The Wicked Wager (26 page)

“I see. I too can think of no motive for
the earl or even Lord Raikes. They were new to the household and would gain
nothing from your sister’s death. Still, we must reserve judgment until all the
facts are before us,” Nutter said.

“I agree. Now, I propose to call Prudence
next. The girl looked unwell. She will need to retire to her rooms as soon as
possible.” The duke rang for some weak tea and a pot of strong coffee, and then
requested Prudence to come join them.

Prudence walked in nervously. She wore a
demure pink gown this morning, clinging less to her body than usual. She
curtsied to the gentleman and sat down.

“I am sorry to have called you alone like
this, my dear, but I wanted to speak to you without the presence of your
parents,” the duke said kindly.

“That’s all right, Your Grace.”

“Now, can you tell me what you did last
night after everyone retired for bed?”

“I went to my room and slept.”

“Are you sure you did not visit my sister
last night? You went straight to bed and stayed in your room all night? Please
try and be honest
with me. I promise not to
judge you on any matter.”

“I stayed in bed,” she replied firmly.

“I see, now would you kindly explain how
this,” the duke asked, pulling out a ruby brooch from his desk, “came to lie
next to Lady Babbage? I found it this morning on her bed.”

Prudence turned white, and then rushed to
explain, “She liked the look of it. She saw me wear it, and I had let her
borrow it sometime in the afternoon. I think she wanted to make a copy of the
design.”

“I also found these,” the duke said,
pulling out a bunch of letters wrapped in blue ribbon. On top of the bunch lay
a note to Lady Babbage from Prudence. “I am sure you know the contents of the
letters, since they have been received by you. I also know that my sister must
have found these letters and kept them. The letter on top tells its own story …
that you, my dear, were being blackmailed.”

Prudence started crying softly, “I did not
kill her.”

“I am sorry for distressing you. I assure
you, nothing that has been discussed will go out of this room. I need your
help, and if you did not kill her, then help me eliminate you as a suspect.
Tell me what occurred last night?”

“I was to wait for a letter from Lady
Babbage. She was going to put it in my work basket. I had sent a man to London
to sell my mother’s diamond necklace. I was hoping to exchange the money for
the letters. That man returned sooner than I expected him, and he informed me
that the diamonds were pastes. You can imagine how distressed I was. I deliberately
took my basket with me to my room hoping that if Lady Babbage did not get a
chance to leave the note, then I could buy more time. She already knew of my
condition, and I am sure you know of it as well if you have read that note I
wrote to her. I did not know what to do, so I decided to go to the earl’s room
and beg him for help.” She refused to elaborate on what occurred in the room or
her state of dress.

The duke did not push her.

“Then,” she continued after taking a sip of
tea, “I returned to my room within a few minutes. I did not sleep nor did I
venture out again. That, My Lord, is the truth! I do not know why my brooch was
lying by her. I had given it to her in order to buy time so that I could
arrange for more money. She had seen me wearing it, and she asked me for it in
return for keeping silent.”

The duke looked at the bitterness in her
face. He knew he had got as much as possible out of her. It was a very likely
possibility that she could have murdered the woman.

“What do you think?” he asked Nutters after
she left.

“She is high on the list. She had a motive,
she has no alibi, and the brooch was conveniently found next to the dead body,”
replied Nutters.

“But do you not think it is too pat?
Imagine that the girl did kill her. She would have had to procure the butcher
knife, as young ladies do not normally tote it around. That means it was done
in cold blood and planned. Why would she then leave incriminating evidence like
the letters or her brooch lying about for us to find?”

“My Lord, the young lady is either telling
the truth or is frightfully clever. The very fact that it is so obvious would
make an intelligent man doubt her hand in this … and yet my experience has
taught me that nine times out of ten the killer is almost always the obvious
person.”

The duke nodded, and then producing a
bottle of brandy, asked, “Would you like a drink? Brandy, tea, or …?”

“Coffee is fine, thank you. Who shall we
call next?”

“Mrs Barker”

She arrived looking far more composed than
her daughter.

The duke took in her calm face and decided
to be direct with her, “Was my sister blackmailing you?”

She was visibly shaken by the attack.

“I suppose you found some of my jewels?”
she asked finally.

The duke had not. He had merely guessed, so
he said nothing in reply and simply waited
for
her to continue.

“Can I speak freely?” she asked, looking at
Nutters.

“He has my complete confidence,” the duke
replied promptly.

“Well, then, yes she was. She knew of the
affair we … we had and threatened to tell my husband. Even though he turns a
blind eye to my flirting, I was not sure how he would take it if he found out I
had actually committed an indiscretion.”

“I was not the only one she knew of?” he
asked silkily.

She paused, weighing the words, and then
nodded, “She knew of one other incident. She found a letter I had written to
you in your possession. I do not know how she found out about the other.”

“I see, and tell me why you were out of bed
last night?”

“I went to speak to her. I wanted to beg
her to leave me alone. My husband was getting suspicious and asking questions.
I needed her to give me time. I knew once I returned to London I would find
some way of paying her. But my husband refused to leave this place.”

“Did you kill her?” he asked bluntly.

“No!”

He held her eyes for a long moment before
allowing her to depart.

He turned to look at Nutters and caught the
brief look of disapproval on his face.

