Chapter Five
Later that afternoon
Portman Square
Marylebone, London
On the heels of two rather unhelpful interviews, Gabriel returned home with Mary. Since she had responsibilities regarding the household, he went to seek out Henry, for he had more questions to ask of his son.
As luck would have it, he found Henry in the library. The glass in the door had been repaired, and Henry had just finished playing with his siblings. The two younger Brights were enjoying tea with Miss Alexander, so it was the perfect time to talk seriously.
“Enjoying some much-needed solitude?” he asked as he dropped into a leather winged-backed chair near Henry’s location on a matching sofa.
“I am.” His son grinned as he glanced up from the open book in his lap. “Were your interviews fruitful?”
“Not in the least, for I suspect both the duke and Mr. Corbett’s widow are withholding information. There are infinite secrets there, and they are obstructing the investigation.”
“Honestly, I’m not surprised.” Closing the book with a snap, Henry glanced at him. “Do you think the duke will forbid you talking with his family?”
“He can try, but the law is the law.” He rested his ankle on a knee. “He had the gall to suggest Mr. Corbett ended his own life.”
“The effrontery!” Shock reflected on Henry’s face. “Anthony would never do such a thing. He had much to look forward to and he loved his wife quite desperately.”
“I had that feeling as well. Additionally, signs at the crime scene clearly indicated that he was shot by someone else; not from a self-inflicted wound.” For a long time, Gabriel sat in silence with his son, searching for words.
“Were you able to retrieve the legal papers you prepared for Mr. Corbett?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “I went to my office yesterday during teatime.” When Gabriel eyed him askance, Henry held up a hand.
“I took a footman with me, both for protection and to make sure I didn’t run away.
” After heaving out a sigh, he continued.
“They were still in the leather folio I’d placed them in as well as in the safe.
There was no sign that the office had been tampered with. ”
“Good. And where are they now?”
He gestured across the room. “In your desk in the study. I buried the folio beneath other things in one of the drawers.”
“Good place for it, but I’ll move it to my personal safe.” Then he rubbed a hand along the side of his face. “Is there anything incriminating in those papers? Anything that would indicate Mr. Corbett wanted to leave this world?”
“Of course not.” Henry’s tone was decidedly waspish. “He merely made plans that would take care of his wife and child.”
“And he didn’t make a confession to you while talking about those papers?”
Henry narrowed his gaze. “A confession about what?”
“About what sort of secrets he was dancing about in that family? My gut is telling me that nothing is as it seems with the duke or his family, and that everything they’ll say to me will be a lie. Do you know the truth?”
“No.”
“Give me at least a crack so I can find a foothold, Henry. Your damn friend was murdered for Christ’s sake.” With a grunt, Gabriel tempered his reaction. “I apologize. I merely wish to find the killer, and I need to know the reason why.”
For long moments, Henry stared at him. Finally, he nodded. “Anthony mentioned that he was being pressured into doing something quite vile for his wife.”
Gabriel’s gut tightened. “She was the one who ordered it?”
“No.” His son shook his head. “He didn’t say, but I know it wasn’t Lady Amelia.”
“Then who?”
Henry shrugged.
“What was the task?”
Some of the color left Henry’s face. “To kill himself.”
That was what the duke had assumed. Did that mean he knew what was to transpire that night? Did he hire an assassin or was he there in person? Far too many questions without answers or even clues to back them up. “Why?”
“So that his wife would inherit more of the duke’s fortune than her siblings.”
That made absolutely no sense. “Did her father tell him this? I suspect Boddingford doesn’t take kindly to those he considers beneath him or different from him.
” That included women as well, so why would he promise the youngest daughter would receive the bulk of the wealth?
Unless it was to manipulate Mr. Corbett.
If the duke had indeed done such a thing, had he not counted on the love the man shared with his wife?
“Anthony didn’t say.”
“No one except the duke would have the authority to promise that let alone make such a thing a reality, and why her? Lady Amelia is the duke’s youngest child. Wouldn’t the lion’s share go to the first son, his heir?”
“Papa, that is all I know. Anthony was skittish that afternoon. Hell, he was frightened. More than I’d ever seen from him.” He rubbed his eyes with his fingers. “He didn’t name the duke, but to be fair, from what I’d heard of that family? Any one of them could have threatened him like that.”
“But why him? And what would be gained if he were out of the way? I could understand if the first son was threatened, but Mr. Corbett wasn’t even a son.
