Chapter 24 #2
Lord Linden let out a chuckle. “I am always looking for ways to expand my circle, I assure you.”
I cast a glance at the door, but it remained closed. I didn’t much like the idea of flirting with this man, but I didn’t know how else to stall for time. I leaned towards him a little in my chair. “Yes, I have heard such things about you,” I said, attempting a coquettish smile.
It must have worked because he too leaned forward. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that you shouldn’t listen to everything you hear.”
Though I knew it was only meaningless banter, it still struck a nerve, given that he had freely spread gossip about Mr. Dorian.
It also provided a nice opening to ask about the photograph, and I didn’t want to waste it.
I could only hope that Miles had already arrived, or would very shortly.
“Yes, about that,” I began. “There was something I learned about you recently that I wanted to discuss.”
The baron tilted his head in interest. “Oh?”
“I recently visited an old school friend, Cecelia Morton, though she has now become Cecelia Wentworth. I believe you knew her husband, Gerald, at Cambridge.”
Lord Linden took a sip and considered this. “The name sounds familiar,” he said vaguely.
“She said you were both members of a Hellenic club that participated in a dig one summer in Greece.”
“Oh. Yes. I do remember that.”
“I thought you might,” I said with a strained smile. “I bring it up because she happened to have a photograph of the members and wished to show it to me because my husband, Oliver, was also a participant.”
I held my breath as Lord Linden watched me, then his face fell, and he looked down. “Ah. I see.” Then he let out a sigh and met my gaze, a distinct look of remorse in his eyes. “You must have some questions then.”
I was so taken aback by his reaction that it was a moment before I managed to respond. “Yes, I do.”
“You must understand,” he began, “that I was taken completely by surprise the night we met. I hadn’t thought about Oliver in years.”
“All right,” I said slowly, beckoning him to say more.
Lord Linden dragged a hand through his hair. “And then I didn’t exactly want to admit to his widow that the two of us had once been adversaries,” he said with a sheepish look. “But still, it was wrong of me to lie.”
“You must have known that I would learn the truth eventually,” I pointed out.
“I wasn’t thinking very clearly,” he admitted. Then he suddenly moved from his chair to my side and grabbed my hands. “I’m so sorry. I hope this doesn’t change things between us.”
I tugged on my hands a little, but he only tightened his hold. “My lord, we barely know each other.”
“Yes, but I know what I feel. And I know you feel it too,” he continued.
I cast a glance at the door, well aware that his little declaration had an audience. “I am sorry if I gave you that impression, but—”
He chuckled again. “You invited me here and arranged for us to be alone. Forgive me, darling, but what else was I supposed to think?”
I turned back to him, now quite shocked. “Well, certainly not that!”
“There is no need for you to worry,” he began as he drew me against him. “I assure you that I am the very picture of discretion.”
“That is not at all what I am worried about,” I said as I shoved him back.
This caught him by surprise, and I scrambled out of his reach. Lord Linden shot me a confused frown as he stood. “Now see here. I don’t know how these things are done on Corfu, but in London if a lady invites a man to her home under such circumstances, one expects certain things.”
A surprised laugh erupted from me, but before I could speak, the connecting door slammed open, and Mr. Dorian stormed into the room.
“You have got a hell of a lot of nerve, Linden,” he growled as he came to my side. I tried to meet his gaze, but it was firmly fixed on the baron. There was also no sign of Miles anywhere. This entire operation was a disaster.
Meanwhile, the baron stared at Mr. Dorian in shock. “Were you listening to us?” he asked, incredulous.
“I was listening to you try to cajole a woman into giving you favors, yes,” Mr. Dorian spat.
I then grabbed his arm and tugged on it. “That is quite enough, Stephen.” Only when I said his name did he finally look at me. “Obviously, this has been a gigantic misunderstanding,” I said through gritted teeth as he turned back to the baron.
“I’m not so sure of that,” he said dryly.
Then I heard the distinct click of a gun.
My fingers tightened on Mr. Dorian’s arm, and he covered them with his warm palm.
I whipped my head back to the baron and found him staring at the two of us with a bored expression, all of his earlier outrage completely gone.
“You know, I really did come here tonight intending to take you to that lecture. A pity things have taken such an ugly turn.”
