“And the point is Leo is in danger?” Lily looked incredulous. “Why? What makes you think such a thing?”
Leo took hold of her hand and held it in both of his. “I think we misunderstood your sister.”
“No, there’s no misunderstanding. Four people have been injured in what appear to be accidents, but they all seem to be happening very near to you. That leads us to wonder if these so-called accidents might have been planned—and meant for you.”
With George’s help, I walked them through each situation, from the steward’s fall from his horse, to the footman’s poisoning, Charles’s injury, and Clara’s fall down the stairs.
Leo put up a hand to stop me. “I don’t understand. How could someone poison the footman, thinking it was me?”
“That’s the one incident we are the least clear about because we can’t say where he came by the poison. We do know he drank the sherry you left in this office the other day.” I shrugged. “He died that night, so it’s possible the sherry held the arsenic.”
He frowned. “I follow your logic, but why me? Hazelton didn’t drink his either.”
I felt as if I’d been slapped. I turned to George, staring in disbelief as he reddened. How could he not tell me that? He dropped his gaze to his hands, confirmation that what Leo said was true. My fingers dug into the arms of my chair.
“How many times have we spoken of this, Mr. Hazelton? Did it never occur to you to tell me you also left your glass untouched?”
Lily muttered something to Leo, but I heard only the word trouble. She certainly had that right. I remained silent, waiting for an explanation from George.
He finally looked at me. Ran a hand through his hair. Smiled innocently.
“For heaven’s sake, just tell me.”
“You’ve been agonizing about Kendrick for days. I knew telling you I didn’t drink the sherry either would only increase your concern.”
Lily’s head jerked up. “Agonizing for days? How long have you two known about this? And why didn’t you tell us?”
I bit my lip and peered across the table at her. It was my turn to face the fury of one of the Price women. I shared a glance with George, and we both began to babble.
“He’s exaggerating. We haven’t known that long.”
“We really don’t know anything for certain.”
Our comments were met with two cold stares.
Lily rose to her feet in a fluid, dangerous motion, her eyes chips of blue ice. “How long is not very long, and what do you mean you don’t know for certain?”
I chewed on my lower lip and turned to George.
He raised his brows in amazement. “Now you defer to me?”
“You can explain it much better than I.”
He released a huff of breath. “We don’t know if the arsenic that killed the footman was in the sherry. The rat poison went missing from the laundry and has yet to be found. That means anyone could have poisoned the young man. It wasn’t until the past day or so that we put all these incidents together and began wondering if, in fact, they were not accidents at all, but deliberate acts. That led us to ask ourselves, who was in the vicinity when the victims were brought down? We realized Leo was nearby in each case, except the death of the footman. At that point, your sister began speculating that the arsenic might have been in the sherry.”
I clapped my hands together. “I’d say that sums everything up quite well. Except that now I realize you were also in the vicinity when each of these incidents took place.” I turned a glaring eye on George.
“Are you saying you believe someone is trying to murder either Mr. Hazelton or Leo?” Lily asked. “Who?”
“Naturally, we have a few suspects.” I glanced at George who lifted his shoulder in a shrug, which I took as a sign to go ahead. I directed my attention to Leo. “Have you ever met Mr. Bradmore before?”
“Bradmore? The chap who was here last night? Lady Esther’s nephew? No, not that I can recall. From what I understand, he’s spent most of his time on the continent, and I haven’t left England for years. Can’t imagine how we’d have crossed paths.”
To my mind, that didn’t exonerate Bradmore, but though I wasn’t ready to let him go as a suspect, I couldn’t see a line of questioning to pursue right now.
I took a deep breath before my next question. “How do you get on with your brother-in-law?”
Leo’s eyes rounded. “Durant? You think Durant wants to murder me?”
“Really, Frances. I know Durant wants Leo’s position, but he’s hardly likely to murder his wife’s brother in order to obtain it.”
Leo reeled back in his chair. “He wants my position? In the company?”
Lily sighed. “You are a wonderful businessman, but you must start paying more attention to the people around you, and how they feel about things.”
I wondered if she was still talking about Durant but pushed the thought aside. We’d get to Lily’s feelings soon enough.
“From what I understand, both your sister and brother-in-law feel some resentment that you are a partner in the company and he is not.”
“Eliza is constantly telling me how much effort Durant puts into your father’s company,” Lily said.
“That’s an indisputable fact,” Leo said. “The man is full of ideas and the will to put them into action. He’s a great asset to the company, but Father fully expects him to leave us the moment he inherits the title.”
So we were back to that little detail. “Does your father realize he may not inherit for twenty or more years? Why not allow the man the status suitable to his contribution to the company?”
“I’ve no objection. It’s my father who must be convinced.”
“Well, surely you could—”
“Might we return to the matter at hand?” At George’s tone, we turned as one back to him. “The threat on Kendrick’s life?”
“Come, my dear man, Durant may be frustrated with his situation, but do you really imagine he’d try to kill me?”
