Page 36 of The Heir
“This ribbon is silk.” She smoothed the bedraggled black scrap. “A gardener would not have a silk ribbon. They couldn’t afford it. And if somehow they did own such a thing, they wouldn’t use it on a workday. They would save it for best.” She looked again. She saw again. “And the rims on the spectacles. They’re gold. A gardener would have steel. Or wood.”
“Maybe he stole them.”
“What for?”
Jane had no answer for that.
“The man I saw wore a black coat, as well,” Victoria went on. “How could the dead man be a gardener who wears a black coat and gold-rimmed spectacles on a silk ribbon? Such a thing does not exist.” She threaded the ribbon through her fingers. “That wasn’t a gardener. It was Dr. William Maton. I thought it might be. Now I’m certain. He wore spectacles like these. He put them on so he could read his watch when he took my pulse.”
“But why would Father lie about such a thing?” asked Jane.
“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” Victoria admitted. “At first, he didn’t lie. He just didn’t believe me, because he didn’t want to. That was probably just a reflex.”
Jane nodded. She had to be as familiar with this aspect of Sir John’s behavior as Victoria was.
“Then, when he found out it was true, his next instinct would be to make it go away as quickly and quietly as possible, which he did by making his announcement at the concert last night.” Victoria smoothed her hand across the spectacles. “Now, with these, we have solid evidence that the dead man was Dr. Maton. So, what we need to ask is, why didn’t Sir John want anyone to know itwashim?” Victoria took a deep breath. “Jane, will you help me find out what’s happened?”
Jane looked nakedly, openly shocked. “What help could I be? I don’t know anything, and . . . and I’ll only make a mess of things.”
“But you found these.” Victoria held up the spectacles and then tucked them into her sleeve. “That’s a great deal. All I ask is that you try.”
Jane groped for what to say. Victoria seized her hand and pressed it, willing some strength into her, willing her to understand that this once they had a chance todosomething.
Jane looked at their hands clasped together. Her cheeks flushed. When she met Victoria’s gaze again, Victoria felt she was looking at a stranger.
All at once, Lehzen coughed. Victoria’s gaze jerked up; so did Jane’s.
Sir John stood framed in the open door. Mama sat at her desk in the other room, watching him. Sir John looked at Jane and gave a very slight nod, the tiniest sign of approval.
Good girl.
Victoria’s skin crawled. Sir John beamed and shut the door, showing how much he trusted Jane.
What does he think is happening? What has he set in motion?Victoria felt something like panic brewing inside her. Had she mistaken Jane’s motives?
In her mind’s eye, Victoria saw Sir John standing over his daughter. Saw him raise his fist and Jane’s head snap back. Such a blow could terrify anyone into obedience, no matter what the scheme.
Jane was staring at the book, which was still open on their laps. Her breath was heaving, as if she’d just run the length of the palace.
“It doesn’t matter about the spectacles,” Jane said through clenched teeth. “He’ll just come up with another lie. He has an answer foreverything, and no one will believe me if I contradict him. They won’t even believe you. They’ll just say . . .”
That I’m making it up. That I’m mad.
“It does matter.” Victoria faced Jane fully.I will not let the possibility of you slip away so easily.“And you know that it matters. That’s why it frightens you. It frightens me, too,” she admitted. “But that is exactly why I mean to keep going.”
“How?” demanded Jane.
A fresh thrill ran through Victoria. This was not a refusal. Jane was listening. Jane was considering the possibilities.
“We must establish two things,” Victoria said. “We must establish what happened to Dr. Maton before his death. Why was he out on the green? Where had he been? Where had he planned to go?”
“And the other thing?” asked Jane.
“What was Dr. Maton’s full connection to Sir John? Of course, they knew each other because Dr. Maton attended my parents and me. But was there more than that between them?”
Jane didn’t look at her. Jane turned over a page in the book and frowned. Victoria held her breath.
Finally, Jane spoke. “I . . . I suppose I could talk to my sister, Liza. She knows everything that goes on in the house and in the town.”
