by Bree Verity
“That little weasel. You are correct though. He does not have the means.”
“So, who else?”
Freddie shook his head for a moment, then his eyes lit up, only for him to quickly hood them again. “Nobody that I can think of.”
“Freddie. I could see you thought of someone.”
“No, Theo, I did not.”
“You did,” replied Theo accusingly. “Who was it?”
Freddie looked like a man who would prefer to swallow his own tongue than talk. “You are not going to like it.”
“Well of course not. It is someone who wants to kill me. Who is it?”
“Caroline.”
“Caroline?”
“Well, you have to admit she is the most likely of suspects.”
“How so?” Theo crossed his arms over his chest. Caroline? It was preposterous.
“Well, first of all, yours is a marriage of convenience. You may be fond of Caroline, but is she of you? Would it be better for her to bump you off, and have her capital returned to her, as a free and easy widow?”
Theo scowled at Freddie, but he continued. “Then, opportunity. While obviously she was not one of the footpads who beat you, she could easily have organized the attack. And slipping something into your food? Well, it is her kitchen, is it not?”
“But she was the one who took care of me after those attacks.”
“She could hardly do anything else, could she?”
Theo shook his head and slammed his hand down on the arm of his chair. “No,” he said. “I cannot believe it. Not Caroline.”
Freddie held up his hands. “I am not saying that she did, Theo. I am merely pointing out that she fits the circumstances.”
“So do all of the other people who work in my kitchen.”
“Well then,” Freddie spread out his hands. “Who there has motive?”
Theo sagged back into his chair, scowling. “It is not Caroline,” he declared. “I know it is not her.”
Freddie speared him with a look, and Theo flushed. “I swear to you, Freddie, she is not the one. There are… I have reasons for believing that. Good reasons.” He did not mention that they were the reasons of his heart and not his mind. Still, he held Freddie’s gaze.
Freddie nodded gravely. “I am glad to hear it,” he said. “Because from what I can see, she is just about as perfect a wife for you as ever lived.”
Theo’s brows shot up in surprise. “That was a quick turnaround - from murderess to perfect wife.”
The smile returned to Freddie’s face. “If you are convinced she is not the one, then I am pleased to confirm that she seems the other.”
“She is rather perfect, is she not?” agreed Theo, happy to turn his mind to a more pleasant line of thought.
“Indeed,” replied Freddie through a puff on his pipe, “and just as clever as you at identifying the potential in investments.”
Theo both smiled and frowned at this strange pronouncement of Freddie’s. “What do you mean?”
“Did she not tell you? While you were recovering from your broken ribs, I brought the proposal for the cotton mill around. Instead of bothering you with it, we sat down together and worked it out.” Freddie grew enthusiastic. “She is incredible when it comes to numbers, Theo. She calculated capacities and yield in her head and gave me the upper and lower negotiating figures like she was adding two and two.”
Theo’s stomach twisted at Freddie’s tale.
“You know I have told her that she may not be involved in my business.”
“Of course. But the circumstances were such that I thought…”
“What did you think?” Theo heard the accusation in his voice, saw Freddie’s alarm.
“That since you were unwell, you would not mind.” Freddie put his pipe down and put a hand on Theo’s arm. “I am sorry, Theo. I had thought you would be pleased.”
Theo gave a harsh laugh. “Pleased that my wife and my best friend are colluding behind my back? Pleased that my wife does not seem able to obey a simple command?”
“Command?”
“She is my wife, Freddie.”
Freddie gave a smile tinged with uncertainty. “I had thought you a little more forward thinking than that my friend. Women’s liberation and all that.”
“I am forward thinking,” snapped Theo. “However I am also aware of the friction that can be caused in a household where everyone does not know their rightful place.”
Freddie was silent and Theo, realizing how tense he had become, forced himself to relax back into his winged chair.
“Every organization needs its chairman, Freddie. You know that as well as I.” He took a long draw from his pipe, then exhaled a cloud of smoke. “Every ship needs its captain.”
