Page 13 of A Dangerous Vision

“A week ago?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And have you seen Gordon Callister visiting since then?”

“No, sir. But that wouldn’t be unusual.” Teague pressed a palm to his trouser leg again. “Most often, they seemed to meet at one of their clubs.”

“Did Mr. Pennington belong to more than one club?”

Gideon had bent his head to make a few notes and was shocked to look up and find Teague’s face had gone from pale to quite flushed.

“More than one club. Yes, sir.”

Gideon flipped back in his notes. “The Palladia in Marylebone was mentioned earlier. And what is the other club?”

From the young man’s reaction, Gideon could make a guess that Pennington had belonged to a second club that was far less respectable than the Palladia.

“I do not know the name. I only know that he encountered ladies at the club.” He cleared his throat and, in a quieter voice, added, “Though he was betrothed at one point, that was called off.”

Gideon arched a brow at that disclosure. “Did his broken engagement have anything to do with these ladies he met at the club?”

Teague shook his head and clenched his jaw. “I’ve no notion, sir. He would never confide such a thing to me.”

“And you believe Mr. Callister belonged to the same club?”

Teague nodded. “He mentioned visiting that place with Mr. Callister. I do not know any details other than those, Inspector.”

The valet’s voice had taken on an almost pleading quality, and Gideon could sense his eagerness to be done with answering questions. And though there was no clock in Pennington’s dining room, Gideon knew the time must be near or beyond the time when he’d planned to collect Electra from Russell Square for their dinner.

“One last question for now, Mr. Teague.”

The breath of relief the young man let out was paired with a loosening of his shoulders.

“Did you have occasion to see calling cards that Mr. Pennington might have collected during the course of his day?”

Teague’s brow furrowed at the question. “Not often, sir. Burton would usually take Mr. Pennington’s overcoat and retrieve the calling cards he’d collected. And if I brushed his overcoat and found one in a pocket, I would give those to Burton too.”

“So they’d be retrieved immediately rather than remaining in his coat pockets for days at a time?”

Teague shrugged. He seemed a bit disappointed that the final question Gideon put to him had led to yet more. “That is my understanding, sir.”

“Are they retained by Mr. Burton?”

“Mr. Burton would know best, sir, but I suspect they are, at least for a time.”

If what the valet said was true, then Pennington had received Electra’s card during the day. Or he had retrieved it again after Burton removed it, which seemed less likely.

“Thank you, Mr. Teague. That will be all for now.”

The young man exited the room with as much alacrity as Miss McGuire had, leaving Gideon to mull the facts he’d collected so far.

He needed to speak to Gordon Callister and determine the man’s whereabouts earlier in the evening as soon as possible, but first he would visit Electra and explain his failure to arrive when expected.

He had questions for her too.

Outside the dining room, he found Mrs. Coyle waiting, as if she’d expected she might be called in next. The older woman looked fretful and exhausted by the night’s events.

Whatever they might have felt about Percival Pennington, the loss of the master of the house would, he understood, put the employment of all of them in jeopardy.