Nearing midnight, John and William both were seated comfortably in John's work office at the Criminal Investigation Bureau. They were drinking hot tea and eating sandwiches one of the staffers had made while they poured over their notes from the day. There would be no going home to their families that night. He and William would stay at the Bureau until morning trying to piece the mystery together and hoping all the while that the murderer would not strike again.

John placed tails on Cavendish, Vanneck and Macdonald that very evening. They were the most likely suspects on Gordon Fiennes list at that point in time. Though, it was entirely possible that the suspect was not even listed there among the ten names provided. In either case, if the murderer was eager to act out again, well, the tails would either catch one of these men in the act or prevent one of them from an untimely demise. It was the sort of situation where John hoped nothing would go amiss and yet he almost wished the killer would make a move just so that he could be caught. But, nothing was ever that easy.

He also left a very capable man, Constable Taylor, to watch the Fiennes household in case the murderer decided to take a direct approach and snatch Miss Fiennes from her home. Abductions were uncommon but they did occur and the killer was certainly brazen enough, John believed,  to make the attempt.

While he sipped his tea, he allowed his mind to wander back to the morning meeting at the Fiennes' household and his encounter with the woman in question. Though he and she had never been formally introduced before that moment, he was already familiar with her. Her auburn hair and freckled face had caught his attention on a number of occasions while they attended the same social events during her seasons out.

John had been drawn to her then, but was not in the market for a wife at the time. So, he only observed her and took simple pleasure in being able to admire her rather striking eyes from a distance. He had never imagined that such a fine woman would not be married and happily settled with children in some gentleman's home by now.

"She's a pretty little thing, Miss Fiennes, isn't she?" William suddenly said into the quiet of the room.

John suppressed a smile as he remarked, "Indeed."

It was just like William to notice his interest in the woman and try to draw John out. However, he was not going to make it easy on his friend.

"What a terrible trick her brother has played on her though," William continued while observing his friend from the corner of his eye. "The poor girl must have felt like quite an outcast these last six years."

"Indeed," John replied as before.

"I'd say she'd make a capital wife for some lucky man," he continued. "I suppose, after this business is all cleared up, her family will be eager to marry her off to the first eligible bachelor who comes along." He sighed loudly and pretended not to be looking keenly at John from the corner of his eye. "But, the scandal might make it difficult for her. You know, once the news hits the papers, well, it is likely few would marry her for fear the connection would tarnish the family name."

John made no reply as he sifted idly through some paperwork on his desk and continued to feed his ravishing stomach. But, he did think William was on to something. It was unlikely that the young woman would make a good match now. Murder and scandal was notoriously hard to keep out of the papers even if one did run as tight a ship as John did. He frowned a little at the realization especially after being acquainted with Mrs. Fiennes' acute dread of scandal.

William, sensing his sentiments about the woman were not lost on John if the darkening look on his generally wooden face was anything to go by, stood to his feet, stretched and walked to John's desk. He did not want to miss this critical opportunity to plant some well meaning seeds in John's astute mind concerning the pretty little Miss Fiennes.

As John looked up at him, William leaned a little toward him over this large desk and in a soft conspiratorial voice said, "Her father will probably marry her off to some distant relation in Scotland or Wales, who runs a pig farm and just needs her to give him lots of strapping sons. It's just the sad sort of thing that happens to these unfortunate women."

John snorted and gave his friend a disdainful look. "You know a lot of genteel women who have been married off to pig farmers do you?" The very idea was ridiculous to John. Any woman of Miss Fiennes' social status and intelligent disposition would never be married off to a mere farmer - pig or otherwise. And besides, her mother wouldn't hear of it. But, marry her off quickly and quietly to some distant relation was certainly a distinct possibility.

William grinned seeing the agitation on John's face. John could pretend all he wanted that he was not interested in the woman, but William knew better. Why, just the mention of her being married off beneath her social status had his feathers all ruffled. And, this spoke volumes to William since he knew that the esteemed Detective Chief Inspector took very little interest in the cares and concerns of women who were not directly related to him by blood or marriage.

William turned from the desk and headed back toward his comfortable chair. He would just sow another seed or two in the young woman's favour and let John's nature take its course afterwards. With this thought in mind he said, "It's not always pig farmers. Sometimes it is worse." He paused a moment as he took up his sandwich. "Miss Fiennes might be married off to a potato farmer and spend the rest of her days on her hands and knees in the dirt planting and picking potatoes along side of her grubby husband and the twelve or more dirty little children they'll have together."

