Military Romance Collection: Contemporary Soldier Alpha Male Romance (142 page)

Ruby looked over at Logan in the darkness of the hansom cab and treated him to a tender smile.  “Which is why we must predict his next move before he can make it.  Just as we would in a game of chess.”

“Yes, but we’re playing with the lives of innocent children,” Logan reminded her, doing his best to curb his rising Irish temper.  “And I, for one, do not wish to lose any more pieces if I can help it!”

“Which is why you have me,” Ruby said.  She reached over and placed her gloved hand on his, and fixed him with a very serious gaze.  “I am not without a heart, Inspector.  I share your sentiment, and will do whatever it takes to see that we stop this monster.”

At any other time, such physical contact – even the simplest touch of a hand – from Ruby would set Logan’s heart to pounding.  Right now, however, he felt more concern for the case, and found himself drawn to her words.  “I thought you did not believe in monsters.”

“Not in the fictional sense,” Ruby pointed out.  “Some monsters
are
real…and they are
very
deadly.”

“Yes,” he said solemnly, “yes, they are.”

***

Logan arrived at Ruby’s house the next afternoon, having received a personal message by courier and hour before.  “She said she needed to speak with me urgently about an important matter pertaining to my investigation,” he said, when Ginny let him in.  “Is she in her study?”  He started in that direction.

“No, sir, Inspector,” the girl said.  “She’ll be upstairs.  She told me you would be coming ‘round, so she said to send you up.”  She held out her hands.  “Shall I take your hat and coat, sir?”

“Yes, all right.”  He passed off his bowler and jacket.  Ginny looked him over, a somewhat smug smile playing about her lips.  He pointed to the staircase.  “Up this way?” he asked.

She nodded.  “Yes, Inspector.  Second floor, third door on your right.”

Logan began to climb the steps.  He had been to the first floor before, the first time he met Ruby.  She had been playing a solo game of billiards in one of the large ballrooms.  Logan remembered hearing the crack of the stick against the balls echoing down the hallways as he had approached the open doors, the rumble as they rolled across the table.  Up until that day, he had not known of Miss Waterbrook’s keen intelligence, or her penchant for solving puzzles.  The memory came flowing back to him, as though it had only happened yesterday…

Bent over to line up another shot, Ruby had glanced up at him and smiled. 
‘Inspector Tummond,’
she had said. 
‘Thank you for coming on such short notice.’ 
She returned her focus to the table.
‘You received my message, then, I take it?’

‘I did,’
he had replied. 
‘I came because you had promised to give me information vital to a case I am pursuing at present.’
  He had stopped a few paces from the table and stood there, eyeing her with a modicum of suspicion. 
‘I must admit, I am intrigued as to how you know so many details which have, as yet, not been made public.  I should like to know how precisely you came by this information.’

‘Quite explanatory,’
she had said, and with a quick jab of the cue, sent three more balls into their pockets with a clatter.  She straightened up and tossed her head, chin lifted almost imperiously. 
‘We followed the same path; I merely surpassed you whilst you stopped to admire the scenery.  I’ve been waiting for you to catch up, but when word of another theft began to circulate on the streets – well, I realized then that you might require my assistance.’

‘Did you, now?’

‘The person you seek is not, as you currently suppose, a petty thief from the stockyards – a common misperception based on the robberies occurring during the same time of day as deliveries from the local butcher shop.’
  Ruby had walked over to the rack and taken down a second cue. 
‘There is another suspect whom you have overlooked, someone who has a working knowledge of the deliveries but has no direct ties.’
  She had made her way around to where Logan stood and held out the new stick to him, one elegant dark eyebrow arched. 
‘If you will join me in a round, I shall tell you not only whom is responsible, but also where he will strike next.’

Logan had to admit to being intrigued.  He had taken to Ruby immediately, drawn to her boldness.  Accepting the cue, he had allowed her to engage him in a game.  She had even allowed him to break, but once it had become her turn to play, he never got another chance to strike.  Ruby had proceeded to describe to him the suspect in full detail, from his approximate age and to his exact size, the style of hat he wore, and the kind of tobacco he favored.  She had then told Logan where he could find this man and to be ready for him before he could steal again.  When she had finished clearing the table, Ruby had stood there, one hand holding onto the cue at her side, the other hitched onto her hip. 

