The Lady Is Innocent (The Star Elite Series) (4 page)

She had no loyalty to her aunt and knew that she had to at least tell Jamie about her aunt’s problems
when he reappeared, if he reappeared while she was still there. But, although her aunt was selfish and addicted to gambling, that didn’t mean her creditors were murderers. She couldn’t see how both of the issues could be related.

“Until we get the bottom of what happened
, I think it would be best if you remained inside the house for now,” Pie sighed. He glared at her for several moments as he disgust rose. He made no attempt to hide the ruthless determination in his eyes and watched as she shivered and began to look uncomfortable under his intense scrutiny. She had to know that he wouldn’t give up until he had the truth.

Florrie
nodded once and pushed out of her chair. “Am I free to go to my room?”

“For now, but we will talk later in the study. I will send for you when I am ready.”
Pie winced at how officious he sounded but he knew he needed to draw the line between agent of the law and family.

Florrie
nodded and walked solemnly out of the room. She could feel Pie’s careful scrutiny as she passed but couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze. She didn’t need to look in any of their faces to see the condemnation and quiet watchfulness lurking in their silence.

They thought that she was guilty, and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it.

“Do you believe he could be a lover spurned, or something like that?” Pie asked, considering the possibility. Florrie was about the least obvious murderer he had ever encountered, but was that most probably because he wanted her to be innocent.

“The man isn’t one of the villagers,
I am sure of it. He is dressed more like an urban gentleman rather than even middle class country folk,” Archie added with a sigh. He rose to stare into the fire, wondering what Cecily would think to having a would-be murderer in Jamie’s family. It knocked her being related to a traitor into a hat that was for sure.

“We can’t lose sight of the fact that this could be a warning,”
Simon added harshly. Everyone turned to stare at him.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, we know that Beaulieu is around here somewhere and is preparing to move. It isn’t implausible that he has identified Jamie and decided to send us a message that we have gotten too close to his operation. I think we had better make enquiries into where Beaulieu is and what he is up to.”

“Shit,” Simon spat.

“We need to protect everyone,” Jonathan added thinking of his recent activities in Melvedere. He had not forgiven the doctor for his plundering yet, and still carried the lumps and bruises, however wasn’t sure if they were mainly as a result of his work in the secret tunnel or the doctor’s dubious ‘care’. Now it appeared that he wasn’t going to get the time to rest and recuperate as he had hoped.

Oh well, better luck next time,
he sighed quietly and turned his attention back to the room.

“
Florrie may have only been the person who was unlucky enough to stumble on to the corpse. We need to find out why she was in the churchyard and what she was doing creeping out of the house the way she did. Who was she trying to avoid? Why?” Hugo added. “I will –”

Pie interrupted. “I will ask her. I was the one who watched her creep across the hallway. I was also the one who found her in the
churchyard studying the blooded weapon. I think I should be the one who gets to question her.” His voice held a cold ruthlessness that drew Hugo’s frown.

“I think we had better do it together. That way she won’t be scared into silence,”
Archie replied pointedly. He hated to be at odds with Pie, especially after everything they had shared, but Pie could be intimidating without trying sometimes. Although it worked on most of the Star Elite cases, it wasn’t appropriate for Florrie to experience it and Archie felt a responsibility to protect her given that she was Jamie’s cousin.

Pie nodded
briskly. He wanted to stalk upstairs and demand answers. He had no idea know where this desperate need for the truth was coming from and it was a little worrying. He was usually perfectly calm and in control of himself, as well as the circumstances around him, whenever mysteries arose like this. It wasn’t like him to want to wade in at the earliest opportunity, especially without consulting his colleagues, and he didn’t think his need to get involved had anything to do with his desire to get the job done.

“I will send for Tabatha first,” Hugo sighed, tugging on the bell pull. At this rate, they were going to need everyone who was available to keep watch over the guests, at least until Portia and Archie’s wedding was over and everyone went home.

“Florrie!” The heavy thumping on the locked bedroom door was accompanied by Tabatha’s shrill voice. Florrie remained quiet and still on the window seat.

“
Florrie? Are you in there? Open the door at once.” Rapid knocking was replaced by the rattling of the knob as Tabatha tried to force her way in. “You can’t avoid me forever, you know.”

Can’t I?
Florrie thought waspishly, ignoring her aunt’s shrill dictates. She curled up into a tight ball and stared out of the window. It had started to rain. She watched the trickle of rainwater meander randomly down the window and traced one with her fingertip.

“
Florrie!”

Florrie
heard the low murmur of voices and sighed with relief when everything in the hallway went quiet. For now, at least, her aunt appeared to have given in.

She wondered briefly who her aunt had spoken to. She thought she had heard Pie’s voice but couldn’t be sure. One thing was for certain, someone was guarding her room.

“
Tabatha, come and take a seat,” Hugo ordered waving toward the chair opposite.

“What is it? What is going on?
Why does this need everyone?” Tabatha, her face flushed with indignation, glared at Pie, Rupert, Archie and Simon as she stalked across the room. She was clearly reluctant to do anything under orders but the sight of the men kept her silent. She perched warily on the edge of the chaise and stared at Hugo, the man who seemed to be in charge.

