English Trifle (34 page)

“Um,” Breanna said, looking to Sadie for help. “I can do that—but a lot can happen in fifteen minutes. I really don’t think you should be alone with him.”

Liam took a few steps toward her, until he and Breanna were almost touching. He was only a couple inches taller than Breanna so they were nearly at eye level. He reached out and ran his knuckles across her cheekbone. “I’ll be alright,” he said in such a sweet, almost sexy voice, that Sadie was inclined to look away. She heard, rather than saw, the sweet kiss he placed on Breanna’s lips, and turned back in time to see him turn toward the door. The whole kiss might have been a ruse to get Breanna to stop arguing with him—if it was, it was incredibly clever and worked like a charm.

The door shut before Breanna shook herself back to reality and turned to face her mother, a blush showing through her brown-sugar skin. She cleared her throat. “Well,” she said. She pulled out her phone and Inspector Kent’s card from her pocket and dialed the number.

A minute later she hung up and put the phone back in her pocket. “Now, where were we?”

“Before the man you refuse to marry made your toes curl?”

Breanna scowled at her mother. “Where do we start?” she said, looking suddenly overwhelmed.

“Well, why don’t I take the family Bible,” Sadie said, moving around the desk so she could have it in front of her. “And you take the Book of Heraldry—we’ll just trace the family line and make sure they match.” It was the only thing Sadie could think of, the only reason Lady Hane would keep the family Bible. If the pedigrees matched, Sadie would be out of ideas. However, she had great faith in herself and didn’t think she was wrong about this.

“Okay,” Breanna said, flipping pages. “Just the earl line, right?”

“Right,” Sadie said, squinting at the scrawled words that were hard to read without her glasses. Maybe she’d given Breanna the wrong book.

“Percible Edward Martin—first earl,” Breanna said. “What a horrible name.”

“I agree,” Sadie said. “But he’s here in the Bible.”

“He had two sons who faired better in the name department,” Breanna continued. “Thomas and Edmund.” Sadie confirmed them in the Bible, and Breanna continued through another generation that matched the names listed in the Bible. “Abraham Mercer Martin—third earl.”

“Yep,” Sadie said, her stomach eager to make a discovery.

“Two sons,” Breanna continued.

Sadie was already nodding when she stopped. “No, three sons.”

Breanna shook her head. “No, two.”

Sadie moved to look over her shoulder, where Breanna had her finger between the two sons of the third earl. “I read about these two last night,” Sadie said. “The older brother—the fourth earl—died with only daughters. Isn’t that sad? I mean, I think of his poor wife and wonder what happened to her. Did she lose her home? Did she ever remarry? Did her daughters—”

“Three sons,” Breanna said, cutting Sadie off. “You’re sure?”

Sadie looked up at her daughter and went back to the family Bible. “Yes, three sons. The third son is Edgar Horace Martin.”

Breanna was scanning the page while shaking her head. “He’s not here,” she said. “Maybe he died when he was little or something.”

“According to Edgar’s dates in the Bible, he lived to be almost forty.”

“Then he should be here,” Breanna said with a nod, still flipping pages in case she missed something.

Sadie nodded her agreement, then focused on the row of books dedicated to the earls’ histories. She went to the shelf and pulled out the volume dedicated to the third earl, then flipped immediately to the index in the back. Every reference book had one, and thank goodness they did. She looked up Edgar first and found nothing, so she looked up Martin and found a list of people with the last name Martin, along with the page numbers where they were mentioned. Three names down the list was the name Martin, Edgar Horace.

“He’s in here,” she said out loud, following the line to the page numbers that referenced information about him. Rather than start at the first page referenced, assuming it would be about birth information and schooling, she went to the last page that mentioned him and scanned the text, having to squint due to the tiny print used in the book.

She found his name and backed up to read the whole sentence. “ ‘On April 22, 1874, Lord Martin was informed of his son Edgar’s death on March 31, 1874, in Edinburgh. Following Edgar’s marriage to Bethany Melcalfe, the daughter—’ ”

“Melcalfe,” Breanna repeated out loud. It took Sadie a moment to realize why it had caught Breanna’s attention.

“As in Austin Melcalfe?” Sadie asked no one in particular.

They were both silent, but Sadie knew Breanna was sharing her thought.

