Midnight Kisses (Midnight Series) (11 page)

“Bye, Frank!” the redhead exclaimed before sauntering over to the bar and treating herself to a drink.

Devlin gulped down his whisky and winked at the woman in his lap, whose shiny, luscious lips were so close to his, so close.
Time to get a little closer
, he thought, grabbing her by the waist.

“Milady, shall we?”

“Eliza?” Danielle’s voice echoed through the hallways. She hurried down the staircase, looking first into the dining room, then the chimney room, before the door to the library opened and Eliza peeked her head out.

“Right here! What’s all the excitement?” she wondered.

“The bag. I’m looking for the bag!” Danielle explained, but continued looking around nervously.

“What bag are you talking about?”

“Mr. York gave us Matthew’s bag yesterday, remember? Where is it?”

“Oh, that old thing. You took it from the carriage to the salon, and I think I saw it still there this morning,” Eliza remembered out loud, hurrying over to the salon together with Danielle. “What do you need it for?”

“I’m sorry, but all of this is a strangely confusing and complicated story.”

Danielle took Eliza’s hand and smiled at her old friend.

“Long story short: Lord Weston and I suspect that Matthew was murdered because of a valuable painting, which is why he is currently hunting for clues in that brothel. I think that the person who broke into Matt’s study was after the contents of this bag! And also
 . . . 
I’m afraid I may have fallen for Lord Weston.”

Eliza blinked. Once. Then a second time. She opened her mouth, took a deep breath—and closed it again.

“I see,” she finally stammered under her breath.

“I will explain everything in great detail, once we get to the bottom of this,” Danielle assured her and opened the leather bag that was, as promised, still in the salon. She was almost embarrassed about not having opened it the previous day. Perhaps she and Devlin would have been able to prove Matt’s murder much sooner. But she had been busy all day trying to find a dress that Devlin would like. She had not spent a single thought on her late husband or on his bag, because she had been dreaming about Devlin instead.

Anxiously, Danielle pulled a stack of papers from the briefcase and skimmed over the writing.

What she read were descriptions of different paintings.

The garden: blossoms, leaves of grass, green base hue, humble brushwork, rather inconspicuous in its artistry.

The beauty: the face of a woman, elegant and timeless; skillful brushwork but strange choice of colors; very faded.

The dolphin: a dolphin at the center of the painting, the sea as a whole in the background. Blue and green base hues, watercolor; Danielle would like this—ask Audrey for price.

The goddess: a woman, bathed in light, almost no dark colors used, gold leaf decoration in upper part of painting, very intricate work.

He described dozens of paintings in that manner. Touched that he had thought of her even while on an elaborate treasure hunt, she turned the page. On the last few pages he was pairing paintings up with citations from the scrolls:

The garden: matches a passage from Aeneas’ writings. “And where my mother walked, there the gardens bloomed and life prospered, for no other honored love the way she did.”

The beauty: too obvious. If I were Aeneas, I would not have defiled my mother’s beautiful features by hiding them underneath some other woman’s.

The dolphin: matches up with mythology. The dolphin is often used to symbolize Venus as the goddess of love. Too obvious, unfortunately, to remain undetected for so many centuries.

The goddess: matches a passage from Aeneas’ writings. “In gold I will shroud the only true goddess, my mother, my love.” Highly likely that the true Venus is hiding underneath this picture in Audrey’s museum. Aeneas must have known that gold leaf is much easier to remove from a painting hiding underneath. Still, I doubt it is possible to restore it. The risk of damaging the original paint would be too great.

Danielle lowered the pages in her hands and looked at Eliza. This was it. They had found the
Venus
.

“Eliza, do you think I could borrow your carriage? I need to get to this museum. Maybe there, I’ll find out who murdered my husband.”

“Good heavens, Danielle! You can’t possibly go by yourself. Wait until Lord Weston gets back, at least?” Eliza suggested, finding it hard to process this avalanche of new information.

“Why don’t you come with me? I’d feel better with someone by my side, but who knows how long Devlin is going to be. Perhaps the museum will already be closed by then.”

Eliza made the sign of the cross and ran over to the secretary desk.

“I will leave Colin a note, but it would really be better to wait for one of the men.”

“Nonsense. It’s only a museum. What can possibly happen at a museum?”

Chapter 10

Audrey’s was not exactly what Danielle had in mind when she thought of a museum. It was a non-descript house on the outskirts of London, but when she stepped through the door and took in the typical museum smell of dust-covered, rusting, and slightly musty works of art, she agreed that the atmosphere was more than appropriate for priceless artifacts. Danielle and Eliza walked in silence through the exhibition rooms, with only their footsteps echoing on the dark marble floors.

“What are you hoping to find here?” Eliza whispered and looked around. Only a few other visitors were strolling through the high-ceilinged rooms, stopping here and there to take in an exhibition piece.

“I don’t know. Perhaps it will all become clear when I see the
Venus
. After all, she’s the reason we’re here,” Danielle explained. “Maybe we should split up. The sooner we find her, the quicker we’ll know,” she finally suggested.

