Chapter Text
~~~
Murder at Canaan House - Details Released by Scotland Yard
In a shocking turn of events at last week’s soirée at Canaan House, the host Lord John Gaius was murdered by one of his guests. Further adding to the scandal, this is not the first murder the guest had perpetrated. The recent rash of killings in the East End had ended now that the murderer had been stopped. Scotland Yard is not releasing the name of the murderer, as he has already been killed himself in a murder-gone-wrong, however, the case is under review by Inspector—
~~~
Harrow closed the newspaper and tossed it down on the table in disgust. “This is ridiculous.”
Gideon looked up from where she was patching a worn shirt. “I’m not sure what you expected. She had friends in high places.”
“I expected at least the release of her name,” Harrow insisted. “The newspaper is not even aware that the murderer was female.”
Gideon leaned back and sighed. “Harrow, you have to lower your expectations when it comes to justice.”
“I am not a moron, Griddle,” Harrow retorted sharply. “Just because I hoped for at minimum, an acknowledgement of a crime, does not mean I expected justice.”
“We stopped her,” Gideon said firmly. “We have to be content with that.”
They were in the basement where Gideon, Camilla, and Palamedes made their base. The latter two were out at the moment, so it was just Gideon and Harrow.
Harrow had seen the newspaper lying on the table, likely left by Palamedes for her perusal. She had been waiting to see something, anything, in the paper about last week’s party, but what she read was not satisfying.
It was rather pathetic. She hadn’t expected their contribution, as they were four random people who had no expertise in solving crimes. It would be humiliating for the police for them to have solved a sequential murder case.
They hadn’t even been commended for providing genuine evidence rather than just claiming the third corpse in the house was the perpetrator of the other ones.
Palamedes had discovered a sheet of paper with a list of women’s names on it, many crossed off. The crossed off names corresponded with the murderer’s victims. The list matched an intake sheet for the charity hospital that Dame Mercymorn ran. The police later searched her home and found a diary, which, though it did not mention anything about the murderers (the lady was far too clever to put her crime down in writing) did match the handwriting on the list.
None of the four pseudo-detectives could parse out any connection between the victims outside of the list. The police wouldn’t provide any more information either, so they were left to speculation. Dame Mercymorn, known for both her high class status and and in connection to debaucherous parties, didn’t exactly fit any clear motive for a sequential killer.
Perhaps the victims had simply talked back, or said something she did not agree with. Based on her behaviour at the party a week ago, it was not impossible that her motive was so petty.
The police did divulge that she was acting alone. Neither Gaius nor Sir Augustine aided her. Officially, neither knew what she was doing, however the three of them were all so close Harrow had her doubts.
Still, in the aftermath of the party, Sir Augustine beat a hasty retreat to the countryside. The spoken reason was to spend some time alone after learning of his one friend’s death at the hands of the other. The unspoken was so he could avoid the scandal. Harrow was unsure how fleeing an active crime scene was beneficial at reducing rumours, but perhaps rumours were what he wanted. She didn’t care to think too much into his motives or lack thereof. He wasn’t an interesting enough man.
She did have to thank him for helping Dulcinea, though. To everyone’s surprise, the lady managed to pull through her injuries. Harrow had visited her in the hospital after she woke up.
“You know, this is not the worst I have ever felt, though I cannot say I would like to repeat the experience,” Dulcinea had said with a ghastly smile. “At least this time there’s a good reason for my poor health. People tend to be much more sympathetic when they understand why you don’t feel well.”
While she would be confined to the hospital for a while, she was expected to make a full recovery.
“I’ve been wondering,” Harrow said after a pause. “How did you, Palamedes and Camilla get into the fête in the first place?”
“We just got ourselves hired as extra help,” Gideon said. “Plenty of rich people get more servants just for parties. They gave us uniforms and everything, though I felt like a pin cushion after they were done with the fitting. The things I do to solve cases.”
“Oh, so that is why the suit fit you so well,” Harrow said without thinking.
“What?” Gideon demanded, clearly caught off guard.
Harrow had been wondering why the suit had not looked borrowed or stolen. She hadn’t meant to say anything out loud. “Nothing.”
Gideon stood up and began to stalk towards her, a cat-like grin on her face. “No, no. Repeat it. What did you say?”
Harrow knew her face must be bright red. Nevertheless, she did her best to collect herself and pretend nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. “I know you heard me the first time.”
Gideon leaned in, and Harrow forced herself to stand still, ignoring the urge to also lean in to close the last short distance between them. Gideon would never let her live down the time Harrow accidentally called her attractive and then kissed her after being teased about it.
Gideon opened her mouth again.
“I have to go to work,” Harrow added before she could say something else stupid.
She still worked at the Quinn-Pent household. After the events at the party last week, Abigail and Magnus sat her down for a serious conversation. Harrow had assumed that she was about to be let go, but instead she got an hour-long lecture about how they were worried about her.
Apparently, they had known her parents, and though they were not close enough to have interfered in Harrow’s life after their death, they had intended to keep an eye on her. When they saw her cut off from the rest of society, and as a consequence further isolating herself, Magnus insisted that they step in and do something to keep her tethered to other people. They didn’t state it outright, but it was clear the position she had as a governess in the house had been a bit of charity on their part, as they knew or at least guessed at her financial situation.
Harrow hadn’t known. She hadn’t even guessed that anyone had noticed, let alone cared about what she was doing.
She just sat there in silence, unable to form even a basic rote response to their statements. An emotion she couldn’t recognize pressed against her ribcage.
Sensing she was overwhelmed, Abigail suggested she take a few weeks off. That managed to snap Harrow back into the present enough to respond in the negative. She did not want to be left to her own devices for days on end. With nothing to fill her time with, no schedule, she would go mad. They went back and forth on the topic, but eventually Abigail gave in, though she demanded Harrow at least take a week off.
Now the agonizing week of waiting was over, and she finally could get back to a normal routine and normal life.
She looked up at Gideon, who was still grinning over her. “I’ll see you afterwards.”
Harrow took a set back, reconsidered, then stepped forward and pulled Gideon down to kiss her.
Gideon pulled her in by the waist, as if she had been simply waiting for Harrow to make the first move. It still sent a rush through her, even without a corpse in the room and a ridiculous amount of adrenaline coursing through her.
Harrow left for real this time, with one last look over her shoulder at Gideon, who stood in the doorway to see her off. She set off for the Quinn-Pent household, neatly dodging a carriage that was going too fast through a puddle and sent a spray of water onto the sidewalk.
It did not dampen her mood, nor did the thought of dealing with two adolescents for the next several hours. At the end of the day, there would be people waiting for her, people who cared about her as a person and not as a legacy of her parents.
From other people’s perspective, she was not better off from where she was before she got herself involved in multiple murders. She had the same job, read the same medical books, and continued to ignore other people. If anything she was worse off; being more ostracised from society and losing Alecto, but she had gained in the small things.
And that was enough.