The Countess (29 page)

“Oh, good,” she smiled crookedly, glad not to have to explain things. She really was a bad liar, even when it came to lies of omission and probably would have blurted out everything.

Her father urged her forward then and Christiana started to walk again. When they came abreast of Richard, he slid his arm around her waist, drawing her to a halt. Her father immediately released her arm and continued into the office, leaving her to smile nervously at her husband.

“Are you all right?” he asked solemnly. “Freddy didn’t hurt you?”

“I have a slight headache and a lovely goose egg from when he knocked me out, but am otherwise fine,” she assured him and glanced around the office as he led her inside. Her father, Daniel and Robert were there, but Suzette and Lisa were missing, as was Haversham. “Where—?”

“Suzette took Lisa to the parlor while the runners were asking questions,” Richard answered before she could finish the question. “Apparently Freddy’s body lying here was distressing to her.”

“It would be. Lisa doesn’t care for the sight of blood. She will even faint if there is enough of it,” Christiana murmured, and then frowned as she noted the scrape on his forehead. “What happened to your head?”

“It’s nothing,” Richard assured her. “Daniel and I stopped at the tailor’s after arranging for the blackmail money and a carriage came after us. I got this as we jumped out of the way.”

“As
he
jumped out of the way and dragged me with him,” Daniel corrected dryly. “I didn’t even see the thing until it was almost upon us.”

“I suppose that wasn’t Freddy,” Christiana said with a sigh as she realized the worst was not over. While they had caught the blackmailer, they still had a murderer to find.

“No,” Daniel said, looking doubtful. Still, he sounded hopeful when he asked, “Unless Freddy happened to confess to being the killer as well as the blackmailer?”

Christiana smiled apologetically. “Sorry. No. He thought Richard had killed him.”

“Then who killed George?” Robert asked with a frown.

“I fear that would be me, Lord Langley.”

Christiana turned toward the door, her eyes wide as she peered at Haversham. The butler stood in the open door, back straight and face as expressionless as ever. The perfect servant.

“Would you care to explain, Haversham?” Richard asked quietly after several moments of silence had passed.

“Of course,” the man murmured. “I suspected quite soon after the fire that the man masquerading as the Earl was not you, my lord, but your brother, Master George. He quite simply did not act in a lordly manner as you have always seen fit to do. He was careless with his possessions, cruel to the staff, and both careless and cruel to Lady Christiana.”

“Did you tell anyone of your suspicions?” Richard asked, and Christiana felt him tense beside her. She supposed he worried that if Haversham had told anyone his suspicions their worries wouldn’t be over. But Haversham shook his head.

“No. All I had were suspicions. I could not prove anything and who would believe a servant over a member of gentry?”

“I see,” Richard murmured, relaxing.

“I saw no choice but to allow the situation to progress as it would and hope for some proof to come to light. I was rather counting on Lord Woodrow becoming suspicious himself and looking into the matter. I would have come forward then with my own suspicions, of course. However, that never came to pass. Lord Woodrow disappeared from society the week of the townhouse fire and simply did not return.”

“Er . . . yes. I’m afraid I was a bit distracted with matters at Woodrow,” Daniel explained apologetically under the stern man’s displeased eye.

“Yes,” the butler said dryly. “So I was forced to simply stand by and wait, a witness to Master George’s abuses of his position and shabby treatment of Lady Christiana, but unable to do anything about it.”

“What made you stop waiting?” Christiana asked curiously, wondering that she’d had at least one ally all that time and hadn’t even realized it.

“It was the morning your sisters arrived at the townhouse, my lady,” he said solemnly. “Master George had been tense and expectant, almost buzzing with a certain excitement for the two weeks prior and I anticipated that he was up to something, but was unsure what until your sisters arrived with the news your father had apparently gambled again. I realized then that this must have been what Master George had been waiting for, and quite impatiently, I will add. From the conversation I chanced to overhear afterward, I gather he had expected them to come to you much sooner, or for your father to come pleading his case.

“However,” Haversham continued, “After leaving you ladies in the parlor, Master George was quite cheerful and ordered me to bring his best whiskey to him in his office. Freddy appeared then, headed for the kitchens and Master George took him to the office, where I overheard his gleeful announcement that the plan was finally moving forward again. He was sure the sisters were there about the gambling, and that it would be no time before he had Suzette married off to one of his friends.”

“Who?” Daniel asked sharply, making Christiana glance curiously his way. His expression suggested the answer was important to him, though she couldn’t imagine why he cared. He and Suzette were marrying. Whoever the friend was, he was out of luck.

“I’m afraid he did not speak the proper name of his friend, but referred to him as Twiddly.”

“Twiddly?” her father echoed with disbelief.

Haversham nodded, and then continued, “Apparently Master George was to get a good portion of the money supposedly owed to the gaming hell from this gentleman, Twiddly, for acting as broker. Then they merely had to wait for Lord Madison to come to town again, drug and drag him to the gaming hell for a third time and force Lady Lisa into marriage as well. Master George would gain a portion of her dower in that instance as well. The gaming hell only took a percentage to keep its mouth shut about the fact that no money was actually owing at all.”

“I will see the place shut down,” Robert growled furiously.

“No doubt you would be doing many unwary men a favor,” Haversham assured him and then continued. “Once all three women were wed and fleeced of their dowers, the plan was to dispose of them all in one tragic carriage accident.”

Haversham allowed a moment’s silence and then added, “Once the women were dead, Master George already had his sights set on a certain young heiress who was too young to enter society yet, but should be on the verge of her debut by the time he was widowed. Master George was quite pleased with himself and his clever machinations,” he added dryly.

