Death of an Artist (Riley Rochester Investigates Book 5)

by Wendy Soliman

  ‘That should have made you happy, Jack.’

  ‘Why? He didn’t admit nothing.’

  ‘No, but he told us a great deal, including the fact that Treadwell isn’t the forgiving type. He also left me with the impression that he was running out of patience with our victim—’

  ‘I don’t blame him, guv’nor. She was a manipulative hussy.’

  ‘Quite, but Renshaw was desperately in love with her. It must have come as quite a shock to Miss Mottram when he followed her here.’

  ‘She should have been honest with him and told him they had no future together.’

  ‘She couldn’t take the risk. He knew who she really was and that she had walked out on her husband.’

  ‘Yes, but if he told anyone, it would also come to light that he’d supplied her with a false reference. He’d already taken a step down in his career and didn’t want to become unemployable. A dishonestly-supplied reference would be enough to see him dismissed from such a swanky school, I would imagine.’

  ‘Even so, Jack, how often have we seen people of both sexes driven to self-destruction by jealousy?’

  Salter grunted. ‘True, I suppose.’

  ‘Anyway, I’ve been worrying about the murder weapon. That’s the key to this whole damned business. We have half a dozen people with reasons to finish Miss Mottram off, but until now we’ve only been able to place Reggie and Miss Bowden with access to the knife.’

  ‘Ah, I see what you mean. That business about Reggie’s open studio and people wandering in and out. The answer to that question told us that anyone could have swiped the knife and used it to deflect attention away from themselves. Still an’ all, that implies premeditation.’

  ‘Indeed it does, Jack. If it happened that way, whoever wanted Miss Mottram dead planned the deed meticulously and waited for his or her opportunity.’

  ‘The father of her unborn child, perhaps?’

  ‘Possibly. Or a jealous rival.’

  ‘Miss Bowden. Or Mel’s husband, who’d been humiliated when she left him.’

  ‘If her husband just happened to be in or near London at the time in question then his name will go right to the top of my list.’ Riley slapped Salter’s shoulder. ‘Never fear, Jack. The reasons we’ve come up with for your nephew wanting her dead are looking more nebulous by the minute.’

  ‘Ha! That won’t stop Danforth arresting him given half a chance, if only to get one over on me.’

  ‘It won’t happen. Now, stop worrying about that and keep your wits about you.’ Their conversation brought them to the gates of Lyndenhurst. ‘These two will be tougher nuts to crack.’

  Salter grinned. ‘I’m partial to cracking nuts, sir.’

  Riley smiled, glad to see the return of his sergeant’s customary belligerence when it came to handling recalcitrant witnesses. They were admitted to the house by the butler, Kemp.

  ‘Is your master at home?’ Riley asked.

  ‘I’ll just find out, gentlemen, if you will wait in here.’

  They were shown into Vermont’s library a few minutes later and found both father and son in occupation of it. Both looked grim, as though Riley’s arrival had interrupted a disagreement.

  ‘Lord Riley.’ Vermont rose from a chair in front of the fire, hand outstretched. ‘I hope you come to tell us that you have caught the culprit and that we can put this terrible business behind us.’

  ‘Unfortunately, the wheels of justice seldom move that fast, but we are making progress and know a great deal more about Miss Mottram’s affairs than we did this time yesterday.’

  ‘How can we be of help? We have both told you everything we know.’

  ‘Hardly.’ Uninvited, Riley took the remaining chair and left Salter in his customary standing position. ‘Firstly, I should like to know why you failed to tell me that you were both in London at the same time as Miss Mottram on the night she died.’

  There was a momentary pause as father and son glanced at one another.

  ‘It’s irrelevant,’ Vermont snapped. ‘I had business to conduct and met Daniel at Brooks afterwards.’

  ‘What did you talk about?’

  ‘None of your damned affair.’

  Riley heard Salter mutter something barely audible behind him. He turned in time to see his sergeant shrug himself upright from the wall he’d been leaning against and take a step towards Vermont Senior. Riley held up a restraining hand and turned back to Vermont, but the brief interchange had not gone unnoticed by either father or son, and they looked visibly paler. ‘Did the conversation have anything to do with Manson’s gallery?’ Riley asked, tired of being told what was and was not relevant to his enquiry. He had planned to treat Lord Vermont with the respect befitting his status as a gentleman, but his belligerent manner rendered that courtesy superfluous.

