Page 3 of The Secret of the Dashing Detective
They were all watching him, heads nodding. None of this was news, and they had all taken their turns guarding the houses and the family.
“Thus far, we have kept them safe here in London. That is because of you, and I thank you for that. But it is more important than ever for us to determine who is threatening them so that we can finish this job. The duke will not continue to pay us forever.”
He saw some glances of unease between the men. Up until now, most of their jobs had come to a fairly swift conclusion. But then, most were not particularly complicated. A husband getting cuckolded, a theft that was so obvious that Matthew wondered how the victim couldn’t have determined the culprit himself.
“What you do not know is that we have uncovered a secret from the previous duke’s past. He had an illegitimate son with a woman by the name of Mrs. Lewis. She used to live in the village near the duke’s country seat but moved to London some years ago, likely to accompany her son when he came to school here. The duke had been paying her – perhaps blackmail? – until about five years ago. We have located the son and I am going to make contact with him to determine what he knows and what ill will he could hold toward the family.”
“How will you do that?” one man, Pip, asked from the back.
“I’m going to establish a friendship,” Matthew said. “It will be much easier to draw him out that way than attempt to force information out of him.”
Much more palatable, that was. He had tried both ways before and always struggled with the latter.
“Do we have any other suspects?” another man, Anderson, asked him now, and Matthew tapped his fingers on the desk again as he let Owen answer, for he had been the one keeping an eye on the other suspect.
“We cannot forget about Lord Hemingway, simply because he is the one who would gain the title if anything were to happen to the duke,” Owen said. “But the man is as clean as they come. Has never even cheated at gambling from what I can tell. No one has a bad word to say about him. He’s just a good man, if a bit under his mother’s thumb. He is interested in courting the Lady Juliana, so he will remain part of the family, if nothing else.”
“Keep an eye on him, just in case,” Matthew said, wondering why he felt that instinctual turn of his stomach when Owen spoke of Hemingway’s interest in Lady Juliana. What did it matter to him if the two got together?
“I will.”
“While I attempt to befriend Lewis, I will not be able to watch him at other times, for the duke has requested that I remain available to ensure Lady Juliana’s safety,” Matthew continued. “She received a threatening note when out at the museum not long ago, and the duke is concerned that she has been targeted as the weakest point in the family. So Mouse, you will also watch over Lewis, see what else he is up to. Good?”
“Good.”
“The rest of you will continue your shifts watching over the family as we have discussed. Then we have the few of you who are on the Sheffield case.”
He moved the discussion over to the smaller case, while his mind remained on the Warwick threat. He was missing something, he knew it. He rubbed his chin as a piece of information poked at the back of his mind but didn’t quite make it through.
Just what was it?
CHAPTER2
Juliana was restless. She tapped her toe on the pink, white, and gold patterned Aubusson carpet below her as she stabbed the canvas in her hands with more passion than anyone had likely ever used in needlepoint before.
“Are you all right?” Prudence asked from her place across the room.
“Fine,” Juliana muttered.
“You don’t seem fine,” Prudence said matter-of-factly. “You are mutilating your needlepoint.”
“Well, then, it will not look much different than it usually does.”
Prudence smiled but continued to read her book.
Juliana threw down the needlepoint in frustration. “I need to go somewhere. Do something. I cannot sit here and make meaningless holes in a canvas for a minute longer.”
“It is not as though today has been anything out of the ordinary,” Prudence remarked. “It is just that you are not allowed to leave, is that not it?”
“It is,” Juliana sighed. “I feel stifled.”
“Why do you not plan an outing, then?” Prudence asked. “You simply need to arrange it with Mr. Archibald.”
“I suppose,” Juliana mused. “But then he might tell Giles where I would like to go, and that would never do.”
“I do not suppose it would,” Prudence said with a knowing smile as she was well aware of just where that was on Juliana’s mind.
“What time is it?” Juliana asked, sitting up suddenly.
