“And which did you say was your favorite color, Miss Oswald, in that last shop?” Serena asked pointedly.
The girl smiled. “Blue. But a very particular shade! A blue the color of the water in the Caribbean. No one who has seen it can forget it.”
“Indeed, it is a stunning hue,” Miss Harper agreed.
“Why, Isobel, when have you been in the Caribbean?” Serena demanded. Lily, whose attention had wandered a little during the talk of colors, started.
“Oh, some five or six years ago at least.” Miss Harper looked uncomfortable. “My uncle traveled there for some business, and I was … there was nothing keeping me in London at the time, so I went with him.”
Six years ago Miss Harper had been jilted just before her marriage was to take place. Lily thought it no surprise that Miss Harper’s uncle had wanted her to leave London for a time, or that she should dislike remembering the reason for her trip.
Knowing that was enough to make Lily hesitate. She did not want to make Miss Harper more uncomfortable, but if the general had been in the West Indies, there was a chance he had met Augustus Finch there. She had to know. “What a traveler you are, Miss Harper. I am quite envious! Which part of the Indies did you see?”
“Several islands, including Nevis, where I believe we had the pleasure of dining once with Miss Oswald’s father at Government House. Mr. George Oswald?” The heiress, looking surprised, nodded. “I imagine that you were too young to dine in company at the time, but I remember your father being a most impressive gentleman.” Miss Harper smiled a little pathetically. “I should have liked to travel more, but …”
“Now that your uncle has left the army, perhaps it is in your future.” Lily adopted a bright tone to mask the intent of her question. “Do you think he will visit there again?”
Miss Harper shook her head, looking sad. “No, he has since sold his interests there.”
Lily, unwilling to let the subject drop but not wanting to press, caught Miss Oswald’s eye, and the girl cleared her throat. “Well, should you ever desire to visit Nevis again, Miss Harper, you must let me know. My father would be happy to make any introductions you require.”
“I shall remember that,” Miss Harper said, but whatever else she might have said was interrupted as a man emerging from the storefront of Mr. Hoby, bootmaker, bumped into her. After a moment of confusion and apologies, Miss Harper started as she recognized the man’s face. “Mr. Lacey! What a surprise to see you.”
“Miss Harper, a pleasure. I hope your uncle is well?”
“Lacey?” Lily was so shocked that she asked without thinking, “Of Lacey and West?”
Mr. Lacey looked surprised. He was a tall man, pale, with brown hair and a sharp nose. His clothes said upper-class businessman rather than gentleman, but he bowed to Lily with a good deal of confidence. “As you say, madam. I am gratified that we are so well known, for all we are a small endeavor.” He smiled again, but his eyes had narrowed.
Lily cursed silently at her carelessness. “Oh, I had heard the name mentioned here and there.” She tried not to look too interested. All expression was gone from Mr. Lacey’s face, his look so carefully blank that it made Lily want to shiver. She was glad that their relative social standing prevented him from asking for her name.
“Well, we must be off,” Serena broke in. Lily could tell by her tone that Lady Walter did not want to be seen conversing with the obviously middle-class Mr. Lacey. “Would you care to join us for an ice, Miss Harper?”
“Thank you, no, I must return home.” Miss Harper, more polite than Serena, added, “I wish you a good day, Mr. Lacey.”
“Miss Harper.” He bowed to the group, but his eyes were fixed on Lily. “I wish you a pleasant day.”
Miss Harper murmured her own farewell, and the ladies had begun to walk away when he called out after them.
“A moment, Miss Harper!” He stooped to the ground, and when he stood, there was something in his hand. “You seem to have dropped your glove.”
“Ah, thank you, sir,” Miss Harper said, looking a little flustered as he brought it to her. There should have been nothing odd in the gesture—it was both polite and proper—but something in Mr. Lacey’s manner made Lily watch him closely. Which was why she saw him, under cover of returning Miss Harper’s glove, slide just a little closer to her and slip a much-folded piece of paper into her reticule. Miss Harper, preoccupied with drawing her gloves on tightly, did not notice. Mr. Lacey lifted his hat to the women once more before striding off in the other direction.