He sat down, took a large bite of his midnight meal and with his lips around such a generous portion added, "Such a pity for an accomplished young woman to end up in the clutches of some backwards farmer with no breeding and no prospects."

William practically purred aloud when John responded instantly with an indignant, "I hardly think Miss Fiennes will find herself in such a deplorable situation. It is quite preposterous."

But, William wasn't done. Not yet. He just had one more nail to drive in. Turning his own placid face to John he replied, "Well, if what you told me about the father and the older brother is true, I hardly see how she'll do better? Neither of them have her best interest in mind, as we can see from their behaviour. And, that mother of hers is no better," William scoffed.

John sighed audibly before taking up his tea and drinking the hot brew.

William grinned from ear to ear but made sure to hide his expression behind his own cup of tea. It seemed his indifferent friend was not so uninterested in Miss Fiennes welfare and future as he would like William to believe. Why, he could not recall John ever sighing over a woman - not even his own two sisters and his dear mother.

William was sure he could hear wedding bells ringing in John's near future and the thought kept him going the rest of the long, tedious night.

                                                            *********

About the time John and William were discarding their late night repast and getting back to the most pressing case they had in many months, Alice was pacing back and forth in her bedchamber unable to sleep for the madness that had taken over her.

All day long she had managed to keep busy and to keep her distance from Gordy, whom the sight of made her want to burst into tears. When night fell, and the family retired to their respective rooms for the evening, everything changed in the stillness of her room where there was nothing but a book to distract her from the news of the morning and Gordy's unexpected confession.

As Alice stood in the middle of her quiet and dimly lit room, she congratulated herself on not having broken down that day, on not having made a scene at any point, and on having put in a rather productive day under such horrendous circumstances. She'd seen enough women fall to pieces at the mission to want to avoid such a mortifying display in front of her family or the household staff. She had enough strikes against her and did not need to add to the list by having an emotional fit of some kind.

However, once under her covers, with nothing to distract her thoughts, Alice's mind quickly went to places she dreaded to go. Sleep, which she longed for, evaded her. The moment she closed her eyes a parade of men's faces were brought before her. Every man who had ever smiled upon her, spoke to her, asked for a dance, or looked kindly on her, whether twenty or sixty, flooded her mind.

She was going mad with questions she would never know the answer to. How many of these faces had been potential suitors? How many of these men had desired to make her acquaintance despite her freckled face, her auburn hair and her peculiar blue eyes? How many of them had Gordy frightened off?

What of Thomas Ingersol, she suddenly thought. He had a special place in her memories. He was the first to ask her for a dance at her debut ball. Alice remember how his cheeks flushed red, his eyes sparkled, and his voice trembled with nervousness when he stood before he. It was Thomas' first ball as well, he'd told her in confidence. The confession put her right at ease. She felt the two of them could muddle through such a bewildering event together and so she gladly accepted his offer to dance.

Her mother encouraged her and the young Mr. Ingersol to spend as much time together as possible that evening whether it was proper or not. When he'd gone to procure some refreshments for Alice and her mother, Mrs. Fiennes whispered enthusiastically in Alice's ear that Thomas came from a good family, was well educated and had a sizeable fortune. She instructed Alice to make haste and snatch him up that very night if she could.

Alice didn't have the foggiest idea how one snatched up a young man. However, she was delighted to dance with him and keep him company throughout the night. She hoped this would be sufficient to please her mother and to encourage Thomas to come calling the following day.

Alice thought him the sweetest and most pleasant young man of her acquaintance, save Gordy, and if he were to make her an offer, well, she saw no reason to reject him. She'd lived her whole life for this - for a marriage proposal from a young , eligible man of good breeding. The proposal never came. In fact, Mr. Thomas Ingersol never even came calling to Alice's great shame for the whole ball room had witnessed the great interest she and he had taken in each other that night.

Alice had felt heartbroken when she learned that he was to be married to a sweet young woman from the country the next year. She had it on good authority, all these years later, that the two made a very happy couple and had four healthy and handsome children. Before the events and confessions of the morning Alice had felt happy for the couple, but now she felt sick to think he might have pursued her if Gordy had not gotten in the way. How happy she would have been to be the wife of the gentle Thomas Ingersol and the mother of all his children.

