The Devious Duchess (22 page)

Adelaide drained her cup and said, “Anybody for another?”

“Not me, thank you. I have to be getting home and write some letters,” Sir Nevil said.

“We’ll join you,” the duchess added, and began struggling out of her seat.

Belami arose to give her a hand, and he and Pronto also decided to leave.

“I’ll go with Belami,” Deirdre said.

They all thanked Adelaide for her hospitality. There was a question in the hostess’s eyes when she said good-bye to Belami, but she read no answer in his, only confusion.

Chapter 15

When the three were ensconced in the carriage, Pronto scowled at Belami and said, “Told you all along Adelaide was the one. You’ve tipped her the clue now.”

“It wasn’t Adelaide. She was in Bath, and Tom Broome was nowhere near here the night Dudley was killed. Straus tells me he was making deliveries as far away as Devizes. It was Ryder—we just bungled the bit about the brandy.”

“Did you learn anything from Polly?” Deirdre asked.

“She’s frightened and claiming innocence—which leads to the question of why she ran. Flight is
prima facie
evidence of guilt. I found out why she was late to meet Mools at the dance and how she knew at that time that Mrs. Haskell had left. She planned to stand him up as they’d had some fight about moving to London, but when she learned in Banting that Mrs. Haskell had gone through town on a visit somewhere, she decided to take advantage of her absence. Mrs. Haskell stopped at a shop to buy new gloves, and, in a small town, such word gets around.”

“She ran 'cause she was scared. Anyone could deduce that much,” Pronto told him.

“It was Sir Nevil who frightened her. Did you learn
why
he was scolding her that night in the hall?” Deirdre asked. She was rapidly revising her opinion of Belami’s abilities in a downward direction.

“She says she can’t remember,” Belami said, but in a distracted way. He was gazing with unseeing eyes out the window to aid his concentration.

“She told me Mrs. Haskell had gone to her aunt’s, and how did she know that if she didn’t know about Nevil’s note?” Deirdre asked, nudging Dick’s arm to bring him to attention.

“How
could
she have known it? Anna was the only other soul in the house,” Dick said, still gazing afar.

“And Anna didn’t know it,” Deirdre pointed out.

At last Belami condescended to turn his face toward his companions. “Anna
said
she didn’t know it,” he corrected. “In fact, as I review the evidence, it occurs to me that Anna said a few other interesting things as well. Such as telling you, Deirdre, that Polly was in Nevil’s room the morning he left and implying that Nevil was making up to the girl. It was also Anna, wasn’t it, who said that Nevil had decided to remove to the Grange because his staying under the roof with
Polly
might cause talk?”

“She implied something of the sort, yes,” Deirdre agreed, “but if you think Nevil was actually making up to Anna—well, really, Dick!” she said, and let the girl’s appearance speak for itself.

“Her unfortunate looks would be in favor of Ryder’s plan,” Dick thought out loud. “What I mean to say is that an unattractive girl who never had any attention from men would be more easily swayed by sweet talk than one like Polly. Polly is no fool despite her being illiterate. And Nevil wouldn’t like Polly’s loose tongue either.”

“Can Anna read?” Pronto asked.

Both he and Belami looked to Deirdre for an answer, but she had none to give. “I don’t know. I never had any reason to inquire. She has such a sly way about her that I somehow had the impression she could.”

“Sly is the right word for her,” Pronto declared. “In any case, Dick, you certainly bungled it this time. Ryder didn’t turn a hair when the brandy was dumped into his cup. First one to gulp it down.”

“Yes, he knew there was no danger of poison in it,” Deirdre said. “I must confess I was scared to drink it myself.”

“Thing is,” Pronto mentioned, “what’s to do now?”

“I’m going back to the Grange to speak to Straus as soon as I take Deirdre home,” Belami said.

She bridled up and turned an angry face on him. “I wish you wouldn’t always be ‘sending Deirdre home’ just at the most exciting parts. I’m going back with you."

“Someone should be at Fernvale to watch Ryder,” he pointed out.

“Auntie can watch him. For that matter, you can see home from the windows of the Grange. We’ll see if he leaves if someone watches from the study window.”

She was surprised at his easy capitulation. “All right,” Dick agreed. “I’ll have Réal turn around as soon as we come to the main road.”

