Chapter 8 #2
“I expect the threat will leave him trembling. Shall I have the table laid in the dining room or your private quarters?”
“The dining room,” he said at last. “Lady Rothley has a penchant for mausoleums.”
While the soot-streaked facade of Bow Street’s Magistrates’ Office projected an air of authority, Gabriel saw only irony. The structure was sound. The morals of some who served within were not.
He climbed the steps, the valise light in his grasp, the blasted trinkets clattering like the questions that plagued him. He hadn’t meant to bring it, but leaving it unguarded had seemed the greater risk. Still, he had come to free his wife, not to seek answers.
The law had to tread carefully around a lady of rank, and he meant to use that to his advantage. The sooner this farce was over, the sooner he could take Olivia home. Yet as the thought formed, doubt gnawed at him. How many secrets could one woman carry before the scales tipped beyond reason?
Armed with his rapier tongue, he strode through the hall to a clerk hunched behind a crude oak table, quill scratching in a ledger while constables came and went.
“Lord Rothley to see Sir Basil Marden. He’s expecting me.”
The clerk’s quill froze mid-stroke. He glanced up, eyes widening a fraction before he scrambled to his feet. “Yes, my lord. Sir Basil is in chambers. I’ll inform him you’re here.”
He didn’t wait to blot the ink but left his stool and disappeared through the door at the far end of the corridor. Murmurs rippled among the constables, the kind of wary silence that followed whenever a man of rank crossed their threshold.
Gabriel ignored the stares. He was used to such reactions.
But then the whispers faltered, their attention drawn elsewhere.
Aaron Chance, Earl of Berridge, strode into the office, his weeping countess at his side, and fixed Gabriel with a stare sharp enough to draw blood.
Cursed saints.
Joanna looked up as she dabbed her eyes and drew a shuddering breath. “Gabriel.” She hurried to him, reaching for his hand as dear friends do. “Have you heard the dreadful news? You were right. You’ve been right all these years, and no one believed you.”
He’d been called a madman and a murderer for being the last person to see Justin alive. Yet vindication brought no comfort, only the hollow sting of loss.
“Rothley.” Her husband’s measured tone spared Gabriel the trouble of reminding him he’d once saved his life. “We’ve just come from the watch-house in Chelsea. The coroner insisted on a formal—”
“Damnation. You let her identify the body?”
Berridge’s jaw tightened, guilt flickering through his expression. “Trust me. I would have cut off my own hand to prevent it.”
“I insisted.” Joanna smoothed her palm over her abdomen, a futile attempt to steady herself, to draw strength from the child she carried. “He was my brother. I had to be certain.”
Bile rose in Gabriel’s throat. “Is it him?” He wouldn’t believe it until he’d seen the evidence with his own eyes.
“Yes.” She shivered, visibly shaken by the recollection. “He looks older than his years, but he has the same dimple in his chin, and the scar by his brow where he fell from a tree when he was ten.” Her voice broke on the memory, the sound twisting something deep in him.
Questions crowded his mind. Did they know the body had been found in Olivia’s cottage? Did they truly think her capable of murder?
“I’m so sorry, Gabriel.” Joanna clutched his coat sleeve. “Instead of answers, we’re left with more questions. How long had he been living in that miserable cottage in World’s End?”
He drew them aside, considering his next comment carefully. “Do you trust me, Joanna? You both know what Justin’s disappearance has cost me. I’ll do everything in my power to find the truth, but you must keep an open mind, and permit me to explain.”
A muscle in Berridge’s cheek twitched. “You knew he was there?”
“No. But I rescued Miss Woolf from the same cottage three nights ago, where a masked man tried to kill her.”
Stunned, Joanna frowned. “What are you saying? That my brother was living with Miss Woolf? In what capacity?” She caught her breath as another thought struck. “You knew where Olivia was, and said nothing? You know how worried I’ve been. I’ve not seen or heard from her in days.”
“I was told of her whereabouts in confidence,” Gabriel said, not wishing to mention his source, “and had to respect her privacy.”
Berridge’s mouth tightened. “Privacy is the least of her concerns now. If Justin was found in her cottage, the magistrate means to question her in connection with his death.”
“Miss Woolf hasn’t left Studland Park. I assure you, she isn’t involved. The cottage was empty when we returned the key to the landlady. I checked the premises myself.”
Rather than bring clarity, his words drew raised brows.
“Good heavens, Gabriel. You let her stay at your estate overnight? What were you thinking? She’ll be ruined. You should have brought her to The Burnished Jade.”
“She was preparing to flee London, fearing for her life. There’s no place safer than Studland Park.”
Joanna’s gaze dropped to the valise in his hand, horror darkening her features. “You’ve brought her clothes? Tell me they’re not taking her to Newgate?”
