Governing Passion Read Online Free Page B

knock on doors to see if there
were any witnesses to the crime?”
    “Nobody up there ever sees or hears
anythin’,” Cobb said rather defensively. “We were lucky the gambler
decided to report finding the body, or it could’ve been days before
she was found or missed.”
    “Well, you ought to have tried. I think you
were taken too much with boots and gloves and gentlemen.”
    “I could try now, sir.”
    “Don’t bother. It’s not as if Sally Butts was
a wholly respectable girl doing a wholly respectable job.”
    “She was just singin’ in the whorehouse, not
whorin’.”
    Bagshaw grunted an acknowledgement and said,
“What do you propose to do now? With the time I’m so generously
giving you?”
    “I’m going to visit Sally Butts’s parents.
It’s likely she was killed by someone who knew her, so I’ve got to
learn more about her.”
    “And you’re going to leave Sir Gawain and his
friends out of it?”
    Cobb had no intention of doing so, but he
said, “For now, sir.”
    ***
    Cobb found the split-log cabin that housed the Butts
family on Newgate Street near Simcoe. He knocked on the door and
waited. A minute or so later it opened to reveal a small,
middle-aged woman whose red and swollen eyes indicated a serious
bout of weeping.
    “You’ve come about Sally, then?” she said in
a hollow voice.
    “I have, madam. I’m Constable Cobb, the
detective assigned to find your daughter’s killer.”
    “We told her not to work in that evil place,”
Mrs. Butts said, stepping back and letting Cobb enter the modest
interior. It was simple, neat and clean. A bald-headed man sat at a
table with his sleeves rolled up and his head in his hands.
    “This is Constable Cobb,” Mrs. Butts said to
him. “He’s from the police.”
    “You should be in Devil’s Acre,” Butts said
with a feeble attempt at anger. “That’s where her killer is,
amongst that riff raff.”
    “That’s quite possible, sir, but I’ve come to
ask you a few questions about yer daughter.”
    Butts looked up, the anguish stark in his
face. “She was our only child,” he said.
    “I’m terribly sorry fer yer loss, and sorry
to intrude like this – ”
    “When will we be able to have the body?”
Butts said.
    “Right away, I should think. The coroner has
finished his examination.”
    “Did she suffer?” Mrs. Potts said, coming to
stand behind her husband. Cobb stood with his helmet in his hands.
It was at times like this that he thought plainclothes made
sense.
    “She did not, ma’am. Death was quick and
painless.” He only half believed this, thinking of the girl lying
there waiting helplessly for her blood to run out.
    “Thank God.”
    “What do you need to ask?” Butts said
wearily.
    “Did yer daughter know anyone who might wish
her harm?” Cobb said.
    “Not unless it was someone working at that
whorehouse,” Butts said bitterly.
    “Did she have a gentleman friend?”
    Mrs. Butts answered. “She was a beautiful
girl, Constable. She was born with those beautiful, blond curls.
She had lots of boy friends – always.”
    “But she wanted to sing,” Butts said. “And so
she ended up in that place.”
    “Was she seein’ anyone recently?”
    Neither Butts spoke. Mrs. Butts placed her
hands on her husband’s shoulder and squeezed. He spoke at last.
“There was Mr. Kray. John Kray.”
    Cobb’s antennae went up. “What about this Mr.
Kray?”
    “Well, he was quite taken with her,” Mrs.
Butts said cautiously.
    “He asked her to marry him.”
    “She agreed, but later turned him down.”
    “I see,” Cobb said. “And did he take this
news calmly?”
    Some real anger showed in Butts’s face. “He
did not. He kept coming around here and pestering her and us. I had
to read him the riot act.”
    “And that worked, did it?”
    Another pause. Mrs. Butts said, “Sally told
me that he used to follow her to work, in Devil’s Acre. Sometimes
he’d be waiting for her when she finished work at one in