Page 93 of The Last Chance
He stared at her, his annoyance tinged with a glimmer of fascination. “Perhaps fear is a demon, one too strong for a mortal man to slay.”
“We might debate the theory later.” She released him andurged him to help her up so they might dress quickly. “Miss Stowe has come about Lucia. Either to assist us or accuse us of tormenting her helpless maid. She might have information we need or may have helped Lucia board a ship to Naples.”
Aaron stood, his body glorious, his expression grave. “Let’s pray it’s not the latter. Getting the truth from that woman is our only hope of freedom.”
They found Miss Stowe pacing the floor in the candlelit study, wringing her hands and sniffing back tears. When she saw Joanna, she flew across the room.
“Can you ever forgive me?” Miss Stowe gripped Joanna’s hands like her life depended on it. “Lucia has fooled us both. Tricked us into believing her sad little tale.”
“She told a convincing story,” Joanna reassured Miss Stowe.
“It’s all a lie. Her mother isn’t dead but living in Lambeth. I doubt she’s even Italian.” Miss Stowe’s hands shook as she caught her breath and rummaged in her reticule. She tugged crumpled notes from the velvet bag and thrust them at Joanna. “I found these in her room. After Mr Daventry came to tell me what happened, I ripped the place apart.”
Joanna glanced at Aaron, guilt rising in her chest. Initially, he had been suspicious of the maid, but she had convinced him otherwise.
Lucia is not Venus, she had protested.
In truth, no one knew who Lucia was.
Aaron stepped forward and asked to read the letters. He did not say, “You fool, Joanna,” or berate her for trusting a maid. He did not use those he loved to prove a point or bolster his self-worth.
“Lucia is perhaps the most convincing liar I have ever met,” he said, taking a plaid blanket from the leather chair and draping it around Joanna’s shoulders. “I trust you’re warm enough, Miss Stowe.”
The lady gathered herself. “Yes, thank you, Mr Chance.”
“Let’s sit and try to understand what we’re dealing with.” Aaron gestured to the chairs facing his desk. He didn’t perch on his throne but pulled up a seat and settled beside them. “Where did you find the notes?”
“Hidden inside her spare boots.”
How odd. They had searched Lucia’s room the night they found her wandering around Mrs Flavell’s garden.
“We scoured the room and found nothing,” Aaron said calmly before unravelling one note and reading the missive. He handed it to Joanna. “I need you to think, Miss Stowe. Has Lucia ever had another servant visit her? An older woman? Someone she confessed to knowing from a previous position?”
While Miss Stowe thought, Joanna read the penned words. It was a simple message, an invitation for Lucia to dine with the woman on Sunday. It was signedyour loving mother, but that’s not what shocked Joanna most.
“The person who wrote this note also wrote to Gabriel.” Joanna pointed to the letters’ curling tails. “The writing bears the same exaggerated flicks and sweeps that give it a distinctive flare.”
Aaron agreed as he read the other notes. “It’s a woman’s writing, someone educated, not a servant or a mother whose child might work in service.”
“Lucia often met a woman at the market,” Miss Stowe said. “A servant she worked with at Lord Hutton’s house.”
Aaron sighed. “I doubt she worked there. I called today. Lord Hutton doesn’t remember her, and neither does the housekeeper.”
“Oh.” Miss Stowe hung her head.
“How convenient of the sender to mention her new address in Lambeth,” Aaron mocked, slipping that note into his trouser pocket. “It’s a trap to lure me there. Every move I’ve made has played into this devil’s hands.”
“Who is she?” Joanna said, her voice breaking because this person had one goal in mind. To destroy the Chance family.
He shrugged. “The wife of a man who lost his fortune at the tables. Someone who blames me for her husband’s addiction and is in cahoots with the Earl of Berridge. Someone clever enough to have me chasing my tail.”
Fear crept into Joanna’s heart, filling every chamber like a frigid morning mist. “We should hire an enquiry agent to check the address. Have a man watch the premises.”
“There’s no time.” Aaron stood abruptly upon hearing the upstairs board creak. He glanced at the ceiling and lowered his voice. “I mean to play the game and visit Lambeth tonight. I don’t want my brothers to know I’ve left the house.”
“But it’s almost midnight.”
“I expect Lucia and this mystery woman will be waiting.”