“I don’t know. I’ve just arrived.”
Berridge gave a dry scoff. “You didn’t accompany her to Bow Street?”
“The ladies of The Jade follow their own rules.”
Before Berridge could agree, the clerk reappeared, his earlier stiffness replaced by nervous deference. “Sir Basil will see you now, my lord. If you’ll follow me.”
“We’re coming with you,” Joanna said, striding ahead. “I won’t wait out here while they question her.”
The clerk hesitated, uncertain whether to object to the intrusion, but Gabriel’s curt nod ended the debate. “Very well,” the man murmured, turning to lead them down the corridor into Sir Basil’s oak-panelled chamber.
The magistrate stood behind his cluttered desk, his heavy brows furrowed as he looked up from a stack of papers. Daventry occupied a leather chair to the right, his posture as composed as ever, though his eyes flicked briefly to Gabriel in silent warning.
Olivia sat in her modest wedding dress, grey a fitting shade, her face pale but composed.
When she turned, her gaze met his with such fierce relief it struck him like a blow.
She looked at him as though he were her saviour, and he would have sold his soul to trap that look in a jar, to study it unseen.
“Lord Rothley,” Sir Basil said, offering a curt nod before turning to acknowledge the newcomers. His brows lifted a fraction. “Lord and Lady Berridge? I’m not quite ready for you yet. Perhaps you’d care to wait with my clerk. Perkins will fetch refreshment.”
“We’re all friends here,” the countess said.
Olivia stiffened at the sound of her voice. “Lady Berridge.” Her fingers tightened around her gloves. “I’m not sure you’ll wish to stay once you know why I’m here.”
Joanna’s expression softened. “I know why you’re here, and I’m confident you didn’t strangle a man with those dainty hands.
” She turned to the magistrate, her tone calm yet commanding.
“You will, of course, release Miss Woolf into our custody until this matter is resolved and the true culprit is brought to justice.”
Sir Basil cleared his throat and straightened the papers before him. “I’ve agreed with Daventry that she may return to Lord Rothley’s care while we continue our investigations.”
Joanna’s eyes widened in alarm. “That’s preposterous. Can you imagine the headline in the scandal sheet tomorrow?”
Sir Basil chuckled. “It’s hardly a scandal to release a lady to her husband’s care.”
“Husband?” Joanna blinked and shook her head.
Gabriel answered before anyone else could. “We were married at Studland Park a few hours ago,” he said, as if it were of no consequence, not an event that had shaken him to his core.
“You married Miss Woolf and didn’t invite her friends?”
“Love has a way of catching a man unawares,” he said for the magistrate’s benefit.
Daventry came to the rescue, as he always did. “The only concern now is finding the person who tried to frame Lady Rothley for murder. I’ve agreed to look into your brother’s disappearance, Lady Berridge, and to review the past evidence.”
“You’ve made a formal identification, then?” the magistrate asked her delicately.
Joanna swallowed hard. “Yes.”
“I’d also like to view my friend’s body,” Gabriel said, using the term loosely. “And I insist on seeing it tonight.”
Joanna gasped. “You mean to visit the watch-house on your wedding night? Will that be before or after your romantic dinner?”
He should have scoffed, but one glance at his wife brought a pang of regret. He pictured her cold and alone in the dark, while he hid in his own chambers at the far end of the house.
Devil be damned.
He was a fool to think this could ever work.
But his wife chose to prove him wrong.
“If my husband intends to seek the truth tonight, then so be it. There’s ample time for an intimate wedding supper.”
Sir Basil clapped his hands once. “Very well. I’ll have a note drawn up for the watchman, granting you access.” He reached for a sheet of foolscap, scrawled a few lines, then pressed his seal into the wax. “Present this and he’ll admit you.”
Gabriel accepted the folded paper with a curt nod.
He made no mention of the valise. It belonged to Olivia, and he would show Daventry only once he and Olivia had time to examine the contents more closely themselves.
“I suggest we all gather at my office tomorrow,” Daventry said. “To examine all lines of enquiry.”
“A few days would be better,” Gabriel replied. “We’ve much to discuss before then.” He hoped Olivia would read his mind and understand they needed time to weigh the possibilities before Daventry took command.
Daventry agreed. “It will give me time to send an agent to Cambridge to request the original inquest report.”
Sir Basil nodded approvingly. “Very good. Report to me once your enquiries are under way, Daventry.” He shifted his attention to Gabriel. “In the meantime, Lady Rothley is to remain at Studland Park. She is not to leave town without my permission. I trust that’s understood.”
Gabriel inclined his head. “Perfectly.”
He would watch her like a hawk. To keep her safe. To guard his heart. For whatever truth lay buried in the past, he would uncover it before it destroyed them both.