Page 83 of Scandalous Heiress
“Where’s the gun, Leland?”
The man’s large green eyes registered the question.But he shrugged.
“Did he have it when he ran up the staircase?”Victor pressured him.
“I…can’t remember.”
Can’t or won’t?“Of course you can.Better to recall it now before the investigators get here.They will ask you.”
Leland’s attention traveled up the stairs.“Yes, he had it.He ran in.Maxwell opened the door and he flew in.He was a madman.Wild about some rumor.Yesterday at some tea party.Crazy that some man had accused her of having an affair with me.”
What?No.Christ, no.Richard’s accusations caused this?
Victor put out a hand to steady himself, but caught himself from touching anything.“So…where…where’s the pistol, Leland?”
“Up there.”He lifted a hand toward the top.
“And what’s that on the top step?”
“Where?”
Victor had no tolerance for whatever subterfuge this man was attempting.He glowered at him and it forced the required effect.
“Her handkerchief.And…looks like her necklace.”
“Why are they on the stairs?”
“He tore them from her.”
“Before or after he hit her?”
“Hit her?”Leland’s mind drifted away.“I—I don’t know.”
Don’t know or can’t remember?Victor inhaled.“You have to.”
“Yes.”He slumped in the chair, defeated.
“At what point did you push him?”
Weary, Leland hung his head.
Terrified for this man, outraged for the dead man and his wife and their years of mutual torment, Victor fought valiantly to contain his anger.“For your own defense, you must remember exactly what happened here.”
Pierce scowled at Leland, then Victor.Leland did not catch his glance, but Victor did.Pierce tipped his head in question.
And Victor nodded, then shook his head in disbelief.
Julian emerged from the back room.Defeat hung around him like a shroud.“No delaying this any longer.We need to summon the police.”
Victor volunteered.He had to do something constructive before he went mad as a hatter.Richard was to blame for this.Richard, the catalyst to so many calamities.The shame and outrage of what his brother had become enraged him.And if he saw him anytime soon, he’d have to kill the urge to throttle him.
“I don’t want any more of this.”Lily pushed away the hot cocoa and pressed her hands to her cheeks.“I wonder why they’re taking so long.”
After the four men had left for Elanna’s, Lily dried her tears and decided to sit on the veranda.The night was warm, a soft breeze whispering through the trees in Green Park.As they sipped hot cocoa, Jessica and her mother and father discreetly remained inside.Because of Lily’s condition, Ada was devoted to keeping her sister as calm as possible.
“Julian will deal with everything.”Ada had no idea what police procedures were for a death like Carbury’s.
“Elanna is so difficult.”Lily sighed heavily, staring out at the shadows cast by clouds and the moonlight through the branches.“She always has been from the day she knew she had to marry Carbury.”
