by Wendy Vella
She finally said, “Joe must have done it. Why else would the Duke invite him to our conference this morning? He must have some suspicion. He was the only outsider apart from that London detective.”
“You may have something there . . . I say, what about our old chap Pickering? He was in the house as well,” the Earl said excitedly.
Emma smiled, “Just because he tailed you last night and blabbered to the Duke does not mean he is the culprit. You have not forgiven him for ferreting your secret out. And I doubt he did it. Lady Babbage was a highbrow. She never acknowledged anyone of the servant class. The only reason she noticed you, Richard, was because I showed an interest in you.”
Lord Raikes nodded thoughtfully. “I agree. We cannot consider him seriously. That man spent the entire night chasing the two of you. He gave an accurate account of your activities. I doubt he would have provided you both with an alibi if he had committed the crime. He would have liked as many suspects as possible. He could have sneaked off once you went to Emma’s room for the night, but he did not know if you would leave your room again. Besides, I also observed Lady Babbage’s indifference to those lower in status.”
“I disagree,” Catherine said, turning to address Lord Raikes, “I admit I never saw her treat the servants badly, though she did ignore them. But how then do you account for the fact that she was blackmailing Joe? He was the under-gardener, after all.”
They all fell silent at that.
The Earl fervently hoped it was Pickering. He wanted to believe it was him, yet something nagged him at the back of his mind. He had overlooked a crucial fact. He pushed his antipathy towards the butler aside and examined his thoughts impartially.
He spoke slowly, “Do you remember, Em, I told you that Joe had recently lost his finances and that circumstances had pushed him to become a gardener? I have dealt with him, though not at length, since the Duke employs forty other under-gardeners. I noticed him when I realised the man knew even less about gardening than I did. I felt sorry for the fellow and helped him out a bit. I had, at the time, mentioned to you that I did not believe he had always been a servant. What if Lady Babbage had been the reason he had lost all his wealth? He could have travelled to the estate to beg her to release him. She would have found his presence convenient for any of her nefarious plans.”
“He sounds more and more like our man. He had been reduced to wearing rags and struggling for his livelihood. He is the strongest contender, along with Prudence. That also clears Pickering,” Lord Raikes stated.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Emma, seeing the dour faces around her, said, “Let us for a moment forget this awful discussion. It could have been anyone. No one liked Lady Babbage, and everyone had a reason to harm her. Instead, I want to ask my cousin if I should wish her happy. I see the two of you are no longer arguing. On the contrary, I believe he has caught your hand under the cushion. I saw you discreetly tugging away.”
Catherine blushed and nodded her head.
Emma leaped up and hugged her.
The next few moments were spent joyously, the horror of the day pushed to the back of their minds but not forgotten.
***
After dinner, everyone marched into the salon looking splenetic and gloomy. There was a brief flurry of skirts as the women raced to capture the most comfortable seats. The men politely resigned themselves to cold hardback chairs. Something told them it was going to be a long, long night.
The Duke strode in at last. He waited for the noise of tiny coughs, little sneezes and nervous mutterings to die down. When only the sound of crackling fire could be heard in the room, he began to speak. “I know you are full of questions. Uncomfortable questions.” He ran a hand over his face, the shadows under his eyes stark against his pale skin. “To answer the most obvious one, I don’t know who has committed the crime . . . yet. Although, certain facts are being investigated by Mr Nutters at this very moment. We will have a clearer picture tomorrow. My sister’s body is being kept with the family doctor until the funeral arrangements are made.”
“When can we go home?” Mrs Barker asked.
“You may leave after the investigations are completed. Now, I know some of you are wondering where your belongings are, things which Lady Babbage borrowed. They will be returned to their owners. I will need Catherine’s help to identify all that did not belong to my sister.”
Mrs Barker looked visibly pleased with this news. She even managed a smile.
The Duke walked over to the fireplace and warmed his hands. With his back to the party, he said, “I am surprised at all of you. None of you have dared to ask me if I killed my sister.”
A few gasps sounded around the room.
The Earl and Emma exchanged guilty glances.
“It would be most convenient if I were the murderer. I would be investigating it and why would I implicate myself? She was blackmailing some of you, so it stands to reason that she might have been doing the same to me. After all, she knew me far longer and was aware of all my secrets.”
He turned to face his audience, “However, I am not about to confess to any crime, since I did not kill her. As for her blackmailing me, she never dared. I was the only person in the world who could provide for her. She was a manipulative woman, but, nonetheless, clever. I am the Duke. If she did manage to find a way to ruin me, then her own comforts would be snatched away, as well. I was the reason that she had respect in society, access to many of her wealthy victims and the power to intimidate.” He paused to let that sink in. “I would now like to tell you about Lady Esther Babbage, if you would humour me?”
Ears drooped, noses twitched and feet bounced restlessly, and, yet, no one dared to get up from their seats and leave.
