Part 14
Eliza and William travelled in the carriage along the busy streets of Greater London, thankful for the blueish sky and afternoon sun that held out as the world became a little greener and gave way to the quieter area of Wanstead. They would likely only have a little time once they arrived to look around before the evening's sunset and darkness would settle in.
For Eliza, the travelling was just an anxious wait while she wished the carriage could move quicker. William, sitting opposite her could see it clearly on her face as she stared out the window and occasionally tapped her foot impatiently on the floor. It amused him greatly that she was so terrible at patience and sitting still. Being careful not to startle her, William gently touched her knee to stop it from bouncing.
Eliza flinched as she felt William's touch, and she snapped her head from the view out the window to look at William, wondering what exactly he was doing. Her guard dropped instantly as his eyes gave the reassurance she didn't want to admit she needed.
She eyed him questioningly, but he just smiled and slowly rubbed his hand to try and settle her. Whilst it was comforting, his inappropriate movement also had the effect of confusing her.
She was slowly becoming accustomed to him touching her ever since he'd kissed her but what surprised her was that she was starting to enjoy the little moments between them. She felt herself holding back from telling him he shouldn't, because she was finding comfort in it. Even though she kept telling herself she wasn't one of those women, the one who needed a man, she was finding she was enjoying it and his company more than ever before.
Unable to take her eyes off him, she noticed them change from comfort to something else, dark, and wide, almost as if he was trying to bore into her mind or her soul, and a shiver runs down her spine. Had he always looked at her that way? A slow breath left her lips, as she tentatively placed her fingers against his. A hidden smile forms on his lips, before she moved her hand away from him, regaining her formal stance.
"I'm all right," Eliza said quickly to dismiss William's concern.
"I know…"
William moved his hand from her leg and sat back on his bench, his hope that perhaps Eliza would soften toward him after all their time together was fading. He'd seen her resolve break for a fraction of a second as she touched his hand, and then in the blink of an eye her formal posture was back and the moment over before it had even begun. It was clear that despite the kiss she'd given him the previous evening that when they were on a case, Eliza's need to be taken seriously as a detective was going to outweigh any feelings, she might have for him.
Eliza blinked as she noticed William's mood change, and she knew she had likely upset him, but she needed to focus right now on finding all the missing women, and that was all that was important. She wouldn't allow her thoughts to be distracted by him or anyone else.
"Please, promise me that you'll stay with me when we arrive. That you'll not run off and try and find them on your own," William asked seriously.
Eliza said nothing, despite his words being full of concern and she tried to keep her face neutral so he wouldn't sense her lie, but William saw straight through her as her eyes gave her away.
"Eliza, please…" he begged, his shoulders dropping with annoyance.
"I'm not going to make a promise I cannot keep. If necessary, we both know I'll do what needs to be done to get these women home safely. I'm not going to leave them here another night if there is a chance, they aren't safe."
William pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose and released a slow sigh. If they were to have any chance of being more than friends, they would have to come up with a better way of working together. He knew he was going into this distracted, as half his brain would always be wondering what she was doing. He was almost certain that Eliza's ambition and ability to run headfirst into danger was likely to get either one or them both killed. Whilst over the years he'd had a certain bravado that when your time was up it was up, he sincerely hoped that tonight was not that night.
"Look, I know you want to run hell for leather and get them out, but can you for a moment, consider that I have some experience here, and just…. Hear me out…." William for once remained calm, attempting to be rational with her rather than argumentative.
Eliza blinked, trying to work out if he was trying to be important and take over, or if he was being sincere in his approach. She knew she at least owed it to him to listen to him, but would he give her the same courtesy?
"Fine, go ahead." Eliza had to concede that William did have more knowledge than she did in this situation.
"I've done this kind of operation before, the whole unplanned raid of a location with just a few men, and it never ends well if we run in blind. So, instead when we get there, let us take a few moments to assess the situation. I know your goal is to get Mari and the other women home safely, it's mine too, but let's figure out the best way between us."
Eliza had to agree that it was better to have a clear head and not rush on this occasion. There were possibly many lives at stake if they did. Yet, even as William looked at her and spoke reasonably as he did on occasion, it still got her back up that he was likely right when she wanted to be the one who came up with the plan, and that he was somehow just placating her for the satisfaction of keeping her safe.