Eliza, who was feeling a little under the weather, agreed because she wanted to return home as soon as possible.

“Very well. I’ll go take a look in that room. What am I looking for?”

“The painting’s title is
The Goddess
. I will take a look around here.”

“Alright, let’s hope that we make a find.”

Danielle looked after Eliza as her friend quickly disappeared in the other room, before she turned around to the paintings around her. Slowly and thoughtfully, she studied them. She didn’t know much about art, but she couldn’t help but admire some of the pieces.

When her eyes fell on the next painting, she swallowed hard. A beautiful dolphin in a sea of turquoise green and azure blue. The artist had managed to make the underwater world magically shine, and the magnificence of the painting made Danielle shudder. A tear welled up in her eyes and went unnoticed.

She was overwhelmed by guilt when she thought back to her husband’s notes. He was right: she really liked this painting. That Matt had considered purchasing it seemed incredible to her. Had she perhaps meant more to him than she always assumed? Even at their wedding, he had made no secret of the fact that, first and foremost, he needed a mother for Christopher. But despite his inability to truly make her his wife, he must have felt something for her. Why else would he be interested in her love for dolphins? Perhaps she had done him wrong.

Oh, she was a bad woman! Not six months after Matthew’s death she had thrown herself into someone else’s arms, falling head over heels for this lady’s man like a schoolgirl—when she should be overcome with grief and mourn her husband.

Danielle wiped the tears from her face when she noticed footsteps beside her.

“Lady Langston, my, my. So you have indeed found the
Venus
,” the voice whispered quietly so as to not draw attention to the cold steel of the gun pressed into her back.

Devlin stared incredulously at the letter in his hands. Lord Bosworth was irate and pacing up and down the salon, while staring at the clock on the wall that kept ticking the time away.

“How could you allow the ladies to engage in such a dangerous undertaking?” Colin asked in obvious distress. The few minutes that had passed since they discovered Eliza’s note had aged him by years, and he kept running his hands through what little was left of his hair.

Devlin raised his hands defiantly.

“I was completely unaware of Lord Langston’s notes!” he tried to explain himself, even though the deep worry Colin displayed started taking a hold of him, too.

With a few words, Devlin outlined the whole affair to his friend.

“
 . . . 
and so this morning I went to the brothel to make inquiries, but either the girls really don’t know, or they have a good reason not to talk. Even when I offered the whore money in exchange for information, she kept mum. Still, my efforts were not entirely in vain, for I saw a man again that I’ve seen before in Essex. I’m afraid he might be in on this.”

Hysterical screams coming from the foyer made the men jump to their feet. With long strides, they hurried over to the source of the racket, and Colin pulled Eliza into his arms when he found her crumpled to a heap in the foyer and crying her eyes out.

“Eliza, darling? Are you alright? What’s wrong? Where is Danielle? We found your note
 . . . 
”

“Oh, Colin!” she forced herself into her husband’s safe embrace, and the words just came tumbling out: “We were at the museum. Danielle was sure to have found the
Venus
, and she hoped the painting itself might offer a clue as to Langston’s murderers. We separated, and when I finally found the
Goddess
I ran back to fetch Danielle. But she was no longer there. At first, I thought she was perhaps in a different exhibition room, but she wasn’t there either, and so I ran out into the street. The last thing I saw was her climbing into a carriage in the company of a man. She would never have gone by herself, not without telling me first. At least not of her own free will. Oh my god, I’m so scared!”

Devlin felt all the color drain from his face, and an utterly unfamiliar feeling of despair took hold of him.

“I know who the man is,” Eliza added. “But that’s not going to help us, for we don’t know where he’s taking her.”

“Who? Who is it?” Devlin cried out.

“Danielle introduced us a few days ago. His name is Foster. Frank Foster. She said he was a nice gentleman from Essex.”

“Foster? Describe him to me!” Devlin demanded, and the fear was like a knot in the pit of his stomach.

“He was quite normal looking, wearing a hat, and he had short, dark blond hair.”

“That’s him! I think I know where he’s taking Danielle. All roads lead to that one place! I already saw that Frank Foster fellow today. And, if I’m not mistaken, he was also the one who broke into Danielle’s house. He must have been looking for Langston’s notes. If he risked killing Langston over these notes, then he’s not above hurting Danielle!”

Devlin rushed to the door.

“Weston, you’re not going by yourself, are you?” Lord Bosworth stopped him. “Eliza, go and fetch me my pistols,” he ordered.

“Are you sure you want to come with me? I’m quite certain they took Danielle to
Lulu’s
. It will ruin your reputation if someone sees you there,” Devlin pointed out.

“
Lulu’s
, you say? Well, I’m not keen on taking on Lou Corbett, but it can’t be helped. Of course I’ll come with you!”

“Lou Corbett? What does he have to do with anything?”

“He owns
Lulu’s
. The man’s a phantom. Everyone is afraid of Lou because no one knows what exactly he does, and only very few have ever seen him face-to-face.”

Devlin tried to connect the dots. Was Lou Corbett also the so-called expert Langston had met with? Could he be the missing link to Langston’s disgraceful death?