The Duke sat back in the large, moss green, leather chair, took a healthy sip of whiskey and began the tale in a deep, haunting voice. “My sister, Lady Esther Babbage, was beautiful, frivolous, happy. It all changed when she decided to elope with the vicar’s son. The man she married, David Babbage, was a loathsome creature. Greedy, coarse and violent. It was clear he had only married her for her dowry. My father decided to provide Esther with a sum far less than what David expected in a hope that she would leave him.”
“Did she leave him?” Mr Barker asked broodingly. He poured himself some more whiskey and swallowed half the contents in one big gulp.
The Duke shook his head. “David knew our father would eventually relent rather than see his beloved daughter suffer. Esther was only eighteen. Young, impressionable silly. So he poisoned her mind against her friends and family. He isolated her until she believed with all her heart that no one loved her but him. He planned to bide his time, keep her by his side, waiting for the day when our father would break and give what was her due. But a man cannot hide his true nature for long. He gambled away the last of the paltry sum Esther had brought. Our father fell ill during that time, unaware of their rapidly deteriorating financial state.”
“You could have helped her,” Catherine said.
The Duke shook his head. “He was the Duke, head of the family. How could I go against his wishes? We believed that she would write to us if things became unbearable. She didn’t. Pride held her back. She refused to grovel before a family she believed had abandoned her. Years slipped by, David grew violent in his demands for money. Tried to force Esther to go to our father to beg and plead her pathetic case. She could have left then. She had grown to hate her husband with a passion. The only reason she stayed on was for the sake of her son.”
“Son?” Catherine and Emma exclaimed.
“But she never spoke of any children,” Catherine frowned.
The Duke waited until the excited voices died down. “Her husband died in a senseless brawl one night. Her son was now grown up. Unfortunately, he turned out to be no better than his father. He disliked his mother and made demands similar to those that his father had made. The difference was that she loved him like she had never loved her husband. But pride still gripped
her. When threats and pleas to return to the Arden Estates failed to move his mother, the boy ran away to London and she lost all trace of him. Meanwhile, my father died and I succeeded him as the Duke. My first job was to find my sister and convince her to return with me.”
“What made her come back with you?” Mr Barker asked. His mood seemed to have improved. His cheeks had turned a lovely shade of pink. “Spanked the pride out of her did you?”
Catherine sucked in a horrified breath, Emma giggled, and Mrs Barker leaned over and plucked the glass of whiskey out of her husband’s hand.
The Duke ignored the interruption and continued, “My wife had just died and I had a young daughter. I appealed to Esther to come and take care of my child. Esther’s pride was mollified when she realised she would not be a charity case but was truly needed. She had always been fond of children and took to Catherine immediately.”
“Why? I thought you were an intelligent man,” Mr Barker boomed across the room at him. “How could you allow your child to be brought up by that nefarious creature? That saucy, mouldy mushroom—
“Hush, she is dead,” Mrs Barker whacked him on the head.
The Duke smiled wryly, “I saw what I wanted to see. I failed to notice the changes in my sister. Failed to conceive the depth of cruelty she may have suffered. Her experiences had hardened her, made her shrewder, sharper like a well-wrought knife. The only thing I asked of her was to treat my daughter fairly. She managed her side of the bargain reasonably well, until her son came back into her life.”
“He is still alive? But we have never seen him,” Catherine exclaimed in shock.
“You all have seen him. Let me continue.”
Catherine nodded.
The Duke stared at the fire, watching a log break in the heat. “Her son was greatly in debt and fleeing from the law. He found out that his mother was back in a comfortable position and he decided to ask her for money. He sent her a note and she panicked. She knew I would never allow that kind of man to be under the same roof as my daughter. She met her son secretly and he made her promise that she would give him something in return. She had missed him when he had abandoned her and she was afraid of losing him once again. She relented and gave him all the jewels she had, with which he paid off some of his debts. He then returned for more. She asked me for it and I gave it to her with a warning that no more would be forthcoming. I knew that boy would leech his mother dry if he could. The only way to stop him would have been to refuse to pay him and instead force him to live an honest man’s life. You can guess what happened next. He kept coming and Esther was forced to find other means of payment. She happened upon a secret and found a perfect source of income through blackmail. A month back, the boy returned, and Esther had to stoop to robbing me to pay her son off. She was willing to do anything to keep him in her life.”
The Duke paused and the sudden silence seemed deafening. He let the silence linger. It allowed the echo of his words to wrap around his listeners and sink in.
The ticking of the grandfather clock and the crackling and spitting flames in the fireplace was the only sound to be heard in the stillness.
No one dared to interrupt the silence until the Duke spoke again. “I confess I did not know or even conceive that she had resorted to such means. Her behaviour was so correct at all times. I knew she genuinely loved my daughter, and I felt guilty for keeping her away from her son. Because of that guilt, I allowed her to dictate my daughter’s life and occasionally override my own wishes regarding her upbringing. I wanted to give her a child in return for taking one away from her. I let her isolate my only child, the same way she had been isolated by her husband. I think, since she had been bullied for so long, she wanted to be the one in command and keep others dependent on her. She became the bully, and I failed to see it. She used emotions like guilt, jealousy, and love against all of us to force us to do what she desired. I blame myself for most of it. I should have taken the boy in hand instead of pushing him away. She knew me best, and hence all my faults were easy to manipulate. She did not need to blackmail me to make me do as she wished. I compromised my daughter’s happiness, after all.”
