Page 96 of A Devilish Element
“Our paths crossed again this last summer when I was brought into the employ of the earl of Bellingbrook. I will not describe the circumstances of that meeting other than to say he, or rather she, was in the company of Lord Linfield, and I’d been tasked by the earl to locate his errant son and encourage him back to his studies.”
“Lovers,” Jem muttered under his breath.
“Rather more than that. They were cohabiting as man and wife.”
“Was Linfield a molly too?” Eliza asked.
Bell ignored her.
“If you mean, did he dress in women’s clothes, then not so far as I know,” Jem said out of the corner of his mouth. “But if you mean, did he prefer to take a man over a mistress, then you already know the answer to that, and he liked to be taken as if he were… No matter, never mind. It’s hardly relevant to the point of all this.”
It seemed to Eliza it was very much the point of all this.
“Linfield, as you can imagine, was resistant to his father’s request.” Bell gave an expressive sniff, which conjured visions of many a long argument, and objects being thrown about, followed by arduous strained silences. “In the end, I was obliged to ride away and report my failure. Though, as it turned out, Linfield returned to Oxford of his own accord not long after. I believe there’d been a quarrel between the two lovers that led to a parting of ways. Back at Oxford, Linfield fell straight into his old roistering ways, and soon found himself some new sport,” he nodded in Jem’s direction. “Janie, or rather, John, returned to his wife and shop though he did not settle there long. I had to see him off at Linfield’s request more than a few times. I suspect whatever the pair of them shared during those months together wasn’t so easily put aside for the other party as they were for Linfield. It’s my belief that’s what prompted the appearance at the carriage race. Alas, the heartfelt plea resulted in tragedy.”
Jem snorted. “A fine yarn, Ludlow, except the ending is over kind. I witnessed that race. Linfield never even tried to swerve to avoid the collision. He rode her down, and while he bleated about having had no time to react, I never quite believed it. I’d seen him weave his phaeton between obstacles a steeplechaser might decry over.”
“Nevertheless, I don’t think his intention was murder, more that, in the spur of the moment, he chose not to act as swiftly as he might. Perhaps that was out of surprise, perhaps a form of self-preservation. We’ll never truly know.”
“The only thing it makes clear to me is what thatJamienonsense was about,” Jem retorted. “I have never in my life been Jamie, until these last few days when he was all glib-tongued and determined to cajole me into doing his bidding. I think he hadn’t so completely moved on from his past love as you’d have us believe, Bell. Wasn’t it Janie or Jamie he cried out for in his last moments too? I don’t think any of us believe it was his wife he was calling for.”
The physician shrugged. “His mind and counsel were his own. We did not speak of the matter. Ever. I arranged the burial and such like so that no questions might be asked. As for his relations with his wife, I’m afraid Lady Linfield’s finer qualities were largely lost on him.”
“Well, I still don’t know that I am rightly following all this.” Eliza perfectly understood the part about John and Janie being the same person, but it was its relevance to the current case she was woolly over. “Are you suggesting that Mrs Honeyfield is the wife Faintree abandoned in the countryside so that he might live in sin with Lord Linfield?”
“Possibly,” the physician replied uncertainly. “You’ll admit it’s a motive—the theft of her husband and her dignity. And not forgetting her livelihood. The shop would have to close if there was no longer a licenced practitioner attached to it.”
“Aye.” Jem nodded sagely. “No matter her knowledge.”
“Never mind, aye.” Eliza swore, batting him with her elbow. “If this is what you suspect, why are we all sat here like three limp noodles? The magistrate must be called, and she detained.” Her words propelled Bell onto his feet again, but he did not hasten into action.
“It is simply a hypothesis, Miss Wakefield. Are we so certain we wish to stir this hornets’ nest.”
Eliza gawped at him thoroughly aghast. “Don’t tell me you are dithering over a confrontation, sir! She has murdered an earl’s heir. I think confining her to her room is the very least of what we should do. Nor is there longer a question over sending for the magistrate. If neither of you two men will attend to it, then I will do so. She needs to be restrained before she takes it into her head to harm anyone else.”
“Harm anyone else…?” Bell’s eyebrows drew low over his beady eyes. “Why the devil would she? Her revenge, if she is even guilty of the crime, and we have no proof of it, is already served. She cannot kill him twice over.”
Lord save her from dim-witted men. Eliza slapped her brow. “No, she cannot, but she might seek to rid the world of his heir, and thus butcher the line.”
If her mind had turned to such action, it would mean Jane was in peril. Jane, who had already been the target of untold ghastliness. It was she who had been haunted, and near burned alive, and whom Eliza had left alone far too long. Why she had only meant to be down here for a moment. To find the wretched papers that Mr Cluett demanded and return to Jane with them.
“Linfield deprived her of the opportunity to grow a family, might not she seek to deprive him of the same? Can you not see that? I know if I’d had the man I loved snatched from me, then I would wish to make those responsible pay.”
The declaration earned her four raised eyebrows.
“I’m now positively afeared,” Bell backed away from her warily. “What alarming creatures you women are, so driven to volatility.”
“Did you even give the man a headstone?”
“Of course. Well, I gave Janie a decent burial and a proper marker. We had once been confreres. However, I think you a little hasty in your judgements. We cannot prove, nor reveal any of this. Also, you still haven’t entirely dissuaded me that you’re not equally likely the culprit. I think you have motives aplenty between Linfield’s treatment of your friend, and him blackmailing Jem into questionable acts.”
“Except that I was unaware of the latter, and I would never act in a manner that would harm Jane. Plus, disposing of Linfield would hardly help her current situation.”
“With him gone, there is no one to contest her immaculate conception.”
Jem pushed his way between them. “Ludlow, it’s not her. You know it’s not her. And your delaying makes me question your motives.”
“It is fine, Jem.” Eliza shoved him aside. “I am more than capable of fighting my own battles. If he wants to act like a fatuous old quack, then it is his prerogative.” She tore open the knot in her borrowed apron and cast it aside. A whole hour must surely have passed since she and Jane parted ways in the library, and she hadn’t yet retrieved the one thing she’d come here looking for. It was well past time she left. Thus, she hurried into the rear room and sought the clothing Bell had taken from his lordship’s corpse.