"If between us you mean we both get to state our case and then we weigh up the best option and agree, instead of you pretending that you're listening to my side before doing what you wanted in the first place… Then fine, we can assess the situation when we arrive."
William nodded and held back a sniff. He would of course listen to her, as he usually did because she'd proved she had good ideas, but he also knew he would use his best judgement in his role as an Inspector to get the best outcome. This wasn't the time or place for competition or an argument over whose idea was better.
The carriage pulled up and Eliza looked out at the dim daylight rays that poke through the clusters of small red brick and grey stone buildings. Children played in the street with balls or ropes and women were busy bringing in lines of clothing. It wasn't exactly the quiet area she was expecting for someone hiding a large group of missing women.
William got out of the carriage first, placed his hat on his head and held out his hand for Eliza. He noticed the women staring at them and out of the corner of his eye he saw the back of two boys in dirty clothes and flat caps running with the coat tails trailing disappear behind a house, but the sound of carriage wheels pulling up over the gravel turned his attention and when he looked back, the lads were out of sight.
Phillips and Moses jumped out of their carriage, and they took an uneasy look around at the people who were suddenly staring at the four of them, clearly wondering what they were doing. As the four of them regrouped, William remained quiet and offered a look for them to follow him down the road.
William purposely stopped the carriages slightly away from where they believed the farmhouse was to keep their element of surprise. As they walked quietly together the down the main road until houses gave way to a square archway sized for carriages to pass under a set of rooms connecting two houses. There were still markings on the walls that once would have held iron gates indicating the original start of the old land.
They looked around to check they weren't being followed, they turned and walked underneath the archway. The other side opened to a wide and long passageway that the back of houses now ran along. Elize counted at least ten houses that ran along each side. At one time this would likely have been part of the long driveway up to the main house, but the grounds at some point must have been sold off for houses to be built.
At the end of the pathway was a tall grey stone wall that seemed to run all around the new boundary line of the old farmhouse they were looking for and a tall black iron gate chained and locked. The passageway was quiet, and the four of them made their way to the gate and peered through it at the overgrown garden and the house that had been left in disrepair in the distance.
The house itself was imposingly tall and wide with at least three floors plus what seemed like an attic with a small round window. It looked old and rundown with ageing red bricks and broken windows boarded with cardboard and wooden slats. Everything looked cold, abandoned, and quiet, with the only indication of any movement being the markings on the ground showing the scraping of the gates opening in the dirt, and the wheel tracks of a carriage in the dirt track leading up to the house. It was clear that someone was coming and going regularly.
Even though a pole was missing from the bottom of the gate, there was no way they could fit through the gap, so after a quick look around, William started to climb the wall next to the gate. He reached the top and sat there while he took a few moments, to look over the other side for signs of life from higher up.
Once William felt confident that the place seemed deserted enough that no one would notice them climbing over he nodded to the others. He jumped down the other side, while Phillips climbed up and sat on the wall. Eliza in her dress would struggle to climb up as the men could, and without a word, Moses bent down and laced his fingers together helping her to step up while Phillips reached down and clasped her hand to pull her up. Eliza didn't usually like being at a disadvantage, but on this occasion, she accepted the help of the men around her without argument.
William was waiting expectantly on the other side as Eliza swung her legs over the wall and looked down at him while he reached up to grab hold of her. As she lowered herself, he gripped her waist firmly with his hands and gave her a nod that he had her before she released the wall. Quickly, she moved to balance her hands on his shoulders. As if she were as light as air, William pulled her down towards him and held her against his chest until her feet were on the ground.
He took half a second to enjoy holding her close to his body as she looked at him and caught his eyes. From the look on her face, he couldn't help but wonder if she was experiencing the same fluttering feelings as he was. Forgetting that anyone was with them, they held their hands on each other, momentarily allowing an indulgence that they had never dared to before.
Despite, never wanting to feel like a helpless woman, Eliza couldn't help but acknowledge to herself how safe she felt in his strong arms, as her heartbeat quickened. Suddenly, almost as if remembering where they were, Eliza took a step backwards and felt William let her slip from his fingers. She blinked and looked away to the ground with embarrassment, quickly trying to recover from the heat and butterflies forming inside her, and as she looked back, she noticed the flash of sadness in William's eyes, even if she didn't understand why it was there.
