Murder at the Ice Ball

by Leighann Dobbs

  Murder at the Ice Ball

  Lady Katherine Regency Mysteries Book 3

  Leighann Dobbs

  Harmony Williams

  Contents

  Summary

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Also by Leighann Dobbs

  About Leighann Dobbs

  About Harmony Williams

  Summary

  When a tragic accident turns out to be murder, Lady Katherine finds herself embroiled in an investigation tainted by lies and deception.

  With conflicting witness testimony, mysterious neighbors who saw the impossible, and a secret someone would kill for, Katherine must dig into the dark side of polite London society to uncover the truth.

  Naturally, she has help. Maybe too much help. Along with her loyal maid, Harriet, her pilfering pug, Emma, and her Bow Street Runner friend Lyle, Katherine is joined by budding investigator Pru Burwick and her eccentric Scottish fiancé, Lord Annandale. Katherine wouldn’t mind their help so much if Annandale didn’t keep bringing the insufferable Captain Wayland along.

  When the investigation takes a disturbing turn, Katherine gets a lead that indicates someone close to her may not be telling the truth, and she must make a tough decision. Protecting her loved one means keeping a secret from her closest allies. Hopefully it does not also mean letting a killer go free.

  Chapter One

  Tuesday, November 5, 1816

  Dalhousie Manor, Mayfair, London

  “You could have worn something a touch more appealing,” whispered Prudence Burwick, Lady Katherine Irvine’s dear friend and confidante.

  Katherine most certainly could not have worn something more appealing. After her stay in the holiday town of Bath a couple months ago, the Marquess of Bath’s elderly grandmother had for some unfathomable reason fixated upon her as the marquess’s future bride. Katherine would sooner marry her pug than she would marry Lord Bath. Not because he was so very much older than her—her father and stepmother were of a similar age gap and blissfully happy—but because Katherine Irvine did not wish to marry.

  Anyone.

  No, her aspirations resided not in happily wedded bliss but in following in her father’s footsteps and becoming a detective of some renown. After the fiasco in Bath, she felt the need to redeem herself acutely. Yes, the Burglar of Bath had been uncovered in the end, but she cringed every time she had to admit she’d had her hand in the cessation of the thefts. Fortunately, the investigative arts were not seen as appropriate to her gender, so the majority of her acquaintances had no notion of her pursuit of criminals. For once, she was glad of that fact.

  Pru, a woman every bit as tall as Katherine, with a solid frame and a sharp cast to her nose and chin when she frowned, gave Katherine an assessing look as she toyed with a lock of her brown hair. “Pink might bring out your complexion.”

  “I don’t need to bring out my complexion.”

  “Green makes you look sallow. Honestly, you should burn that dress.”

  All the better, for as long as Grandma Bath was in London and her grandson unwed, Katherine intended to look as unappealing as possible. “Perhaps if I added a few flower-shaped buttons to the bodice,” she quipped.

  Pru grimaced. Pru’s mother had gone wild for the ugliest floral buttons in existence and was even trying to convince Pru to add some to her wedding dress as decoration. For all that Pru’s groom, the Marquess of Annandale, had seen these notorious buttons and opted to propose anyway, Pru bristled every time her mother’s fashion tastes were mentioned.

  Katherine pointedly raised her eyebrow at her friend. “Or perhaps we ought to try to enjoy the festivities without worrying about how we look. It isn’t every day someone holds an ice ball.”

  Tucking her hair behind her ear, Pru narrowed her eyes slyly. “Are you not concerned with your appearance because a certain someone is not in attendance?”

  Snapping her eyes from surveilling the gathering, Katherine glanced at Pru. Did she know something Katherine didn’t? Feigning a smile, she quipped, “You mean Lord Annandale? I assure you, I haven’t set my cap for him.”

  Pru raised her eyebrows. “Neither he nor I are concerned that you have. You know of whom I speak.”

  Captain Dorian Wayland. Katherine fought the urge to search the gathering again. She hadn’t seen him since their escapade in Bath, and she didn’t look forward to seeing him tonight. In fact, it was best if they crossed paths only in the Royal Society for Investigative Techniques. Even then, their contact ought to be minimal. Even if Katherine wanted to extend their association, which she didn’t, her father would never approve. The Earl of Dorchester hated Wayland to such an extent that Katherine had once loathed the very sight of him as well.

  However, after the help he’d provided on the last two cases she’d investigated, she’d had to admit her father’s explanation seemed a bit thin. From what she had observed of Wayland, he had an even stricter moral guideline than she when it came to investigating suspects. What could he possibly have done to make her father think otherwise?

  Desperate to change the subject, Katherine said, “Yes, where is Lord Bath?”

  Pru made a face but no longer nettled her friend about Wayland’s absence, at the very least.

  “I believe I saw him near the doors to the garden.”

  “What would possess him to stand there?”

