‘Did you have much to do with him?’
Gideon chuckled. ‘You know how attached to him Mother was, which meant he was never far away whenever I called here to see her. We passed the time of day. He was a great sporting man. Liked the horses, bare knuckle fights and what have you.’
‘An odd relationship, don’t you think? Your mother and the footman, and your father not minding.’
‘None of my business, Lord Riley. All I can tell you is that the old folks were perfectly content with the arrangement, and they weren’t hurting anyone. So why should I care?’ He paused. ‘In fact, I’d say that it kept their marriage…well, fresh.’
Riley nodded, suspecting that he was thinking of his own wife’s sour demeanour and regretted marrying her. He would like to ask what had persuaded him to do so, but it wasn’t relevant to the investigation so he resisted the temptation.
‘I understand you had an engagement last night. May I ask where you were?’
‘Ah.’ He flushed, looking uncomfortable for the first time, thereby providing Riley with a clue. ‘Can I depend upon your discretion?’
‘If your whereabouts has no bearing on this enquiry, then certainly you can.’
He looked relieved. ‘I told Verity that I had an engagement, but in fact I dined at my club and was then with a lady. It would have been hard for me to think of a reason to go out again if I’d dined at home, you see. Anyway, I can provide you with her address and she will confirm it. I left her at gone eleven o’clock and returned directly home.’
Riley thanked him after he’d given the lady’s particulars and Salter had made a note of them. ‘Just one last question. Were you aware that your mother had offered to finance a sporting club that Ezra was thinking of opening?’
‘Had she?’ He blinked. ‘News to me, but don’t underestimate the old girl, Lord Riley. She wouldn’t have offered to do so out of the goodness of her heart, no matter how attached she was to Ezra. Not many people know this, and she’s too modest to mention it herself, but Mother has a shrewd business brain inside her head and knows a good opportunity when she sees one. I happen to know she’s increased her personal fortune quite substantially by making wise investments, sometimes in stocks and bonds, but also in private enterprises that she hears about.’
‘Your father didn’t say anything.’
Gideon smiled. ‘Father is the opposite. Give him a thorny political problem to wrestle with and he’ll find a solution that evades everyone else. Give him a guinea, on the other hand, and he’ll turn it into a shilling in less than no time. His mind is above such mundane matters as money and paying the bills, which is why Mother kept control of her fortune, I’ve always thought. Anyway, if you think that I bumped old Ezra off to avoid being embarrassed or because Mother had offered him a loan, then you’re quite wrong.’
‘Thank you,’ Riley said, standing to indicate that the interview was at an end. ‘Is your sister or brother here yet?’
‘Not sure. I’ll check and have some refreshments sent in while you wait.’
‘My sergeant will be much obliged for your thoughtfulness,’ Riley replied, smiling.
Chapter Four
The promised refreshments were delivered and Salter barely had time to do them justice before an attractive young woman sailed through the door on the arm of an exceptionally tall gentleman. They proved to be Ida’s daughter Sarah and her husband, the commodore, Mark Heston. He introduced them both, displaying faultless manners and the quintessential stiff upper lip generally inherent in gentlemen of a certain class during times of upheaval.
Riley was unable to decide if Heston was relieved by the violent demise of his mother-in-law’s lover or completely indifferent to the event. His amiable expression gave little of the true nature of his thoughts away, but Riley imagined that if Ida’s behaviour became common knowledge, it would have some ramifications upon an ambitious man’s career prospects.
‘This would be frightfully exciting,’ Sarah said as she took a seat, showing the same uncontrived smile and effervescent personality as her mother, ‘were the circumstances not quite so beastly. I have never been grilled by a Scotland Yard detective before. Shall you get the thumb screws out, Lord Riley?’
Riley laughed. ‘I doubt whether that will be necessary,’ he said.
Her husband seemed equally relaxed as he took the chair beside her, looking affectionately amused by Sarah’s comment.
‘Not quite what you were expecting from the evening, I suppose,’ Riley said.
‘Verity will have something to really complain about now,’ Sarah said with relish.