‘Well?’
she had said. 
‘What are you waiting for, Inspector?  Go and catch your criminal.’

She had been right about everything.  Logan, along with Victor and two constables, had been able to place themselves at the next crime scene.  Their unsuspecting target had come in, just as Ruby had predicted, and had matched her description down to the hat upon his head.  Upon making the arrest, they had also found him in possession of a ring belonging to one of the previous victims. 

Logan had had suspicions of his own.  He had questioned how anyone could have known that much detail without being directly involved.  He had returned to this house the night following the arrest, and had demanded Miss Waterbrook to explain herself. 
‘How did you know?’
he had asked. 

‘I was blessed with an analytical mind, Inspector,’
Ruby had explained. 
‘All information that comes to me, my brain immediately begins to dissect, breaking each piece down and laying it all before me like a broken tea service.  I then begin the process of reassembling it, figuring out where each fragment belongs, until everything is whole again.  In doing this, I see all sides – inside and out, and in between.’
  She had offered him a smile. 
‘If ever you should require my assistance again, please do not hesitate to call upon me.’

‘What makes you think I shall do that?’

‘Because while you are quite clever in your own right, you often feel the people in your direct association are severely lacking.  You yearn for someone who is your intellectual equal, someone who will look at the picture from all angles as you do, and see whatever it is you might have missed.’

‘And how will you benefit from this?’

‘It will provide my mind with the stimulation it craves,’
Ruby had replied. 
‘Were that I could, I would have loved to have been a detective.  Sadly, it is a profession limited to one gender.For the time being, I would be content to live vicariously through you, Inspector…if you will have me.’

The sound of Ruby’s voice calling from the next floor up broke the spell of reminiscence.  Logan turned away from the billiard room and followed the sound up the stairs, smiling as the lady of the house shouted to her housemaid.  “Ginny!  Was that the door?  Has the inspector arrived?”

“Yes, it was,” Logan replied, pushing through the partially open door.  “And yes I am – oh!”  He drew up sharply, eyes going wide, when he beheld the sight of Ruby submerged up to her pale shoulders in a deep, cast iron roll top tub supported by ball and claw feet.  Quickly, he averted his gaze, feeling a blush burn straight up his face to the tips of his ears.  He cleared his throat.  “Forgive me, madam,” he stammered.“When your maid told me you had requested my presence, I had no idea you would be in the bath!”

“And I had no idea you possessed such a wide streak of prudishness.”

“Do not mistake modesty for prudishness, Miss Waterbrook,” Logan said, his heart still racing.  “I am quite far from being that.”

“Duly noted, Inspector.  But please,
do
relax,” Ruby chided him with an amused sigh.  “As you can see from all the bubbles, there is nothing more to glimpse of me than were I fully clothed!” 

Logan kept his head turned, struggling to resist the urge to look at her again.  “Never the less, it is still considered an impropriety,” he muttered.  “You are, in my humble opinion, a woman of good standing, not a brothel whore.”

“
I
am of the not-so humble opinion that what a woman does for a living should not determine her standing in society, whether she comes by her wealth by inheritance such as I did, works as a dressmaker, sings in a hall, or earns it while on her back.  But then, I have always been something of a forward thinker in that regard.”  She smiled at him, water whooshing around her as she shifted to fold her arms on the side of the tub, her chin resting on her hands.  “I do wish to thank you for responding so quickly to my summons.”

“Your note said it was an urgent matter, pertaining to the case.”  Logan found the ornate tiles on the walls to be particularly fascinating, and kept his gaze riveted upon them.

“Yes!  I think I know how he’s been killing the children.  The afflictions to their bodies are superficial, according to the autopsy reports – very little deep tissue bruising, no broken bones or damage to internal organs.  Even the rectal tearing is not enough to cause significant damage.  And then it occurred to me: the
yew
.”

“What of it?”

“There’s a reason it’s associated with
death
, Logan.  While not the red berries themselves, their seeds and in particular the leaves are considered to be highly toxic.”  Her brown eyes glittered.  “The boys were all
poisoned.
”

Logan started to look at her but then caught himself and quickly turned away again.  “Poisoning would certainly explain a lot,” he said.  “Both autopsies listed small pips found inside the victims’ stomachs.  There had been traces of a green fluid in the contents from the Cotton boy, as well.”

