I do not own Miss Scarlet & The Duke.

Chapter 18

"When will you stop sulking?" Eliza asks sassily.

"What? I am not sulking." Duke disagrees with her.
"You are sulking, you have been assisting me with cases for days."

"I believe instead that should have been a thank you, William." He jokes with her. She rolls her eyes, crossing her office.

"Come on Eliza, that hardly means I am sulking, that just means I like your company." He slyly smiles but she only rolls her eyes again.

"You are sulking." She states.

"You would sulk too if you lost your job," Duke says, and Eliza sighs.

"And there it is, you William Wellington are not a quitter. Go take it back." She exclaims.

"Eliz-uh…" Duke groans.

"Orders, yes, yes, so you have said. But, still, there ought to be something you can do." She paces again.

"I am doing something, I'm assisting you to put these blokes in jail. At least we can put our brains together, probably solving these cases at record speed." He yawns.

"Are you saying I am slow?" She questions him.

"No. No, not at all. But with your Inspector no longer at Scotland Yard, well that slows things down a bit doesn't it?" He asks cheekily.

"Not you too. You were never my Inspector. Well, until now that is." She holds one of her files in her arms, glancing up at him with a flirtatious smile.

"But in actuality that is not slowing me down at all, look at all of these cases. It is a shame you are not a private detective. As I could hand you this stack and I could handle mine." She pats both stacks on her desk.

He moves to her, pulling one file out of her small stacks, "You are not doing this one, it is far too dangerous, I already checked."

Eliza gasps, hands on her hips, "William Wellington. I have handled myself just fine without a man in the past. I am fully capable. These cases have come in because people finally realize I, Eliza Scarlet am an invaluable asset to London." She says fully poised.

"That line sounds rehearsed?" Duke pokes fun at her.

"Oh, you are insufferable. You should go find someone else to bother, I have work to do." She exhales, moving to her desk chair.

"I am just giving you a taste of your own medicine, Eliza," He smirks, raising his eyebrows. He grabs the whiskey from her desk drawer and two glasses.

"How did you know that is where I keep the whiskey?" She scoffs.

"I'm an observant Detective, Eliza. Or did you forget?" He lifts his eyebrow up, smugly smiling.

She shakes her head and looks off to the corner, she gives up.

"Fine, let's look at my next case then," She picks up one of the six on her desk. Most appear to be petty theft, one a little more serious, but this latest one, all that is in the file is a stationary card, and on the back, it reads,

"Miss Scarlet,

Please meet me at the third block of Harrington St, I will be in a black suit, in house number one.

Robert."

"How very vague," She says.

"The third block of Harrington? Why, that sounds familiar. Fitzroy, er, in one of his letters, I think he mentioned that house to me. He spoke of a chandelier, and said it was so fancy, he had never seen one so unique. And with his father being the Comissioner, well that says something." Duke notes.

"It sounds like this potential client is very wealthy." She studies him.

"That is hardly what I meant, I," Duke begins but is interrupted once again by Eliza.

"I wonder why Detective Fitzroy was at this house? Maybe Scotland Yard has led another disgruntled and unsatisfied client to my door. Unintentionally that is." She says, taking a sip of her whiskey.

"It has happened quite a bit since you've been gone. A case falls to the wayside at Scotland Yard, someone gets frustrated with their negligence and comes to me instead, it has been great for business." Eliza speaks, and Duke listens to her ramble on.

"You might be onto something, I say it is about time we paid this Robert fellow a visit." He swigs back his whiskey, stands from the chair, and walks to the coat rack.

"We?" Eliza's eyes widen as she follows him.

William laughs, "Yes, we. Now come on." He attaches his bowler hat and out they walk; on a case.

xxxx

Knock, knock, knock.

"Oh good, I was hoping it was you, please, come in quickly." The man, presumably Robert welcomes them into the house.

The artifacts, chandeliers, paintings, and down to the paperhangings on the wall, all boast a rather sophisticated taste indeed. Eliza takes mental notes.

"Come in here, I am the Butler." The man ushers them into the drawing room.

"Butler? Not many of you left in this part of London." She says.

"This is not the Wright's only estate. This is simply their winter one. Their summer one is further South." Eliza notices William's eyes widen a bit. Yes, this is indeed a wealthy household. They're probably about to be handed a robbery case, she thinks.

"I follow them around to their different estates, I have many responsibilities. I had worked with Jane for about four years. We had become good friends, I do not understand why anyone would want to kill her." He touches his raven-colored mustache, and looks away.

"Kill her? She's dead?" Eliza asks, bewildered. The man nods.

"And when did she die?" Duke asks the Butler.

"Roughly a month ago, that is when it was reported to Scotland Yard by my employers. Mr. and Mrs. Harold Wright. But Scotland Yard has given me no updates, we are to be leaving for the summer estate in only one more month, but Jane deserves justice. I thought I would come to you, on my account to try and get answers. I got your name from one of Jane's friends in the market." Eliza listens closely and nods.

"I, I can pay your fee, pay no mind to that. Please, I just want justice for Jane." The middle-aged pale man nods once more.

"Very well, we will take the case. Are you able to speak now, I have some questions?"

It doesn't sneak past Duke's notice that Eliza indeed said, "we." He smiles at that.

"Yes, but let's please move to my private quarters." The man steps further into the house.

"Mr. and Mrs. Wright are out of town today but are due back this evening. So, I need to make this rather quick." He says fiddling with the doorknob.

"So Robert, I presume?"

"Yes, Miss Scarlet. My name is Robert Langley."

"Mr. Langley," Eliza begins.

"Robert, please." He sits, smooths out a wrinkle in his trousers, and then looks up at them.

She nods, "Very well, Robert, how do you know there was any foul play in her death?"

"Well, I heard chatter in the market. The rumors say she was poisoned."

"Poisoned?" Duke repeats.

Robert looks to the otherwise quiet Duke.

"Who was the acting Detective on this case?" Duke inquires.

"Erm, I don't necessarily remember, maybe Carlson? With eh, a younger lad assisting him. Um. Fitzlloyd? Maybe."

"Fitzroy," Duke mouths silently to Eliza.

She nods, taking notes in her book.

"Do you know the type of poison?" She asks.

"I do not know, Miss." He shakes his head, distraught.

"Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to hurt Jane?"

"Jane? Oh no, she was the sweetest woman. Very religious, to a fault. The most innocent soul. She would never hurt a fly, so I do not understand why anyone would want to hurt her." His face is laced with concern.

"Well, she seems to have been targeted. As everyone else in the house has been unharmed, correct?" She asks Robert.

"Correct," He nods.

"Alright, well I believe we have enough to start with, thank you so much for putting your trust in me, Robert." She grabs ahold of his hand, shaking it.

"We will be in touch, thank you." She says.

Robert walks them to the front door. As he closes the door behind them, they make their way down the stairs, Duke snickers, "We will?"

She rolls her eyes, "Oh hush."