“You should get more fresh air,” I said to Reginald.

He gave me a sour look. “I would if I could.”

At the corner of my eye, Evan stopped flipping through the ledger, his attention fixed upon a page. “May 1792,” he said, looking up at me.

“Anything?”

“Not many listed. But there is one unidentified female about the right age and around the right time.” He frowned and brought the ledger over to Reginald, pointing to an entry on the page. “What does that mark mean?”

Reginald leaned over. “It’s a P. It means the female was with child. She would have been dissected whole. Females are usually only dissected whole if they are…”

“Pregnant?” I supplied through my teeth. Did the Exalted Brethren kill not only a woman but a child too? Their depravity was beyond comprehension.

“Yes,” Reginald muttered. “Did you know her?”

“I don’t know,” Evan said slowly, but it was said more to me than to our jaundiced friend.

“You remember something?” I asked.

He shook his head, not in denial, but more as if he was trying to shake free a memory. “Something is there but I cannot grab hold of it.”

“At least we know now what happens to the women.” I considered the ledger entry. Another piece of evidence. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. I took hold of the page and ripped it out of the ledger.

Reginald sprang to his feet. “You cannot do that!”

“It seems I can and I have,” I said. “But if you keep quiet about it, I am sure no one will be any the wiser.”

He glared at me.

I dug into my pocket. “Here, something to help your silence.” I placed a half crown on the table. Even as I did so, another possibility presented itself. A way, perhaps, to bring some peace to the family of Miss Hollis. And a way for her to have some dignity in her death. I placed another half crown next to the one already on the table and nodded to her nearby shrouded body. “Guard that woman and hand her over to some undertakers who will come to collect her this afternoon. If you do this, both coins are yours and the undertakers will give you a guinea on top for your trouble.”

He stared at the two half crowns: it was a sizable amount for someone who had clearly accepted an unsavory position to survive. A guinea on top of that would be largesse, indeed. “I will not take stolen money,” he said stiffly, although he could not take his eyes off the coins.

“Then you are in luck. It is not stolen,” I said, rather liking his stand upon the matter. “Do we have a deal, Reginald?”