Free Bloody Winter: A Pyke Mystery by Andrew Pepper

it, Detective-inspector. I’ll have one of the servants look out her address.’
    Pyke glanced at Zephaniah and then let his gaze return to Jonah Hancock. ‘It would be more helpful if you could summon your wife.’
    Their eyes locked. Jonah licked his lips. ‘I’m surprised she hasn’t come down from her room to greet you.’
    ‘Perhaps you would be so kind as to bring her down?’
    The younger Hancock pondered this request then left the room. Pyke and Zephaniah Hancock stared uneasily at one another.
    ‘Tell me, sir,’ the older man said. ‘Did you come up here directly from the railway station or did you perhaps call in on the station-house on your way?’
    ‘The latter. I had a very brief chat with Superintendent Jones and Sir Clancy Smyth.’
    The old man assimilated this news without reacting. ‘In whichcase, I don’t imagine you’ve formed a favourable impression of my family.’ When Pyke didn’t respond immediately, he smiled. ‘Be that as it may, Jonah loves his son and there is nothing he – nothing
we
– won’t do to ensure his safe return.’
    None of the stories Pyke had heard about Zephaniah had portrayed him as a devoted family man. ‘Do you have any other children or grandchildren?’
    ‘I do have another son, but alas I see him very infrequently. He takes care of my family’s ancestral home in Hampshire.’
    ‘And is William your only grandchild?’
    Zephaniah gave him a puzzled stare. ‘My other son, Richard, has two children.’ Then he seemed to relax and added, ‘Look, I won’t pretend I’m sentimentally attached to William, or children in general, but it doesn’t mean I’m not concerned for his well-being. And William is the firstborn of the firstborn. Is it so wrong to want to see one’s family name survive long after one’s death?’
    Before Pyke could answer, there were footsteps in the hallway. Jonah entered the room, closely followed by Cathy.
    Seeing her for the first time in five years was both exciting and a disappointment. It was undoubtedly true that she had blossomed into a beautiful woman; her slender figure, pronounced cheekbones, ash-blonde hair and slim, pretty face were all reminders of the adolescent Pyke had once known. Nonetheless he saw straight away that the naivety and innocence he’d once associated with her had been replaced by an unfamiliar reserve. Before him was a woman whose expression was like the hard surface of a mirror: she smiled politely and held out her hand for him to shake. Drawn into her ambit, he smelled the sourness of claret on her breath as he tried in vain to find even the smallest flicker of warmth in her eyes. As he took her outstretched hand, she swayed towards him, whispering, ‘You shouldn’t have come.’
    While Pyke tried to work out what she had meant, Cathy went over to join her husband. She was wearing a carefully brocaded white lace dress with puffed sleeves and a crinoline skirt. He noticed that Zephaniah had been watching their encounter.
    ‘My wife will answer any questions you have tomorrow, Detective-inspector.’ Jonah reached out and gently squeezed her hand. ‘She isfeeling a little tired, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to escort her up to her bed.’
    They didn’t want, and didn’t wait for, Pyke’s sanction. He expected Cathy to look up at him on her way out but she swept by without acknowledgement.
    ‘Don’t take it personally, Detective-inspector,’ Zephaniah said, grinning, after they had left the room. ‘I do hope you’ll stay here with us, sir,’ he added, full of bonhomie. ‘I’m afraid the accommodation in town is universally dreadful. It would be nice to have a man’s company for a change.’
    Pyke didn’t miss this barbed reference to Jonah Hancock but decided to let it pass.
    ‘It might surprise you to know that Catherine has always talked about you in very admiring terms.’
    ‘I can’t think why,’ Pyke said. ‘I hardly knew her when she was living in London. She was