  ‘Leave us, Daniel,’ Vermont said curtly.

  The son clearly had no intention of obliging. ‘What’s this all about, Father?’ he asked, frowning.

  ‘You want to tell him or shall I?’ Salter’s voice was as threatening as his movements had been.

  Vermont shuffled in his seat, looking distinctly ill at ease. ‘You might as well know that I purchased one of Miss Mottram’s paintings from Manson,’ he said with patent reluctance, sending Riley malevolent glowers as he spoke.

  ‘You did what?’ Daniel jumped from his chair, his face puce with rage. ‘Well, damn me. You two-faced, hypocritical old…’ His forehead creased into a frown. ‘Why? Why would you do that?’

  ‘You were aware that she had ambitions to make a name for herself as an artist?’ Riley asked, addressing the question to Daniel. ‘And that Manson had taken two of her works.’

  ‘Of course I knew. She was in a lather of excitement about it. I had agreed to escort her to the gallery on the evening she died so that she could show her face to potential customers and enjoy seeing her work on display. But Father called at my office and insisted upon taking me to dinner. Wouldn’t take no for an answer.’ He dealt the man in question a wounded look. ‘Now I know why. If we’d gone to the gallery we would have seen that one of the works had been sold and Mel would have wanted to know who had purchased it and why.’ Daniel placed his fisted hands on his hips. ‘I would like an answer to that question, too.’

  ‘It isn’t what you think. It’s a family matter. I will explain when we are alone.’

  ‘You will explain now,’ Riley said. ‘Since Miss Mottram was a member of your family—or at least Daniel would have liked her to be—’

  ‘Rubbish!’ Lord Vermont cried with authority.

  ‘Absolutely,’ Daniel said at the same time. ‘I was in love with her and that is what we were discussing at Brooks. I expect you have been told that our conversation became heated. Well, that’s hardly surprising given that I’m expected to marry for financial reasons and bail this ungrateful family out of problems that were not of my making. Anyway, I told Father that I wasn’t about to lie about my whereabouts and that our presence there was bound to come out, but he seemed to assume that being a viscount puts him above suspicion. I loved Melanie and had no reason to kill her. You, on the other hand, Father, had expressly forbidden me to marry her, and yet you purchased one of her paintings. I would dearly love to know why.’

  ‘You must take my word for it that I had my reasons.’ He fixed Riley with a look of firm determination. ‘Very good reasons.’

  ‘Sounds to me like you were in love with the lass yourself,’ Salter said from his position against the wall.

  ‘Keep a civil tongue in your head, man!’ Vermont snapped.

  ‘My sergeant makes a good point,’ Riley said mildly. ‘Unless you can come up with something more concrete than a compelling yet unspecified reason then I shall have to assume you have something to hide and draw my own conclusions. Perhaps she knew something to your disadvantage and was blackmailing you.’

  ‘She would never do that!’ Daniel cried with passion.

  ‘Damn it, I can’t say!’ Vermont stood, loo
king ready to tear out his hair in frustration when the connecting door to the adjoining salon opened and Lady Vermont stepped through it.

  ‘My husband purchased that painting at my request,’ she said calmly.

  Chapter Eleven

  Riley concealed his shock by standing to offer Lady Vermont his chair. He had come up with any number of possible answers for Lord Vermont’s philanthropy in his mind, but the desire to please his wife had not once occurred to him. He eyed the seemingly meek lady of the house with renewed interest, chastising himself for underestimating her inner strength.

  ‘One of you had best explain,’ Riley said, when Lady Vermont had settled herself.

  ‘The explanation is simple enough.’ Her expression remained carved in granite as she deliberately enhanced her upper class accent, as though defying Riley to question a word that came out of her mouth. Unfortunately for her, he found her display suspicious rather than intimidating and was also aware that it would rub Salter up the wrong way. ‘I wanted the girl out of my house.’

  ‘You could have dismissed her,’ Riley pointed out.

