Page 84 of Death of a Courtesan
Chapter Seventeen
‘Well done, inspector.’ Thompson leaned back in his chair and gave a satisfied smile. ‘A good day’s work all round.’
‘Ray Clement is still ranting away,’ Riley replied. ‘He hasn’t actually admitted to killing the girl and doesn’t accept that he did anything wrong. He’s mentally unstable, so I suspect they’ll lock him in the asylum for the rest of his days rather than hang him. Celeste was the evil one. She planned everything meticulously and almost had me fooled.’
‘You wouldn’t have known of her existence if she hadn’t contacted you. After all, her marriage to Michael Clement was a secret. I wonder why she chanced exposing her connection.’
‘She thought she could manipulate me in the same manner that she’s been manipulating men her entire adult life. She also knew that I would discover, sooner or later, that she benefited from Adelaide’s will. Better to cast herself in the role of caring friend before we could find out the truth. I think she also believed that I would allow her to guide the direction of the investigation.’
‘Which was a major mistake.’
Riley shrugged. ‘She will most assuredly hang, even though she didn’t commit the crime in person. She manipulated two people, driven by greed and ambition.’
‘And Mirabelle? What are we to charge her with?’
‘I would suggest nothing. She was taken in by Celeste too and I am convinced she didn’t know that Ray had murder in mind. Besides, if we deprive her of her liberty, who knows what secrets she might decide to make public.’
Thompson’s brows shot up. ‘Danforth’s predilections, you mean?’
‘Precisely so. The Detective Department is struggling to establish a reputation for honesty and integrity. News of a senior officer frequenting a specialist brothel will set us back and we might never recover from the scandal. There are many who would pounce upon the opportunity to ensure we don’t, and the only people who will benefit from our demise are criminals. And so, my recommendation is that we release Mirabelle without charge in return for her secrecy. She is no danger to anyone else.’
‘You are a good man, Rochester. I’m lucky to have you.’ Thompson leaned forward in his seat, and his next question was almost rhetorical. ‘Now, what am I to do about Danforth?’
Riley and his superintendent discussed the matter for a considerable amount of time.
‘Well, Rochester, I will consider your opinion,’ Thompson said. ‘It’s probably the right one, and let you know what I decide. In the meantime, you’d best get off. It’s been a long day and tomorrow will be an even longer one.’
‘If you have no objection, sir, I’d like to leave the paperwork to Salter tomorrow. I need a day to attend to some private business.’
‘Of course.’ Thompson flapped a dismissive hand. ‘Away with you, man. You’ve more than earned the right.’
Riley returned to his office and congratulated his officers on a job well done. He then gave Salter his instructions.
‘I shall not be here tomorrow but I’m sure I can leave the rest of the interviews in your capable hands.’
‘Off to see your brother, I assume.’
Riley smiled. ‘Perceptive, as ever.’
‘Sounds to me like he had a lucky escape.’ Salter frowned. ‘But why did Celeste turn your brother down if he wanted to set her up in style as his mistress? Being seen on the arm of a marquess has to beat being the wife of a middle-classed wine merchant, I’d have thought.’
‘Ah, but she wouldn’t have been seen, that’s the point. These things have to be done discreetly. Henry would have provided her with a decent place to live, probably somewhere in the country convenient for him, and she would have had to sit there twiddling her thumbs until he deigned to visit her.’
Salter sniffed, unimpressed. ‘Celeste prefers the bright lights and being the centre of attention.’
‘Precisely. Besides, she’s both ambitious and clever. She knew that Henry would tire of her eventually and by the time that he did she would be too old to attract anyone else of his consequence, so it would have been downhill for her from that point onwards. So she decided to marry a man whose ambition matched her own. A man who could raise her up. One she could control and who would lend her respectability.’
‘Michael Clement is devastated. I feel quite sorry for him. He was taken in by Celeste, too.’ Salter sighed. ‘This will be the ruination of him. His business won’t prosper now, and anyway he’s probably lost the appetite for it.’
‘Nor will Huxton prosper, not now that we’ve charged the uncle with evasion of duty.’ Riley shrugged. ‘I can’t regret that. No matter what Adelaide became, I’m convinced that the uncle is responsible for setting her on that path. After all, we now know he has the scar on his upper thigh that Adelaide told Celeste about. There’s no way she could have known about it if he hadn’t exposed himself in her presence.’
Salter scowled as a thought occurred to him. ‘If what Mirabelle said about Ray is true and that he secretly hankered after all the girls at Mrs Sinclair’s place, why didn’t he take Adelaide’s virginity when he had the chance?’
Riley shrugged. ‘He probably wasn’t capable, which would account for his anger at their profession in general. He saw his mother being mistreated by men at a young age, and that probably affected him profoundly.’
Salter looked surprised. ‘It rendered him impotent.’
‘I would imagine so. We must assume that he tried to punish Adelaide in the way he’d seen his mother being punished by brutal men. When he failed it made him so angry that he blamed Adelaide for his own inadequacies and killed her.’
