Page 18 of With Good Grace
‘Yes. We only keep one groom nowadays and he confirms that Hubert was safely delivered to the station, in time for the eleven o’clock train. I assume he boarded it and reached London but from there the trail goes cold.’
‘He always went to the Garrick Club when he was in London,’ Rupert said. ‘He made a point of it because he was well acquainted with a lot of the members and liked to keep on top of the latest gossip in the theatrical world. Whoever he was meeting, he had most likely arranged to do so there. And yet Hubert did not appear. I know because I asked the porter on door duty that day myself. Those porters know everyone and miss nothing.’
Jake made a mental note to call at that establishment and ask if anyone arrived claiming to have an appointment with Grantley. He doubted whether Rupert had thought to ask that question, and anyway he would prefer to do so himself.
‘You told Olivia that you thought nothing of it when he did not return home that night, Lady Grantley, even though you were expecting him.’
‘He sometimes got embroiled and missed the last train.’ Lady Grantley shrugged, her embarrassment and distaste for the question clearly apparent. ‘When that happened he stayed over.’
‘Where, or with whom?’
Another shrug. ‘I really could not say.’
Jake did not pursue the issue, suspecting that Grantley would have stayed with a woman, accounting for Lady Grantley’s preference not to know.
‘Is there anything you wish to ask, Olivia?’ Jake asked.
‘No, Jake,’ she replied, standing. ‘I think we have heard enough to start our enquiries.’
‘You should not involve yourself in this business, Olivia,’ Rupert said. ‘It’s not fitting for a lady.’
‘I am not a lady. I am a suspected murderess, in case you had forgotten.’
‘Nonsense, my love,’ Olivia’s mother said. ‘No one ever believed you culpable.’
Jake was obliged to bite the inside of his mouth to prevent himself from reminding the woman that that was precisely the view they had taken.
‘Are you sure you will not come and see your Papa?’ Mrs Maynard asked. ‘I know the sight of you would cheer him no end.’
‘No, Mother, thank you. We shall return to London immediately.’
‘Please try not to worry, Lady Grantley,’ Jake said as they took their leave. ‘I will be in touch with you again as soon as I have news to impart.’
?
Olivia expelled an expressive sigh as she and Jake walked through the door that the maid opened for them and descended the crumbling steps towards Jake’s waiting carriage. Her hands were trembling, which infuriated her. She didn’t want her family to affect her in any way at all.
‘I feel as though I have just been ambushed,’ she said indignantly.
‘You ought to have let me come alone today,’ he said, patting the hand that rested on his sleeve.
‘Because it is unsuitable work for a lady?’ Olivia suggested with a half-smile.
Jake grunted. ‘I would back you against your brother when it comes to untangling this conundrum any day of the week.’
‘Don’t underestimate Rupert. He is not quite as dim-witted as he sometimes appears.’
Jake drew his brows together. ‘Only sometimes?’
Olivia laughed, aware of the brother in question watching them through the grimy drawing room window and scowling; whether because his transparent efforts to mend bridges that were beyond repair had failed or because he objected to Jake’s familiarity, she neither knew nor cared.
‘I would not mind quite so much if I thought that my mother and brother were anxious to re-establish communications because they regretted abandoning me in my hour of need. I might even look kindly upon them if I thought their concern for Margaret was genuine, but clearly she was merely a means to an end.’
‘They have tried to contact you before this?’
‘I receive letters almost weekly from Mother. Rather less frequently from Rupert. He sometimes calls on me when he is in town but will not accept that our connection is at an end. I have had Green turn him away on the last two occasions.’
‘You are overset. I should not have—’