  ‘I could, but the girls liked her. We’d been through several governesses in a short period. None of them were satisfactory and the girls were pleased to see them go. But Miss Mottram was different. She had a way with her that broke through the girls’ reserve. I didn’t have the strength to withstand the tantrums that would ensue if I dismissed her.’

  ‘That, if you will forgive the observation, sounds implausible,’ Riley said.

  Lady Vermont’s eyes shot daggers, but Riley remained unmoved by both her hostility and her disinclination to explain herself. He tapped his fingers and waited patiently for her response. ‘Since you insist upon knowing, I didn’t like her.’ Lady Vermont tossed her head, as though that should make everything clear. When no one spoke, she eventually broke the ensuing acrimonious silence herself. ‘She had every man in Dulwich dancing to her tune and her wild behaviour was in danger of bringing disrepute to this house.’

  Riley shook his head. ‘Then I cannot accept the reason you gave me for not dismissing her. You don’t strike me as the type to tolerate damage to your family’s reputation.’

  ‘Perhaps I should have sent her packing, but then it’s easy to be wise after the event. I tried to do what seemed right at the time. Even my husband wasn’t immune to her supposed charms, you see, which made things awkward.’ She transferred her hostile gaze to Lord Vermont. ‘But when I observed her making deliberate efforts to attract Daniel’s interest, I knew the time had come to put a stop to her machinations. I followed her once when she went up to London on her afternoon off. Daniel met her off the train when he was supposed to be working. The hussy had persuaded him to neglect his duties and dance attendance upon her instead.’ She pursed her lips and folded her hands in her lap, looking outraged. ‘I knew what she wanted from him, of course. I tried to warn him, but she had already sunk her claws in too deep and he wouldn’t hear a word against her.’

  ‘Despite what my wife implies, there was nothing of an improper nature between myself and my children’s governess,’ Lord Vermont said, standing with his hands clutching his lapels, looking sanctimonious. ‘I do not indulge in that sort of tawdry behaviour. Having said that, I will admit that I enjoyed Miss Mottram’s society. She had a quick brain and could hold up her end of an intellectual conversation. A rarity as far as women are concerned, in my experience.’ His lady gave an inelegant snort. ‘She had a way about her that was both entertaining and irreverent. She didn’t take life too seriously and made the dullest of subjects seem entertaining. I find it easy to understand why the girls liked her.’

  Riley nodded, inclined to believe him, at least insofar as his relationship with the dead woman went. ‘What changed?’ he asked when Vermont fell silent and appeared to have said as much as he intended to.

  Vermont looked evasive. And angry because he knew he had to explain himself; something that Riley sensed the introverted viscount seldom considered necessary. ‘When Virginia told me of Miss Mottram’s interest in Daniel, I didn’t believe it at first.’ He shook his head. ‘I thought that she was content and knew her place. Frankly, I thought Virginia had made it up. I knew she didn’t like Miss Mottram.’

  ‘I can assure you that I didn’t feel threatened by the girl’s presence in my house, if that’s what you mean to imply,’ Lady Vermont told her husband in an acerbic tone. ‘Unlike the men and children beneath this roof, I could see her for what she was, which was a scheming little madam.’

  ‘I say!’ Daniel cried passionately. ‘Have a little respect, Virginia.’

  ‘You didn’t think to tell me any of this when I called yesterday.’

  ‘Frankly, Lord Riley, I didn’t think it was any of your business. Since it stands to reason that no one in this room could possibly have murdered the poor girl, I preferred not to speak ill of her.’

  ‘What action did you take regarding your wife’s allegations?’ Riley asked, allowing Vermont’s assumption to go uncontested.

  ‘I thought about speaking to her, but Virginia advised against it.’

  ‘It would have encouraged her,’ Lady Vermont said. ‘If we felt the need to warn her off, she would have assumed she was making progress in persuading Daniel to go against his father’s wishes and increased her efforts.’