Sadie continued reading. “ ‘Following Edgar’s marriage to Bethany Melcalfe, the daughter of a hat maker, Edgar and his family had limited contact with the Martin family. However, Lord Martin was saddened to hear of his son’s death, which was reported to have been a result of substantial gambling debts incurred during the last few years of his life. Because Edgar’s burial took place in Scotland before the Martin family had received notification, he is not interred in the family plot. He left behind his wife, Bethany Marie Melcalfe Martin, and their three children, Marie, Victoria, and Horace.”

And, Sadie added in her mind, he was left out of the family pedigree. However, according to both this book and the family Bible, Edger should be there.

Sadie moved toward the desk and set the book down before turning pages in the Book of Heraldry, looking for the end of the Martin direct male line, which, according to this book was William Everet Martin Jr.—Liam’s father. “Remember when we talked about the ways titles were transferred and Austin said that if there was no male heir, the title reverted a generation at a time.”

“Yeah,” Breanna said with a nod. “That’s why his grandfather’s cousin became the new Baron Hane after his grandfather died.”

“Right. Austin’s mother was one of three daughters and Baron Hane had no brothers to inherit, which meant the title had to go back another full generation to find a male line.” With her finger on William’s name, Sadie traced back one generation to William Sr.—Liam’s grandfather, the eighth earl—then traced it back a generation when she saw he had no brothers either. She went back another generation, and another, following any younger sons until they ran out of male heirs—always within a generation or two. The Martin family had far more daughters than sons, it seemed.

When a male line ran out of males, she moved to the previous earl, continuing until she reached the third earl. Because only two sons were listed in the “official” Book of Heraldry, it appeared that there was no other male line not already exhausted and that the title would need to revert yet another generation—but the family Bible showed a third son and the personal history of the third earl confirmed it.

“Outside of Liam, Edgar Horace Martin is the next direct male line for the earldom. And his wife was a Melcalfe.” Sadie met Breanna’s eyes. “We know Edgar had one son—Horace—but we don’t know anything more than that.”

Breanna looked intrigued. “What if, after Edgar died, his mother changed the family name to Melcalfe—her maiden name?”

“To protect them from his debts?” Sadie supposed.

“Or because the Martin family had disowned them anyway,” Breanna offered.

“Or both,” Sadie said. It was so far out there, and yet it was impossible not to ignore the possibilities. “And what if Lady Hane figured this out—perhaps when her daughter began dating a medical student with the last name Melcalfe. Didn’t Austin say his grandfather was Scottish?”

“And,” Sadie continued, flipping the pedigree book back to the front cover, where a handwritten date pulled it all together, “the relationship between Austin’s parents would have started right around the time this book was put together—1978.” She flipped more pages, until she found the name Harriet Elizabeth Martin—Aunt Hattie. The pedigree showed that Hattie married Andrew Leland Brinton, heir apparent Baron Hane. Three lines linked them to their daughters. Sadie scanned them until landing on the oldest daughter, Rachel Elizabeth Martin, who married Robert Horace Melcalfe in 1980.

“Robert!” Breanna exclaimed. She turned from the desk and hurried to the floor by the safe, where the paper from the Bible had been left behind. She picked it up and brought it back. They both looked at the word written there: Robert?

“Dr. Robert Melcalfe?” Sadie said out loud, trying to remember if she’d ever heard Austin’s father’s first name.

“Is there anything else in the Bible that might fill in the blanks?” Breanna asked, flipping pages.

“Careful,” Sadie reminded her. “That book is two hundred years old.”

Breanna nodded and flipped slower, but reached the end of the Bible without having found anything else to explain what the earl might have discovered. She let out a frustrated huff of air and shut the book.

“If Austin’s father is Robert,” Sadie said slowly, “and Robert is a direct heir of Edgar Martin Melcalfe . . .”

Breanna finished the sentence. “Austin could be a potential heir to the Earldom of Garnett.”

A sudden flash of terror swept over Sadie as she realized the further implication presented by their hypothesis and started moving toward the door. “But only if William and Liam are both out of the picture.”

~ ~ ~

Breanna and Sadie raced into the hallway, down the hall, and then screeched to a halt when both Liam and Austin turned to look at them. Sadie wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but it wasn’t to come across Liam and Austin talking in the foyer. Liam was leaning against the railing of the stairs, with one foot on the bottom step and one foot on the marble floor—the bundle of letters in his right hand. Austin stood a few feet away from him, hands in his pockets and regret lining his face. Sadie had prepared herself for Liam holding Austin by the throat, or Austin having a sword drawn.

