William Monk 06 - Cain His Brother

comforting.
    “No, I have not abandoned it,” he said, and his voice sounded far more meek than he had intended. “I will continue it as long as I am able to, until I find proof, at the very least, that Angus is dead. I would dearly like to prove Caleb murdered him, but that may be impossible.”
    Her rather erratic eyebrows rose. “Has Mrs. Stonefield got funds for that? I gathered she was in some difficulty, or expected to be very shortly.”
    “No, she hasn’t and though Lord Ravensbrook has agreed to pay for the investigation, Mrs. Stonefield seems worried that he will not continue to do so.” Should he ask her? She had taken very little part in the investigation. She might consider the typhoid outbreak to be a more pressing need, and perhaps she was right. He had only the haziest idea how much disposable income she had for such things.
    “Then I shall be happy to take care of the fee for as long as you believe there is purpose in continuing.” She looked at him steadily. “Purpose with advantage to Mrs. Stonefield, that is, or to her children.”
    “Thank you,” he said humbly.
    “Did I overhear you say something about learning more of Caleb Stone?” she asked curiously. “And where he lives, when he can be said to live anywhere. From what I have heard, he spends a great deal of time moving from one place to another. Presumably to avoid his enemies, whom rumor would have to be legion.”
    “Yes. Anything you know, or have heard, might be helpful,” he accepted. “I need to know where they might have been seen together that day. If I could produce a witness who saw them, and then Caleb alone, I should know where to search for a body. Even if I did not find one, it might be sufficient to make the police take up the case. Angus Stonefield was a well-respected man.”
    “I realize why you wish it, William.” She rose to her feetheavily. “I may have spent the last week nursing the sick, but I have not lost my wits. I shall send Hester to you. She has spent more time with the people than I have, especially with Mary. I have been fighting with the frightened, bitter men at the local council, and all that they have said at enormous length and with enough words to fill a library, providing every book were the same, amounts to nothing whatever of the slightest use to man or beast.” And before he could argue, she sailed out and he was left alone sitting on the bench in the light of one tallow candle, looking at the water-stained walls and waiting for Hester.
    She was several minutes in coming, and by the time she did he was thoroughly uncomfortable.
    She arrived and closed the door.
    He stood up automatically, until she seated herself in the chair. She began straightaway, so obviously Callandra had explained his purpose.
    “Everyone seems afraid of Caleb,” she said gravely. “He seems to inhabit an area stretching from the East India Dock Road to the river—”
    “The Isle of Dogs,” he interrupted. “I know that much.”
    “On both sides,” she continued, ignoring him. “And the Greenwich marshes as far as Bugsby’s Reach. A great deal of the time no one knows precisely where he is. He sleeps in the dockyards, on barges, and sometimes with Selina Herries, which you already know.”
    “Yes, I do,” he said impatiently. “I need to prove he was with Angus on the day he was last seen, and when and where.”
    “I know what you want.” She was unruffled. “But you won’t prove anything unless you can persuade someone to speak to you. I don’t think anyone is going to betray Caleb unless they can be sure he won’t take his revenge on them for it. And Selina won’t, regardless. She may be frightened, but she loves him, in her own way.”
    There was a sound of buckets clanging on the far side of the door, but no one opened it.
    He leaned forward. “How do you know? Do you know her?” It was foolish to get excited by the thought, but it would be the last chance, if he could find a way to gain her trust. “She may only be afraid as well.”
    Hester smiled. It lit her face, not removing the tiredness but overriding it.
    “I don’t doubt she is afraid of him,” she agreed. “And I don’t doubt she has cause, now and then. But by all accounts she also loves him, in her way, and is rather proud of him.”
    “Proud of him! In God’s name, what for? The man’s a failure in every way.” As soon as he had said it, he wished he had not put it in such words. It was a damnation, and