After tossing a turning for nearly an hour, unable to find any peace of mind, let alone sleep, Alice was forced out of her bed. She threw open her curtains and let the moonlight brighten her otherwise dark room as she paced back and forth in front of a cold fireplace. The more she paced the more agitated she felt.

What of Clarence Gilmont? He  had been the first young man at Mrs. Weston's summer gala on her manicured lawns, to fetch her lemonade all night long on that stifling hot evening when Alice was sure she would faint from the heat. He'd been so sweet and attentive. She remembered that her mother had eyed him happily and gave him every encouragement. She had told Alice, on the way home in the family carriage after the gala, that she should expect him to come calling in the afternoon.

Alice was quite sure her mother was right. The two waited eagerly all afternoon but no one came calling that afternoon. When they saw him three days later at the public gardens he pretended not to see them. And when they saw him the following evening at a small gathering in the intimate home of a mutual acquaintance, he spent the entire evening avoiding Alice and her mother. Mrs. Fiennes had been so incensed by his abominable behaviour that she blacklisted the entire Gilmont clan that year and would have nothing more to do with any of them.

Of course, like so many others, Clarence Gilmont was married now and lived only a few streets away with his wife and two children. Alice saw them often at church services and in the public gardens when the weather was cool. She had heard only last month that his wife was expecting their second child.

Could she have been his wife, if Gordy had not interfered? Could she be living in his town house and raising his children?

Alice felt wretched and burst into tears. She would never be able to look at any of the men she'd been introduced to during her three seasons without wondering if she might have been their wife now if it had not been for Gordy's sick game. Before that morning Alice had honestly felt that she had no appeal as a woman, but now, looking back, she did believe that many young men had shown some small measure of interest in her. And she was quite certain her mother would have happily married her off to the first suitable candidate had she been given the chance.

It made her sick to realize, if Gordy had not interfered, she would likely be happily married now. And, if not happily, well, at the very least married and with some children to make her days full and her life complete. She wiped furiously at the tears that burned down her cheeks. How could Gordy be so cruel?

Alice went from feeling inconsolable to feeling incensed in the very next moment as she now strode angrily across her room. The night was quickly melting into the wee hours of the morning but Alice could find no rest as her heart burned with hostility and bitterness towards Gordy, who, until that very morning, had been her dearest friend and champion.

Now, she saw him as the bearer of her greatest misery and the worst of betrayers. Gordy, and he alone by his own admission, had ruined all of Alice's chances at happiness. And, in doing so in such a underhanded and childish way, he had destroyed all their mother's hopes for Alice. Consequently, he contributed, in no small way, to Alice's diminished sense of self worth, which had been her constant companion once her mother gave up on her ever marrying. And, he was ultimately responsible for turning their own mother against Alice in the years after Alice's failed seasons.

In her anger, she picked up a small porcelain vase that sat empty on her boudoir and cast it with all her might into the cold fireplace. It shattered upon impact and small shards went flying in every direction. Watching it smash into a million pieces on the burnt brick gave her a small sense of satisfaction but it did not last. Her anger boiled to the surface once again, and, she realized that even if she destroyed every last trinket in her room, it would not quench the flame of bitterness in her heart.   Gordy had betrayed her in the worst way and she could not fathom ever being able to be civil to him again, let alone forgive him.

At the thought, she burst into tears again and took up marching back and forth in her room as a way to dispel some of her extreme vexation and resentment. Sleep would elude her the whole night for such turmoil of the heart and soul could not be simply set aside.

                                                            **********

As for Gordy, he did not fare any better. He sat the whole night in a chair outside Alice's door. He heard her fits of crying, her moments of rage, her stomping feet, and he grieved for her. He had done this. He had caused this anguish that upset her to such a degree that the peaceful, loving and reasonable Alice, whom he knew and loved dearly, was now this volatile mess pacing the floor like a caged lion and breaking her favourite possessions at the whim of strong emotions she had no care to control.

His heart broke. He had no one to blame but himself and, as he sat all night listening to her and hovering by the door, he could come up with no solution to his dilemma. She would never forgive him and the thought devastated him. He was such a fool. What he wouldn't give to go back in time and undo the mistakes of his youth, which had ruined, perhaps for eternity, the happiness of his prized sister.