Slightly Shady (3 page)

He made no move to close the short distance between them, however. Instead he lounged there, one shoulder propped negligently against the frame of the door, arms folded across his chest. "Do you know, Mrs. Lake," Tobias March said, "I had a feeling that you and I would meet up again one day But who could have guessed that it would be under such interesting circumstances?" She had to swallow twice before she could speak. When she did eventually manage to utter a few coherent words, her voice sounded thin and it easily cracked. "Did you murder that man?" Tobias glanced at the body. "No. I got here after the killer, just as you did. From what I can determine, Felix was killed on his front step. The murderer must have dragged him back into this room." The news did little to reassure her. "What are you doing here?" "I was about to ask you the same question." He contemplated her with a considering air. "But I have a hunch I already know the answer. You are obviously one of Felix's blackmail victims, are you not?" Outrage temporarily overcame fear. "The horrid creature sent me two notes this week. The first arrived on Monday. It was delivered to the kitchen door. I could not believe my eyes when I read his ridiculous demands. He wanted a hundred pounds. Can you imagine? One hundred pounds to ensure his silence. Of all the unmitigated gall." "On what point did he promise to maintain silence?" Tobias watched her intently. "Have you been into more mischief since we last met?" "How dare you, sir? This is entirely your fault and yours alone." "My fault?" "Yes, Mr. March. I blame the entire affair on you." She gestured toward the body with the tip of the penknife. "That wretched man attempted to blackmail me over that business in Rome. He threatened to reveal everything." "Did he indeed?" Tobias straightened with an oddly stiff movement. "Now, that is most interesting. What, precisely, did he know?" "I just told you, he knew it all. He threatened to make it known that I had operated a shop in Rome frequented by a band of villains. He implied that I was an accomplice to their schemes and had allowed the cutthroats to use my establishment as a communications post. He even went so far as to infer that I had very likely been the mistress of the gang's leader." "Was that all he said in his note?" "All? Isn't that enough? Mr. March, in spite of your best efforts, my niece and I managed to survive your assault on our business in Rome. Barely." He inclined his head. "I rather thought you might come about again. Yours is a spirit that does not sink easily." She ignored that. "Indeed, things are going rather well at the moment. I have every hope of giving Emeline a taste of a real Season. With luck, she may even meet an eligible gentleman who can support her in the manner to which I wish to see her accustomed. This is a rather delicate time, if you see what I mean. I cannot allow her name to be tainted by the least hint of gossip." "I see." "If Felix had bruited it about that she had at one time been in- volved in a shop that catered to villains in Rome, the damage would be incalculable." "I suppose gossip to the effect that she was the niece of the mistress of a notorious criminal lord would complicate your scheme to launch Miss Emeline into the social whirl." "Complicate it? It would ruin everything. This is all so very unfair. Emeline and I had nothing to do with those villains and the man you called CarAisle. I don't see how any person possessed of even a small measure of refined sensibilities could leap to the conclusion that my niece and I consorted with thieves and murderers." "I leaped to that conclusion for a short time at the start of the affair, if you will recall." "I do not find that particularly surprising," she said grimly "I was referring to persons possessed of refined sensibilities. That group would hardly include you, sir." "Or Holton Felix, apparently." Tobias looked at the body. "But I think it would be best to save this discussion of my lack of ex-' quisite sensibilities for another occasion when we will have the leisure to examine my flaws in detail. At the moment, we have other problems. I assume we are both here for the same purpose." "I don't know why you are here, Mr. March, but I came to search for a certain diary thatapparently once belonged to the valet of Mr. Carlisle. The man you claimed was the leader of the criminal gang in Rome." She paused, frowning. "What do you know of this affair?" "You know the old saying 'No man is a hero to his valet.' It seems that Carlisle's faithful servant kept a private record of his employer's most damning secrets. After Carlisle's death-" "Carlisle is dead?" "Quite. As I was saying, the valet sold the diary to purchase passage back to England. He was killed, apparently by a footpad, before he got out of Rome. From what I was able to determine, the diary was sold twice after that. In both instances, the temporary possessors have suffered fatal accidents." He angled his head toward Felix's body. "And now there is a third death associated with the damn thing."