Freddie shook his head. “I fear you are mistaken, Theo,” he said. “A marriage? It’s a partnership, not a company. The two working together.”
“And what would you know of marriage?” Theo jeered. “You with your long line of floozies and dancers?”
“That is irrelevant, and you know it.”
“Is it? How does a bachelor come to know so much about wives? Is it perhaps because he has stolen so many from their husbands?”
Freddie’s face darkened in awakening anger. “I say, Theo, you go too far. You should watch what you are saying.”
“As should you. Do not offer me advice you have no business making.” Theo knew he was being unfair, but the thought of Freddie and Caroline discussing business when both knew it was against his express desire made him furious. He directed all his annoyance and irritation at Freddie. “Do not pretend to know anything at all about women. And especially not my women.”
“Your women?” Freddie was incredulous. “Do you even hear yourself?”
Theo knew he sounded proprietary and pompous. But he was too angry to formulate a glib reply to Freddie’s question. Instead, he stood up and, without another word, stalked out of the club.
Chapter Twenty.
An hour later saw Theo leaning on the bar at a nearby tavern, unable to properly focus on the man in front of him and equally unable to stop himself from talking.
“The wife should be taking care of the domestic things,” he said to the man beside him, making his point by tapping his forefinger on the bar. He noticed his words were a little slurred but was beyond caring. “It’s in the bible.”
“That it is, guv’ner,” agreed the man, a broad shouldered, bearded fellow, pouring the last of his ale down his throat.
“Then why doesn’t my wife want to do that?”
The other man shook his head sadly. “Women these days,” he replied. “Gettin’ all kinds of ideas about everything. Wearing the pants.”
“Pants.” Theo nodded expansively. “They do too. And the shirts.”
His companion made a circular motion with his finger. “Should I get another round?”
Theo nodded. “This one’s on me,” he said seriously and the man grinned.
“They’ve all been on you, son.” He motioned to the bartender, who nodded and busied himself.
“That’s because you’re such a good friend.” Theo patted the man heavily on the back of his shoulder. “What did you say your name was again?”
“John Robin, sir.”
“Well, John Robin, you are a good friend.”
“That I am, guv’ner, that I am.”
“You know, I’m a very suck… very success… I’m a very. Good. Businessman.”
“So you’ve said.”
“Made loads of money.” He made a wide gesture with his arms.
“You said that too.”
“So I thought I’d find a wife.” He rubbed under his nose and then sniffed. “And Caroline is… I love her so much.” Tears filled his eyes. “She’s beautiful and smart and… much smarter than me.”
John Robin chuckled. “They usually are, sir.” The bartender put two sizeable tankards of ale before the two men. John Robin took a long swig. Theo regarded his tankard glumly
.
“But I can’t let her be smarter than me.”
“No, you definitely can’t.”
Theo turned suddenly to his companion, eyes blazing. “And why not? There’s nothing wrong with having a smart wife.”
“You’re right. There isn’t.”
Mollified, Theo picked up his tankard and took a drink. “So why can’t I make her happy?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“Me neither.”
The bar was one of many ordinary, dark taverns that Theo passed on his way from the club to home. He had picked it at random, just wanting to get thoroughly drunk somewhere he would be totally anonymous.
He and Freddie never fought. Never. It seemed impossible that they were fighting now, and over Theo’s wife, of all things. It would have been laughable if it were not so dreadful.
“My best friend hates me,” he confided to John Robin.
“Oh, now, guv’ner, I’m sure he does no such thing.”
“No, he does. I insulted him dreadfully.”
“What did you say?”
“I said he stole lots of people’s wives.”
John Robin hissed through his teeth. “That is a grim charge to throw at a man’s head,” he commented.
Theo clutched John Robin’s arm desperately. “But I didn’t mean it. It was the heat of the moment. We’ve been best friends since… forever.”