Lily tried not to stare after him as he disappeared into the crowd on Bond Street. Looking back, she found Miss Oswald watching her, eyes wide. The girl nodded, ever so slightly, before turning away. She had seen it too.
“Goodness! What an odd man.” Serena wrinkled her nose.
“He … yes, he is that,” Miss Harper said.
“Did he say he knows your uncle?” Lily asked, as carelessly as she could manage.
“Yes, but not well,” Miss Harper said quickly. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, Mr. Adler left some shipping documents that I am at a loss to understand. I was wondering if I should seek professional help to sort through them.”
“I don’t … that is to say, I would advise against it, Mrs. Adler.” Miss Harper’s eyes darted back in the direction Mr. Lacey had gone.
“Good heavens, why not?” Lily feigned a look of puzzled disinterest. “If he’s known to the general, he must be a respectable man.”
“I am by no means confident in his respectability. My uncle knows him only by chance, and only … only to nod to in the street. If he had not bumped into me as he came out of Hoby’s, I shouldn’t have acknowledged him at all.” Miss Harper shook her head. “I would stay away from him, Mrs. Adler. Surely your husband’s lawyer can help to sort through his papers.”
“Oh, very likely.” Lily let the subject drop before her persistence made anyone curious.
“Miss Harper, are you well?” Serena asked, her face wreathed in concern. “You look pale. Allow me to take you home in my carriage; I insist. Ices will have to wait for another day.”
Miss Harper was pale, Lily realized, paler than she had been when Mr. Lacey appeared. She tucked that bit of information away to examine later, along with everything else she had learned about the general. For the moment, she needed to focus on one thing: Mr. Lacey’s note.
While Serena was kindly bullying Miss Harper into accepting an offer of assistance, Lily leaned close enough to Miss Oswald’s ear to whisper, “See if you can make Miss Harper drop her bag, then keep her attention on you.”
The young heiress did not bat an eyelash but simply moved closer to Miss Harper’s side and began speaking of their shopping trip as Serena’s footman signaled for her waiting carriage. He handed the viscountess in, then turned to offer Miss Harper his hand.
If Lily had not known better, she would have sworn Miss Oswald’s fall was genuine. As the girl stepped out of the way, she stumbled, toppling into Jeremy the footman with a surprised “Oh!” He instinctively tried to catch her, dropping the armful of boxes he was still carrying. Parcels scattered everywhere, and Miss Oswald stumbled backward into Miss Harper, knocking into her arm so that she dropped her reticule and bandbox. The young heiress stammered in embarrassment and insisted on helping the footman gather up the packages, handing several to Miss Harper and the maid who accompanied her as she did so, while Serena called out in concern from the carriage door.
In the confusion, Lily quietly gathered up Miss Harper’s things, keeping Jeremy between her and the other women as she fished in the reticule for Mr. Lacey’s note.
It was not there.
The purse was not large, and he had dropped it in only minutes before. It should have been on top, easy to find and pull out, but there was no sign of it.
There was no time to look more thoroughly. Cursing silently, Lily bent and snatched up one of the fallen packages. She was just in time; as she stood, the footm
an moved out of the way, and Miss Harper called, “Oh, I see Mrs. Adler has them,” as she held out a hand for her things.
Lily hoped she didn’t look too frustrated as she handed them over. “And was this yours, Miss Oswald?” she asked, holding up the last parcel.
“One of mine,” Serena said. “Jeremy, hand it up. Lily, are you coming?”
“I did promise Miss Oswald a visit to Gunter’s. If you would still like to go?”
The girl took the hint immediately. “I would. Can we walk from here?”
As Miss Harper and her maid were handed into the carriage, and while Serena arranged for Miss Oswald’s packages to be taken up so she could drop them off at Audley Street, the girl whispered, “Well?”