“Then why bring a gun with you?” I marveled.
“One can never be too careful,” he replied easily.
Mr. Dorian snorted. “Yes. Especially when one is trying to cover up a murder.”
The baron chucked. “Something like that.”
“Then it was you,” I said. “You killed Charles.”
The baron let out a sigh, as if he was being terribly inconvenienced by this discussion. “The idiot left me no choice.”
“Then he was blackmailing you?” I asked. Admittedly, I wasn’t very keen on hearing the particulars at the moment, but given that we had a gun trained on us, the only thing I could think to do was keep the man talking for as long as possible.
“He tried to blackmail me,” Lord Linden corrected. “It never got that far. But Charles was rather desperate for money, and desperate people make mistakes.”
“Do you know what he needed the money for?” Mr. Dorian asked, catching on to my plan to keep the man talking.
“Some business about that inconvenient wife of his,” the baron said, flicking his fingers. “She wanted money in exchange for finally giving him a divorce, and Charles couldn’t come up with the funds fast enough.”
“And you couldn’t simply lend them to him?” I asked.
The baron looked affronted. “My dear, I am not a bank. And everyone knew that Charles Pearson went through money faster than quicksand. I never would have gotten it back.”
“But what about his collection?” I insisted. “Surely he could have sold you some pieces—”
Lord Linden shook his head. “It may have been a decent collection for a man like him, but there was nothing to tempt me. For what it’s worth, I do think he truly cared for your sister,” he added in a solemn tone that only enraged me.
“And yet you were willing to stand back and let the murder be pinned on her!”
“It was a possibility, of course,” he acknowledged.
“And I did try to make it look like a burglary, but I was interrupted when she turned up at the flat that night. Naughty girl.” The baron narrowed his eyes.
“And then you took quite an interest in the murder. My butler was certain you were just a silly little woman who wouldn’t give us any trouble.
But I knew better. There is no one more meddlesome than a lonely old bluestocking,” he said with a sneer.
I could feel Mr. Dorian tense beside me, but now was not the time for him to lose his temper. “It’s all right,” I murmured, then addressed the baron. “A fair point. Is he your accomplice, then?”
“I don’t need an accomplice,” he insisted. “Only an imbecile would allow themselves to be pinned for murder. No, he is my loyal servant and does whatever I ask.”
“Including, perhaps, following people?” I suggested.
“Oh yes. He is quite good at that,” Lord Linden said, his eyes glinting. “Was in the army for many years, you know. Under the command of someone we both happen to be acquainted with.”
Sir Armstrong-Hughes.
My jaw tightened. “You knew we went to the auction.”
“I knew Dorian went there,” he corrected. “And was caught embracing some mysterious woman that may have been you. I will admit that some of my actions tonight were in part designed to determine exactly what kind of relationship you have. But Dorian here has made that very clear.”
I turned away, unable to hold the odious man’s gaze.
“So what did Charles have on you, then?” Mr. Dorian prompted.
“Haven’t you figured that out yet?”
I glanced up to find him giving me a hard look. “My father told him something about your activities in Greece.”
Lord Linden’s eyes flashed with surprise.
“That’s all you know?” Then he let out a laugh.
“My God, I was sure you knew the whole of it. Your husband never told you?” I sucked in a breath at the disbelief in his gaze.
Then he shook his head. “Oliver always acted like he was some great champion of the Greeks. He would go on and on about how important it was for the country to keep their heritage. Never mind that there was an entire economy thriving around the export of artifacts. But then, in the end, he succumbed to greed, just like the rest of us.”
I closed my eyes for a moment as his words hit me like a blow. “He was your contact at the embassy,” I said softly.
“Actually, I didn’t know it was him until Charles told me,” Lord Linden said with a dry laugh.
“There was growing pressure from the government at the time to tighten the existing antiquities law and a lot of grumbling about diplomatic ties, so I wasn’t entirely surprised when our contact seemed to vanish out of thin air.
It was a terrible shame, really, and a great deal of money was lost. And then, years later, Charles comes round boasting about some big secret he’s learned from some addled old man.
That I was named as the leader of an illegal antiques ring uncovered by none other than my old friend Oliver Harper.
Then he brought you to my home to taunt me, and I knew I couldn’t let this continue. ”
“So you went and killed him?” Mr. Dorian supplied. “Why not just pay him the money?”