“I want you to tell me who the man was in the
churchyard after the wedding yesterday,” Hugo announced flatly.

Tabatha
’s eyes flew to his. If Hugo hadn’t been staring at her he would have missed the brief flicker of horror that shadowed her gaze a second before it was gone, and replaced by a hard, almost defiant glare.

Tabatha’s
thoughts immediately turned to her step-niece and she wondered whether Florrie was behind this sudden change of events; it would certainly explain why the young miss was determined to ignore her. Tabatha struggled to control the flash of anger toward her step-niece, and made a mental note to have a quiet word with Florrie at the earliest opportunity. She visibly trembled with the need to lash out and clenched her fingers tightly in her lap while she tried to get control of her emotions. She knew the quiet, watchful gazes of those present were taking stock of her reaction and it was imperative that she not give them any hint to just how annoyed she was that Florrie had involved the Star Elite in her concerns.

“I don’t know who you mean,”
Tabatha snapped, glaring at Archie who had so far remained silent.

“C
ome now, you and I both know that you are acquaintances with the man who was staring fixatedly at you once you left the church. Now let me think,” Hugo drawled pushing out of his chair to wander aimlessly around the room.

He had used this particular tactic to his advantage on many occasions in the past. He knew that by throwing questions at the people he was ‘interviewing’ from various points around the room, he would stand a better chance of getting snippets of information that would eventually lead to the truth. Hugo’s constant movement and relentless questions from all angles left his interviewees feeling off-kilter and unnerved and
, more often than not, their feelings of being at a disadvantage would lead them to tell him what he knew.

Hugo
had seen women like Tabatha before. If he had any hope of getting this woman to tell him what he needed to know then he had to dig in to her defences and try to knock her off-guard. He knew his tactics were working by the bead of sweat that popped out on her brow and fought the urge to keep the satisfaction from his gaze.

“He could have been a spurned lover, maybe?” He ignored
Tabatha’s snort of contempt and moseyed back toward the fire. He kept his back toward her for a moment before he spun on his heel. “He could be someone you have crossed who wants vengeance.” He watched dread flood Tabatha’s face and knew that he was not far wrong. What had the ladies gotten themselves into? Calling on all of his years of experience, Hugo began another slow perusal of the room.

“I think that you have a few minutes to come up with the truth
, Tabatha, or I will place you under house arrest here and now.”

“For what?
I have done nothing wrong!” Tabatha protested, pushing to her feet and turning to glare at Pie and Archie. “I have no idea who the man was. You need to ask Florrie, she knows him. He is after her, not me.”

“Why would he be after her?” Pie asked
, ignoring Hugo’s annoyed look. He knew the woman was lying. She had a desperate look in her eye that warned him that she was going to point the finger at anyone who would take the heat off her.

“Because she owes him money and he has come to collect. She is up to her ears in debt,”
Tabatha snapped, turning from Pie to Archie again, before her gaze flew to Hugo. “I told her that she was being foolhardy but she has driven us to wreck and ruin. That is why she left so quickly yesterday, she was scared he was going to take vengeance there and then.”

Pie sighed and stared at her
. He wished that he could come up with some counter-argument to the woman’s declaration, but the memory of Florrie stalking down the road toward Crompton on the day of the wedding remained strong. Had she been eager to get away from the impending threat? Was she up to her ears in debt?

“Why would
Florrie be in debt? What for?” Pie asked, trying desperately to find a way to prove Florrie was innocent.

“Gambling.”
The word fell like a stone into the middle of the silent room. They all stared at the middle aged woman before them.

“How much?”
Hugo’s voice cracked like a whip and made Tabatha jump in alarm.

Tabatha
named a sum that caused Simon to whistle. Hugo’s surprised gaze met Pie’s for a brief moment. Anyone who ran up that kind of money through gambling had a serious problem on their hands, and it wasn’t only because of the pugilist in the churchyard who wanted his money back.

“Name,”
Hugo snapped. For some reason he was struggling with the image of Florrie sitting in a sordid gaming house running up huge debts that she couldn’t hope to repay. The woman before them perhaps but, somehow, Florrie just didn’t fit into the seedier side of life that all of the Star Elite knew existed.

“What?”
Tabatha gasped, staring at him with pure hatred in her narrowed eyes.

“
Give me his name. Now,” Hugo bellowed, drawing himself up to his full height and glowering down at her. He was sorely disappointed with the latest turn of events and knew that someone somewhere was lying.

Silence settled. “I don’t know his name,”
Tabatha stammered. She looked around her as though trying to find a way out.

“Where does she gamble?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“What time does she go out?”

“I haven’t a clue, she goes out and doesn’t come back until late,” Tabatha gulped.

“How late?”

“I am n-not sure.”

Hugo snorted and turned to stare stonily at her. “So you are trying to tell me that you have someone, a young, well-bred lady
, in your house who goes off in an evening, doesn’t tell you where and doesn’t come back until late and you make no attempt to ask where she has been? You have no idea what time she comes back?” He made no attempt to keep the scorn out of his voice. He didn’t believe her lies and she knew it. “I think madam, that you are a liar and a fraud,” he growled.

