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more going on here. Exactly what do you suspect me of?”
    “We find you with a baby you claim never to have seen and the mother is nowhere to be found. Anyone would be suspicious.”
    “You never answered me,” he said, staring at Katie. “Why are you here? Are you a friend of Miss Bulmer’s?”
    She took a sip of tea to avoid answering. Her gaze fell on the telephone. “I came to check out the phone. There was a call I tried to make today that came here accidentally. I’m an operator at Central.”
    He sighed and rubbed his temple. “Right now, what I want most is to find out where Miss Bulmer is and give her back this baby.”
    Katie stared at Jesperson. He wasn’t telling her the truth.

F OUR
    W ILL SHIFTED THE baby in his arms and studied the face of the young woman across from him. Though the brim of her wide hat shaded her face, there was no mistaking the suspicion in her eyes and in the face of her companion. The constable, too, though he hid it better than the women. One glance into the child’s eyes had made him wonder if she could be his niece. Philip had admitted to a relationship with the child’s mother. This was the last thing Will needed.
    And what of the young operator’s last name? Russell. Philip had mentioned an Albert Russell. Could there be a connection and that was why she was so interested in finding Miss Bulmer?
    “Have you any notion of where we might find Miss Bulmer?” he asked. “And for what reason she might have left this child alone?”
    Miss Russell picked up her cup of tea then put it back on the table without meeting his gaze. “I don’t know.”
    There was more going on here than Miss Russell admitted.
    Will glanced at the baby, who was playing with his watch chain. “Strangely enough, this child seems content to be cared for by strangers.”
    “Miss Eliza often leaves her in the care of neighbors or friends.” The constable’s voice was heavy with disapproval. He eyed Katie. “Let’s go over what you overheard again.”
    Miss Russell clasped her hands in front of her, glanced at Will as if she was reluctant to share, and then plunged into her story. “I was on the phone with Eliza and heard what sounded like a scuffle. A man came in and they argued. The man’s voice was muffled but something about it was familiar.”
    “Familiar?” the constable asked.
    She shook her head. “I just can’t place it.” She looked up at him.
    “Eliza never came back to the phone.”
    So that was why she’d come. He lifted an eyebrow in her direction.
    To her credit, at least she flushed, aware that she’d been less than forthcoming. But as he studied Miss Russell’s face, he knew she still wasn’t telling them everything.
    Constable Brown glanced at Will. “And you, sir? What did you see when you arrived on the premises?”
    “The door was locked,” Miss Russell said.
    Will’s neck burned. “I, ah, picked the lock.”
    The constable looked him over, and Will heard Miss Russell gasp.
    “I heard the baby crying, and when no one answered, I managed to jiggle the lock. She was soaked and hungry. And very much alone.”
    “Very disquieting,” Brown said, frowning at him and then out the window. “I’ll see if Miss Eliza has gone back to her old haunts.”
    “Old haunts?” Will asked.
    Brown shrugged. “She plied her trade at the taverns, but in the last couple of months she had been working in a respectable job.”
    Will gulped and glanced at the baby, who had fallen asleep with her round cheek against his shoulder. He suspected little Jennie might be his brother’s child, and this new piece of information about Eliza’s morals made him suspect it all the more. “What about this baby?
    What will you do with her?”
    “I would have taken her to the orphanage but it caught fire this afternoon,” Brown said. He sighed and lifted a brow. “It’s been quite a day.”
    Will winced. “Was anyone injured?”
    Brown shook his head. “The volunteer fire department