“Because that is not how blackmailers operate,” he said slowly, as if we were both very thick.
“The extortion never truly ends, as he would have just kept digging for more information. And while being exposed as the leader of a now disbanded black market antiquities ring would have been an inconvenience, I have far more interesting skeletons in my closet that I need to keep hidden.”
I tried to swallow, but my throat had gone bone-dry. “Then you did it for insurance.”
Lord Linden considered this. “Yes, I suppose that is one way to put it. And everything would have worked out beautifully if you hadn’t gone poking around into things you shouldn’t have,” he said, giving me an arch look.
“That was why you pretended to take an interest in me.”
“I wanted to see what you knew, and who you might have told,” he explained. “And then decide what to do. Unfortunately, I fear now that decision has been made for me. But rather than simply kill you both and give the police more to investigate, I’ll have to make this look like a murder-suicide.”
“No one will believe that,” I spat out.
But the baron merely raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? I’ve heard enough rumors about the two of you to make the idea plausible.” Then he gave me an assessing look. “What do you think, Dorian? You’re the writer. Is it too far-fetched to think anyone would kill for a woman like her?”
“Go to hell,” he growled.
The baron laughed. “Settle down, old man. Now that delectable former wife of yours I could understand, but—”
Something in Mr. Dorian seemed to snap then, and he barreled towards Lord Linden.
I immediately thrust myself in front of him in an attempt to block his way, just as the baron raised his gun at us and aimed.
Mr. Dorian wrapped me in his arms, and I felt both of us brace against the shot as a loud bang filled the room.
I let out a little whimper against his chest and then … nothing.
I looked up to find the baron standing stock-still before us with a dazed expression. Then he slowly looked down at his chest, where a spot of scarlet had begun to bloom just below his collar.
He touched the wet spot and stared at his blood-smeared fingertips, then turned to us in shock. “I’ve been shot.” Then he fainted dead away, revealing Miles standing in the doorway behind him, still holding a smoking gun.
“About time you showed up!” Mr. Dorian bellowed.
“That’s a funny way of saying thank you for saving my life,” the inspector quipped as he moved into the room, accompanied by two officers in uniform. “We were delayed by an upturned omnibus in Picadilly. Then I needed to hear him confess to something,” he explained. “The man did go on, rather.”
I rushed over to Lord Linden’s side as the two officers approached him, but he didn’t move. “Is he dead?” I asked.
“Better for him if he is,” the inspector said. “Otherwise, it will be a trip to the gallows.”
“Come,” Mr. Dorian said, gripping my arm and pulling me away. “You don’t need to see this.”
I regret to say that my recollection of the next hour or so was rather disjointed.
Mr. Dorian mentioned that I was in shock, and I am inclined to agree.
I had a vague memory of watching him argue with his brother, because he wanted to discuss the situation with us in detail, and then being told that I could not stay the night, as the house was now a crime scene.
At some point, Mr. Dorian bundled me into his carriage, and the next thing I knew, Morris was ushering us into the drawing room of my parents’ house, where my mother, Delia, and, unfortunately, Jack were all gathered.
While Mr. Dorian explained what happened to my increasingly irate brother, my mother guided me over to the sofa and draped a blanket over my shoulders, while Delia brought me tea, port, and a nerve tonic, in that order.
But I waved it all away. I looked around the room, but Mr. Dorian and Jack had disappeared.
“Where … where is Mr. Dorian?” I asked, craning my neck trying to look past my mother.
“He went to speak with Jack privately,” Delia explained, taking the seat beside me.
“Here. You should take this.” She pressed a sherry glass into my hand.
I took a sip, if only to keep them from offering me things, barely noticing the bitter taste as I swallowed.
That must have been Mother’s nerve tonic.
I settled back against the sofa, and Delia nestled beside me, taking my arm in hers, while Mother took a chair.
As I stared at the crackling fire in the hearth, a warm sense of calm slowly lapped over me. The nerve tonic worked rather quickly.
“Don’t let him leave without speaking to me,” I murmured after a while.
“Of course, darling,” Delia said.
I meant to say something more in response, but I’m not sure I managed the words, as in another instant my eyes closed, and I drifted off to sleep.