“What’s wrong?” Liam asked, stepping away from the stairs and coming toward them. Sadie glanced at Austin, who lifted one hand to massage his forehead. He looked exhausted. Sadie didn’t even feel bad about not feeling the least bit sympathetic about it.

“Um, nothing’s wrong,” Breanna said, though she was also looking past Liam to watch Austin. Sadie imagined that if he made a move to get away, she and Breanna would have him tackled to the ground in a matter of seconds. It had been several years, but there was a time when Sadie had a mean half-nelson—left over from when her brother Jack had been on the wrestling team in high school. She was sure it would all come back to her if she needed it.

“You’re okay?” Liam asked, touching Breanna’s arm and recapturing her attention.

“Yeah,” Breanna said, meeting his eyes. Her smile was shaky.

The four of them paused for a moment, then Liam turned to Austin. “Maybe you should tell them your version of things,” he said, an edge to his voice. “Get in some practice before the inspector arrives.”

Austin looked at the two women. His expression, which had been hard and arrogant in every other encounter Sadie had had with him, was now tired and spent. He looked to have aged five years in the hours since Sadie had last seen him. He dropped his gaze to the floor as he cleared his throat and started talking.

“You have to believe that I didn’t know what was happening when all this started—I had no idea.”

Right, Sadie thought. She didn’t believe that for a second and by the looks of Liam, neither did he.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning,” Liam suggested. “The way you did for me.”

Austin took a deep breath and nodded. “I took a holiday to Dover for Guy Fawkes Day, and when I returned I was informed that William had had a stroke. My father was orchestrating his care, John Henry had been brought from London, and I was to act as trustee of the estate. I was overwhelmed by so many sudden changes but had no reason to believe it was anything other than what I’d been told. A week or so later, my grandmother sent her solicitor asking for access to the earl’s private papers. I refused him and that afternoon grandmother showed up and said William had been planning to cut her off, that this woman he was with was giving him bad advice. She explained that her solicitor was only protecting her, assuring there were clauses built into documents pertaining to the earldom that demanded she be cared for once Liam took over. She was worried that Liam’s mother held a grudge and that because of her influence, Liam wouldn’t honor the existing financial support agreements once William passed away.”

“So she knew that he and Violet were seeing each other?”

Austin was quiet for a moment, as if considering the possibility. “Perhaps,” he finally conceded, glancing at the letters Liam still held in his hand. “But at the time I believed she was simply talking about her past history with Liam’s mother—she said nothing about a current relationship between William and the former countess.”

Liam interrupted, putting the discussion back on track. “What happened after she informed you of the intended forgery?”

Austin ran his hand through his hair and his shoulders slumped. Sadie glanced at Liam, who stood straight, his arms folded over his chest and his chin up—finally looking confident and in control. It was a stark contrast to the appearance of both men in the library yesterday. Now Liam looked like an earl, and Austin looked like the powerless cousin. Sadie wished she could tell Liam about what they’d discovered in the Bible before they continued, but she didn’t want to interrupt Austin’s account.

Austin took a breath. “I told her she needed to take the financial concerns up with Liam, not me, that as trustee I did not have the power to make those kinds of decisions and I would not be party to fraud.”

What a hero, Sadie thought, but she kept it to herself so that Austin would keep digging his own grave.

“That’s when Grandmother told me that William had not had a stroke. My father had created a scenario through which my grandmother could assure her future—a future that up until now hinged upon the men she was dependent on. She was an old woman, she said, and she deserved to have such assurances that had been denied her all her life because of her gender.” Austin looked at the ground. “I’d never seen that side of my grandmother,” he said slowly. “I had no idea she felt so beholden to her father and then to her husband; no idea that she was so bitter toward her station that, as she put it, relegated her to nothing more than a bartering chip within the shifting powers of the Crown. When I said I wouldn’t be party to the forgery, she told me she knew about my relationship with Lacy.” He closed his eyes briefly. “I couldn’t believe it. I’d worked so hard to keep Lacy a secret. William had given Lacy a job at Southgate so that I could see her within the course of my working for him—he understood the position I found myself in and was trying to help me navigate what lay ahead of me. To find out my grandmother knew was shocking enough, but then she said that if I went along with this she wouldn’t stand in my way of marrying Lacy when it was all over.”