  Lady Dalhousie, whom Katherine knew to have a penchant for exaggeration and dramatics, had turned the ballroom of her London manor into an ice fortress. The fact that her servants had been unable to wedge the glass garden doors open any farther than a hand span hadn’t deterred her in the least. Now, a ghastly ice swan perched in front of the doors, so thin that ice had encroached on the inside and sealed them to the floor. The door had been propped open so the ice didn’t melt from the heat of the hearth on the far side of the room, where Katherine stood. Anyone who opted to stand near the swan risked frostbite.

  Despite the fact that access to the garden had been detoured down the narrow servants’ corridor that ran the length of the manor to an innocuous exit, Lady Dalhousie’s extravagance had continued into the garden. The early, bitter winter hadn’t deterred her one bit. She’d sensationalized the cold by commissioning ice sculptures in various shapes, not only that of feathered pests. A footman stood post by the exit to the garden, ready to offer cloaks and muffs to anyone who wished to tour the exhibit. Katherine was not among that number.

  Indoors, Lady Dalhousie had strewn strings of cheap crystals to reflect the light of the chandelier. They were reminiscent of icicles, very like the prized diamond-and-aquamarine necklace the hostess wore constantly. The result was a room that sparkled like the falling snow in the gaslight of the streetlamps on Pall Mall Street.

  Pru shrugged. “How should I know Lord Bath’s inclinations? Isn’t that your task?”

  When Lord Bath and his grandmother had come to London once more, Katherine’s father had invited them both to dinner. Frankly, Katherine had been astonished to find Grandma Bath in London given how difficult she must f
ind traveling at her advanced age. As it turned out, she had accompanied her grandson to London because she had an agenda—to marry him off. In order to keep herself off the top of the list of marriageable candidates, Katherine had agreed at once to become his matchmaker even though that did not seem to deter Grandma Bath from trying to persuade her to marry Lord Bath.

  The bigger problem was that Grandma Bath did not want him to know she was trying to find him a match. And trying to discover what sort of woman would suit Lord Bath without his guessing at the aim of her questions had been a puzzle in itself. A frustrating puzzle. If the marquess was to be believed, he hadn’t the faintest idea of what sort of woman attracted him. I’ll know the right woman when I see her was not a helpful answer.

  Neither was suggesting that Katherine’s curiosity would be better applied to finding herself a husband. At least he, unlike his grandmother, didn’t consider her a candidate. Katherine would accept her small blessings where they came.

  “I don’t see him.” The only men near the swan were a pair of young bucks who appeared thoroughly soused. One gestured to the swan as if flirting with it while the second pressed his hand to his mouth to stifle his laughter.

  Slyly, Pru asked, “Lord Bath or Captain Wayland?”

  Katherine glared at her friend. “Lord Bath.”

  “So you say.” Pru lengthened her words. “But I never saw you so concerned with his whereabouts while in Bath.”

  “I wasn’t attempting to find him a match in Bath, now was I? That honor was reserved for a different woman.” Katherine raised her eyebrows, rewarded by Pru’s blush. “Why are you so concerned all of a sudden?”

  The question chased the color from Pru’s cheeks. She looked down, playing with a lock of her hair once more. “You haven’t seemed the least bit troubled since we returned from Bath.”

  Katherine stiffened. “Should I be?” They’d found the Burglar of Bath, and the thefts would stop, so what was there to be troubled about?

  With a shrug, Pru pretended to pay more mind to the mingling crowd and enthusiastic dancers. “I have to wonder why you don’t seem to find London so dreadfully dull. In Bath, we had excitement every night. Since coming home, the only thrilling thing that’s happened has been the early return of our peers to town. And not even all of them.” She lowered her eyes, her eyelashes tickling her cheeks.

  “You miss Annandale.”

  “Not only!” Pru exclaimed, raising her head as she colored up again.

  She was in love. Katherine had seen it blossom in Bath, and to be honest, she encouraged it. She was a matchmaker, if a reluctant one at times, since she primarily used the role to veil her investigations so she didn’t raise suspicions by asking questions. She had no objections to falling in love—for other people. Katherine had a name to make for herself yet, and she had no intention of hiding in a man’s shadow, her husband’s or her father’s.

  Pru added, “The investigation in Bath was rather heady as well. It’s dull having nothing to do.”

  Pru was right, but Katherine had occupied herself by searching for a reasonably priced townhouse in a respectable neighborhood so she could slip away from the other sickeningly in love couple in her life: her parents. Papa and Susanna, her stepmother, were again trying to produce an heir, cooing and sneaking kisses in every corner. As heartwarming as it was to see them happy, Katherine also found it nauseating.

  “If you enjoy investigating so well, why don’t you come with me and Lyle to the next Society meeting?” Lyle Murphy, Katherine’s closest friend, worked on Bow Street as one of Sir John’s Men. He hated the term Bow Street Runner, even if it was accurate. He was forever chasing criminals throughout the streets of London and producing inventions and establishing never-before-used forensic techniques to help the search at the same time. They had met when she’d accompanied her father to a monthly meeting of the Royal Society for Investigative Techniques.