“In that case, sir, I suspect you will smooth it over,” replied John Robin soothingly. He looked away from Theo, around the bar. “Oy, Shorty,” he shouted to someone behind him. “This fellow told his mate that he was a womanizer.”
Shorty, a small, thin, greasy-looking fellow, approached Theo and John Robin. “Well, it’s alright to be one, I suppose, but it’s not right to throw it in a man’s face.”
“True that.” John Robin nodded sagely.
“But I didn’t mean it,” said Theo, desperately grabbing on to his new friend’s arm.
“Oh, well, in that case…”
Theo looked on as John Robin slid Theo’s tankard over in front of Shorty, who drank it in a series of fast gulps.
“Shall we get another?” John Robin asked Theo.
Theo nodded. “This one’s on me.” Then he squinted, vaguely aware that something was amiss. “Are you taking advantage of me?”
The honesty shone out of John Robin’s face as he placed a hand across his heart. “I would never, sir. Not to one of my dearest friends.”
Theo nodded, appeased. “You are a good friend,” he agreed. “What was your name again?”
“John Robin.”
The bartender plunked three tankards down before them. Theo wrapped his hand around his and took a drink. And then he had an idea. A really, really good one.
“I know what I should do,” he said, triumph in his voice.
“Yeah? What’s that guv’ner?”
“I should take myself home and tell Caroline that she needs to do as I say.”
John Robin and Shorty chuckled. “That sounds like an excellent idea, guv’ner,” John Robin said. “An excellent idea.”
Theo nodded, drained his tankard in a series of large gulps, burped loudly, and said, “Well, I’m off then. Wish me luck, friends.”
The two tavern regulars raised their tankards cheerfully, and with the determination borne of far too much ale, Theo made his way toward the door.
Chapter Twenty-One.
After the murky dimness of the tavern, even the dull rays of sunlight determinedly pushing through the scuddering clouds were an affront to Theo’s senses. He squinted up irritably, his hand on the doorframe to steady him, then took a step over the threshold.
Unfortunately, just at that moment, a gentleman hurried by, his coat collar turned up against the gathering wind, and Theo collided heavily with him.
“I do beg your pardon,” Theo started, then through his drunken haze he realised it was Sir Allan Peabody.
The man glanced at him and muttered a reply, and for a moment, Theo was relieved. Sir Allan hadn’t recognized him.
Then he turned back around, an expression of amazement on his face.
“Sir Theo?” he asked. “Is that you?”
Theo tried mightily to hide the evidence of his dissipation, tucking in his shirt tails and smoothing down his hair. He felt as if he had been summoned to face the school master, indeed, the expression of disappointment on Sir Allan’s face was one he had seen from more than one master.
He fought to focus on Sir Allan, who, at the moment, seemed to be swaying quite violently. “I’m afraid to say, yes, it is me.”
“What on earth happened to you?”
“I’m afraid to say that I am very rather drunk.”
“That is quite apparent. This is not your usual afternoon occupation, is it?” The horror in his tone led Theo to reach out to put a hand on his arm, but he only managed to stumble forward into poor Sir Allan again.
“No, I am usually quite sober in the afternoon. Only I had rather a dreadful argument with my business partner, and discovered something unsettling about my wife so I thought I’d have a few quiet drinks away from my club and so this tavern,” he indicated the building behind him, “do you know I made some of the best friends of my life in there? We had a few drinks together and now I’m on my way to tell Caroline that she must obey.”
Sir Allan’s expression had darkened as Theo had been speaking, but with this last pronouncement, his expression cleared.
“You are going to tell…” To Theo’s consternation, Sir Allan burst into hearty laughter.
“It is no laughing matter,” Theo said severely. “Caroline is my wife. And she must obey.”
“And just what is it that you and the fine gentlemen of this establishment decided Caroline must obey you regarding?”
“I want her to be a domestic housewife. Not a financier.” He gave a woozy nod of acknowledgement to Sir Allan. “Not a businessman. Just a wife.”
“Then you are a fool.”