“Let him turn ‘em in midroad. Nothing he’d like better than doing the impossible,” Pronto suggested, but as they were only yards from the corner, they continued till they had reached the road.

As Réal was executing the tricky turn, Straus’s gig was seen coming down the road, and they spoke to him at the crossroads.

“Well, sir, we came a cropper,” he told Belami. “What have you to say to that, eh?”

“I still think we’re on the right track with Sir Nevil; we chose the wrong accomplice. That’s all.”

“If you’re thinking Lady Dudley had a hand in it, I can’t agree. She didn’t have any communication with Sir Nevil before he walked into her parlor. There were no meetings, no notes sent back or forth.”

“We think Anna Wilkey was his helper,” Belami replied, and watched closely for Straus’s opinion as he placed considerable faith in the man’s expertise.

They discussed again those items already thrashed out before meeting up with Straus. “You could be right,” Straus decided after some frowning and heavy thinking. “And if you are, the girl’s in some trouble,
nessie pa
? Ryder knows something’s afoot. He’s a cloth-head if he don’t after that tale of smashed decanters and bottles found under beds. Is it possible at all that Miss Wilkey did it all by herself? She might have harbored a grudge against the old gaffer?”

“We feel she was Sir Nevil’s tool, no more,” Belami answered for his group. “All his erratic behavior points to his involvement.”

“In that case, I’ll nick back up the road and keep an eye on the gel. See if I can squeeze any information out of her."

“Do it subtly, Mr. Straus,” Belami advised. “We don’t want to set her off on any foolish course. Or do we?” he asked. “I should think her first move would be to get in touch with Sir Nevil. It might be interesting . . ."

“Aye, exactly what I thought myself. And since she don’t know how to write, she’d have to go to him in person.”

“She doesn’t write?” Belami asked.

“Truth to tell, even Mrs. Haskell can’t spell worth a tinker’s curse,” Straus said. “Lamentable ignorance on every side. Anna Wilkey can write her name, and she knows some numbers, but that’s the extent of her schooling. I looked into it since you thought it was important. You, ah, didn’t think to do that?” he asked Belami. There was a mischievous light in his eyes.

“I knew I’d learn something from working with you,” Belami told him.

This sent a wide smile cracking across Straus’s face. “I’ve had a few more years at it than yourself, milord,” he admitted graciously.

Deirdre had been uneasy without quite knowing why, and at this moment she realized what was bothering her. “We can’t see either the Grange or Fernvale from here. Anna and Nevil might be meeting each other now if they use the meadow. And Anna would certainly take that route.”

“She’s right, by Jove. While we pat each other’s back, the young lady is tending to our business. Why don’t I go to the Grange and you continue on to Fernvale?” Straus suggested. “In that way we’ve got both ends covered, as you might say."

“Where they’ll meet is in the middle—of the meadow, I mean,” Pronto said.

The carriage parted to continue along their agreed paths. Already night was falling, in the short days of winter. A garish, red-streaked sunset glowed against the sullen gray of the sky. It was quiet within the carriage as each occupant mulled over his and her own thoughts.

As they turned up the road to Fernvale, Deirdre said, “It could have been suicide as Auntie mentioned once.”

“Could have been Adelaide. Don’t care what you say," Pronto insisted.

“We must be patient just a little longer,” Belami said. “The party wasn’t a complete failure. At least it’s stirred up the hornet’s nest. And if Nevil feels we’re off on the wrong track, it might give him enough confidence to act a little indiscreetly.”

Sir Nevil was behaving with perfect discretion when they reached Fernvale. He sat in the saloon with the duchess, having a cup of tea and discussing with her various means of screwing down Adelaide’s asking price for the Grange.

“If she means to sell it furnished, I might go as high as six thousand,” the duchess said. “She doesn’t realize the value of some of the silver and paintings.”

“She means to have a dealer in and evaluate all those things,” Nevil said. “There’s no grass growing under Miss Pankhurst’s feet.” There was none under Sir Nevil’s either. He knew what appellation would please her grace.

“Told you she was the slyest woman in the parish,” Pronto said to Belami. Fortunately, Sir Nevil didn’t realize the significance of this speech.

"I’ll take a nip over to the Grange this evening and have a word with Miss Pankhurst, if you like,” Sir Nevil offered. “I’ll try my hand at getting her to lower her price. I plan to be off to London right after the inquest in the morning, so I shan’t be late tonight. I’ll give you my report before you retire. I’ll just run upstairs now and begin my packing.”

