Page 13 of The Bride Wore White

Prudence gave him an irritated look. “As a matter of fact, I did.”

“Good thinking,” he said. “And?”

“It had been cut out,” she said. Her eyes glinted with annoyance.

“Too bad.”

“It was not my fault, Mr.Wingate.”

“No, I suppose not.” He studied his notes. “So we have an expensive gown made to fit another woman.”

“Obviously,” she said, her tone sharpening. “It’s not as if it would have been made for me, is it?”

Jack looked at her. Okay, he was still new to the private consulting business. Until the Bonner case, he had always worked with law enforcement and government agencies. Dealing with bureaucracies was a hazard of the business, but for the most part, he had been able to navigate those waters. It was rapidly becoming clear, however, that dealing with private clients like Prudence Ryland was going to be a much bigger problem. Then again, there couldn’t be many like her. It was statistically impossible. She was definitely unique.

“I need more information in order to refine my hypothesis,” he said. He tapped the pencil against the notebook. “The first step is to find out why you were included in the script, Miss Ryland. You must have some idea. It’s obvious you were not selected at random to play the part of the Killer Bride.”

She winced but she did not ask him why he had come to that conclusion. Probably because she knew it was obvious.

“I don’t know why Gilbert Dover was murdered,” she said. “But, unfortunately, I have a somewhat complicated connection to the Dover family.”

“Somehow that does not come as a surprise,” he said.

She shot him a quelling glare. “Gilbert’s father died several years ago, leaving Dover Industries in the hands of his wife, Clara Dover. Clara is a very formidable woman, both in society and in the business world. When it comes to business, she is known to be brilliant and ruthless. It’s no secret in San Francisco that she is the one who transformed Dover Industries from a small regional manufacturing company into the powerful corporation it is today.”

“That’s true,” Luther said. “I made a couple of phone calls after you and I set up this appointment, Miss Ryland. There’s no question but that Clara Dover is an impressive businesswoman. She pushed most of her competitors into bankruptcy along the way to building her empire.”

“Several months ago, she became obsessed with her plan to persuade me to marry Gilbert,” Prudence continued.

Jack heard the faint clash of distant chimes and got the ghostly frisson on the back of his neck that told him he was finally getting some truly important information.

“Go on,” he said, aware that his voice had hardened. The words came out sounding like an order.

Prudence slanted him another wary glance. “Before I became a librarian, I worked as a psychic in San Francisco.”

“Did you now?” he said, almost under his breath.

“You must be wondering why Clara Dover would settle on me as an appropriate bride for the heir to the Dover fortune,” Prudence said. “It’s true I enjoyed some success as a psychic. Most of my clients came from upper-class circles. But I never personally moved in those circles. I don’t have an inheritance. I can’t claim to be related to any of the important families in the city. To understand Clara’s obsession with convincing me to marry Gilbert, you need to know that she is certain she possesses a powerful psychic talent. She thinks Gilbert inherited her ability.”

Jack frowned. “Hard to believe that an individual smart enough and strong-minded enough to build a business empire would put any credence in the paranormal, let alone convince herself that she actually possesses some psychic talent.”

“Try employing your imagination, Mr.Wingate,” Prudence said, her voice dangerously sweet.

“Excuse me,” Luther said, once again interrupting before Jack could respond. “Please continue, Miss Ryland.”

“I’m afraid Clara Dover was fixated on a ridiculous plan to repair what she believed to be a flaw on the male side of the Dover family bloodline,” Prudence said. “She concluded marriage to me would somehow fix the problem.”

“What was the flaw?” Jack asked.

Luther answered the question. “My San Francisco sources told me that the Dover men were known for their volatile tempers, as well as certain eccentricities.”

Jack looked at him. “Eccentricities?”

“I was told that Gilbert Dover was not welcome in the city’s brothels,” Luther said. “He was rumored to have injured several women.”

“Clara Dover thought marriage would change her son’s vicious temperament?” Jack shook his head. “That seems unrealistic, to say the least.”

“I doubt very much that she believed I could change Gilbert,” Prudence said. “Her concern was for his offspring, her grandchildren.”

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