Page 93 of Who Wants to Marry a Duke
The color drained from her face. “Then why should I be excluded from the list of possible guilty parties?”
“Because you couldn’t have managed all four murders,” Thorn said gently. “In our father’s case, you would have been in labor. It’s highly unlikely you were sneaking about, unscrewing carriage perches. In Uncle Armie’s case, you were abroad. In fact, we think that’s why this villainess waited so long to kill our stepfather. Her reach didn’t extend to Prussia. We think she grew frustrated when you and Maurice stayed so long in Prussia, and so she murdered Uncle Armie to get you and Maurice, Uncle Armie’s heir, back here so she could murder Maurice, too.”
“And possibly me,” Mother said.
Grey nodded. “The truth is, we have no idea why someone would have committed so many murders. And until we understand that, we can’t unravel this conspiracy, if that’s what this is.”
Mother sank back into her chair. “So who are the three women on both lists?”
“First is Grey’s Aunt Cora, a vicious and most ambitious woman, as you well know,” Thorn said. “Then there’s Lady Norley, whom my wife assures me could not be the culprit. And there’s your friend, Lady Hornsby.”
“Surely not her,” Beatrice said. “She was so kind to me during my presentation at court.”
“As far as I’m concerned,” Thorn said, “we must treat all three as possibilities, even if my wife does claim she can vouch for her stepmother’s character.”
Grey took up the tale. “But although we’ve proved to our own satisfaction that my father was murdered by poison, it would be difficult to investigate the other components of a crime that happened thirty-four years ago. So Thorn, Gwyn, and I have agreed that our best hope of catching this fiend lies in trying to unravel the most recent murders—that of the two Armitage dukes.”
Thorn nodded to Sheridan and Heywood. “So we’ll be relying on you two for that investigation. Although I realize Heywood has only been in that area a year, and Sheridan a year more, you know the town and its residents better than the rest of us. The local populace trusts you, and you’ve shown your measure by now. Besides, the questions of a local duke and his brother will carry more weight than those lodged by any of us. And I don’t want to put any of that burden on Mother.”
“I beg your pardon.” Mother sniffed. “I am as much a member of that area as the boys, so I certainly mean to do my part. And I refuse to give the townspeople any hint that my sons are investigating a murder I might be involved in.”
Sheridan put his arm around her. “I promise Heywood and I will make it clear that we don’t suspectyou.”
“Not good enough,” Mother said. “Put me to work.”
“We’ll talk about that later, Mother,” Heywood said.
“One last thing,” Thorn said. “Our other reason for this meeting is to advise caution. Thus far, our villainess hasn’t tried to kill any of us, except for Elias’s bungled attempt to damage the carriage, but that may change. After engineering the murders of so many, she may not stop at those. So every one of us must be on our guard. At the same time, we think it prudentnotto share these suspicions with anyone unless it’s necessary. We don’t want to paint targets on our backs.”
“So don’t tell Vanessa that we suspect her mother, Grey,” Sheridan said. “Because that woman will drive us all mad trying to find out why.”
Heywood laughed. “You’re the only one she drives mad, brother. Especially her infatuation with that Juncker poet friend of Thorn’s.”
“That’sthe poet my cousin has been talking about all this time?” Grey scowled at Thorn. “Did you know?”
“I . . . er . . . only found out a short time ago. And I wasn’t about to mention it toyou. I knew you wouldn’t be happy about it.”
“Vanessa and Juncker,” Grey muttered. “God help us all.”
“Before the conversation degenerates further into gossip irrelevant to the subject at hand,” Thorn said dryly, “I have one more piece of business to mention. Wolfe has agreed to be in charge of gathering and documenting our efforts. He has powerful friends in London, including Bow Street runners and others who investigate crimes. So if you need a bit of information you can’t uncover, turn to him.”
“We should enlist Mr. Bonham,” Mother said. “He was a solicitor before he became Maurice’s man of affairs, so he knows something about the law.”
Thorn had to stifle a curse. “We’re not bringing in people outside the family except to gain bits of information from them, Mother. I doubt that anyone would put together those isolated bits, but if we involve Bonham, he’ll see them altogether and know what we’re up to. We can’t be sure that your suitor won’t gossip to the wrong person.”
Mother was blushing. “He’s not my suitor,” she said.
Gwyn and Beatrice exchanged a knowing smile.
“No matter what he is, he can’t be part of this, Mother. Do you understand?”
She thrust out her chin. “Whatever you say, Thorn. God forbid I should have a male friend. Or female friends, for that matter, without having my children suspect them as criminals.” She rose. “I’ll see about ordering us some tea.”
“I’ll help you,” Olivia said, jumping up to follow Mother, with a chiding glance for Thorn.
Then he caught Gwyn and Beatrice glaring at him. “What?” he asked.
“Couldn’t you have put it more delicately?” Gwyn said. “Mother just heard the news that practically all of her friends are suspects. She’s still taking it all in. You could have been more tactful in telling her not to reveal what we know to her friend Bonham.”
