Eyubea Girls, Growing Wild 1 (COMPLETED) #Wattys2017

Chapter 55 - Peel

As Lisbette approached the two men, she saw Jeremy shake his hand. She was too far to hear their conversation but the minute the other man saw her approach, their attention turned to her.

"Are you Lisbette Tate-Fuller?" he asked, in an authoritative British accent that had a distinct city twang. Jeremy excused himself, giving Lisbette a lingering look and attended to the girls who were more than curious at the heavy set English man with the angry face. Jeremy shut the door.

"Yes, I am. And you are?"

"I am Pevency, Ma'am, Hierro Pevency. I hail from Camden police."

"Well, you are a far way from home. What brings you all the way here?"

"I have come here, at my own expense, Ma'am, to find your husband."

The fact that this man, a copper, came to the African continent to find Graham was disturbing. She shivered slightly remembering Bett's research on Camden and Graham and some woman.

"Well, you won't have farther to go as my husband, soon-to-be former husband, is sitting in jail awaiting trial for murder."

Pevency's brows rose at the news. He couldn't believe his fortune. The man he had been chasing for nearly a year, in jail on the African content for the very same charge he had been trying to escape from in England.

"I thank you madam for telling me that my journey was not in vain."

"If I may ask, who is it that he was supposed to have murdered?"

Pevency let out a heavy breath. "Have you ever heard of the Camden Town murders?"

Lisbette shook her head.

"Well, there was a young prostitute, Phyllis Dimmock, who was murdered Ripper style in her bed and they had a man named Wood up for it. I won't go into the details as they're too bloodcurdling for me to even speak, much less a lady to hear. There was another murder. A woman named Mary Yost. She was killed similarly, in a different area, but the papers focused on Phyllis so much that they forgot about Mary. Mary was kin to me and I'm more than sufficiently motivated to catch her killer." Pevency looked around briefly. "No matter his hiding place."

"And you believe that Graham...did this?" Even though she sounded surprised, she was not as surprised as she once would have been.

"Aye, Ma'am. I will not go into the details but the evidence leads me to Graham Tate-Fuller as the prime suspect. And I have staked much on that assessment."

Lisbette had so many other questions but before she could ask even one, Pevency donned his hat.

"If I may ask, where is this holding facility?"

Lisbette gave him the best directions she could from memory. With a tip of his hat, he climbed into the black car that was chauffeured by a young man and drove off.

She let out a sigh she hadn't remembered she was holding in. Whatever happened to Graham, she was glad he was away from her.

* * *

When the girls had been dismissed for the day, Jeremy asked Lisbette about Pevency.

"I can't say that I'm surprised. Hambone always had a streak in him. He seemed so disconnected. As if how others felt wasn't as important as what he wanted or needed."

"That does sound like Graham. I felt like I was a means to some end to be used and..."

She stopped suddenly and he could feel her pull into herself. He walked over to her and covered her hand in his.