“An excellent idea!” the duchess said.

Sir Nevil went upstairs, and the duchess turned a stern eye on Belami. “You owe that gentleman an apology, Lord Belami, though I’m not suggesting you make one. No reason he need ever know the sort of allegations you’ve been making behind his back. I knew perfectly well that Nevil had nothing to do with it. It was suicide. A pity. I would have told Straus so, but then Dudley would have to be interred at the north end of the cemetery with murderers and robbers. I hope the good Lord can find it in his heart to forgive Dudley. I shall console myself with the thought that he had become deranged, living all alone as he did for so long.”

Deirdre looked hopefully at Dick to see if he was at all inclined to agree with this reasoning. “I hope you’re right," he said. But when he soon mentioned that he and Pronto would be getting back to town, Deirdre knew he was preparing to follow Nevil and began scheming to go with him or to follow him.

They stayed till Nevil had left for the visit to Adelaide. He had decided to walk across the meadow, as it was a clear night. Belami went through with the farce of having his carriage called, but Deirdre knew Réal would be driving an empty vehicle.

“You look dead tired, Auntie,” she said, hoping to get her aunt off to bed so that she might fly to the meadow and see the action.

“Tired? Nonsense, I haven’t felt so stout in months. I shan’t go upstairs till Sir Nevil returns. I believe I shall go to the library and root out the papers on the Grange. I recall there was some dispute about the boundary twenty years ago when Dudley bought the place. You might just drop the hint to Belami that the Grange would be an unexceptionable wedding present, Deirdre. There is nothing like real estate, when all’s said and done. That managing Pankhurst woman will be claiming half our meadow if I don’t have the plans to prove her a liar and a thief.” On this amiable speech she hauled herself out of her chair and hobbled to the library.

Deirdre didn’t waste a second. She darted to the hallway, grabbed her pelisse, and flew out of the front door. Outside, darkness had descended. It was cold and frightening and black. She could hardly see anything till her eyes adjusted to the shadows. High above, the pale, white moon drifted across a cloud-strewn sky. Ancient oaks and towering, ragged pines groaned as the north wind soughed through them. Sir Nevil and Belami and Pronto had a few minutes head start on her, so she clutched her pelisse closely around her against the wind and ran toward the meadow.

Here the trees were few and far between. The men should have been easy to spot, but in the dim moonlight she saw no sign of human life. She advanced slowly, cautiously, looking to right and left. Some yards ahead, a spindly cedar assumed the general outline of a man, but she knew every tree and bush in the meadow and knew her imagination was playing tricks on her. She continued toward the tree, running now, and stopped to gulp fresh air into her lungs. Her deep breaths blended with the night sounds of wind in the trees, the rustle of disturbed branches as some sleepy bird rearranged its feathers. When she had caught her breath, she stepped out from the tree to scan the meadow once again.

She didn’t hear the silent footstep behind her, had no idea she wasn’t alone till a heavy hand fell on her wrist. A strangled gasp caught in her throat, and her heart felt as though it were crushed in an iron fist. “Nay, lass, don’t take a fright. It’s only me,” Mr. Straus said softly.

“Oh, Mr. Straus! What are you doing here? You frightened me half to death!”

“When Anna slipped out the back door, I came licking after her and lost her in the meadow. Is Ryder at home?”

“No, he left a few minutes ago. Belami and Pronto went after him. Didn’t you see them?”

“Not a sight or shadow of any of them.”

“They were supposed to be going to the Grange across this meadow. You must have missed them, it’s so dark.”

“Hardly so dark as all that. I spotted you in a twinkling. They can’t have come this way.”

“But they did! Unless Nevil was lying . . ." She stopped to think a moment. “If Nevil didn’t come this way, then I suppose they would have followed him whichever way he went.”

“And Anna out loose in the night!” he said, worried. “I made sure she was going to Fernvale to meet with Ryder. You’ve not seen her?”

“No.”

“I followed her halfway through the meadow, then lost her, but kept on coming. She wasn’t more than a dozen paces ahead of me. She must be lurking about your place, hoping for a word with Ryder.”

“Where would she lurk?” Deirdre asked. “She wouldn’t go into the kitchen. Mrs. Bates is always there. The groom sleeps in the stable.”