After a moment Phillips jumped down next to them followed swiftly by Moses and the two men looked at them questioning why they were standing still. William seemed to simply nod before he turned to move towards the house, and everyone followed.
They crept through the long grass and past the tall trees until they were as close to the house as they could get without being in the open and all crouched behind the last of the trees before the clearing opened in front of the house.
Everywhere seem eerily quiet aside from the wind rustling the leaves on the tall trees of the garden and the odd bird call. The main building looked abandoned and in disrepair with broken and boarded windows and a padlocked front door, while behind it, were two large black wooden barns that would have previously housed cattle and horses. There was no sign of life anywhere, and they all suddenly wondered if this was a misdirection.
"Something doesn't feel right," Eliza offered quietly. "It's too quiet, where is everyone?"
"It takes effort to make a place look this abandoned," Moses offered.
Phillips nodded his agreement, but Eliza turned to look at William whose eyes seemed fixed on the house. She looked in the direction he was staring trying to see what he was staring at, but she had no idea what had caught his interest.
"They are in there," William finally said.
Eliza wasn't sure if it was his gut instinct that made him think it or if he'd seen something, but whichever it was she trusted it. She looked around that the trees that surrounded them, there could be just enough cover to keep them hidden as they moved around the outside.
"I'm not sure how much closer we can get without someone noticing us if there is someone here," Phillips interjected.
"The barns on the left," Eliza offered looking towards Moses and Phillips, "we can follow these trees around and get close enough to the house to see what's going on. We should split up." Eliza decided quickly. "You both go to the left and look at those barns, William and I will go to the right, and we can follow the trees and be almost alongside the house, and we can meet by the trees at the back of the house. That way if one of us gets caught the other can raise the alarm."
Moses and Phillips gave serious nods and accepted her suggestion without further question. William, it seemed was still focused on the house and Eliza as she looked to gain his agreement, wasn't sure if he'd heard her speak.
As Moses and Phillips turned to move, Eliza placed her hand on William's wrist making him jump slightly. She said nothing, but gave him a half smile, offering reassurance that she was still there with him. William looked to see Moses and Phillips leave them, and Eliza pointed him in the opposite direction. Her words finally seemed to register, and he nodded before he moved his arm away from her and they moved to the right.
As the group went their separate ways, they tried as best they could to keep to the trees and remain unnoticed by anyone who might be watching. As they walked around the outskirts of the old lawn, William's eyes never left the building. Everything felt still and quiet, aside from the wind, and Eliza could tell he sensed something was wrong. There were no signs of anyone or movement inside the house, so whatever he was thinking was a mystery to Eliza.
Still, she left him to his thoughts and looked at the building to make an assessment herself. There was little remarkable about the house. It looked so rundown that one first glance you would imagine it was unlivable. William had been so sure someone was there, but to her, it was too quiet, yet if the women weren't, where else would Stephen be keeping them?
As they rounded the corner of the house, Eliza spotted something in the distance in the field behind the house and she clutched William's wrist to stop him and gain his attention.
"Look, in the back there, Bee houses," she told him before he took his gaze off the house and looked at her.
"So?" he asked confused.
"Verla Kelly was killed by a bee sting… It's possible she died here, and they moved her body?"
William suddenly caught on to her thought process and nodded his agreement before they continued their route surveying the house as they moved.
"Someone could have moved her body so her death wouldn't be linked to here," William added quietly.
"That would make sense if they're trying to keep people away from whatever is happening here."
The question of what exactly was happening there lingered between them as they walked cautiously. If someone was up to no good, surely there would be an activity to house or the grounds. Someone would be patrolling or keeping a guard for unwanted visitors. As they walked, everything about the place suggested it was abandoned.
"What are you thinking?" Eliza asked softly as they finally stopped behind a tree to the far right of the house. Close enough to study it, but remaining far enough away that they shouldn't be seen.
"I'm not sure, it's so quiet, it feels wrong," William said, and Eliza nodded her agreement. Whilst there was a stillness and a silence to the place that felt wrong in a way he couldn't explain. "Can you smell something?" He asked after a moment.
Eliza sniffed the air and looked curiously towards the house. There was a certain smokiness building like someone had lit a fire, yet there was no visible smoke to be seen from the tall chimney on the roof.
"Burning?" Eliza acknowledged.
"Could be someone has lit a bonfire or it's coming from a house back there perhaps. Depending on the direction of the wind…" William never finished his sentence, as the sound of a twig snapping came from behind them.
