The Glass House by Ashley Gardner Read Free Book Online

she wanted to end the association and return to her
husband's affections. In a crime like this, it is often one or the
other, the husband or the lover. We only need discover which
one."
    "But in this case," I said, "both the lover
and the husband claim to have been in places with plenty of
witnesses at the time of the crime. Mr. Chapman in Middle Temple
Hall, and Lord Barbury at White's."
    "We will certainly ascertain that," Sir
Montague said. "But we have yet to establish the involvement of a
third party."
    "What is your interest?" I asked Sir
Montague. "Whitechapel is a long way from Bow Street or even
Blackfriar's Bridge."
    Sir Montague shrugged, but I saw his hint of
smile. "I simply take an interest. And when I heard your name crop
up, that interest increased." He exchanged a look with Thompson.
"That and the fact that The Glass House might be involved."
    "Which lays near Whitechapel," I said.
    "It is a house I would like to shut down.
Rumors of what goes on there are disquieting, but rumor is not
evidence. Whoever owns the house is very powerful. Whenever a
magistrate moves to close it, that magistrate suddenly backs off
very quietly."
    His statement made me pause. I knew a man
powerful enough to send magistrates scuttling away when he wished.
He was a man called James Denis, and he had his finger in many a
soiled pie. If Denis owned The Glass House, I could understand why
Sir Montague wanted it closed, and also understand his difficulty
in doing so.
    "Only the very wealthy and important are let
through the doors," Sir Montague said. "It is not like a brothel or
even a gambling den that my patrollers can infiltrate. Vice for the
upper classes often stays hidden."
    I knew the truth of that. "My friend Mr.
Grenville tells me that the places the fashionable frequent change
rapidly. If you wait, interest will die, and the fashionable will
go elsewhere."
    Sir Montague's look was shrewd. "I do not
want to wait that long. This house has fascinated for a while now
and shows no sign of abating. My men cannot go there, and neither
can I. While my knighthood might get me through the door, I am too
well known as a meddling magistrate." His eyes twinkled. Sir
Montague was also hugely rotund, though his legs were thin, a
profile that many would remember. "But you, Captain Lacey, have the
correct social standing and connections."
    I’d suspected he'd get to that. Sir Montague
could not enter the realm of the aristocrat, but Lucius Grenville
could. And Lucius Grenville could take me with him, as he'd already
offered to.
    I supposed Sir Montague expected me to
protest. Grenville was ready to let me use my connection with him
to enter, but I was not certain how happy he would be when he
learned that I wanted to not only to investigate Peaches' murder
but to spy on Grenville's own cronies.
    However, Sir Montague did not know how much I
would welcome any opportunity to thwart James Denis. I despised the
man, and would happily get in the way of anything he did.
    I gave Sir Montague a quiet nod. "Of course.
What would you like me to do?"
    *** *** ***
    "Have you ever thought of going into law,
Bartholomew?" I asked the next morning. Bartholomew, towering six
feet and more with golden blond hair and a youthful face for his
nineteen years, stopped in the act of refilling my cup.
    "Can't say I ever did, sir. I mean to be a
valet." He poured the thick, black coffee, its steam bathing my
nose in heady aroma. "Or a Runner. A chap needs learning to go to
law."
    "He apprentices," I said, lifting my cup. The
coffee burned my tongue, but I swallowed it down. "He apprentices
to a barrister and learns the art of prosecuting in court."
    If I had stayed at Cambridge and finished
instead of following Colonel Brandon off to the Thirty-Fifth Light
Dragoons, I likely would have found my way to one of the Temples or
Lincoln's or Gray's Inn to learn to practice at the bar. My father
had been pressing me that direction, not to mention to marry a
young lady for