Lavinia swallowed. "Good heavens." "Indeed." Tobias left the doorway to walk toward the desk. Lavinia watched him uneasily. There was something odd about the way he moved, she thought; a slight but detectable catch in his gait. A limp, actually. She could have sworn there had been no such hesitation in his stride the last time she saw him. "How do you come to know so much about this diary?" she asked. "I have been on the trail of the damned thing for the past few weeks. Followed it across the Continent. I arrived in England a few days ago." "Why have you chased after it?" Tobias jerked open a desk drawer. "Among other interesting bits of gossip, I believe it to contain information that may answer some questions for my client." "What sort of questions?" He glanced at her over his shoulder. "Questions of treason and murder." "Treason?" "During the war." He opened another drawer and rifled through some papers. "We really do not have time to go into the details of the matter. I shall explain later." "Never say you failed in your endeavors in Rome, Mr. March. Surely, after all you put us through that dreadful night, you did not fumble the prize? What, precisely, happened to that man Carlisle? You claimed he would show up in our shop to collect the message from his minion." "Carlisle arrived after you left." " Well? " "He tripped and fell on the stairs." Her eyes widened in disbelief. "He tripped and fell?"

"Accidents do happen, Mrs. Lake. A staircase can be treacherous." "Bah. I knew it. You mishandled matters after Emeline and I left that night, did you not?" "There were complications." "Obviously." For some reason, in spite of the horrific situation, she was able to take a perverse satisfaction in laying the blame at his feet. "I should have guessed the truth immediately after I received Holton Felix's first extortion note. After all, things had been going along quite smoothly until that moment. I should have known that when problems arose, you would be at the root." "Damnation, Mrs. Lake, this is not the time to take me to task. You know nothing of the intricacies of this affair." "Admit it, sir. This problem with the valet's diary is entirely your fault. If you had dealt properly with the situation in Rome, we would not be here tonight." He went very still. In the hellish light cast by the fire, his eyes were very dangerous. "I assure you, the serpent who controlled that band of vipers in Italy is dead. Unfortunately, that was not the end of the matter. My client wishes to see the entire affair resolved. He has engaged me to do so, and that is precisely what I intend to do." She went cold. "I see." "Carlisle was at one time a member of a criminal organization known as the Blue Chamber. The gang had tentacles throughout England and Europe. For many years the organization was controlled by a leader who styled himself Azure." Her mouth went dry. For some inexplicable reason she sensed he was telling her the truth. "How very theatrical." "Azure was the undisputed head of the organization. But from what we can discern, he died about a year ago. The Blue Chamber has been in chaos since his death. Azure had two powerful lieutenants, Carlisle and another man whose identity remains a mystery." "Azure and Carlisle are both gone, so I assume your client wants you to discover the identity of the third man?" "Yes. The diary may contain that information. With luck, it will also tell us who Azure was and clear up a few other questions as well. Now do you see why it is so dangerous?" "Indeed." Tobias picked up a sheaf of papers. "Rather than just standing there, why don't you make yourself useful?" "Useful? " "I did not have an opportunity to search the bedchamber before you arrived. Take a candle and see what you can discover in the room. I will finish in here." Her first impulse was to tell him to consign himself to Hades. But belatedly it occurred to her that he had a point. They were both after the same thing, it seemed. The advantages of dividing up the task of searching Felix's rooms were self-evident. in addition, there was another extremely compelling reason for following his instructions. If she took the bedchamber, she would not have to work in sight of the bloody body. She picked up a candle. "You do realize that there is a very good chance that whoever murdered Mr. Felix found the diary and took it away?" "If that is the case, our problems are considerably compounded." He cast her a cold-eyed look. "One step at a time, Mrs. Lake. Let us first see if we can discover that damned diary. It would certainly simplify matters." He was right, she thought. March was irritating, provoking, and extremely annoying, but he was correct. One disaster at a time. That was the only way to get through this affair. It was, in point of fact, the way she got through life. She hurried into the small room adjoining the parlor. There was a book on the table beside the bed. A tingle of excitement sparked within her. Perhaps luck was with her, after all. She crossed the room to examine the title in the glow of the. flame. The Education of a Lady. On the off chance that the leather binding might conceal a handwritten diary, she opened the cover and thumbed through a few pages. Disappointment drowned her small burst of hope. The volume was a recently published novel, not a personal journal. She replaced the book on the table and went to the washstand. It took only moments to search the small drawers. They contained the things she would have expected to discover in such a location: a comb and brush, shaving items, and a toothbrush. She tried the wardrobe next. There were a number of expensivelooking linen shirts and three stylish coats inside. Evidently on the occasions when he had done well at the tables, Felix had spent his winnings on fashionable clothing. Perhaps he saw the costly apparel as a business investment. "Have you found anything?" Tobias called softly from the other room. "No," she said. "You?" "Nothing." She heard him shift a large item of furniture in the outer room. The desk, perhaps. He was certainly being thorough in his search. She opened the drawers inside the wardrobe and discovered only a selection of gentlemen's smallclothes and cravats. She slammed the doors and turned around to study the sparsely furnished chamber.