  ‘I spoke to Daniel instead and could tell from his evasive responses that Virginia had called it right. Should have seen the signs myself,’ he added, almost to himself. ‘So I reminded him of his duty and so forth, but I sensed that he was on the verge of disappointing me. I know life seems unfair to my son, the burden of responsibility, and so forth.’ Vermont fixed Riley with a sapient look. ‘But I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know yourself. Anyway, if Daniel marries for anything other than money, we would all be reduced to the status of paupers.’

  Daniel made a scoffing sound at the back of his throat.

  ‘It was Miss Mottram herself who resolved the impasse,’ Lady Vermont said. ‘She came to me one day and said that she knew I wanted her to leave but there were only two ways to achieve that ambition. One was to dismiss her. She said that if I did so, she would have to tell the girls why she was being forced to leave. The little madam knew very well that I would prefer not to shoulder the blame.’

  ‘And the second way would be for your husband to purchase one of her paintings and tell all his influential friends that he had discovered a fresh new talent,’ Riley finished for her. ‘Thereby ensuring her reputation as an artist.’

  Lady Vermont nodded. ‘I thought fifty guineas a small price to pay to be rid of her and save Daniel from making a huge mistake.’

  ‘A mistake for whom?’ Daniel asked witheringly. ‘Your concern for my wellbeing would be quite touching, but for the fact that you are not my mother and you are thinking of yourself rather than my happiness.’

  ‘Well anyway,’ Lady Vermont continued, having the grace to look chastened. ‘I still have a little money of my own secreted away and released fifty guineas of it so that my husband could do as she’d asked. But then, before she could keep her side of the bargain, well…you know what happened.’

  ‘And you must be able to see that I had no reason to harm her,’ Lord Vermont added. ‘She would have left us at the end of this month and we would have got her out of our lives. If I wanted to do so by killing her, I could have saved fifty guineas and Daniel couldn’t have blamed me for being unable to marry her.’

  ‘Don’t count on it,’ Daniel said, scowling.

  ‘I’m afraid it’s true,’ Riley said, compassion in his tone. ‘You couldn’t have married her because Miss Mottram was already married. She is actually Mrs Treadwell.’

  ‘What?’ Daniel looked thunderstruck.

  Three jaws fell open in unison.

  ‘I don’t believe it.’ Daniel said, shaking his head in abject denial. ‘She would not have…well, given me reason to hope. She wasn’t the vindictive type.’

 
; ‘Perhaps she anticipated Lord Vermont’s willingness to save you from her machinations, sir?’ Salter suggested, not without sympathy in his tone.

  ‘She was not that scheming,’ Daniel protested.

  ‘How did you let her know that you wouldn’t be able to meet her on the night she died?’ Riley asked the young man. ‘You weren’t aware until the last minute that your father would insist upon dining with you.’

  ‘She knew to go to my rooms and wait for me there. I sent a message to say I’d been delayed, asking her to wait for me. But by the time I got away, she had been and gone.’ Daniel let out a slow breath, closed his eyes and threw his head back. ‘Had she still been there on my return, she might still be alive now.’

  ‘You insisted upon the meeting to prevent her from going to the gallery with Daniel,’ Riley said, turning to Lord Vermont, who nodded.

  ‘If Daniel thought I had bought her off…’

  ‘Were you and she intimate?’ Riley asked the question of Daniel.

  ‘What? No! How dare you suggest such a thing!’

  ‘I am paid to make unsavoury suggestions, and on this occasion I have a good reason for asking.’ Riley paused, conscious of all three Vermonts watching him intently. ‘Miss Mottram was pregnant when she died.’

  Daniel looked as though he might collapse with shock. ‘Her husband?’ he suggested faintly.

  ‘We don’t yet know who fathered the child but by your own admission, you were in love with the girl.’

  Riley said nothing more and let the suggestion dangle.

  ‘And knew nothing about her.’ Daniel dropped his head into his splayed hands and shook it from side to side. ‘She had me well and truly fooled. I can’t help wondering what she hoped to gain by stringing me along when she knew she couldn’t marry me. Even if her husband gave her a divorce, I would not have married a divorcee. Much as I loved her, even I have my limits.’ Daniel regained his composure, lifted his head again and looked Riley square in the eye. ‘Perhaps you are right, and she played me in order to procure Father’s patronage. I’ve been a damned gullible fool.’