“Don’t judge me, Nutters. It happened right
after I found out that my new wife was mad. I was in despair and turned to her
for comfort. I was not thinking straight as you can imagine. I ended it as soon
as I came to my senses. We had been lovers when I was much younger as well. I
allow her to come here out of respect for those times, and I feel guilty for
what I did.”

“You need not explain your actions, My
Lord.”

“I think I am still trying to come to terms
with it,” he replied, running his hands through his hair. “Let’s not keep Mr
Barker waiting any longer,” he said, finally ringing the bell.

Nutters pulled out a fresh sheet of paper
and dipped the quill in ink.

The duke took a healthy drink from the
bottle of brandy, letting the heat course through him. The alcohol did not give
him comfort, and he pushed the bottle away, reaching for the coffee instead.

“I did not kill her. It is utterly
ridiculous to suggest that I did,” Mr Barker said as soon as he entered the
room.

The duke paused in the midst of pouring the
coffee, and carefully set the pot down.

“No one is accusing you yet. Please take a
seat. This is just routine. If you had nothing to do with it, then you will not
mind answering a few of my questions,” he said soothingly.

Mr Barker visibly thawed at the duke’s
apologetic tone.

“No, I understand. I will do all I can to
help. You may count me in. Women are such passionate creatures. We men should
stick together.”

“Are you suggesting that the murderer was a
woman?”

“Women are emotional and jealous. They
often act irrationally. Why, half the murders in England are of wives poisoning
their husbands or their lovers. I heard of a nurse who murdered her own
children. Men are practical. They may kill to rob and feed the family, but what
use is killing an old woman?”

Mr Barker seemed to become more vocal when
he was nervous.

“I know my sister was not having any affairs,
hence no one had a reason to be jealous. Besides, she was stabbed and not
poisoned. That seems to me like a man’s job. It is too violent a method for a
woman,” the duke said mildly.

“I see,” Mr Barker said, becoming agitated
once again.

“Now, please tell me why were you following
your wife in the middle of the night?”

“I was not! I was in bed.”

“Please, do away with deceit. This is a
matter of murder being committed under my roof. Someone saw you.”

“I suppose the gardener and Emma came
clean,” he said nastily.

“They had a legitimate reason for being out
of bed and together at that hour. Please answer my question,” the duke ordered
sternly.

Mr Barker deflated at the duke’s tone and
meekly replied, “I followed her to see where she was going. She has been acting
odd this last one year, and when I heard the adjoining door open, I guessed she
had left her bed. It was well past the hour for her maid to be in the room. It
was my right to discover where she was going.”

“Where did she go, and what did you see?”

“She went to your sister’s room. She closed
the door behind her. She was inside for about fifteen minutes before she went
back to her own room. I was extremely agitated and guessed her reasons. I saw
the gardener and Emma, but I did not think they would say anything of my being
out of bed, since I doubt they would have wanted their own indiscretion to be
known.”

“I see. You returned straight to bed?”

“Yes”

“You knew your wife was being blackmailed,
did you not?”

He looked furious as he glared at the duke.
The duke passed him a glass of brandy, and he drank it in one go. He took a few
moments to recover before he forced the words out,

“It was a small thing that alerted me. My
wife had asked me for money for household things. I remember her rattling of
the list, and I had absently given her a few pounds. I did recall her saying
she was going to get my favourite brand of tobacco. After a few days, I noticed
my tin was empty, and for some reason that stuck with me. I should have assumed
she had forgotten it, but I did not. I then started noticing that the meats in
the house were leaner, and she wore paste more often than her real jewels. She
was economizing everywhere. We are going through financial difficulties, but I
bring in enough to provide for our basic needs. I was concerned. I soon
realised
that she was sending money regularly to
Arden Estates, which is when I decided to come here and investigate. She was
being blackmailed, and I wanted to find out by whom. I got my first clue last night,
and this morning I find the woman dead.”

“I thank you for divulging such personal
and unpleasant facts. I am sure you understand that the circumstances warrant
us to be honest, even if the truth is unpalatable. I will keep you informed,
Barker, if I need anything else.” The duke dismissed him after thanking him for
accommodating them.

Nutters waited for Mr Barker to exit the
room and close the door before commenting, “If he had murdered the woman, he
would have been more careful about being seen.”

“True, the fact that he did not care if he
were spotted proves his innocence more than anything else, although he had a
strong motive. He is under financial constraints, and he would be furious to
find out that whatever little he had left was being leached by a woman. He
would also be affected if whatever my sister used to blackmail his wife with
was made public. No man wants the world to know that he has been cuckolded.”

“He would turn his rage on his wife, not
the blackmailer. Besides, he seems cowardly,” Nutters pointed out.

The duke nodded thoughtfully and said, “So
the entire Barker family has a motive. They were all out of their beds late at
night when the deed was committed. Mrs Barker may have been the last person to
see her alive. It is not looking good for the Barkers so far.”

“No, My Lord, this is getting more
complex.”

“You are sounding weak, Nutters. I think we
should go have some breakfast. I do not have an appetite, but we need to rest a
little and come back with a fresh mind.”

“Very good, sir.”

“What is that gardener doing sitting with
us at the table?” Mrs Barker demanded.

“That Gardener is Lord Hamilton, and he has
every right to sit with us,” Emma snapped.

“Then who is that?” the duchess asked,
staring at Lord Raikes.

“The gardener’s friend, William Raikes, at
your service,” he replied, bowing in her general direction.

Mr Barker, Prudence, and Mrs Baker gaped at
Lord Raikes.