“That would be Phillip. He needs money. He is profligate and runs up debts everywhere. He could end up in debtors’ prison.”
“If he went to the type who loan money, he might be worse off than that.”
Minerva had not considered that Phillip’s concerns were for his physical safety. That might make him very rash if he thought his uncle was going to change his will. After the way he threatened her in the library, she was inclined to find reasons to move him up the list of suspects.
She began to sip the rest of her port, then thought better of it. She already glowed from its warmth, and did not want to put herself at a disadvantage. Chase might flirt a little and charm her with his smiles, but he was no friend and she needed to have her wits about her.
“Did you come to know the footman Andrew?” she asked Jeremy.
“We shared a few words when I would bring horses to the front. Friendly sort. That Thompson fellow sent him over. I think they were both hoping he’d be kept on, but I don’t think he was. He used to be in service, but for several years was an agent to a manufacturer.”
“Then he has not been in service for years and probably has no recent references. Thompson placed him, you say?”
“I think he mentioned that. At my prompting. I asked if Mrs. Drable had sent him. I thought it might be worthwhile to know where those servants came from, and if any were like us.”
Meaning, if any had been placed there by Chase or some family member looking for information. Minerva had a high regard for Jeremy’s initiative. He possessed a shrewdness that could be very useful.
“I wonder if he might take employment from us when we have need of an amiable man who makes friends easily,” she said.
“My guess is he will take any employment that is legal.” Jeremy pointed to the coins before he swept them up. “If this is what they paid him, it won’t last long.”
Jeremy downed his port and left. Minerva rose to leave too. “There will be a caller in fifteen minutes,” she said to Beth.
Beth collected the glasses and set them in the washing basin. “Who might that be?”
“Mr. Radnor.”
She received a pointed glance and frown. “You getting sweet on him?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You know I am not—” She let it hang there, because of all people Beth knew just how ridiculous it was. You know I am no longer capable of feeling that way about a man. It would not do to tell Beth that with Mr. Radnor she had begun to feel very capable.
“It has been a long while now. He is handsome and can be charming when it suits him.”
“I do not need a lecture, Beth.”
“Don’t you? He broke into this house because he is looking to blame someone about that duke’s death. He still is, no doubt. He is dangerous.”
“I have forgotten nothing. At the moment, however, we have a common goal.”
“The problem is he thinks to make you the means to reach his goal. I don’t trust him and you should not either.”
“I am not so stupid as to forget who and what he is, or the truth of his intentions. But for all I learned from Jeremy and Elise, and saw and heard myself, he is one of them and knows far more. You go up to bed. I will make sure the front door is locked before I follow.”
* * *
Chase handed his horse to a groom at a public stable two streets from Minerva’s house. It would not do to have his mount standing outside her home at this hour. She might dismiss the notion of gossip harming her name, but he knew better than most how people like to talk.
That thought conjured up memories of the meeting with the solicitor, and how Aunt Dolores, when seeing her battle being lost, spoke the unspeakable about one of her nephews. Him.
I find it odd that you are favoring his counsel, Nicholas. They probably would have shot him if not for my brother’s intercession on his behalf. It was the closest anyone had ever come to voicing the belief he had been under suspicion of cowardice in the army. He wasn’t sure if that was better or worse than the real reason for his departure.
Did you kill him? How often had he heard that question in his head? In the colonel’s voice. In Uncle Frederick’s. In his own.
He had become expert on closing the mental door on that question and the history that provoked it. He did so now with a slam. He walked the rest of the way to Minerva’s house, lining up what he would tell her and what he would hold back.
Among the latter particulars would be his brief conversation with Sanders after the meeting. While the solicitor was quite sure that the correct Minerva Hepplewhite had been found, the lack of a documented connection to the woman known as Margaret Finley bothered him.
“The only two people who know her under both names are in her household,” Sanders had explained. “How your uncle knew of her under either name remains a mystery. I am satisfied, but with the mood of the family, it might be best to find another person who is disinterested. You are still advertising for the other two women. Why not add a notice regarding her married name?”
She opened the door herself when he arrived, backlit by the lamplight in the reception hall. Immediately the intimacy of their last night meeting stretched between them. As if she felt it too, she backed away from the door and let him enter and close it himself.
She led him to the library again, but did not sit. Instead she appeared unsure of herself. That was unusual, and fascinating.
“I suppose we could have done this in the park,” she said.
“It would have been very dark there.”
“I meant in the morning.”
“Then it would have been very light. It would be better if all of London does not wonder why I am strolling the park with one of my cousin’s temporary servants.”
“Of course. Yes.” She sat on the divan, in her usual spot. She did not lift her feet onto the cushions. She did not lounge, but remained upright. Stiff.
He availed himself of a chair near the divan this time. She did not react to that.
“The meeting. You said you would give me the particulars.”
“It began calmly enough. It ended in a rout. I think Sanders, the solicitor, feared for his life.”
“What changed the tone?”
“Reality. Sanders explained that if anyone challenged the will it would hold up disbursement for all concerned. They knew that, but having a lawyer say it is more real. He outlined the various reasons a will might be successfully challenged, and pointed out that none of them applied to the late duke’s testament. Well, they knew that too so had not done so. He explained the rare circumstances when a legal will might be challenged regarding the disbursement of assets. Only one might work for any of them.”
“He explained that to me too. They would have to claim that they were dependent on the duke and had reason to believe his support would continue. He told me that did not apply to any of them either.”
“That is his professional opinion. It would not be hard to find a solicitor who made a different case. That is the danger. He made matters worse by describing the accounting thus far, and how little there was to divide if all the legacies were administered. He did hold out the possibility that one of the two mystery women not yet found would be dead.”
“How good of him.”
“Several of my cousins brightened at that information. I heard someone mutter that whoever had done in Uncle Frederick had a few other jobs to complete.”