Page 17

Gideon watched her with a worried frown.

“Are you all right?” he asked, then stepped closer.

“Yes, of course. Do I look unwell?”

“You…flinched as if you’d been struck, or were frightened.”

Electra hadn’t sensed that reaction in her body. Perhaps she’d been too lost in Percival Pennington’s memories.

“I saw a man—sandy-haired, middle-aged—shouting at him.”

“In the street? Tonight?”

“No, it was inside a wood-paneled room. Perhaps a study. And it was daylight.”

“Was it today?”

Electra shook her head. “I could not tell the day or the hour.”

“So you didn’t see…whoever murdered him?”

“No.”

To her surprise, he seemed almost pleased by that admission.

“Did you see anything else of significance?”

“I saw him in a carriage. A hansom, I think. He was sitting quite close to someone, and I sensed his anger toward that person, but I could not see them. Their clothing was dark, and it was evening.”

Gideon nodded, then pulled out his pencil and notepad he used to record details when he questioned witnesses. He held the pad in one palm and wrote quickly. “Anything else?”

“When the man was arguing with him in the wood-paneled room, they were interrupted by a young woman with blonde hair and light-colored eyes. Perhaps blue eyes. For some reason, her appearance was the last thing I saw. Usually images fade, like smoke, but these ceased abruptly.”

He frowned at that, then bent his head to write more in his notebook.

“Thank you,” he said.

Electra offered the card back to him, though in truth, she would have tried again to see more if he’d asked her to.

“I should return to the station.”

“Of course.” Electra had no wish to delay his progress, and she could sense the anxious energy in him that she’d often noted at the start of a new case.

“I’ll send word when I am able to reschedule our dinner.”

Electra offered him a half-smile. “Good.”

After staring at her for a few silent ticks of the clock, he added in a less terse tone, “And I will find out why Percival Pennington had your card in his hand.”

Electra clenched her jaw and considered the words on the tip of her tongue, weighed telling him about her vision and how he might react. Then an impulse struck and before she could talk herself out of it, she blurted, “I could assist you.”

His brown eyes widened a fraction. “Electra…you know that’s not⁠—”

“My assistance has been useful before.”

He dipped his head, took a breath, then fixed her with a determined look. “I won’t deny that, but you must know it is not appropriate for me to involve you in this case. Nor could I ever include your findings in an official police report.”

Electra crossed her arms, more peeved than she expected to be by a refusal she’d known was coming. “I wish to know about the case, Gideon, since my card was found on the man.”