Page 48 of Snowbound with the Scoundrel
Good at his job?Rupert had never been good at anything in his life.“But I’m not,” he protested.
Claire was having none of it.“You saved Oliver Baxter from his would-be assassin and made the whole thing look like an accident.You aredemonstrablygood at your job.”
Not that he had a mirror handy, but Rupert would have bet he looked more scandalized than ever.He gave a nervous laugh.“Be careful, now.If you keep that up, I’m liable to go getting a big head.”
“Normally, that would be a potent threat.But not in your case.It happens that I think you deserve to have a significantly higher opinion of yourself in general.”
Rupert was fairly certain he was blushing.He cleared his throat.The investigation.He needed to stick to the investigation.“I suppose I should at least try to live up to your faith in me.Which brings us to the suspects.I was able to speak with Ulysses F.Humphrey.”
Claire leaned forward.“I haven’t been able to speak with him yet.What did you think?”
Rupert explained why he didn’t think it was Humphrey.“Don’t get me wrong, he’s a terrible excuse for a person.Chap owns a big sugar plantation in Antigua and is every bit as awful as you would expect a slaveowner to be.But he wasn’t worried about Baxter passing an abolitionist agenda in the slightest.Said it would never happen.”
“Do you think he could’ve been saying that to throw you off?”Claire asked.
Rupert inclined his head.“While it’s always possible, I don’t believe so.He was drunk as a wheelbarrow when we had this conversation.Most men can’t prevaricate in that condition.”
“I had a similar thought about the Duchess of Kimbolton,” Claire said.
“The duchess?You don’t say?”Rupert screwed up his face, thinking.“Sir Henry didn’t mention the duchess when he briefed me.”
“My partner, Lady Winnifred, added her to my list.She has eleven sons, many of whom have been cut out of livings by Mr.Baxter’s push to grant them based on merit rather than nepotism.She’s irked at Mr.Baxter, all right, but she was very open about her resentment.”Her eyes sparkled, and Rupert might’ve forgotten how to breathe.“She told me how she exacted her revenge—by eating the last of the mince pies.They’re apparently his favorites.”
Rupert chuckled.“Well, remind me not to cross the duchess.”
Claire gave him a wry grin.“To be sure, she is a fearsome foe.But, as you alluded with Mr.Humphrey, I do not think she would have been so open about her disdain for Mr.Baxter if she realized someone was trying to murder him.She was not what you would call circumspect.”
“That leaves Richard Garroway.”Rupert tried to keep his tone neutral and not sound like a jealous lunatic as he said, “I believe you’ve had the opportunity to speak with him, yes?”
“I did, on the first night and on several occasions since.Honestly, he’s not as intolerable as I expected.”
As compliments went, it was on the milquetoast side.And, as many times as Rupert reminded his heart that this in no way meant that Claire thought fondly ofhim, it insisted upon swelling to three times its original size.
The fact that she had insisted that he wasn’t an idiot—a ridiculous proposition, he knew—didn’t help either.But worst of all was the way she was treating him, which was like a partner.She genuinely wanted to know his opinion, to analyze potential suspects with him.
For the fellow widely regarded as the biggest idiot in England, it was heady stuff.
Claire was describing her conversations with Garroway, explaining that he actually agreed with Baxter on most of the issues, including parliamentary reform.“Of course,” she concluded, “he might have been lying.But I don’t think he was.He seemed sincere.”She peered at him across the sofa.“What do you think?”
“You have good instincts, and, going over your conversations, I agree with your conclusions.We won’t strike them entirely from our list.As you note, they could be putting on a front.But I think we should concentrate our energies on more promising suspects.”
Claire made a bleak sound.“But we’re fresh out of suspects.”
“Then we need to come up with a few.”He rubbed his jaw, which had grown raspy in the hours since his last shave.“Let’s see… I don’t think it would be Lord or Lady Helmsley, or Lawrence and Emily.Of course, that could be bias on my part, considering they’re some of my favorite people on the face of this earth.”
“I agree,” Claire chimed in.“As you note, it’s possible that we could be wrong.But there isn’t a scrap of evidence, at least from what I can see, that suggests that any member of the de Roos family is involved.And I think your suggestion that we should focus our attention on our most promising leads is a wise one.”
Rupert rose from the sofa, full of excited energy, and started pacing around the room.He couldn’t believe that Claire actually wanted to hear his thoughts.It was downright invigorating to have his suggestions taken seriously.“Let’s see… who could have it in for Baxter?There’s Percival Ponsonby.We were all at school together, Baxter, Ponsonby, and I.Baxter and his chums stuck him with a nickname—Priggish Percival.Well, obviously, Ponsonby didn’t much care for him after that.I’ve noticed him avoiding Baxter all week.”
Claire tapped her lip, considering.“I don’t blame him.Still, that was what, fifteen years ago?”
“Just about.”
“I’m not sure it’s an inducement to murder, especially after all this time.”
“I’m inclined to agree, so let’s see...”Rupert resumed his pacing.“There’s also Granville Smith-Nugent-Smith.He lost a bet to Baxter back in 1818.They wagered two hundred pounds that Smith-Nugent-Smith couldn’t ride a kangaroo—”
“He couldn’twhat?”