“Hazelton and I have only a passing acquaintance with your relations. And your friends,” I couldn’t help adding. “We must consider anyone with a motive.” I raised a brow. “Can you think of anyone with a stronger one?”
He gave me a blank look.
“What about your friend, Treadwell?” I was relieved George had asked the question, but it was still hard to see Lily blanch.
Leo chuckled. “Now you really are barking up the wrong tree. Treadwell? We’ve been the best of mates for years. Why, he’d sooner do himself a harm than me.”
Lily gasped. “Do you honestly think he would harm himself?”
I could not recall a more awkward conversation. If we pushed further ahead on the subject of Treadwell, his marked attention to Lily was bound to come out, and we might just put an end to the wedding. I was beginning to think warning Leo was a terrible idea. He still didn’t take the threat seriously, and only one of these men was guilty—maybe—but we might be damaging his relationship with both his brother-in-law and his best friend. Not to mention Lily. Perhaps we should just drop this subject.
“Are you aware of his feelings for Miss Price?”
Unfortunately, George had failed to read my mind.
Leo came to his feet so quickly, he toppled the chair. “That blackguard!”
He stomped out of the room, leaving Lily in tears. Lifting her skirts, she scurried to the door. “You’ve ruined everything!” She sent me a deadly glare before rushing after him.
George leaned back in his chair. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“Definitely no.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “What do you think he’s going to do to Treadwell?”
“Give him the thrashing he deserves.”
I nodded. “Then I suppose he and Lily will need to have a talk. I hope we haven’t ruined everything, as she said.”
“They’ll work it out, Frances. Talking is the best thing they can do.”
He was right, of course. George and I had so
me talking to do as well. But first I had to consider my reaction when Leo told me George never drank his sherry either—the fear and dread that coursed through me when I realized he might be the target of a killer rather than Leo.
Before I could bring it up, there was another knock at the door. Crocker.
“I have a note for Lady Harleigh, sir,” he said, presenting it to George on a silver tray. George took the note and handed it off to me. Breaking the seal, I looked up to see him watching me. He indicated the card in my hand. “Who sent the note?”
I gave him an ironic smile. “Bradmore.” I read the two lines it contained. “Surprise, surprise. Lady Esther is unable to receive us today.” I handed the note to George. “When Leo is through with Treadwell, we still need to discuss that trap you spoke of. To my mind, Bradmore is still a good suspect.”
Chapter 17
I thought it best to keep my distance from Lily while she was still angry with me. I was certain George was right; she and Leo would work through the problem of Treadwell as George and I would work through the issue of his secrecy. But for the moment, I thought it best to keep my distance from him as well. At least until some of my anger had subsided.
In an effort to distract myself, I visited with Rose again. We set her puzzle aside in favor of her geography lessons. Rose had been progressing quite well in her studies with her cousin’s tutor, but it might soon be time to send her to school. While I contemplated the pain of that separation, someone knocked at the door and Nanny opened it to George.
He gave me a tentative smile. “Crocker inquired as to whether you’d like luncheon and where you’d like it served.”
“Why is he asking me rather than your sister?”
“It seems she and the other guests have gone off for a ride and are taking their meal in the village.”
There was a glint in George’s eye that made me think he was up to something. “Well, then, yes, I would like luncheon, and the dining room would be just fine.”
“Excellent.” George presented his hand, and I placed mine in it automatically. “Let’s inform him.”
I glanced between him and Rose, who watched us with a rather indulgent expression. “Now? Must we both inform him?”
He brought me up to my feet. “I think that would be best.”
Still suspicious of his motives, I gave Rose instructions to carry on with her geography book and followed him out the door. He flashed me a grin as soon as it shut behind us.
“We may be about to get our first lucky break, my dear.”
“How so? Why do you look so suspicious?”
“All the guests are gone, and they won’t be back until after lunch.”
“Yes. I suppose Alonzo and Miss Kendrick’s ride grew to larger proportions. What of it?”
“Everyone is away for at least another two hours, leaving us the perfect opportunity to search the house.”
I felt a rush of excitement, followed by confusion. “Looking for what?”
“Arsenic, for one thing. If there’s anything else to be found, I hope we’ll recognize it when we see it.” He held up Mrs. Ansel’s keys and gave them a jingle.
This man surely knew the way to my heart. We nearly skipped down the stairs to the guest rooms, stopping first at Arthur Durant’s. George found the right key and pushed the door open, revealing a room as sterile as the man himself. Clothing neatly stored in the dressing room, brushes and comb laid out on the dresser, shaving kit by the washbasin. Paperwork, his own notes, and letters of business were scattered on a small table near the four-poster bed. A pitcher of water and an empty glass stood beside them. Nothing under the bed or mattress, no notes in his coat pockets, and no conveniently hidden package of rat poison.
I waited while George finished with the drawers in the chest. “I suppose I understand why you didn’t tell me you hadn’t finished your sherry, but weren’t you worried you might be the target of some assassin?”
“We don’t even know for certain if the arsenic was in the sherry and no, I wasn’t worried.”
“Why not? You could be in danger.”
“Hardly.”
