Free Death at Apothecaries' Hall by Deryn Lake

questions, can I?’
    â€˜Clearly not.’ Mr Fielding shifted in his chair. ‘In the case of the Master, I believe it would be fitting if I called upon him personally. He has to be informed of our suspicions of foul play. As to the Beadle, you can quiz him discreetly. After all, Mrs Backler has invited you to their house and you are quite the master of gleaning information under the guise of a social visit.’
    â€˜You make me sound very underhand.’
    The Magistrate guffawed cheerily. ‘We are deceivers all, and in the belief that the ends justify the means I shall drink to that.’
    â€˜And so shall I,’ answered John, and clinked glasses with his mentor.
    He left Bow Street just before dinnertime, not wishing to foist himself on the Fieldings, who warmly pressed him to stay. But John, despite the urgings of his empty stomach, was longing to see Coralie and headed purposefully for The Strand and the house in Cecil Street. This time there was no important coach parked outside, and suddenly excited at the thought of being with her, as he always was, every time anew, the Apothecary rushed up the steps and rang the bell.
    â€˜Miss Coralie is at home,’ said Thacker, smiling broadly.
    â€˜Is she resting before the theatre?’
    â€˜She is not going to the theatre, Sir. She has a night off.’
    â€˜â€™Zounds!’ exclaimed John cheerfully and briefly clutched the actresses’ servant in something of an undignified yet heartfelt embrace.
    Coralie was standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at him. ‘John, it’s you,’ she called, her voice filled with pleasure.
    â€˜May I come up?’
    â€˜Of course.’
    Throwing his hat and cloak aside, the Apothecary rushed to join her, holding her at arm’s length and taking delight in simply gazing into her beautiful face, remembering all the varied times they had spent together.
    They had met four years earlier when she had been working for Mr Fielding, acting the part of a murdered woman in a reconstruction of the night of the victim’s death. On that occasion she had saved John’s life, on another he had saved hers. But they had only become lovers in the summer of this year, despite the strong attraction she had always held for him. Now, though, having been apart for several days, and regardless of the fact that it would soon be time to dine, John and Coralie went into her bedroom and closed the door behind them.
    They were both young and in love and in a matter of minutes they had created that rare kind of magic that sometimes can be found between two people, responding to each other as if they should always be together. John, who had slept with several women before Coralie, caught himself wondering if, now that she had become his mistress, he could ever fall in love again. A practical side of his brain told him that he could, but his romantic self vigorously denied that he would ever find such total fusion of feeling with another person. All thoughts were dismissed, however, as they reached the culmination of lovemaking and lay peacefully in the afterglow, starting, once more, to think about food.
    Coralie sniffed the air. ‘I think we are to have a side of beef’
    John tickled her under the chin, his delphinium-blue eyes serious. ‘Will you marry me?’
    â€˜One day, I will.’
    â€˜When?’
    â€˜When I am bored with theatrical life.’
    â€˜That day will never come in my opinion. You are as bad as your sister. The pair of you will end your days as spinsters.’
    Coralie propped herself up on one elbow, her emerald eyes slanting. ‘My dear, there you are completely wrong. Kitty has been married. It is just that she and her husband prefer to live apart.’
    The Apothecary sat bolt upright, utterly shocked. ‘I had no idea. How long ago was this?’
    â€˜A good twenty years, when she was little more than a girl. She was just starting out in