Desperation grew until she could hardly breathe. What on earth would she do next if they did not find the evidence that had led Felix to attempt to blackmail her? Her gaze fell again on the leather-bound volume on the nightstand. There were no other books in evidence here in Felix's lodgings. If it were not for The Education of a Lady, she would have said he had not been given to amusing himself with literature. Yet he had kept the one novel beside his bed. She went slowly across the room to take another look at the book. Why would a gamester take an interest in a novel that had no doubt been written for young ladies? She picked up the book again and flipped through a few more pages, this time pausing to read a sentence here and there. It did not take long to see that the story had most definitely not been written for the edification of young ladies. ... her elegantly sculpted buttocks quivered in anticipation of my velvet whip ... "Good grief." Hastily she slammed the book closed. A small slip of paper fluttered to the floor. "Did you find something of interest?" Tobias inquired from the other room. "I most certainly did not." She glanced down at the small sheet of paper that had landed on the toe of her half boot. There was handwriting on it. She grimaced. Perhaps Felix had enjoyed the novel to such an extent, he had resorted to making notes on the text. She bent down to retrieve the paper, glancing at the words scrawled on it as she did so. Not notes on The Education of a Lady, but an address. Number Fourteen, Hazelton Square.

Why would Felix keep an address tucked in this particular novel? She caught the faint but telltale slide of Tobias's boot on the floor of the parlor. On impulse she tucked the note into her reticule and turned toward the door. He appeared in the opening, silhouetted against the dying firelight. "Well?" "I found nothing that even remotely resembles a diary," she said firmly and, she reflected, quite honestly "Neither did I." He swept the bedchamber with a grim expression. "We are too late. It appears that whoever murdered Felix had the presence of mind to take the diary." "Hardly a surprising turn of events. It's certainly what I would have done under the circumstances." "Hmm." She scowled. "What is it?" He looked at her. "It seems we must now bide our time until the new blackmailer makes his move.'' "The new blackmailer?" Shock held her motionless for a few seconds. She had to work to get her jaw closed. "Dear heaven, whatever are you saying, Sir? Do you suppose that Felix's killer intends to set up shop as an extortionist?" "If there is a promise of money in the enterprise, and I'm certain there is, then we must assume the answer to that question is yes." "Bloody hell." "My sentiments exactly, but we must look on the positive side, Mrs. Lake." "I fail to see one." He gave her a humorless smile. "Come now, the two of us managed to track down Felix independently, did we not?"

"Felix was an incompetent fool who left all sorts of clues. I had no problem bribing the urchin he used to deliver his blackmail notes. The lad gave me the direction in exchange for a few coins and a hot meat pie." "Very clever of you." Tobias looked back into the other room, where the dead man lay on the carpet in front of the fire. "I do not believe that whoever succeeded in murdering Felix will be quite so inept. Therefore, we had best combine forces, madam." A fresh wave of alarm shot through her. "Whatever are you talking about?" "I' 'm sure you comprehend my meaning." He switched his gaze back to her. One brow rose. "Whatever else you are, you are not slow-witted." So much for hoping he would want them to go their separate ways after this meeting. "Now see here," she said crisply "I have no intention whatsoever of forming any sort of partnership with you, Mr. March. Every time you appear, you cause me no end of trouble." "There have been only two occasions when we have been obliged to spend time in each other's company." "Both have been disastrous, thanks to you." "That is your opinion." He took an uneven stride toward her and grasped her arm firmly in his large gloved hand. "From my perspective, it is you who possess a most remarkable talent for complicating a situation beyond belief." "Really, sir, this is too much. Kindly take your hands off me." "I fear I cannot do that, Mrs. Lake." He guided her out of the room and down the back hall. "Given that we are both enmeshed in this web, I must insist we work together to untangle it."