Catherine got up and approached her father. She set his glass away and embraced him.
He hid his face in her shoulder. His eyes turned wet.
She said gently, “I was happy except for the last three years. I am sorry I was angry. It was not your fault. If anything, it was aunt’s fault. Her methods can have no reasonable excuse. Everyone suffers, but not everyone chooses to take such a malicious path.”
The Duke felt as if a great weight had lifted off his shoulders. He pushed her away to look into her face, “You have grown wise, child.”
She kissed the top of his head as she answered,
“I had the best teacher in you.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
After a sleepless night, the household woke up with a feeling of dread. The Duke would reveal the murderer today.
Everyone had broken into little groups and found separate corners to spend their morning. The Barker family sat huddled together in the breakfast room. Emma and the Earl had left to stroll in the gardens. The Duke was locked in his study with Nutters, while Lady Arden was still in bed.
“Have you truly forgiven your father?” Lord Raikes asked Catherine.
Catherine’s eyes skittered around the library. Only after ascertaining that they were alone did she reply, “I was miserable having my aunt as my chaperone. Yet, all through those years I was convinced my father was doing what he thought was best for me. I believed that with time I would come to understand his reasoning. I-I sympathise with his situation. It is difficult to see him as vulnerable.” She paused and then added on a more forceful note, “but I am also angry, for how could he make such a mistake? I thought he was perfect and could do no wrong.”
“I think he is a better man than most of us. It is not easy to concede one's faults, and for such a proud man, it is harder still. I think he did it for you,” Lord Raikes said gently.
“I know he did it for me. I truly appreciate that, but words cannot heal old sores, only time can do that.”
“Don’t let it fester into hatred. He only wants what is best for you,” he cautioned.
“He thinks I may have murdered my aunt. I cannot forgive that so easily. I wish the killer is caught soon. This situation is making me suspicious of everyone. I cannot help staring around the room and wondering who murdered her. I cannot dismiss anyone, not even Emma. I had even suspected my father. I know that’s hypocritical. He has every right to suspect me if I feel the same way. My brain tells me that he is not wrong in doing so, yet my heart rebels at the thought.”
“Do you think I did it?” Lord Raikes asked, searching her face.
She glanced up at him and did not answer.
He sighed. He could hardly expect to be discounted as the murderer if she was suspicious of even the Duke. This was a new tangle that interfered with their romance and he, too, could not wait for the killer to be caught.
His beautiful fiancée could hardly fall in love with a man she suspected of being a murderer.
***
That evening the Duke asked them to assemble in the library once more. Nutters was present armed with his quill and paper.
“Good evening. Some new evidence have come to light, and I wanted to share it with you,” the Duke announced.
Everyone faced the Duke, controlling their nervous fidgeting.
“I do not have the luxury to discount anyone, not even my own family members. Being a Duke has its advantages, yet at times like this, I wish I did not hold this title. I am torn between duty towards my family and my responsibilities. Please forgive me for what is about to follow. I am also bound to avenge my sister’s death, and that is why I will speak to you as a Duke and not as a friend, husband, uncle, or father.” He gazed around the room, his eyes resigned.
Not a squeak of protest was heard. The Duke was not asking them but informing them.
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The Duke continued after a moment, “I think it is only fair to all present that I first start with my daughter. Catherine had spent the most time with my sister, who was, as we all know, a difficult person. It was because of her that my daughter was literally a prisoner in her own home. She was alienated from her friends and from her family. She came to hate her aunt with a passion.”
He put up his hand to stall Lord Raikes, who had risen from his seat to argue. “I know what you are going to tell me, that she loved her as well, like no one else present in this room did. Lord Raikes, a person commits a crime out of an intense emotion. It is easier for love to turn into hatred than mere dislike. She loved the memory of her aunt as she had been during her childhood, allowing her to escape to the library when she pleased, encouraging her shyness, and soothing her tears. When Catherine grew up, she slowly understood the negative aspects of her aunt’s attitude and how it was affecting her life and personality. She is an intelligent girl, and she slowly realised that she could never hope to grow as a person with her aunt acting as her guardian. She needed to break free of her influence and for once breathe. She had been suffocating. I would never let my sister go. How could I be expected to choose between a daughter and a sister? So she had the motive to kill. She runs the household, hence her procuring a butcher’s knife was not a problem. Finally, she does not have an alibi, and her room is closest to my sister’s.”
Catherine had turned white. Lord Raikes held her hand and glared at the Duke and asked, “How can you accuse your own daughter?”
“I am merely stating facts,” the Duke replied dispassionately.
“Are you saying your daughter is the murderer?” Mr Barker enquired.
“No, I am not confirming who the murderer is . . . yet. I am simply telling you how she had the means and the motive. I will now come to you, Lord Raikes,” he said, turning to face the furious man, “you are in love with my daughter.”
A few gasps sounded around the room. Not everyone had been aware of this new development.