‘Sarah,’ her husband replied in a mildly castigating tone.
‘Well, it’s true. We all find her tedious, and I dare say Lord Riley’s brief meeting with her was sufficient for him to reach the same conclusion.’
‘I couldn’t possibly comment,’ Riley replied, smiling again.
‘Well, of course you couldn’t. Anyway, I expect you’re trying to decide which of us bumped off Mama’s friend.’
‘Delicately put as always, Sarah,’ Heston said.
‘I’m sure the officers are aware of the true nature of their friendship.’ Sarah gave a careless shrug. ‘Lord Riley wouldn’t be much of a detective if he was not, and everyone says he is the best there is. Anyway, everyone else beneath this roof knew, and no one other than Verity could give two figs about it.’ She grinned. ‘In fact, were I not blissfully happily married, I might even be just a touch jealous.’
Heston smiled, shook his head and sent Riley a what-can-I-do-with-her look.
‘Do you know of anyone who bore Ezra a grudge?’ Riley asked, thinking that this personable young woman was the type whom people would confide in. And one who was perfectly capable of ferreting out secrets for herself.
‘No one in this house other than Verity,’ Sarah replied immediately. ‘And I very much doubt whether she would lower herself to go down to Clapham and do away with him. She will tell anyone who listens—which I do not, by the way—that she has standards. Besides, a strong gust of wind would blow her over and Ezra was a tall, very well built young man.’ She pouted. ‘Shame, that. I would really like it to be Verity. You would be doing Gideon a huge favour if you took her into custody, Lord Riley, even if you have to let her go again. Her dignity would never recover.’
‘I’m afraid I would need a little more evidence than your dislike of your brother’s wife,’ Riley replied, smiling.
‘Botheration!’
Everyone laughed, even her long-suffering husband.
‘I need to ask you where you both were last night,’ Riley said.
‘Of course you do, Lord Riley. I quite understand, and I am very glad that you did ask. Then I can tell all my friends that I was a murder suspect—if only very briefly, I hope.’ She smiled at them. She was Ida to a tee—flamboyant, confident and incapable of taking life seriously. ‘Not even the admiral’s wife will be able to top that one,’ she said, looking very satisfied.
‘I would much rather you didn’t mention it to her,’ Heston said, rolling his eyes, probably resigned to the fact that his request would fall on deaf ears. ‘Anyway, to answer your question, Lord Riley, we have been in London for two nights already. We keep an apartment in South Audley Street, since my duties for the Admiralty make it necessary for me to be in town quite frequently.’
‘Mama offered us a place here but Verity always seems to be around and we prefer to avoid her company,’ Sarah added. ‘Why she insists upon calling so often when she doesn’t approve of Mama’s conduct is a mystery. For her part, Mama doesn’t give Verity’s disapproval a passing thought. She is impossibly pretentious—Verity that is, not Mama—and her presence is guaranteed to cast a pall over the liveliest of gatherings.’ Sarah shook her head. ‘It must be exhausting always to disapprove of anything the slightest bit enjoyable. Really, I fail to understand what made Gideon marry her.’
‘Sarah!’
‘Well, Mark, it’s true. She had lot
s of money, I know, but Gid didn’t need that. She came from very humble origins, Lord Riley. Were you aware of that? Her father was a master cooper, whatever that is. Terribly clever at it, by all accounts, and made oodles of money. But money does not a lady make. Then again, those with the least to boast about are usually the worst offenders, I find.’
‘She supports your brother’s political ambitions, one assumes.’
‘Oh good heavens, yes! Don’t get her talking on the subject or you will be stuck for an hour. To hear Verity, Gid is the next prime minister in the making.’
‘I should have thought,’ Salter said, speaking for the first time, ‘that the two ladies would have made a point of avoiding one another, given that their characters are so different. Yet you imply that Mrs Verity Randall is a frequent and presumably unwelcome visitor to this house. Frankly, I’m surprised that your mother puts up with her, even if she does allow her disapproval to wash over her. She doesn’t strike me as the type to waste time on anything or anyone who bores her.’