“Green, you say?  Like a tea from the Orient?” Ruby gestured to the cup and saucer sitting on a small table beside the tub.  “I realized this myself when Ginny served me my afternoon tea.  I find I enjoy herbal brews in the later part of the day.  This one today is
Camellia Sinensis
.  Green tea.”  She moved again, splashing slightly.  “As I sipped, I found myself thinking about the philosopher Socrates, who was forced to drink hemlock tea as punishment for speaking out about democracy.  It then occurred to me: what if the killer has been planning to target the children of men who have arranged for changes in the
political
climate, which he finds unsavory?”

“But instead of forcing Socrates to die, he kills his children.”  Logan thought about this for a moment, nodding.  “What better way to destroy a man than through his heirs…”  He cocked his head.  “Hemlock – that’s a kind of evergreen, too, is it not?  Related to the yew?”

“While there
is
a species of conifer called the hemlock,” Ruby said, “it is the plant of the same name which bears the poison.  A plant, I might add, which is not indigenous to this region, nor as easy to come by as the yew.”

“But the effect is the same,” Logan said.  “The Cotton boy had been forced to drink the poison moments before he stumbled out of that alley, alive long enough to give a cryptic warning.”

“And then there are the bundled branches,” Ruby went on, bringing up one aspect of the case which never failed to make Logan feel uncomfortable and agitated.  “Were you aware that any medication, when administered rectally, will be absorbed much faster by the body as opposed to when taken orally?  The body is less apt to reject the toxin, which it would attempt through vomitus.”  A strand of hair tumbled free from the pile atop her head and she reached up with one hand to tuck it back into place.  “I am inclined to believe the branches were intended as a kind of suppository.  Sodomizing the boys merely prepared them for such an insertion.”

Logan snorted.  “Forcing them to swallow the seeds and drink the tea was not enough,” he grumbled.

“It would seem it is all part of a carefully orchestrated plan,” Ruby said, leaning back in the tub with a sigh.  “I shall say it again: our killer is a methodical man.  There is a reason for everything he does, down to each minute detail.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Logan could see her lift a leg up out of the water.  He struggled to think of anything that would deter his growing arousal, but even looking away could not stop his other senses from betraying him.  The sound of Ruby moving around in the water made him picture her naked and wet.  The smell of the perfumed oils that he had often whiffed from her skin whenever she stood close to him permeated the steamy air.  His body responded accordingly – after all, he was a man, a man with desires, and this woman was everything he could ever want or need but would never have.  Unable to withstand it another moment, he decided he needed to escape.  “I just remembered, I am to meet with the Chief Inspector this afternoon.  I must take my leave.  Thank you for your insight into the investigation.  I shall consult with my coroner on his findings, to see if he agrees with the diagnosis of poisoning.  There still remains the question of how we are going to stop our killer from striking again.”

“If he remains true to his pattern, there is still time – August is but two weeks away.”

“Yes, it is.”  Logan tilted his head but kept his eyes averted.  “Good evening to you, Miss Waterbrook.”

“Wait!” Ruby called out, before he could escape.  “Might you be so kind as to pass me my dressing gown?  I’m afraid I’ve left it on the hook by the door, just out of my reach.”

Does she do this on purpose?
Logan wondered.  Sweat dewed his upper lip and brow, not just the condensation of the room’s moisture but his own nervous sweat. 
She knows I have feelings for her, and yet it’s almost as if she taunts me.
“Of course,” he replied, his voice suddenly hoarse.  He reached for the silk garment and held it out at arm’s length in the direction of the tub.  He could hear the water slosh as she stood up.  Catching a glimpse of her with his peripherals, he turned his head away – and found himself looking right into the reflection of a mirror above the sink, one which provided him with an almost perfect view of Ruby’s entire backside from shoulders to calves as she took the robe and slipped her arms into the sleeves.  She drew the gown closed around herself and lashed the belt before she turned and stepped over the side of the tub to the mat on the floor.  Logan gulped and closed his eyes. 
I must get out of here,
he thought. 
Now
.
  “A pleasant evening to you, Miss Waterford,” he said, voice sounding rough to his own ears.