Theo rubbed his nose, confused. He thought Sir Allan had just called him a fool, but he must be mistaken. And yet, a look of gentle contempt lay over Sir Allan’s features. Theo blinked three times quickly. “I beg your pardon?”
“I said, you are a fool.”
“That seems a little harsh, sir.” Theo stood up straighter, feeling haughty. What right did Sir Allan have to say such a thing? Then he remembered - Sir Allan was his hero. He had taken his grandfather’s tiny apothecary store and built a million-pound business from it - and then he sold that business and went into the business of financing other investors. He never made a bad call. He wanted to be like Sir Allan. So, he slumped back down. “Do you think so?”
“Absolutely. Caroline was never meant for domestic duties. She is one of the finest financial minds of her generation. Why, I would trust her with oversight of my own funds, if there ever came a time I could no longer take care of them.”
“You would?”
“Without question. You know I was one of her trustees?”
In a corner of his fuzzy mind, Theo vaguely recalled the fact, and nodded.
“Since she was a small thing, she has wanted to be involved in her father’s investments. We used to rail against Cheswick bringing his little daughter to stock meetings and the ‘Change, but he always indulged her wishes and in time, we realised she was as capable as any man. She would question her father’s decisions, bringing pages and pages of sums to his office and showing that had he made this investment, or that one, how the yield could have been greater. She understands all of the nuances, Theo, and brings them all to bear on her decisions. As her trustees, we ended up just making the investments she suggested - and I must say, more than once I changed my own investment strategies because of what Caroline suggested.”
Theo’s head was spinning, and not just from the ale. Caroline? The finest financial mind of her generation? Sir Allan even took her advice? He tried half-heartedly to reassert his position. “B…but now that we are marr
ied…?”
“You should take both of your fortunes, dump them in Caroline’s lap and let her have her head. You would both be as wealthy as Croesus before you knew it.”
Theo swallowed. Sir Allan’s story, coupled with the biting wind, was bringing him back to sobriety far too quickly. The slight dizziness was unpleasant now, as was the burn in his throat and windpipe.
Unpleasant, too, was the knowledge that he was wrong about Caroline. Everyone had tried to tell him - Caroline herself, then Freddie, but he had not listened. Now, Sir Allan was saying the same thing too? His idol, when it came to business. Theo had no choice but to pay attention.
Had he been blinkered when it came to Caroline’s capabilities? Did his desire for a household that ran just the way his parents had blind him to her better qualities?
He felt miserable, cowed.
Sir Allan stepped forward and placed a fatherly hand on his shoulder. “You, of course, must do what is right for you and yours,” he said, and when Theo exhaled a breath he didn’t even realise he had been holding, Sir Allan wrinkled his nose and continued, “but right now? You should head back to your club. Sober up a little before you go home. Besides, it is about to rain, and you would be unlikely to make it home without being drenched.”
Theo could see the first droplets of water on the cobblestones, and he nodded mutely. Then, mustering up all his dignity, he said, “I thank you, Sir Allan. You have given me much to think about.”
Sir Allan smiled and clapped him on the back. “Good man,” he said, then hurried away, admonishing as he went, “You should go quickly. That rain is almost upon us.”
But Theo was not concerned by the threatening skies. For all he cared, the heavens could burst open right then and there. He needed to think. He had to mend things with Freddie, give Caroline her due. And, he still had to work out who it was that was trying to kill him.
With a belabored sigh, he turned to trudge back to his club as the rain started to fall in earnest, soaking him in seconds.
Chapter Twenty-Two.
After a perfectly delightful afternoon of shopping and gossip with Miss Fotheringham, Caroline had no wish to deal with domestic issues. So, her stomach dropped as she noticed the furtive, worried looks Benton threw her. Still, she affected unconcern as she shed her coat, gloves and hat, even though all she wanted to do was to sit down with a nice cup of tea and show Mama her purchases - especially the India silk wrap that she was certain was a match for her white gown with the rosebud-embroidered overlay.