Pie saw the furtive glance
she threw toward the door and knew that she was feeling cornered. The reaction she couldn’t hide made him more convinced than ever that the woman was lying. He felt somewhat protective toward Florrie’s reputation and wasn’t prepared to let her off the hook.

“I am not,” Tabatha stammered. “I don’t know anything.”

“Yes, you do
, and do you know something Tabatha?” Pie’s drawled in a voice that was as cold and hard as his gaze. He sauntered forward until he was standing a few feet away from her and glared down into her eyes. He watched with satisfaction as she leaned backward and stared at him with wide eyes. “I am going to get to the truth and if I find out that you are lying, I am going to come looking for you.”

“You can’t, we are going to be leaving tomorrow,”
Tabatha replied hesitantly.

“Oh, no you are not. Nobody is going anywhere until we
know about everything,” Pie countered. He flicked a dismissive glance at her and turned away.

Tabatha
glanced around the room and seemed to sense that something else was going on but she had no idea what. “We have to go tomorrow. Unless I am under house arrest for crossing paths with a stranger in the churchyard, there is no earthly reason why you should feel the need to stop me.”

“I am afraid that there has been a murder in the area,”
Archie announced flatly. He moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Pie in a silent show of solidarity. He could tell that Tabatha was nervous about something but, for now, they had to let her go on her way.

Pie knew that
Florrie was going to be the easiest person to get information out of, he was sure of it. As long as he could keep the Star Elite off her back, he had a chance of uncovering the truth. He ignored Tabatha’s gasp and met her startled gaze with arrogant contempt. “Until we find out who did it, and why, nobody is going anywhere.” He ignored her instinctive gasp of protest and turned his back. Anything the woman wanted to say now was of little consequence. His gaze met and held Hugo’s for several long moments and a silent understanding passed between them. “Until we call you down again, I suggest you remain in your room. We will send trays up at mealtimes. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to speak to Florrie. Do you understand?”

“So I am going to be held prisoner?”
Tabatha’s voice was horrified and she glared at the unsympathetic gazes of the men surrounding her.

“Yes,”
Pie snapped, glaring at her. “We always get to the truth, you should understand that Tabatha. Until we do, stay in your room until you are summoned.” For some reason this woman annoyed the hell out of him and he wondered how Florrie managed to put up with her.

Silence settled aro
und them for several moments. Hugo waited until Tabatha was heading out of the door before he turned to Pie. He raised his voice enough for Tabatha to hear.

“Go and fetch
Florrie.” He wasn’t ignorant of Tabatha’s quickened footsteps as she climbed the stairs. The woman definitely had something to hide. Was she running to warn Florrie? Or was she running back to her room before they could call her back for further questioning?

“I think it would be best if
Archie and I questioned Florrie on her own in the library,” Pie announced, closing the study door. He had never seen Hugo at work before and could appreciate the man’s level of skill at unnerving his opponent. However, he balked at the thought of idly stepping aside and allowing the same tactics to be used on Florrie, even if she was guilty.

He wanted to get to the bottom of her problems and find out if she was really in as much debt as her aunt claimed she was. He had no intention of getting involved if she was an inveterate gambler. That was Jamie’s problem to sort out, but he just had to know whether his first impression of the woman w
as accurate.

Within minutes
, a soft knock on the library door heralded the arrival of Florrie in the sitting room. Pie had chosen the room because it was smaller and cosier than the study, which was ostensibly a man’s room, even though this was the old dowager’s house. Archie had lapsed into thoughtful silence and seemed willing to sit back and allow Pie to pick up the reins, for which Pie could only be grateful. Although there was only Pie and Archie in the room, the others were still in the study and able to overhear everything that was said.

Florrie
slowly entered the room as though she was walking into the pit of Hell. She glanced from Pie to Archie, then back to Pie.

“
Florrie, take a seat,” Pie suggested. The softness in his voice lay in stark contrast to the determined glare in his eye.

Florrie
shuddered. There was no help from Archie, who looked equally as severe from his position beside the window. She slowly took a seat.

“Who owes the debts, you or
Tabatha?”

It was the last thing
Florrie had expected to hear. Her eyes grew wide and she stared in horror at Pie. Surely they didn’t think she would owe such a huge amount of money? She had the answer on Pie’s face.

“
Tabatha.” Florrie had no doubt that they had spoken to her aunt who had pointed the finger at her. It was something her selfish aunt would have no compunction against doing. Florrie sighed. “The man in the churchyard yesterday was Dexter Arnold, owner or manager, or something of a gaming house in Oxfordshire.” She turned and met Pie’s gaze with a frank one of her own. “I don’t know if you ever went to Tabatha and Archibald’s house, but it was really quite opulent while Archibald was alive. If you go there now, it is nothing short of a ghost of its former self. Tabatha has sold practically everything to pay some of her debts, but then she goes and gambles again and the debts just get bigger.”