Page 103 of Mischief at Marsden Manor
“And I told you,” Nellie said, with her head held high, “that he hadn’t. Geoffrey has never been a bother.”
She sent a saucy wink Geoffrey’s way. Geoffrey’s mother moaned, and Geoffrey’s jaw clenched. “You… but you…”
I met Constance’s eyes across the foyer and knew she was thinking the same thing I was. I had always found it strange that Nellie had been here as long as she had without running afoul Lord Geoffrey and his attempts at seduction. I knew from before that Mrs. Frobisher had a problem keeping female staff for longer than a month because of Geoffrey’s proclivities. It didn’t make sense that Nellie hadn’t been targeted. But now it turned out that all along it had simply been a matter of semantics, and of Nellie twisting the meaning of the words to make us think something that wasn’t true.
Yes, of course Geoffrey would have pursued Nellie immediately. She was young and pretty and available, right under his nose. Precisely his type.
“You got the vial from Mr. Rivers before supper,” Tom told Geoffrey, “and you passed it on to Nellie. She used it on Miss Fletcher last night, and then put what was left in Lady Violet’s cup during tea this afternoon.”
Yes, of course. It wasn’t just the people at Violet’s table who could have put something in Violet’s tea. It was the person who filled the cup, too. I should have realized that much sooner than I did. I had been looking at all the guests with suspicion, but had ignored the maid flitting about. I had even mentioned to Christopher earlier how easy it would have been for Nellie to do it all, but without seriously considering that she might have done.
I had watched her bring Constance a cup of tea in the ballroom last night, and still hadn’t put two and two together.
“But why?” I asked. “I understand about Cecily, I suppose. Geoffrey wanted the baby gone, and procured the pennyroyal, and then asked you to put it in her drink or food that night…”
Nellie smirked. “It was easy. She was tired and out of sorts after the dancing. I offered to make her a cuppa to settle her stomach and help her sleep. Geoffrey—” She glanced at him from under her lashes, as lovely a sight as one could wish for, “—only wanted to get rid of the baby. But I thought it would be better to get rid of the girl, too.”
The obvious conclusion—less competition for me—was left unsaid, but I think we all heard it. Lady Euphemia made a sound like something that was trodden on: not a squeal, but a gentle sigh, as if all the air left her body.
“And then you killed Dominic Rivers,” I said, “I suppose because he was the one who sold Geoffrey the pennyroyal?”
“That,” Nellie said, “and he saw Geoffrey come out of my room late last night.” She gave him a look from under her lashes. “I thought it would be better if he didn’t have a chance to tell anyone.”
That explained Rivers’s smirk when he had caught Crispin coming out of my room, anyway. What was it that he had said?People popping out of rooms all over the place, wasn’t it?
“That’s how you knew that the vase was broken,” I said. “You weren’t supposed to have been up on the second floor, but you knew to come upstairs with a replacement.”
This time it was Tom who nodded. “Thank you for pointing that out earlier, Miss Darling. Without that bit of evidence, this might have taken a lot longer.”
“Her fingerprints were on it,” I said. “Constable Collins asked about them.”
“Yes. But as she pointed out, she dusted that vase every week. Of course her fingerprints would be on it.”
“But not on the vial.”
Tom shook his head. “She had to wipe Lord Geoffrey’s fingerprints off that. And of course make sure that her own didn’t get on it. Everyone knows about fingerprints these days. But she wasn’t able to get Violet’s prints onto the vial. She had to take it upstairs while Violet was still at table.”
He flicked a glance at Nellie, who made a face, before turning back to me. “Any other questions?”
“Just one,” I said. “Whatever did Violet do to be sentenced to death? She wasn’t expecting anyone’s baby, and she didn’t know about the affair or the pennyroyal or Dominic Rivers or anything. Why kill her?”
“She wouldn’t leave him alone,” Nellie said before anyone else could answer, her eyes possessive on Geoffrey’s face. “I watched her last night, clinging to his arm and making eyes at him. She had to go, too.”
I stared at her, appalled. “She was simply trying to protect her friend, you nitwit. She wasn’t interested in Lord Geoffrey!”
And he wasn’t interested in Nellie, as anything other than a convenient shag. Just the way he had gone through all the other Marsden Manor maids.
I didn’t have it in me to explain it to her, though. Not now, and not in front of everyone. The reality of it would catch up to her soon enough, I reckoned. Probably when Geoffrey started to shift as much of the blame as he could off himself and onto her.
Any moment now, most likely.
Tom ignored the exchange. He had already turned away from me. “Lord Geoffrey? Perhaps you wouldn’t mind accompanying us down to the village? We have a few questions we would like to ask in a more formal setting.”
It was phrased as a question, and sounded reasonably polite. It was, in fact, an order, and non-negotiable. Geoffrey paled. “But I didn’t do anything. It was all her!”
“As it turns out,” Tom said, “that’s not entirely true. She’ll certainly spend the rest of her life behind bars for murder. But there’s a separate charge for procuring drugs or other means to cause an abortion, and by Nellie’s statement, you’re guilty of it.”
He let that hang for a moment while Geoffrey opened and closed his mouth, apparently speechless. When nothing came forth, Tom added, “It comes with a prison term of three years. After you, Lord Geoffrey.”