“I considered warning lady Christiana,” he admitted. “However, I fear I could not see how that would help. There was still no proof of the man’s perfidy, and while she might be able to warn her father and prevent his going anywhere near Master George again, I worried it would force Master George to kill the whole lot of them earlier than intended, including perhaps Lord Madison since he would know what was going on and be suspicious of any accidents to befall the women. It seemed to me the only other option was to stop Master George myself, and so I dropped cyanide into his glass of whiskey before taking it in to him.”

He sighed. “I expected Freddy to be there when I took the poisoned drink in to Master George, and had not yet decided how to handle the man. However, he was nowhere to be seen, so I simply left the master to enjoy his celebratory drink and waited for matters to develop. It wasn’t long after that Freddy claimed he wasn’t feeling well and Master George had excused him. For a short time I was quite concerned that he may have drunk the master’s whiskey in his place. However, when I checked on Master George, he was quite dead. I quickly emptied and wiped the glass to remove any proof of what I’d done, then refilled the glass halfway and set it back before returning to the kitchens to await his discovery. But of course it never came. Lady Christiana eventually went into the office, her sisters followed, and they were in there quite a while, but there was no hue and cry. Instead, the three ladies came out some time later lugging the dead George about in a rug.”

“You knew he was in there?” Christiana asked with surprise.

“My lady, you really were not gifted with a talent for subterfuge,” Haversham said kindly.

Christiana flushed as she recalled that her first words on running into Haversham had been
We’re just taking Dicky up to warm the rug.
Honestly, she didn’t lie well at all.

“And then of course there were his fingers,” Haversham added.

“His fingers?” Christiana echoed with confusion.

Haversham nodded. “The three of you apparently rolled up Master George with his arms stretched above his head?”

“We thought the rug would seem less lumpy that way,” Christiana admitted with a frown.

“I’m sure it did. However, his fingers were sticking out the top end and waving at me the entire time as you struggled to hold the thing and lie about what the three of you were doing. It was most distracting.”

“Oh dear,” Christiana murmured.

Haversham smiled at her gently and continued, “I realized at once that you were going to hide the death in the hopes of finding a husband for Lady Suzette and so ordered the staff to stay away from that wing of the house for the time being. Of course, later that night I nearly had an attack of apoplexy when the Earl—the true Earl—” he added firmly, eyeing Richard, “came rushing out of his office as I was coming up the hall. I thought I had failed after all and that Master George was still alive. However, the moment his lordship spoke I recognized that it was he.”

“How?” Richard asked with surprise.

“You said ‘excuse me,’ ” Haversham said simply.

“And from that you knew it was him?” Daniel asked with amusement.

Haversham nodded solemnly. “His lordship treats everyone from the lowliest servant to the highest nobleman with a certain respect that was sadly missing in his brother. George never would have troubled to excuse himself, not even to the King.”

“Ah.” Daniel nodded and the butler continued.

“After that the events in the house became rather confusing to me,” Haversham admitted. “I felt a draft as I passed the library, opened the door to see that the French doors were wide open, went in to close them and saw something lying on the lawn. Realizing it was Master George half wrapped in a blanket, I looked up and saw Lord Woodrow and Lady Suzette in the window in a passionate embrace.”

Everyone turned to peer at Daniel. He shifted and murmured an uncomfortable, “Erm.” And then Haversham drew the attention back to himself, saying, “I left Master George as I found him and started upstairs, but heard Lady Lisa and Lord Richard talking and realized that she—and I therefore assumed everyone else—believed Lord Richard was Dicky. It appeared to me then that he was simply going to remove George’s body and step back into his life and all would be well. I nearly left then to—”

“Left?” Christiana interrupted with surprise.

“I am a murderer, my lady, leaving did seem wise,” he said gently. “However, I decided I should wait to be sure the transition went without difficulty. Besides, there was still Freddy to worry about. He would surely realize that Richard was not George, and I thought I had best see how he decided to handle it. If he just pretended he didn’t know and carried on I would have slipped quietly away and retired. However, if he didn’t and caused trouble I wished to be on the scene to help right things.

“That is done now,” he added on a small sigh. “And I feel quite certain all will be well from here on in, so if no one protests, I shall collect my things and begin my retirement . . . on the continent.”

Much to Christiana’s relief, Richard slipped past her and moved to the man. At least she was relieved at first, but much to her dismay he merely shook the man’s hand and thanked him for everything and then walked him out of the room.

“He isn’t going to let him leave, is he?” she whispered with dismay.

“It would appear he is,” Daniel murmured, and then moved toward the door as well, saying, “I should go tell Suzette everything is resolved and we can head for Gretna Green.”

“Wait for me,” Robert said, hurrying after him.

Christiana watched them go with a frown, but then glanced to her father as he moved to her side.

“Are you all right?” he asked with concern.

“I—Yes,” she sighed and then said, “I need to talk to Richard.”

Her father nodded, not appearing surprised. “I shall go check on the girls then.”

Christiana walked with him to the door, but as he continued on to the parlor, she turned toward the front door, relieved when she spotted Richard and Haversham there, speaking quietly.

“Richard, you can’t let him go like this,” she protested rushing to join them, but paused with surprise when she saw the small chest and bag waiting to the side of the front door. The butler was already packed and ready to go. Frowning at that, she turned to Richard and added, “He only killed George to save my sisters and me.”

“This is for the best, Christiana,” Richard said quietly, slipping his arm around her waist and drawing her against his side.

“He is right, my lady. Besides I wish it this way. I am getting far too old to perform my duties as I should. It is time I retired,” Haversham said, opening the door before bending to pick up his chest and bag. Straightening, he turned back and added, “I wish you both a happy and healthy life together.” Then he turned and strode out the door.