Page 30 of Evidence of Evil
“You must have been glad when she sent the note of apology.”
Maule hesitated. “I was. Briefly. There’s more, you see.”
His forearms rested across his knees as he leaned forward, twisting his hands together. Solomon waited.
“I spoke to her that Wednesday afternoon. After I read her letter, but before she called on Elizabeth.”
“She came to see you?” Solomon asked in surprise.
“More in her past manner,” Maule said. “I was riding over from the far end of the estate when she appeared on the bridle path. I could have sworn she was waiting there for me, as though someone had told her where I was. I had a bad feeling about the whole thing, but I spoke courteously, thanking her for her gracious note to Elizabeth. She said…”
He drew in a breath and his eyes grew fierce again. “This is the difficult part, because I don’t want this coming to my wife’s ears. Which means you can’t tellyourwife either. But I think you need to know.”
“Go on,” Solomon said evenly. He had no intention of promising not to tell Constance, and fortunately, Maule did not push him.
He licked his lips as though they had gone suddenly dry. “Frances said… She said I had married the wife I deserved, a whore. That before Elizabeth came to The Willows as governess to my children, she had been a common prostitute selling herwares at Covent Garden. And that if I ever crossed her again, she would tell the world.”
Solomon perceived the pitfalls. “What made her say such a thing?” he asked carefully.
“God knows. An unsavory mind coupled with unladylike knowledge and, I can only suppose, a hate-filled jealousy of my wife.”
He doesn’t know. Solomon realized it from the outrage in the man’s eyes. Treading on tiptoe now, he said, “I see. So you did not tell your wife this for fear of hurting her feelings?”
“My wife has certain…tragedies in her past that I will not have raked up with this kind of malicious mudslinging. Of course I did not tell her.”
“But you let her walk alone with this woman the same evening?”
“What else could I do? I couldn’t tell Elizabeth why I suddenly distrusted Frances. But I…I watched them from the attic. There’s a storage area up there, closed off from the servants’ quarters, from where you can see over the trees to the lake.”
Solomon sat up straighter. “What did you see?”
“I saw them part. Frances took the path toward the road, while Elizabeth came straight back to the house. Which is why I always knew my wife had never pushed her in, whatever Frances said to her.”
“What do you think Francesdidsay to her? Was Lady Maule telling us the truth about that?”
“I don’t know,” Maule said miserably. “She told me the same thing, that they just made up their argument with mutual apologies and parted as friends.”
“But you think otherwise?”
“I’m afraid Frances made the same accusations to Elizabeth’s face that she had already made to me.”
Solomon shifted position. He knew very little about the trust and secrets involved in marriage. “Why would your wife not tell you the truth about what was said?”
“To keep me from worrying.”
“Or perhaps nothing untoward was said.”
Maule looked beyond him. “Perhaps.”
“You don’t believe that. Because you are aware of Frances Niall’s nature?”
An unhappy smile twisted Maule’s lips. “No. Because I am aware of my wife’s. She is too careful, too distant around me. There is a loss of…intimacy that speaks of shame and fear of what I might believe of her.”
“I see.”
Maule’s gaze came back to his. “Do you? Do you see that this gives both Elizabeth and me motives for murder? To silence Frances forever?”
“Did you?” Solomon asked.