  “Can I?” Pru brightened for a moment before she dimmed. “But I don’t have the blunt for a membership. Mama would never approve the expense.”

  “I’ll sponsor you this time, and we’ll start on the application. The paperwork takes ages to finalize. By then, you’ll be Lady Annandale, and I’m certain you’ll have the funds for the annual membership.” She winked, coaxing a coy smile from Pru.

  “Very well, but if I’m to accompany you to the meeting, then you must accompany me to the dressmaker.”

  “That hardly seems like a fair exchange.”

  “I need you,” Pru insisted, her voice carrying above the swell of music.

  “You just finished mocking my attire.”

  “I don’t need your fashion advice.”

  Katherine stifled a sigh. She didn’t have bad taste in fashion. She dressed unappealingly on purpose to avoid the gaze of any men who thought her an interesting target. Since her sisters had married off, the tactic had worked swimmingly.

  Pru caught Katherine’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I need your companionship.”

  How could Katherine say no to that?

  “And to keep my mother from choosing the style of my wedding gown.”

  Katherine laughed. “There’s the true reason.”

  “Please,” Pru begged, her eyes wide. Her hand tightened almost painfully on Katherine’s.

  The main reason Katherine had convinced Pru to keep her company while she accompanied Lord Bath and his grandmother to the ice ball was so that Pru could escape her mother’s clutches. Despite the fact that Pru and Annandale had agreed to a long engagement, if Mrs. Burwick had her way, her daughter would be married by Christmas in a wedding to rival the Prince Regent’s.

  “Very well, I’ll go.”

  After another quick squeeze, Pru released Katherine’s hand. “Thank you.”

  Katherine nodded in acknowledgment and changed the subject. “Now, will you help me search for Lord Bath? I can’t find him a match if he doesn’t socialize with anyone.”

  “I know I saw him by the doors.”

  “Well, he isn’t there now.”

  “Perhaps he went out to view the sculptures?”

  If Grandma Bath had wanted to go outdoors to view the sculptures, Katherine had no doubt that Lord Bath would have been hovering at her elbow. He doted on his grandmother, one of his many admirable qualities. He had a good heart and did things for the right reasons, even if he could be a bit misguided at times.

  “I am not going outside,” Katherine answered. “Even Emma has a difficult time convincing me, and you know how the little pug has a tiny bladder.”

  “Very well. We’ll stay in here and weather Mrs. Fairchild’s glare for the rest of the evening.”

  Katherine stifled a groan and the urge to search the grounds. She didn’t want her rival matchmaker to find any reason to come over and nettle her. That vicious woman had accused Katherine twice of crimes she hadn’t committed. In public! Katherine wished her matchmaking clients a lifetime of happiness, whereas Mrs. Fairchild only saw status and didn’t understand the power of the heart.

  After skillfully arranging for Mrs. Fairchild to make the better match in Bath, at least in terms of status, Katherine had hoped to appease the cantankerous woman. Unfortunately, she must have fallen short of the mark.

  To Pru, Katherine said, “Perhaps we’ll just peek out the garden doors and see if we glimpse anyone of import.”

  Pru only smiled, which made Katherine wonder if she’d seen Mrs. Fairchild at all. Nevertheless, if Lord Bath was idling in the garden, it would behoove her to make some effort to find him.

  As they reached the intoxicated young men, Katherine quipped, “I’m afraid you’ll have to do better than that, friend. She’s a notorious ice queen.”

  “Oh?” The one with the blond hair falling into his eyes seemed thoroughly foxed, so much so that he appeared to have trouble deciphering Katherine’s words.

  His companion, on the other hand, didn’t seem nearly so far into his cups. Tall, lean, and dressed like a dandy, the man sm
iled. “And do you have firsthand knowledge, Miss…”

  “Lady,” Katherine corrected, her voice crisp. “Katherine.”

  “Lord,” he answered, raising an eyebrow in challenge. “Lord Conyers. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

  Katherine stifled a sigh. “We’ve met.” The number of lords and ladies was a small one. At one point or another, Katherine had met them all.

  Though Lord Conyers didn’t warrant remembering. The last time she’d encountered him, he’d been intoxicated. It appeared to be a pattern. She’d pegged him as a rake and a hedonist, and it seemed that time hadn’t changed him much.

  His smile grew, though it didn’t warm his gaze at all. “Ah, yes. Dorchester’s daughter, aren’t you? You have more fire than your sisters.”

  “And you have a better chance with the swan. If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen.”

  Katherine used her wide hips to her advantage to shove the statue between herself and the men before she turned to the glass door, which stood slightly ajar. “Help me push,” she said with a grunt. “The heat in here must have loosened the ice by now.”

  They managed to widen the door enough to peer out. Katherine shivered from the chill.

  “Do you see him?”

  “I don’t see any—”

  A scream and a horrendous crunch ended Pru’s answer as she yelped. Katherine moved close enough to peer over her shoulder. Her blood turned as icy as the outdoor air. In the snow just beyond the shadow of the balcony was the body of a woman, facedown and unmoving.