Only a son-in-law, and she wouldn’t inherit all the funds in any event.
Lands and property would go to the heir, and any coin would be split between the six siblings.
” At the moment, he couldn’t make heads nor tails of it.
“And even if that weren’t true, once Lady Amelia remarried, the control of the fortune would go to her new husband. ”
“I’ve told you everything I know, but from what Anthony revealed to me on the few times we’d met for dinner or the club.”
“Did Mr. Corbett befriend any of the others in the family? Any of the siblings? Was he close to anyone?”
“Uh, the second son. Viscount Tifton, I think, is his title.”
“Ah. That is what his wife said too.” At least that was consistent.
An expression of hopelessness came over Henry’s face. “You will find whoever did this to my friend, won’t you, Papa?”
“I am going to try my level best.” Before anyone else was hurt.
“Good, because I miss Priscilla.”
“Where can I find Viscount Tifton at this time of day?”
Henry frowned. “Once, Anthony mentioned to me that he and Tifton enjoyed riding in Hyde Park sometimes in the afternoon because there are more people at that time and better chances to socialize over the morning hours.”
“I’ll wager he won’t enjoy this sort of socializing.”
“It’s either that or call on him at his townhouse, but I rather doubt he’ll be there. He’s far too much a man about Town to remain home.”
“I’ll find him.”
Later that afternoon
Hyde Park
Where the devil is he?
Gabriel had stood beneath an oak tree near the bridle path for the past quarter of an hour, watching out for the viscount.
Though Mary hadn’t been best pleased that he would conduct this interview without her, they’d both agreed that her staying with the children was in everyone’s best interests.
He’d promised to discuss what he’d learned with her after dinner as well as tell her what Henry had conveyed earlier.
A shiver twisted around his spine when the autumnal breeze breeched his collar and went down his back. Damn, it would rain soon. But since Gabriel had called at the man’s townhouse and was told the viscount was out, there was every possibility he was here, riding.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity, a man atop a splendid bay came into view on the path.
With his dark greatcoat and black top hat, he resembled one of the riders of the apocalypse.
Chuckling internally at his own joke, Gabriel stepped onto the bridle path, staring the rider down until he tugged on the reins and brought his mount to a halt with a mere two feet of space to spare.
“What the deuce is wrong with you?” the man astride asked with a fierce frown that put Gabriel in mind of the duke.
“Viscount Tifton, I presume?”
“Yes. Who are you?”
“Inspector Bright. I’m investigating the untimely death of Mr. Corbett, your brother-in-law.” He removed his leatherbound notebook and a pencil nub from a pocket of his greatcoat. “Might I speak with you for a few moments?”
“Now?”
“Yes, quite.”
“Fine.” With a huff, the viscount dismounted.
Taking the reins in one gloved hand, he led his horse off the path and into a grassy area before turning to Gabriel.
“As you can imagine, it has been a trying couple of days for my family. If we can dispense with this nonsense quickly, I would appreciate it.”
A frown tugged at Gabriel’s mouth. “Having a brother-in-law murdered, someone you’d been close to, is considered nonsense to you?”
“To tell the truth, Inspector, I did like Anthony as a person, and I commiserated with him at the treatment he’d received from the family, but he’s gone now. No amount of couching my words will bring him back.”
There was that. “Two sources have confirmed that you were the closest to Mr. Corbett in the family. Is that true?”
“I suspect I was. Some of my siblings side with my father’s views, while some simply want to be left alone. Now that we’re adults and we’ve survived a long and arduous life, we wish to pursue our own interests, have a life of our own.”
That was telling. “Meaning?”
Defeat reflected on the viscount’s face. “My father isn’t one to accept many people into the fold of the family. Especially ones he considers inferior.”
“And because Mr. Corbett didn’t have a title, a fortune, or high connections in the beau monde, your father had no use for him.”
“Yes.” The other man nodded. “Couple that with the fact that if we have differing opinions from him, he turned his wicked temper onto us.”
One of Gabriel’s eyebrows rose. “Your father had you in his crossfire as well? Why?”
A hint of ruddy color appeared on the viscount’s neck over his collar. “That is neither here nor there, and has no bearing on this investigation.”
Ah, another secret. “It might.”
“I’m sorry, Inspector, but this is something you don’t need to know.” Worry clouded his eyes. “Have you questioned Anthony’s wife yet?”
“I have.”