Murder by Lamplight by Patrice McDonough

Author:Patrice McDonough [McDonough, Patrice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2023-12-26T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

A week after Julia sent Willie’s postcard to the Yard, Q showed up at her clinic.

“How is Jackie working out, Doctor?”

“Very well indeed. The men prefer Jackie to our nurses; it’s less embarrassing for them. He’s learned some basics—changing bandages, that sort of thing. And he’s patient with the men, which is not always easy. He has the makings of an excellent medical orderly.”

“All his life, Jackie’s father used him as a punching bag, so it will be news to him that someone values him. I thank you for that, Doctor.”

“Jackie’s a good boy. He’s lucky he found your sporting club—and you.”

“I’ve had no son of my own, but fathers who toss their children out like yesterday’s rubbish—it’s criminal.” Q spit out the word. “I’d like to thrash them.” The knuckles of his clenched hands showed white.

Time to lighten the atmosphere, Julia thought. “I think you’d make a wonderful father.” She let a moment pass. “Mind you, that’s not a proposal.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Your father and mother must be cracking, Doctor, to have a daughter like you.”

“I barely remember them. They vanished when I was three.” She answered his surprised look. “They were passengers on the last voyage of the President.”

“I remember it. Back in ’41, wasn’t it? We were patrolling the Atlantic, looking for slavers. Kept a weather eye out for months, hoping her steam engines had failed her, that we’d find her adrift somewhere.”

“For a long time, my grandparents hoped so, too. It was terrible for them, not knowing, only guessing what had happened. Their son—their only child—gone without a trace, along with their daughter-in-law.”

“But they had you.”

“My mother didn’t want to leave me behind, but a winter voyage with a young child on board? My grandmother convinced her I should stay in London.”

“A lucky decision.”

“Chance.” Julia shook her head. “At a dinner party in Philadelphia, someone told my mother that the cabins on the President were fitted up like rooms in the finest hotels. In her last letter, she wrote to say my father had canceled their booking on the Great Western. They would sail home aboard the President instead.”

“I lost my parents at a young age, too,” Q said. “But when I turned sixteen, I took the queen’s shilling and joined the Royal Marines. The navy was the making of me.”

A few moments of silence stretched out. Julia didn’t want to hurry him, but winter Mondays always produced more than their share of respiratory ailments. For many, Sundays spent indoors huddled around coal fires went right to their lungs. That morning was no different—Julia heard a cacophony of hacking coughs coming from her waiting room—and she had three dressings to change. She looked at the quartermaster sergeant expectantly.

Q said, “Have you seen Inspector Tennant lately?”

Ah, she thought. We may be getting around to it. “No. I think they’ve been busy pursuing some new leads.”

“I hear they’re after Willie Lomax. Checking on all his haunts.” Julia’s surprise showed on her face. “Between bouts at the ring, the lads were talking.

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