Surrender (69 page)

sordid glare over the small, shabby room.

 
You don't mean to tell me that all this

is because you hold some sort of grudge

against me, madam? What on earth have

I ever done to you?"

 
You killed him. That's what you did,"

Isabel hissed.
 
You killed Samuel Whitlock

and ruined everything."

Victoria went still.
 
Perhaps you will be

good enough to tell me just what it was I

ruined for you?"

 
I had it all planned, you stupid little

bitch. Whitlock was going to marry me

after he killed your mother. It took me

months to work him up to the point

where he had sufficient nerve to see to the

business of murdering Caroline. Months."

Victoria almost collapsed against the

mantel.
 
You prodded him into murdering

my mother?"

 
Do you think he'd have done it on his

own? He hadn't the guts to do it without

being pushed into it. He saw no need.

Kept saying he had the use of her fortune

anyway, so what did it matter if she was

alive. But I did not have the use of that

fortune. So I made it clear to Samuel that

he could not have me unless he got rid

of her, and he wanted me very badly,

Victoria. Very badly, indeed. He finally

arranged the riding accident."

 
I knew it was murder, even before he

confessed."

 
Yes, you guessed that immediately,

didn't you? Less than two months later

he started acting very strange. Kept saying

he was seeing your mother's ghost. I was

afraid he was losing his mind, that he

would get himself sent to Bedlam before

he could marry me. So I decided to see

for myself what was going on at his house

at night."

Victoria's fingers tightened on the sack.

 
You were there that last night when he

came at me with a knife, weren't you?"

 
Who do you think put the knife in his

hand? I told him he must kill Caroline

again and this time she would stay dead.

He was so crazed with drink and the

notion that Caroline had come back to

haunt him that he did as I told him."

Victoria's pulse was racing, driven by

savage anger and a terrible fear.
 
Where

is my husband? What has he to do with

any of this?"

 
All in good time, Victoria. All in

good time. He will be here, never fear.

Edgeworth is going to bring him."

 
So Edgeworth is involved."

Isabel tightened her grip on the pistol and

laughed softly,
 
Oh, yes. It was Edgeworth's

idea to finish the matter in this particular

fashion. He has a score of his own to settle

with stone vale, you see. I agreed to do it

his way so long as I could be certain of

your death."

 
You cared so much for my drunken sot

of a stepfather that you wish vengeance on

me? I am appalled by your taste in men,

Lady Rycott. But, then, I suppose I should

not be so astonished. After all, you took up

with Edgeworth and he certainly is not an

admirable specimen of manhood, either, is

he? Perhaps you like men who are as low

as you yourself?"

 
I told you once I like men who can

be controlled. Men who are weak and

therefore easily manipulated. It makes

everything so much easier, you see.

Whitlock was completely in my power.

Edgeworth is now, too."

 
How did you happen to select Edge

worth as your assistant?"

 
I heard the talk that there was ill

feeling between him and stone vale. When

stone vale began pursuing you, I decided

a man who disliked him as much as

Edgeworth did could be of use to me."

 
Tis a bit late to murder me," Victoria

pointed out.
 
My husband has legal control

of my money now. In the event of

his death, the inheritance goes to our

remaining relatives, including my aunt.

You will never see a penny of it."

Isabel's
 
eyes
 
sparked in
 
anger.
  
Don't

you think I know that? You deprived me of

any chance of getting hold of your fortune

the night you caused poor, stupid Samuel

to fall down those stairs. You ruined all

my plans and now you will pay."

 
Why have you waited so long to take

your vengeance? Why did you go to the

continent after Whitlock's death?"

 
Because I was afraid you would realize

I had been involved. You were so damn

clever that I could take no chances. I had

no way of knowing how much you knew

or how much Samuel told you that night

he tried to kill you. I fled the night of his

death because I feared you would put the

entire tale together. But you never did."

 
No. But for the past few months

I have had the oddest feeling that

there was something left unfinished." The

nightmares had begun shortly after she had

been introduced to Isabel Rycott, Victoria

realized with a chill.

 
I did not care for life on the continent,"

Isabel continued coldly.
 
Oh, it suited

me well enough at first, but there were

problems after I became involved with

a young Italian count. His mother, you

know. She was afraid her precious son

would marry me and she could not bear

the notion of the family fortune falling into

my hands. She contrived to have me cast

out of the higher circles of society, ruining

all my opportunities. Most unpleasant."

 
So you decided to return to England."

 
It is here I have the best chance of

securing another fortune. And mark my

words, I will find another Samuel Whitlock,

and soon. I have gone through my first

husband's money and I find myself in need

of more. Quickly. While on the continent,

I had kept track of you through friends.

After several months I realized I was safe,

so I returned to London."

 
And decided to make me pay for ruining

everything for you?"

 
Precisely. But I also wanted you out

of the way because it was simply good

policy to tidy up after oneself There was

always the chance that you would put it

all together, you see. Since I must be free

to stay in England, I could not take the

risk that you would eventually figure out

that I had been involved in your mother's

death."

 
It was you who put the scarf and the

snuffbox where you knew I would find

them," Victoria said evenly.

Isabel glanced down at her breeches and

boots and smiled strangely.
 
You are not

the only one who has learned to enjoy the

freedom of men's clothing. I owe you for

that, by the by. Do you think there will

ever come a time when women will be

free to wear breeches in public?"

Victoria ignored that.
 
You followed me

about at night."

 
Oh, yes. I kept very close watch on

you for weeks before I made my plans,

learning your habits and your ways. When

you took up with stone vale, it all became

vastly easier. You began taking so many

risks, you see."

 
Yes." Greater risks than even Lucas had

imagined, Victoria thought.
 
Who was it

who nearly ran me down that night outside

this tavern?"

 
That was Edgeworth. I told him I only

wanted you frightened, but I do believe the

fool saw his chance to get rid of stone vale

in the process. I was very angry with him

afterward."

 
And the footpad who attacked my

husband?"

 
Edgeworth hired him for me. Again, you

were supposed to be frightened, perhaps

nicked a bit with the knife, but that was

all. Something went wrong, however. You

did not follow your usual pattern that

night. stone vale went to fetch you from the

garden as usual, but you did not return to

the carriage with him. The dolt of a footpad

attacked him anyway, figuring he had to

earn his money somehow," Isabel said.

Victoria remembered that had been the

night when she had summoned Lucas to

the garden to tell him she wanted to begin

a love affair with him. She had not planned

to go adventuring that evening, so she had

not gone back to the carriage with him.

 
Why the haunting tactics, Isabel? Why

the business with the scarf and the snuffbox

and the pamphlet on reanimating the

dead?"

Isabel's eyes brightened noticeably.
 
I got

the notion from you, of course. Don't you

appreciate the irony? I wanted you to be

scared out of your wits and to know

there was no one you could turn to.

After all, who would believe Whitlock

had come back from the grave to kill

you? My original plan was to terrify you

into believing you had lost your wits.

Everything would have been so simple if

you had gotten yourself committed to a

madhouse. Imagine yourself chained to a

wall to rot for the rest of your life. A sane

woman trapped in a world of madmen. It

would have been a most piquant ending.

And a safe one for me."

Victoria nodded.
 
You would not have

had to risk your own neck by resorting to

murder."

Isabel paused, considering Victoria's

words.
 
True. I do not like this business

of having to do one's own killing. However,

once you married stone vale and left Town

so abruptly, it all got very complicated.

There was always the chance that if you

confided in stone vale he might decide to

make an investigation. That was when I

began to agree with Edgeworth that you

both must die."

 
You still have not answered my first

question, Isabel. Where is my husband?"