‘Oh, Verity is a sly one.’ Sarah’s indefatigable cheerfulness briefly gave way to a glower of disapproval. ‘She knows who controls the purse strings and is not above asking for a handout. Then she says horrible things about Mama’s conduct, not always behind her back.’
Riley shared a bemused look with Salter. ‘Excuse me, but I understood that she brought a substantial dowry to her marriage.’
‘I’m sure she did, but I expect it’s all gone.’ Sarah flapped a hand in the air, as dramatic in her way as her mother. ‘Getting one’s face known in the right political circles is an expensive business. It’s all a question of who you know and creating the right impression by entertaining lavishly.’
‘Sarah digresses for a change,’ Heston said, smiling. ‘You asked us to account for our whereabouts. Well, we were in London last night. We went to the theatre and out to dinner afterwards. We were with friends and I can give you their particulars.’
Salter took down the details and thanked him.
‘Your mother offered to finance a sporting club for Ezra,’ Riley told Sarah. ‘Were you aware of this?’
‘Yes, actually, I was,’ she surprised Riley by replying without hesitation. ‘Mama mentioned it when I called last week. She felt Ezra was wasting his talents as a servant. Men like him, she told me, were leaders not followers, and she thought his idea had potential.’
‘No one minded?’ Salter asked.
Sarah lifted a slender shoulder. ‘If anyone else knew, they didn’t mention it to me. Well, Mama wouldn’t have spoken to Verity or Gid about it. Verity would have expressed vehement disapproval, and anyway she acted as though Ezra didn’t exist and refused to mention his name. Actually, he’s lucky in that respect. Just because she’s a few years older than me she seems to think that gives her the right to lecture me on every subject under the sun. Insufferable woman!’
‘Thank you for being so forthright, Mrs Heston,’ Riley said, smiling at her.
‘Oh, I am never anything else. I cannot stand people who say one thing and mean another. I am not nearly clever enough to read between the lines, so I much prefer plain speaking.’
‘No one who is admitted to my wife’s charming company will ever be left in doubt about that for long,’ Heston said, smiling affectionately at Sarah. ‘If there’s nothing else, Lord Riley, we should join the rest of the family.’
‘Please do. Is your younger brother here, Mrs Heston?’
‘He ought to be.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘But with Patrick it’s never safe to assume anything. I’ll send him through if he has deigned to join us, shall I?’
‘If you would be so kind.’
‘I feel exhausted after that,’ Salter said as the Hestons left the room, Sarah still chattering away as though Ezra’s death was the most exciting thing she’d ever lived through. She wasn’t being ghoulish, Riley sensed, and he suspected that beneath that sunny disposition she would be seriously upset by her mother’s loss. ‘She’s very unusual. Her mother’s daughter through and through—but without the questionable morals, I hope.’
‘We shall still have to make sure that they were both where they said they were last night,’ Riley replied. ‘Heston’s career would suffer if Ida’s relationship with a footman became public knowledge.’
‘You don’t think he did it, do you?’
‘I doubt it, but you know me, Jack. I never leave anything to chance.’
The door opened and a startlingly handsome young man with a shock of thick fair hair ambled through it. He wore impeccably tailored evening clothes that looked as though they had been thrown on in the dark. He yawned as he offered Riley his hand, showing no obvious concern about the reason for Riley’s presence in his mother’s house.
‘Patrick Randall,’ he said. ‘What’s all this about murdered footmen?’ He threw himself into a chair, merely nodding at Salter when Riley made the introduction. ‘Is there going to be the most frightful scandal?’
‘Is that your only concern?’ Riley asked mildly.
‘Family name and all that,’ he replied languidly. ‘Big brother won’t like it.’ He chuckled, as if the thought had only just occurred to him and he enjoyed the possibility. ‘Political ambitions don’t survive scandal.’
Riley assessed the young man, not especially impressed by what he saw. ‘You are aware of your mother’s friendship with the dead man?’
He nodded. ‘Which is why there’s such a potential for scandal.’