In an instant, William pulled his gun from its holster under his arm and pointed it in the direction of the noise. He and Eliza spun around, assuming they had been found snooping, but instead of a criminal, they saw two small boys frozen, staring at them in terror.
"Charlie, Johan!" Eliza exclaimed as she looked down at the boys who were suddenly looking like wild deer caught in a hunter's aim. "What are you doing here!" she asked as she moved towards them.
"Is she here?" Charlie asked with a worried look on his face. "Did you find my mum?"
Eliza and William shared a look, as William holstered his gun. The obvious answer was no, they hadn't, yet how could they break it to him?
"How did you find us here?" Eliza asked as she crouched down in between them and looked at them both. She was genuinely impressed if they'd followed them, yet still fully concerned for their safety.
"We heard you and the others talking back at your office, so we jumped on the back of your carriage," Johan spoke proudly at their ingenuity, despite the disapproving looks of both Eliza and William.
"Have you found her?" Charlie asked with impatience. "Who's this?"
"Not yet," Eliza replied honestly, and she watched as his face dropped. "And this is Inspector Wellington from Scotland Yard. He's helping to try and find your mother." Eliza stood up and turned towards William to offer an introduction, though he realized who the boy was.
"This is Charlie, Mari's son who hired me… And Johan…" who needed no introduction.
Johan smiled his big toothy cheeky grin, just from Eliza's tone he was happy that she made it sound like he was trouble and needed no other explanation.
William nodded a greeting and gave Eliza a curious look before he crouched to be at a similar height to Charlie and held out his hand.
"How do you do? You know, you really shouldn't be here…"
"DUKE!"
William didn't get a chance to say another word, as he heard Phillips yells and stood back up while he and Eliza turned towards the house. Both Phillips and Moses were running at full speed towards them. William's eyes went wide as he saw the look of fear and urgency of both men, either they had been spotted or they had found something, and either way, it seemed like there was trouble.
"The house is on fire!" Phillips said breathlessly as they got close enough to hear him properly.
"You can see smoke coming from a basement-level window on the back of the house," Moses added, whilst gulping in air, he then did a double take of Johan before his expression turned from exhaustion to anger. "What in God's name are you doing here!"
For a moment all eyes turned to Moses and Johan, as both William and Phillips seemed shocked that they knew each other.
"We followed ya…" Johan shrugged, completely unphased and instead looked smugly at Moses.
"Your mother will have your guts…" Moses seethed as he shook his head angrily.
"What, we were just trying to find his mam…" Johan didn't appear to be concerned by Moses' wrath. Instead, he looked like a cat who'd got some cream.
"And didn't I tell ya yesterday to stay out of it!" Moses reprimanded.
"Charlie wanted to. I couldn't let him come alone…" The was an air of childish arrogance to Johan, that he was always going to be right, even if he was wrong.
"So, if he was jumping off a bridge, you'd follow him eh…"
While Johan seemed to shrug off the telling off, Phillips straightened himself and tried to ignore the argument between Moses and the lad, turned to William and Eliza and spoke low so the boys couldn't hear.
"We saw a hand waving through a broken pane. There are people inside!"
"Mum!" Charlie called out, having been paying attention to them and hearing exactly what was being said. He stepped forward to start running towards the house, but Eliza caught him and held onto him to stop him. Johan too seemed to follow his friend blindly, but Moses caught him by the scruff of his shirt collar, pulled him firmly back into place and glared a warning to stay still.
"Charlie, please you must trust us. We'll help them," she said reassuringly.
William's eyes darted towards the house making split-second judgements of its safety and weak points. He noted a wooden back door on the right side and realized they could likely kick that in and get inside quickly. Whilst running into a burning building was not top of his list of things to do, if there were people stuck inside, they had a duty to try and help them. With a momentary assessment, he looked back at Phillips and Moses and realized they would both likely follow him, the issue was Eliza.
"I need you to stay with the boys," William said hurriedly while making an instantaneous decision in his mind, while he tried to give her a quick and reasonable explanation.
Eliza stared wide-eyed at him, she was watching his lips move, saying words that her brain didn't take in because her mind was already racing at what she thought he was suggesting. In an instant, she realized he was planning on running into a burning building. Her heart was pounding as her eyes darted to William's eyes still not registering what he was saying.
