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There were several horror stories that came to Gwen’s mind as they rode in the carriage. It was a pleasant surprise when they arrived and there were no cloaked gentlemen leering at her from the street corners. She felt relief that the area was normal. Perhaps she had been mistaken about Jules. It would be an embarrassment to be proven wrong in front of George, but she was willing to endure it.
She realized that the place they came for was an undertaker’s shop. She gasped so hard her throat closed.
“We shouldn’t assume this means anything underhanded is happening,” said George.
“What else could it mean?”
George didn’t have an answer for that. Gwen felt her skin begin to crawl as she thought about where that dress had been before she’d worn it.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t have come,” George muttered.
“Oh no! This is the kind of thing a woman should know about the man courting her.” Gwen stepped forward with every intention of entering the shop.
George gripped her by the elbow, pulling her back. “We can’t go in there.”
Normally Gwen adored George’s shy and quiet demeanor, but not now. This was not the time for caution, but for action.
“We need to find out what kind of business Jules has been doing with these people. Is he buying the fabric they use for coffins? The fabric they use for veils? Or was that woman right and he’s stripping clothes off bodies?”
Those glittering green eyes of his lit up when she spoke. His soft, full lips parted, and she stilled with anticipation. If he chose to continue arguing with her, she wasn’t going to change her mind.
“Fine, we can go inside and ask a few questions, but if I feel it has become too dangerous, we leave immediately.”
George brushed his hands on the trousers of his new suit. She should have told him how handsome he looked that morning, but now it felt like the wrong place for a compliment.
“Let me do the talking.” He took her hand, and she was more than happy to let him lead. This was a new side to George that she found gave her more of the butterflies than normal.
Inside, the shop was dusty from the woodwork of all the coffins. Light from the large windows was enough to illuminate a showroom full of bleak items. Gwen found herself moving closer to George as they walked further in.
“May I help you?”
Gwen had expected the man who ran the shop to be something from a gothic novel. She imagined a tall, pale figure in a long black cloak with sunken eyes and clammy hands. Instead, they were approached by a young man in a soft brown suit with dimples in his cheeks. He was blond and bright looking, with a grin like the one Jules always wore. The two of them could have been brothers, except she knew that Jules had no siblings.
“Jules Littimer sent us,” George said.
The man’s demeanor wavered, as he shifted his weight back and forth from one foot to the other. “What for?”
“I think you know.”
George didn’t blink. The man started rubbing his hands together.
“I told him things had slowed down. I’m not going to be able to get him as many pieces as I did during the summer,” said the man. “If I spend too much time dressing the body, the family will get suspicious. I’m an undertaker, not a thief.”
Gwen could feel her eyes widen and she pressed her lips together to stifle a gasp.
“I can give you what I have right now, but he’s going to have to wait a few more weeks for anything more.”
George silently nodded.
“Wait right here.”
The young man disappeared into a back room while George and Gwen waited in the showroom.
“I can’t believe that woman was right,” Gwen hissed. “I feel disgusted. I can’t believe he dressed me in in a dead woman’s clothes.”
“Perhaps they weren’t from this shop.” George didn’t sound like he believed his own words.
The man returned with a sack of clothes. “I could only get two suits this week and one pair of shoes.” The youth cast a glance at Gwen. “If he wants any more ladies’ garments like that other gown, he’s going to have to ask for them. I feel worse about stealing from ladies.”
“He won’t be needing any more of those,” Gwen snapped. “As a matter of fact, I don’t think he’ll be needing much in the future.”
“Why?” The young man’s face bunched together.
“He’s going out of business.”
Gwen stormed off, leaving George behind to deal with the shocked man. She didn’t know where she was going, she just felt she needed to get away from that place. It was choking her just to be standing inside. She gasped for air once back out on the street, ignoring the crowds of people around her. She heard George calling her name, but she couldn’t look back at him.
A few blocks away, George finally caught up with her. She felt the hot salty tears running down her cheeks. They blurred her vision until she didn’t know what direction she was going in. A handkerchief was being pressed into her hand. She turned and fell against his chest, crying into the thick wool of his vest.
“I can’t believe I was so trusting with a total stranger.” Her words were muffled by the fabric.
“He’s been your neighbor for years.” George’s chest rumbled against her cheek as he spoke.
“I barely knew him.”
“Then why did you accept his invitation?”
The fabric of his vest felt soft against her face as she shook her head. “I don’t know. He was so kind to you, and I kept remembering what Mr. Fergusen said.”
“What did he say?”
“That Jules and Hugo were fine young men who had been overlooked by me. That I had missed how well they would do as husbands.”
“I don’t think Mr. Fergusen knew them very well either.”
She pulled away far enough to look up at him. They were close enough that their bodies touched, giving her the knowledge of how lean he was. He wasn’t bulky like Hugo or narrow like Jules, but he had just the right amount of muscle to make a girl’s heart pound.
“The only person in London I think I really know is you,” she said.
Gwen didn’t want George to see her as a weak female, but there in his arms, she felt herself melting against him. There were more tears in the corners of her eyes, and she didn’t stop him when he wiped them away with his thumb.
“More’s the pity for them,” he said in that calm tone she always felt so reassuring.
There on that crowded street corner, Gwen yearned for him to kiss her. Knowing full well it would be highly inappropriate, even considered scandalous, she didn’t care. For a moment it looked like he would. His lips inched closer.
“We should get back and confront Jules about this matter.”
George pulled back from her. Not just physically, although he did put an arm’s length of air between them, but she could feel his emotions change. What was a warm and intimate moment was now back to cold business.
“Don’t you think we should take the information to the police first?” she asked.
“The man deserves a chance to defend himself.” George was getting them another hired hack to go back across town in. “Mr. Fergusen wouldn’t like a police inquiry. The scandal might be bad for business.”
“He wouldn’t like to know he had a thief for a tenant.”
“We will give Jules a chance to explain things first. If he doesn’t give a satisfactory answer, then we will get the police involved and tell Mr. Fergusen.”
During the ride, Gwen kept stealing glances at George. If he had been as swept away by their tender moment as she was, he wasn’t showing any signs of it. He looked cool to the touch, while she could feel her cheeks burning.
There was something unusual when they arrived at the shop. The bakery was still closed, and the butcher shop was bustling, but the tailor shop was empty. Jules was almost always seen in the window, but now it looked vacant. There was a closed sign in the doorway, and it was quiet for the middle of the day. George took her elbow, beginning to lead her toward the bakery.
“I thought we were going to confront Jules and ask him about those clothes.” Gwen stood firmly on the sidewalk, refusing to budge.
“It might not be a good idea for you to be there. If he is the criminal you think he is, he could be dangerous.”
“You think I’m afraid of a little danger?” With the frustration she was feeling, Jules was the one who should be afraid. “I didn’t go all the way across town just to let you confront him alone.”
George gave her his most stern look, but she paid it no mind. Brushing past the man, Gwen strode right into the tailor’s shop.