Page 66 of Death of a Courtesan
‘I accept that he could easily have slipped into the house,’ Riley replied, ‘and lain in wait. He claims to have been playing cards until gone midnight and left the tavern where the game took place in the company of his fellow players. But by his own admission they were all in their cups, so I wouldn’t put much stock by the word of his friends if they say he was where he claims to have been. He could easily have slipped away or, come to that, simply gone on to Maiden Lane. We know Adelaide was still alive at two in the morning. He had enough time.’
‘Even if he was intoxicated?’ Olivia asked.
‘Even then. Besides, perhaps he wasn’t as drunk as he made out to be, or maybe he can handle his liquor better than he lets on.’
‘If you are right, Riley,’ Olivia said, ‘how did he tempt Adelaide into that room without attracting attention to himself?’
Jake answered her. ‘I expect it could be done. Perhaps he even hid himself in the room where Adelaide was found. He could have concealed himself in her private quarters. You said she occupied a room alone?’ Riley nodded. ‘Well then, she wouldn’t have been expecting to find anyone there. He could easily have overpowered her, gagged her and carried her downstairs when the house was quiet.’
‘He could, I suppose, but why not just kill her in her room and be done with it?’ Olivia asked.
‘It would have been symbolic, I expect,’ Jake said. ‘Perhaps he saw his mother submitting to similar punishments during her working years. That image probably never left him. When he saw his step-brother in conversation with Adelaide he assumed that Michael liked being whipped, and saw red. You said yourself that he lacks intellect.’
‘It’s a possibility that I hadn’t considered—the method and reasoning, I mean. The only problem is that I can’t credit the man I met with sufficient intelligence to think it through and carry it out. There is another major suspect to consider, though. Mirabelle and Adelaide were arch rivals in Mrs Sinclair’s establishment. There was no love lost between the two of them and with Adelaide out of the way, Mirabelle’s star is very much in the ascendency.’
‘Worth killing for?’ Olivia asked, her expression sceptical.
‘People have killed for considerably less, and as I understand it,’ Jake said, ‘competition in Adelaide’s line of work is…well, lethal.’
‘Speaking from experience?’ Olivia asked playfully.
Riley felt a moment’s jealousy at their closeness. His thoughts briefly veered in the direction of Amelia, wondering if things would be that way between them after twenty years of marriage, but quickly disciplined himself to return his mind to the matter in hand. ‘There is also the aunt and Adelaide’s two brothers to throw into the mix,’ he said. ‘The aunt despised her niece and, if she knew what she had become, she wouldn’t hesitate to permanently remove that particular threat to the family’s reputation. The boys would do whatever she told them to.’
‘Was there any way for a connection to be made between Adelaide and her family?’ Jake asked. ‘I don’t suppose she used her real name in a professional capacity.’
‘No, but the aunt is a shrew of a woman who wouldn’t have passed up an opportunity to get rid of the girl, I’m absolutely sure of it.’
‘It would be risky, Riley,’ Olivia pointed out. ‘She couldn’t do the deed herself, and involving her nephews, even if they looked upon her word as law, would be a rather dubious strategy. I just don’t see it.’
‘That’s why she’s low on my list.’
‘It seems to me that you will have to tempt the killer into some form of indiscretion,’ Jake said pensively.
‘Suggest publicly that I have evidence that points to his or her guilt, you mean.’ Riley shrugged. ‘The same thought had occurred to me,’ he added, not waiting for Jake’s response. ‘But I don’t see how that will help. It’s not as though the guilty party could break into Scotland Yard and steal my mythical evidence back.’
‘Indeed not, but you could perhaps spread word indirectly, so that you’re sure it will reach the ears of all the suspects. Let it be known that you have discovered something incriminating at the scene and that you are near to making an arrest as a result of that discovery.’
‘You think that will encourage the killer to come forward with a plausible explanation for what he thinks Riley’s found?’ Olivia asked.
‘I don’t see how.’ It was Riley who replied. ‘There was absolutely nothing in that room that didn’t belong there. Besides, if Mirabelle is the killer, then anything of hers would have a legitimate reason to be there. Adelaide wasn’t the only one to use the room.’
‘Perhaps you found something in Adelaide’s private quarters then?’ Olivia said, picking up her husband’s theme. ‘A diary suggesting that a certain person meant her harm and that Adelaide feared for her life.’
‘Now that, Lady Torbay, is a much better idea!’
Jake grinned. ‘She has them occasionally.’
Olivia threw a cushion at her husband.
‘Superintendent Thompson thinks I should try and find her money and see who benefits from it in the event of her demise, but I don’t think money plays a part in this particular crime, especially since no one other than Clement and his wife seems to be aware that she had saved any. Besides, I have absolutely no idea who represents her interests.’
‘Tom should be able to…’ The door opened and the tall figure of a young man wearing a dark coat, with windswept hair and his mother’s striking blue eyes stood in the aperture. ‘Ah, talk of the devil! There you are, darling.’
Riley stood and shook Tom’s hand warmly. The men exchanged pleasantries and Riley accepted an offer of a refill from Jake’s whisky decanter.
‘You look tired, darling,’ Olivia said. ‘They work you too hard.’
Tom laughed. ‘Oh, you know me, Mother. I am never happier than when I am up to my elbows trying to find a way to have a falsely-accused murderer acquitted.’ He grinned at Riley. ‘No offence implied,’ he said.
