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Chapter Four
London – Scotland Yard
June 14, 1889
10:10 AM
Trevor waited until the two men were alone in his makeshift office to break the news. As he
suspected, Rayley was not at all pleased to hear that Trevor would be accompanying the Queen and
her granddaughter on an overseas trip and thereby leaving him in charge of the forensics unit for an
unspecified span of time.
“Do you honestly feel I’m up to the task?” Rayley asked, and then, as if to illustrate his personal
doubt of the issue, he blew his nose loudly into a handkerchief. Trevor patiently waited through the
extended sniveling and wiping process that followed, making it sound as if a flock of geese had
descended on Scotland Yard. On many levels Rayley seemed fully recovered from his period of
captivity in Paris – the sharpness of his mind, at least, had returned to normal and he even was
regaining his sardonic sense of humor. But the man seemed to have suffered from one small ailment
after another since leaving Paris, the latest being a summer cold which resulted in an impressive
variety of coughs, sniffles, and sneezes. The big solemn eyes behind his spectacles were rimmed in
red and Trevor wondered if Rayley were sleeping properly. Exhaustion seemed to hover around him
like mist. Granted, it was probably not the sort that could be dispensed with a single night of rest, but
one had to start somewhere, and it had always been Trevor’s opinion that there were few problems in
life which could not be greatly mitigated by a generous slab of beef and a good night’s sleep.
“Of course you’re up to the task,” Trevor said heartily, thinking that the heightened
responsibility might be precisely what Rayley needed. As long as Trevor was overseeing the unit,
Rayley could float in this warm sea of ennui indefinitely, but if he was in charge he would have no
choice but to rally. “Besides,” Trevor added, more to the point. “No matter how either of us feels
about it, I must go. Her Majesty commands it, and our unit dangles in her hands like a toy. We can’t
depend totally on the funds we raise from periodically arresting Gerry.”
Rayley chuckled them almost immediately grew somber. “That story of Miss Bainbridge and