“Think of your line of work, George. You are something of a spy.”
He gave me a hard look. “Investigator.”
“If you prefer, but you must have been responsible for interfering with the criminal activity of several people. Have you never had to provide evidence in court? Has no one threatened you before?”
He pushed close the bottom drawer and came to his feet. Leaning a hand against the surface, he faced me. “Most of my activities have been covert. No one knows of my involvement.”
“Most?”
He sighed. “Rarely, and only early in my career, did I have to come into the light and give evidence. And yes, I have been threatened by the guilty parties before—on two occasions, and both men are serving long prison terms. They can threaten all they want, but there’s nothing they can do to me from behind bars.”
“Now that I’ve mentioned the word assassin, I can’t get it out of my mind. What if they hired someone to hunt you down? Treadwell? We don’t know much about him. Or Bradmore, of whom we know even less.”
He held up his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “An actual assassin would not be so clumsy. I would most definitely be dead.”
“If you are trying to reassure me, you’re going about it all wrong.”
He gave me a sheepish grin. “Forgive me. All I mean to say is if a single person is creating all these accidents in an attempt to murder Leo, or me, he is definitely an amateur of the worst kind. And if we continue the assumption that the arsenic was conveyed to the footman through the sherry, your favorite suspect, Bradmore, was not around to poison it.” He heaved a sigh. “I still don’t know if all the incidents are connected. They appear to be, but if so, the culprit is someone who has no idea what he’s doing.”
“That reassures me. I’m glad to hear there’s no one from your past who could come after you.”
He tossed his head as if shaking off a bad memory. “And I’m glad it’s in the past, that I don’t do that type of operation any longer.”
“What type?”
“Where I insinuate myself into the criminal’s life, find out what he’s doing and how, collect evidence, and turn it over to my superiors.”
“And you dislike it because of the danger it puts you in?”
“Because there are always other people in the criminal’s life. A wife, children. There was one case where I became very friendly with my target’s family.” He shook his head. “The man was a police sergeant running a ring of thieves.”
“Good heavens! What was your role in bringing him to justice?”
“I became a police officer, placed in Sergeant Bracken’s division.”
I must have heard wrong. “You were a police officer?”
“Not a real one. It was just a ploy. They needed someone to work with Bracken and find out what he was about.” A shadow of regret clouded his eyes.
“It took about a month before I reported to a call with him. Prior to that, he’d been testing me. I gave every impression I would be his willing pawn, and eventually, he rewarded me by taking me on a call with him. I kept my mouth shut when he didn’t bother to go through the proper motions of an investigation. After we left the house, he pulled me aside and asked me point-blank if I was with him or not.”
George shuddered. “He would have killed me then and there if I’d said no. Fortunately, my orders were to pledge myself to whatever plan he suggested, so I did.” He leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. “As it turned out, he wasn’t just looking the other way when one of these break-ins happened, he was scheduling them.”
“What do you mean by scheduling them?”
“The constables who walked the streets were friendly and chatty with the residents. They’d let him know when a home was vulnerable. The thieves would pose in all manner of jobs. Sometimes they’d get themselves hired on to the staff, but mos
t of the time it was as a deliveryman. Coal, milk, produce, whatever could get them into the house long enough to unlock a window.”
“That’s where you learned that trick. With so many people involved in this enterprise, you must be proud to have put an end to it.”
He frowned. “When he was imprisoned, his family were left with nothing and no means of support.”
I placed my hand on his shoulder. “But you had to stop him.”
He gave me a sad smile. “We did, but it gave me no pleasure, no satisfaction. His family didn’t ask for such a life.” He pushed away from the wall and put his hand over mine. “Enough of that. It’s in the past. Suffice it to say, I don’t think anyone is trying to kill me.”
I nodded. “All right. That will do for now.”
We let ourselves out of the room into the hallway where George produced the ring of keys from his pocket and relocked the door.
“One down,” I said, trying to sound cheerful. “Eliza’s room is just here.” I turned the door handle, and finding it unlocked, stepped inside. I felt George’s hand sweep past my arm, but I’d moved too quickly for him to stop me.
“Can I help you, my lady?”
Eliza’s lady’s maid stood before a highboy, a stack of clothing in her arm and a look of surprise on her face. That’s why the door was unlocked. Bother! I gave her a bright smile. “Ah, there you are.”
She blinked. “You were looking for me, ma’am?”
“Well, no, not I, but I understand my maid has been.” I stepped forward and took the shirtwaists from her arm and laid them on top of an open drawer. “My dear, you work far too hard. Bridget, my maid, and Mrs. Ansel have a lovely tea laid out in her sitting room. Bridget had hoped you’d join them.”
The young maid’s hands fluttered to her chest. “Why, how very kind of her.” Her glowing face transformed to an expression of confusion. “Were you looking for me on your maid’s behalf?”
I released a little tinkle of laughter, placed a hand on her shoulder, and guided her to the door. I assumed George had taken himself somewhere out of sight. “No, I was just passing by when I heard you in the room.” I waved my hand. “A happy coincidence.”
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