement was never a real engagement and if Rupert had his way, it would remain that way and there would never be a wedding; it seemed Tilly did believe it was real.

"I'm almost certain it's not your fault," Eliza told her assuredly.

"But it is…. I …. Met someone…" Tilly admitted quietly almost afraid of Eliza's reaction.

Eliza was surprised, if not a little sad for Rupert, but she was also pleased for Tilly. She had met her potential for love rather than a marriage of convenience with Rupert. She watched as Tilly seemed to pull herself together a little to speak, even if she seemed a little hesitant to tell Eliza the truth.

"His name is Otto. He is German, from a town just north of Berlin and stopped in London on his way to Toronto…. We met in town a few weeks ago, and he decided to extend his stay here, so we could spend some time exploring the city together. He still wants to go to Canada but is now waiting while I get my papers in order, and then…. We'll leave together…"

Eliza's shoulders dropped as Tilly looked at her almost apologetically when she had nothing to feel sorry about. It was right that she found someone who truly loved her, Eliza knew this. However, she also knew how Mrs Parker would react, and how lost Rupert must be feeling now.

"Tilly, this isn't your fault, I promise. I will go and find him." Eliza moved towards the coat stand to pick up her thick fur-lined black winter coat that Ivy had recently pressed in preparation for the change in weather. Tilly instantly stood up and watched her confused.

"But you cannot go out alone this late at night…. It's dark out…" Tilly pointed out with an air of urgency.

Eliza stopped and stared at William's coat, jacket and bowler hat hung in its place next to hers on the coat stand. The dim light of the night didn't bother her, nor did going out alone… However, given the likelihood of where she thought Rupert would be, based on where she found him the last time, perhaps it would make good sense to have someone with her.

"I'm not going alone." She announced, as she picked up William's things along with her own and moved towards him.

"Don't worry, we'll find Rupert," she assured Tilly.

To Be continued….