Chapter Eighteen #2
Bridget looked at him, and he knew she was assessing him—deciding whether she wanted to confide in him. Then she shrugged. “Perhaps he loves her. He may be your friend, but you may not know everything about him. People seem to have many secrets.”
Nate scoffed. “I know Dodsworth isn’t in love with Lydia Eamont.”
Bridget continued to watch him.
“What is it? I feel as though you wish to ask me something.”
“I was waiting for you to confess, but it doesn’t seem likely.”
“Confess? You think I’m guilty of something?”
“I think you’re hiding something, either to protect someone else or yourself.”
Nate sighed. Had she somehow found out about the maidservants cavorting with Frederick? He’d hoped to resolve that problem on his own without her finding out about it. “What is it you think I’ve done?”
Bridget pursed her lips and stared out at the lake. Then she turned to him, seemingly having decided to speak. “Very well. Why did you neglect to tell me that you were out in the garden with Madam Bouffant the night she died?”
Nate gave a short laugh. “Is that what your aunt told you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, she’s mistaken. I was in the garden that night and, as it happens, so was Madam Bouffant, but she wasn’t with me.
” He shifted in his saddle. “I was with Lady Luxton—that is, not with her exactly, but…she…well. It’s of no matter.
But quite frankly I don’t know how your aunt could identify anyone in such darkness. ”
“Didn’t you have a lantern?”
“Yes, but it doesn’t give off much light.”
“Nonetheless, you were in the garden, so she was correct.” Bridget lifted her chin. “And if we are to conduct an investigation together then we cannot be keeping secrets from one another.”
Nate turned from Bridget and inhaled, drinking in the breathtaking view in front of him as he steeled himself to discuss the ugly truth of his past. “Very well, if you must know, before marrying Lord Luxton, Lady Luxton—or Miss Helen Mortley—as was her name then—was betrothed to me.” Nate pressed his lips together before continuing. “She wanted—”
“No, stop!” Bridget held up her gloved hand. “Please don’t continue. It’s none of my business.” She lowered her gaze. “I’m sorry,” she said, pink flushing her cheeks. “I thought you were hiding something from me—but I didn’t realize it was so personal.”
“You didn’t trust me,” he said.
“I’m sorry.” Bridget dropped her gaze. “I see now that I may have jumped to conclusions.”
“May have?”
“Did.” She glanced at him, her lovely blue eyes wide and sincere. “Do you accept my apology?”
Nate’s heart swelled. He’d missed the bond they’d formed over the past few months. “Of course, I do,” he said.
“But you say, Madam Bouffant was in the garden?” Bridget asked.
“Yes,” Nate said and related what Helen had told him about seeing the actress. “So, your aunt may have seen both Madam Bouffant and me, but we weren’t there together for some kind of tryst. I didn’t even know she was there.”
“Are you saying that Lady Luxton had motivation to push Madam Bouffant down the stairs?”
Nate sighed, deciding to share everything.
“I don’t believe so. It’s more likely that she was—she is—just toying with me.
She likes to play games. Madam Bouffant may have startled her, so she ran away, but I don’t believe she felt threatened by her.
If I know Helen, Lord Luxton isn’t the one wielding the power in that marriage. ”
Bridget nodded. Then she inhaled deeply, and then said, “I have something to confess too.”
Nate cocked his head. “I’m listening.”
“When you asked me about the tea party this afternoon—whether I knew why Lydia had requested one—I lied. I did know.”
Nate blinked. She’d lied to his face, and without so much as flinching. Now, she appeared contrite, proving she wasn’t able to lie without some sort of attack of conscience. Unlike Helen, he decided, Bridget was a woman with a pure heart as well as a bright mind.
She continued, unaware of his thoughts. “At the time, I wasn’t sure if I could trust you because I thought you were keeping secrets from me.”
That made even more sense and made her even more upright in his mind. “Never mind that,” Nate said, ready to completely tear away the webs of secrecy between them. “I already know about the mushrooms. It’s no secret.”
“The mushrooms?” Bridget frowned.
“Yes, the ones that give you Kubla Khan type hallucinations. I know Dodsworth has been indulging. Frederick fears that the fungi may have gotten Dodsworth into trouble. He may have found himself in a compromising position with Miss Eamont while in this hallucinatory state, and now he is forced to marry her.”
“I had no idea,” Bridget said. “But I’m afraid your friend Dodsworth might be involved in something more sinister than eating a few wild mushrooms.”
“What do you mean?” A niggling worry tugged at Nate’s gut.
“I overheard a conversation between Lydia and Dodsworth in the woodsy part of the garden. I was out with Bijou when I heard their voices. She’s holding something over him—a secret. I don’t know what Dodsworth is guilty of, but Lydia called it a hanging offense.”
Nate’s heart stilled. “A hanging offense? Are you certain you heard correctly?”
“Yes, and Lydia has some sort of proof—something that truly scared Dodsworth. That’s why I slipped away during tea. I wanted to search Lydia’s room.”
“And did you find the evidence?” A lump of fear had formed in Nate’s throat that he worked to swallow away.
Bridget shook her head. “Lydia’s chamber was locked, but I did find something in Lady Eamont’s room.” She took a silk sack from her pocket and handed it to Nate.
He opened it and peeked inside. Was it possible? “Lady Eamont had Madam Bouffant’s brooch?”
“It was in her chamber, yes, but that’s not everything.
It was Adelia Eamont who showed me where her mother had hidden the brooch.
And she divulged a lot of information, too, about her mama.
Suffice it to say that both sisters despise Lady Eamont.
She’s been cruel and controlling of them all their lives.
” Bridget then related all that Adelia Eamont had told her.
“Good Lord!” Nate said. “I always thought of the Eamont twins as strange but harmless. Do you suppose one of the sisters—or both—pushed their father’s mistress down the stairs in order to frame their mother for the murder and end her controlling ways?”
“No. Lady Eamont taught her daughters to compete with one another, not work together. Lydia could have done it, but I doubt Adelia did. Until today, Lady Eamont was Adelia’s biggest advocate.
As her eldest daughter, she was actively trying to see Adelia married to you.
But that all changed when Lydia outwitted them. ”
“So perhaps Adelia pushed Madam Bouffant to protect her mother, and has now decided to try and use the murder against her?”
“That’s possible. She never came out and accused her mother, but that would make things a little too obvious. Much better if she accuses her mother of cruelty and stealing and allows people to assume the worst.”
“I don’t know,” Nate said. “It seems a little far-fetched.”
“I would have thought so too, but if you’d witnessed what I did today, you’d see that Adelia’s behavior pointed toward madness.”
“That, at least, puts Dodsworth in the clear.”
“Not exactly,” Bridget shifted in the saddle. “We have no proof Adelia did anything wrong. She may have found the brooch in her mother’s room as she claimed.”
“In which case, suspicion would have to fall on Lady Eamont, not Dodsworth,” Nate said.
“You’re forgetting that Lydia has proof that Dodsworth committed a hanging offense. And when she accused him, he did not deny it.”
Nate ran a hand across his jaw. He refused to believe Dodsworth was guilty of murder—or any heinous offense, for that matter. Something else was afoot, and he’d have to tread carefully so as not to expose or endanger his friend while trying to uncover the truth.