Lily motioned her to be quiet. They were still too public, so she kept her thoughts to herself and, ignoring Miss Oswald’s impatient looks, talked inconsequentially of Hertfordshire and then about Nevis as they strolled through Berkeley Square. At last they were settled at a small, relatively private table in Gunter’s Tea Shop, sipping wine and eating lemon ices.
“Do you have it?” Miss Oswald demanded.
Eyeing the other patrons around them, Lily shook her head. “I could not search the bag thoroughly, but it was not on top.”
“I suppose it was jostled to the bottom in all the scuffle.” Miss Oswald’s pretty face was a picture of contrition. “I’m sorry; I could not think of a better way to make her drop her things.”
Lily grimaced into her wineglass. “It is frustrating, but even without the note, we know more than we did before.” She hesitated, then explained what she had discovered in Lord Walter’s study, and how that fit in with Serena’s story about Bernard’s debt.
“So it seems as if Lord Walter does not have much reason to be working with Mr. Lacey, while the general has a great deal,” said Miss Oswald, tapping her lips thoughtfully with one finger as she gazed past Lily. “And now we know the general has been to Nevis, and met my father, which means he would have had every opportunity to meet Augustus. He was much in my father’s company a few years back,” she explained, seeing Lily’s inquiring look. “He assisted often with Papa’s business before I was old enough to become involved.”
“Was your Mr. Finch—”
“He was not mine,” Miss Oswald interrupted quickly, looking distressed.
Lily pursed her lips thoughtfully at the retort but didn’t press the matter. “Your friend, was all I meant. Was Mr. Finch the sort of man who would have been able to gain the general’s confidence on such a short acquaintance? He would have been quite young at the time.”
“He would have been the age I am now,” Miss Oswald said, not meeting Lily’s eyes as she circled one finger around the rim of her wineglass. There was a frown between her eyes. “Augustus was … he was the sort of person who could make friends with anyone, who could make you trust him. And I think he was always … a bit of a rascal. I think that was one reason Papa liked him so much. And why I did too, when I was younger.” She cleared her throat abruptly. “In any case, he was amiable and a little unscrupulous. I could certainly see him teasing out the details of the scheme, even if the general wasn’t aware that he had revealed anything.”
“I see.” Lily nodded thoughtfully. “We also now know there is some connection between the general and Mr. Lacey, and it is something underhanded, or they would not need to use his niece as an unwitting courier.”
“At this point, it seems almost certain that they were the ones responsible for …” Miss Oswald swallowed, then continued firmly. “For Augustus. I’ve not met the general except in passing, but I think we may safely say there is something dangerous about Mr. Lacey.”
“You had that impression as well?”
“It was impossible to miss. Miss Harper looked positively ill when you asked about him. If she is so uneasy about him …”
She fell silent as two other ladies walked past their table, chatting about a charitable society. Lily didn’t mind the pause; remembering the cold gleam in Mr. Lacey’s eye sent a shiver down her back. In spite of that, though, the tension between her shoulder blades was slowly relaxing. If General Harper was the murderer, then Serena’s family was safe from suspicion.
There were other questions, though, that Miss Oswald’s words about Mr. Finch had brought back to the front of Lily’s mind. “You seem to make quite the study of others’ characters,” she said lightly.
“As you said once, Mrs. Adler, I am not quite the unassuming debutante that I seem.” The young heiress raised her brows. “I imagine the same could have been said about you, once upon a time.”
“I doubt anyone who knew me would have called me unassuming at any point in my life,” Lily said with a small smile. “I was not so adept at playing the game as you are.”
“It is a useful and dubious skill,” Miss Oswald, her expression serious. As the charitable ladies made their departure at last, she leaned forward. “Mrs. Adler, whatever happens next, I want to thank you. For what you are trying to do for Augustus. And for … for me.” The girl took a deep breath. “You talk about my home. You introduce me to your friends. You believe I have something of value to contribute to your investigation. And through it all, you never ask me to pretend to be anyone other than who I am.”
“London society has never been known for letting women be their true selves,” Lily said.
Miss Oswald’s gaze grew distant. “No, being myself is not considered an asset in the hunt for a husband. As my Aunt Haverweight reminds me daily.”
