Free Wouldn't It Be Deadly by D. E. Ireland Page A

engagement to the Maestro. Tears welled in Eliza’s eyes. How sad that the older woman’s recent joy would now be turning to bitterness and grief. As for herself, Eliza found it hard to believe that she’d never again hear the Hungarian mock her English or watch him comb that ridiculous mustache. She may not have liked him, but over the past two months she’d grown accustomed to his smug little face.
    The door banged open.
    Eliza wiped the tears from her cheeks before turning around. Two men in rumpled suits entered the room. She could see that a bobby stood guard outside the door, helmet in hand. He threw her a stern look before shutting the door once again, leaving her alone with the two men. Terror clenched her gut. What were these gents up to? she wondered. Nothing good, that was for certain.
    â€œWell, what ’ave we got ’ere, Grint?” the taller one asked. His beady gaze lingered on her bosom.
    â€œLemme see.” His red-haired colleague consulted a notebook. “Seems this is Miss Doolittle, a teacher. Only that classroom in Belgrave Square don’t look like any I ever seen before, Hollaway. Ain’t no desks nor chalkboard. Found a bunch of those same metal things what was sticking up in the dead body. Dunno what they are. Fancy kind of weapon, most like.”
    â€œThey’re tuning forks.” Eliza swallowed hard. “I use them as a teaching tool.”
    â€œDon’t the tart sound fancy, Hollaway.”
    â€œI’m not a tart!” Eliza felt her anger rise, but she fought to keep it in check. “And you have no right to keep me locked up here.”
    â€œWe got every right seeing as how something what belonged to you was found sticking out of the murder victim.” He moved closer to her, and she took an involuntary step back. “So let’s not be talking about your rights, because you don’t got any.”
    Hollaway laughed. “Ain’t that the truth.”
    â€œNow sit down and keep quiet.” Grint pointed at the bench.
    Eliza sat down with an audible sigh. She’d suspected as much. Despite her fancy clothes and proper elocution, they’d realized right off she wasn’t a real lady. The swells and toffs ruled the world just as her father always said, and people like her mattered less than week-old bread.
    Well, if worse came to worst, she wasn’t going down without a fight. Eliza nudged her parasol lying beneath the bench with her foot. If either of these two laid a hand on her, she’d try to get in at least one good blow.
    The red-haired detective seemed pleased to have cowed her. Beneath his mass of freckles, a chilling grin creased his face. “Now, I am Detective Colm Grint, and me and my partner, Detective William Hollaway, have been sent to question you. A course the way we see it, it seems pretty obvious what happened at that little love nest of yours on Belgravia Place.”
    â€œLove nest? That’s ridiculous.”
    Hollaway sat across the table from her. “Don’t seem ridiculous to me. You’re a young unmarried woman living across the hall from a Hungarian gent who had a fancy title and too much money. Pretty cozy setup, if you ask me. Especially as the landlady said he was paying the rent on your rooms.”
    â€œOf course he paid the rent. I was working as his teaching assistant. And I didn’t live in the rooms, I only gave lessons there.” Eliza stared back at him. “Ask anyone in the building. They will tell you that I left every day promptly at four o’clock.”
    â€œA lot can happen between a man and a woman, even before four o’clock.” Grint sat next to his partner, stretching out his legs beneath the table.
    Eliza licked her dry, chapped lips. She thought she might indeed be capable of murder for a tall glass of water. “Maestro Nepommuck was my employer. Nothing more.”
    â€œOh, he was employing you to do something all