‘You didn’t approve?’
‘Of her playing happy families with the hired help? Hardly, but Mother is law unto herself. Always has been, and nothing I said was going to stop her embarrassing us all.’
‘Your father don’t seem embarrassed,’ Salter growled, his tone implying that his opinion of the languid young man matched Riley’s own.
‘He puts a brave face on it.’ Patrick raised one shoulder. ‘What else can he do?’
‘Did you have anything to do with Ezra?’
‘I’m away at university just now. I’ve not been here that much.’
‘But when you are? I gather he was a keen sportsman and we both know that sporting events see men from all walks of life rubbing shoulders in a common cause.’
‘I went to a fight he told me about a few months back.’ He raised a brow in challenging amusement. ‘I hope you aren’t going to arrest me. I shall deny it if you do.’
‘We aren’t interested in unlicensed fights. We have a murderer to apprehend,’ Riley said, hardening his voice.
‘Ezra mentioned that the event was taking place in a disused barn near Clapham. I was down from university so I thought it might be amusing to take a party of friends along, which I did.’
‘And that is the extent of your interaction with the man?’ Salter asked.
‘Answer the question,’ Riley said, firming his voice when Patrick hesitated.
‘I might have taken the opportunity to advise him to leave Mother be,’ Patrick said negligently, crossing one foot over his opposite knee. ‘I pointed out to him that they weren’t being as discreet as they seemed to think, and that the family’s reputation was suffering as a consequence.’
‘How did he respond?’
‘He laughed in my face and told me that decision was up to Mother. Damned impudent of him, I thought. He implied that she had instigated the affair and that it was up to her to decide when it came to an end.’
‘That must have angered you,’ Salter said.
‘It was a while ago,’ Patrick replied, waving a hand in airy dismissal of Salter’s implication. Gold cufflinks winked at Riley as Patrick’s sleeve rolled back with the gesture. ‘I wasn’t best pleased with his response—I mean what son would enjoy seeing his own mother behaving like a harlot? But if I was going to kill him, I would have done it then, not waited all these months.’
‘Did you know that your mother had offered to finance a sporting club that Ezra planned to open in Clapham?’
Finally, Riley had sai
d something to rouse the indolent young man from his faux lethargy. He sat bolt upright and his feet both hit the floor with a resounding thud. ‘No, I did not know that. How much had he wheedled out of her?’
Riley told him, eliciting a low whistle. Patrick’s pale cheeks turned red and Riley could tell that he was struggling to contain his anger. ‘Is the cash committed?’ he asked.
‘That’s something you will have to ask your mother about,’ Riley said. ‘In the meantime, please tell me where you were last night.’
‘Me? Damned liberty!’
‘I really must insist,’ Riley replied mildly, intransigent in the face of Patrick’s posturing.
‘Come along now, sir, or we’ll be thinking that you have something to hide,’ Salter added.
‘I dined with friends, then went on to visit a lady. I stayed the night with her and left this morning.’
‘The lady will be able to vouch for you, in that case,’ Riley said, only mildly surprised that both brothers had occupied their time in a similar manner. But at least Patrick didn’t have a wife whom he was cheating on. Salter would be partially reassured.
‘She can, but I shall require your discretion, Lord Riley. The lady is married and will not thank me for bringing scandal to her door.’
‘It’s all right for you to carry on and risk creating a scandal, but not for your mother,’ Salter growled.
‘Keep a civil tongue in your head, Sergeant!’
Salter responded with a level stare, and it was Patrick who broke eye contact first.
‘The names of your friends and of the lady,’ Riley reminded him.
Salter made a point of writing everything down laboriously, requesting confirmation of spellings and addresses, simply to annoy Patrick. Riley could have warned the young man that it was never a good idea to put his sergeant’s back up.
‘Thank you,’ Riley said with exaggerated politeness, once they had extracted all the necessary information from the recalcitrant young man. ‘That will be all for now. You may go.’
Death of a Footman (Riley Rochester Investigates Book 8) Page 6