“But you are too wise to settle for anyone who does not know you and respect the person you are.” Lily meant the statement kindly, and she was surprised when Miss Oswald looked up sharply, her expression suddenly wary. “Have I offended you?”
“No.” The girl looked flustered. “No, of course not. I only hope you are right.” She cleared her throat a little nervously. “Since you were not able to find Mr. Lacey’s note, what do you suggest our next step be?”
Lily narrowed her eyes at the abrupt change in subject. Clearly, something she said had made Miss Oswald uncomfortable. But the girl was watching her, her expression open and earnest once more, so Lily did not press the matter. “We need to discover exactly what the general’s connection is to the firm. You know more of business than I do; would they keep some kind of record?”
Miss Oswald stirred the melting remains of her ice, frowning. “Even if they communicated secretly, there would have to be something, especially if they were working with the War Office. After all, Captain Hartley was able to discover that the general was associated with them in the first place.”
Lily nodded. “Then I think … I think we must find a way to pay a visit to Mr. Lacey’s offices and see what we can discover there.”
Miss Oswald’s eyes were wide. “How do you plan to do that?”
Lily sighed, propping her chin in one hand. “I haven’t the faintest idea. But give me time, and I will think of something. I always do.”
CHAPTER 17
Lily stayed in bed late the next morning. She had kept to country hours since returning to London, rising well before noon. But a ladies’ card party, followed by a very late supper, had kept Lily from seeing her bed until three o’clock in the morning. When, around seven, she was briefly roused by the sound of Anna laying the fire, she rolled over and pulled a pillow over her head, all thoughts of murder and intrigue banished by the allure of a few more hours’ sleep.
At half past ten she woke again and, ringing for her maid, asked for breakfast on a tray. “And plenty of tea,” she added, one arm over her eyes.
“Is your head all right, ma’am?” Anna rearranged the pillows so her mistress could sit more comfortably.
Lily sighed, though the sound came out more like a growl. “Mrs. Windermere delights in being just to the right side of fast and doing whatever shocking thing comes into her head. She brought out her husband’s whiskey last night, and nothing would do for Serena but that we must share in every toa
st.” Lily rubbed her head. “I admit it was fun at the time, but I am not convinced it was worth it. There was no gainsaying Serena, though.”
“Her ladyship does have a most forceful personality,” Anna agreed, twitching the curtains so the sun was not shining so directly into the room.
“Thank you, and yes, she does. Especially when it comes to Sally Windermere. Serena suspects she was one of Lord Walter’s paramours, you know, before they were married. And she refuses to let the woman best her at anything.” Lily moaned softly. “Or to best me, it would seem.”
The corners of Anna’s lips quivered, but she offered no comment on her employer’s state other than to say, “I believe Mrs. Carstairs has a sort of concoction that is supposed to help these situations. My cousin Jeremy swears by it. Shall I ask her to make it up for you?”
“Will it taste foul?” Lily asked plaintively. Catching sight of Anna’s smile, she sighed. “Never mind, of course it will taste foul. I shall try it anyway. Anything must be an improvement. I cannot imagine what gentlemen see to recommend this feeling!”
“You did say you had fun last night, ma’am. I think that’s most of the draw.”
“Not worth it,” Lily said firmly. “Though the charades were the most amusing thing I have ever heard.”
“Did they happen after the whiskey had been brought out?”
“Long after. So perhaps I do see the appeal after all.” Lily frowned in mock-severity as Anna giggled. “None of your cheek now, Anna, but go and fetch my breakfast and whatever miracle brew Mrs. Carstairs can manage on such short notice. And have Carstairs send up the papers as well.”
“La Belle Assemblée or the Ladies’ Journal?”
“La Belle Assemblée and also the Times.”
“The Times?” Anna looked surprised.
Lily understood. She had once stayed abreast of political issues to help further Freddy’s career, but since his death she had not shown much interest in the events of the day. Anna was obviously hoping for some sort of explanation, but Lily only said firmly, “The Times as well, as soon as Carstairs has pressed the sheets.”
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