"Eliza!" William said sharply, realizing she hadn't heard a word he'd been saying. He needed her full attention as he pulled his pocket watch from his pocket and fumbled with removing it from the buttonhole of his waistcoat.
"I need you to wait here and take my watch. You've got to time five minutes, and if we're not out by then you use my whistle…" He handed over his watch and then dipped into the inside pocket of his jacket and removed his police standard issue long silver whistle that was designed to make a loud high-pitched sound for attracting attention. It was on a long ball chain that dripped through William's fingers.
"This is important. I need you to blow this, long, short, long, and you keep repeating it for as long as you can until someone comes with help."
William spoke quickly and firmly with an urgency to his tone whilst staring directly into her eyes, attempting to stress the importance of the role he gave her because he didn't have time to argue about why she wasn't coming inside with them.
He knew he'd agreed to listen to her in the carriage, but there was no time. Not only would it put her in unnecessary danger, but it would impede his ability to do what was necessary if he was worrying about her safety. He could focus on getting all the women out if he knew she was safe.
Eliza blinked, her mind racing at what he was suggesting. Long, short, long, the known police code for help, which meant he knew what they were going to do would mean they would need assistance.
"Do you understand!" William asked impatiently, and he pressed his free hand against her shoulder when Eliza didn't respond to him.
"Yes," Eliza said, shaking her head to clear her thoughts and she took the whistle from him. "But…" she couldn't comprehend why they didn't just go and get help now….
"You just need to give us five minutes…" he confirmed quickly.
US! Eliza looked confused, before pulling away from his eyes and turning her head to look towards Phillips and Moses, who were dropping their hats on the floor, and it all became clear that both were going inside as well, and she was being left alone outside with the children. It rattled her that she, the woman, was being left to look after the boys.
Moses was giving Johan a clear and firm warning to stay put and that he wasn't explaining to his mother why her son hadn't come home. It seemed to scare the boy enough to nod his agreement.
Perhaps it was clear that one of them was going to have to, and it wasn't without reason that Moses and Phillips would be better able to help inside the building.
"William," she said breathlessly, with worry filling every part of her body.
"Please, Eliza. Stay here. I need you to raise the alarm." He had no more time. The smell of burning was becoming heavier in the air. "It will be okay, I promise."
Eliza shook her head, her eyes darting around before returning to look at him. He had no right to promise that because she knew it might not be, but she had no other option. He was right. If people were inside, they needed to help them, just as she had promised Charlie they would.
"Fine," she whispered and nodded as she watched helplessly as her friends looked at each other nodding their confirmation that they were ready. William smiled with relief that she'd agreed without a fight and placed the chain of the whistle over her head till it rested around her neck and the whistle dangled against her chest.
He let his hand linger against her shoulders and for a moment looked torn, as if he wanted to kiss her, but she touched his hand on her shoulder and gave him a defiant look, indicating for him to let go. Her eyes told him that if he was going kiss her it wasn't going to be in case this was goodbye and if he wanted to kiss her, she was giving him due warning that he was going to have to return to her to do it.
William seemed to understand and gave a brief chuckle, before letting go of her shoulders and standing tall. He looked at Charlie who was staring at him with wide tearful eyes, and he took off his bowler hat and bent slightly before placing the hat on the young boy's head. It was far too big, and he had to angle it slightly so the lad could still see.
"Can you look after this for me? I'll need it when we get back." Then with a nod to Phillips and Moses, they all began to run towards the house.
Eliza stood powerlessly watching them, her breathing unsteady, her heart thumping in her chest, while a lump formed in her throat. She felt Charlie next to her place his small hand in hers, and a moment later Johan tucked himself into her side, his bravado failing him as he watched the men moving quickly towards the house.
"Miss Scarlet…" Johan whispered, fear evident in his voice.
"It's okay boys," she told them as she put a hand around Johan's shoulder, gave Charlie's hand a reassuring squeeze and spoke with more certainty than she truly believed. "Inspector Wellington, Detective Phillips and Moses all know what they are doing."
She could only hope she was right as Phillips and Moses kicked the wooden door open, and then William entered first, and they followed out of her sight.
She looked down at William's pocket watch that she was gripping in the hand that was around Johan's shoulder. Five minutes she told herself, as she started the countdown and waited for the seconds to tick away.
To be continued...