Chapter 24
Caroline held Sophia’s door for her and followed her into her tiny cabin to help her change.
Despite Sophia’s full-body shivering and quivering lips, it wasn’t a fully compassionate impulse.
Caroline was so intensely curious. She was sure she was right about most of her guesses, but she wanted to hear Sophia’s thoughts.
She wasn’t unsympathetic to her of course, but if Caroline could be kind and indulge her intense desire to get answers, there was nothing wrong with that.
“Th-thank you,” Sophia said. “But you can send Minnie—”
Caroline expertly undid her buttons. “Do you really want a servant mixed up in this business? Besides, she is tending Lady Marston who was—er—temporarily overcome after that ugly business above.” Caroline was rather proud of her phrasing.
There were not many genteel ways to say that one woman had pushed another off the edge of a ship, probably hoping she would drown.
Although that was another question in Caroline’s mind. What was Lady Marston’s goal? Was she merely overcome to the exclusion of all rational thought, or did she truly hope to silence Sophia for good? Was she truly a murderer at heart?
Despite the mystery that Caroline unraveled, she could not quite believe that Lady Marston was a cold-blooded killer. She must’ve known someone would dive for Sophia… but she was certainly angry that Mr. Belvedere had saved her so promptly.
Caroline helped Sophia peel off her wet dress—the tight sleeves clung like seaweed to her arms and had to be inched off.
Her serviceable corset was easy to unhook, but her chemise was just as wet.
Caroline helped her get it all loose and then turned away as Sophia sloughed the final things into a sopping pile on the floor.
Once Sophia had shimmied into another clean chemise, Caroline turned back to help her do up her second corset.
Sophia’s fingers were still too clumsy to manage the hooks, and her teeth chattered, but more from delayed fright than cold
“The cook is making a fresh pot of tea.” Caroline worked her way up the side. “You shall have some directly.”
“Yes, p-please.”
“Now then, tell me what you are thinking. The fake Sir Mark has confessed, we all heard him. But did you not guess he was an imposter?”
“I didn’t.” Sophia pulled away once Caroline was done.
She drew out a warm shawl and wrapped it tightly around her shoulders.
Wool stockings completed her toilette, although with her boots soaked through, she had only serviceable slippers to wear.
She used a linen towel to dry her hair and twisted it into a messy knot.
“It must sound incredible, but I didn’t.
I even indulged the wish that I’d met him sooner.
He was a good deal kinder than Lady Marston, which surprised me. ”
“I believe you. Lady Marston would have wanted to keep everyone in the dark.”
In the dining room once more, Sophia found a fresh pot of tea waiting for her, along with most of the other passengers. Richard explained that Lady Marston was in her room with Minnie, but there were questions to be answered.
Sir Mark—or whoever he was?—licked his lips and looked uncertainly at Sophia. Several sailors stood in the passageway with their strong arms crossed over their chests. They completely blocked the ladder up to the deck.
Mr. Belvedere sat at the table in dry clothes with his wet hair brushed back from his face. He wrapped both hands around a mug quite a bit larger than a teacup and took a deep sip. He raised it in salute to her. “Hot toddy. Highly recommend.”
“I think I’ll stick to tea.” Sophia sat by Anne, who poured her a cup of tea, adding the customary goat milk.
Captain Smythe did not sit but paced. “This is beyond anything. I am quite overcome, and I intend to turn the whole lot over to the consulate. They must sort out what has happened. Whether Sir Mark was truly murdered—” he shuddered, “we may never know, but that a fraud was attempted is clear. You say you have a letter, sir?”
The former Sir Mark nodded dubiously. “I do, but it’s in there with Lady M. I don’t fancy the kickup there’ll be if I show my face just now.”
The captain grimaced and the other gentlemen made faces of agreement.
Richard spoke for all of them when he said, “Not just now, I agree. But you will need to show it. Posing as a baronet and assuming his identity is no small crime. Your only defense is in proving it to be Lady Marston’s plot. You will still be sentenced, but it may be lighter.”
“As long as it’s not the gallows, sir, I’ll sing like a canary.
This has gotten too rich for my blood. I really think that murderous old bat meant to do me a mischief!
She’s been complaining that I don’t sleep soundly, and that I ought to take something for it—and now I think she were softening me up for the return trip when she’d poison me! ”
“As to that, we can hardly say, but you may have had a narrow escape. And do you confirm, sir, that the necklace was never truly stolen?”
“Ah, no, it wasn’t. I mean, yes, I confirm that. She told me to hide it that first night when she did her Tragedy Jane act for you all. It was nice and tight up my sleeve the whole time we were searching.” He seemed torn between pride and apology.
“Are you a pickpocket?” asked Mr. Belvedere with interest. “I wouldn’t have guessed, but you do seem to know your way around a slip and swap.”
“I ain’t no such thing,” he said, although he winked a little, some of his swagger returning. “But if I was, I’d be a natural.”
“Hardly something to boast about,” Captain Wentworth put in. “So then, Mrs. Scott told the truth. You pretended to find it while we searched the mail.”
“Yes, sir. I waited until I knew Lady M had that cursed letter, then I dropped it into my hand right quick.”
Caroline shook her head. “And I was too distracted to notice!”
“None of us noticed,” Captain Wentworth said, “and we were watching pretty closely.”
Richard broke in again. “When did Lady Marston involve you, and—er—what is your name? We cannot keep calling you Sir Mark.”
“I don’t know that I ought to say…”
“Don’t be foolish,” Richard said. “You’ll go to prison with your own name or another, it won’t matter.”
“Well, that’s probably true. It’s Thomas Knapp, at your service.”
“And Mr. Knapp, how many months has this been going on?”
“Eh—not that long! A matter of weeks, only.”
“How did she find you?” Sophia put in. “As far as I have ever heard, there is no longer any connection between the families.”
“Ah, no, there is not. But she put a notice in the paper right enough! That ought to have tipped me the office to stay away! Seeking Mr. Thomas Knapp, lately of Hans Town, Smithfield, or East End, the notice read, on an order of business much to his advantage. Write to Lady M., care of Grillon’s Hotel, London.
And I did write, once a friend showed it a’me, and here I am! Devil of a take in.”
“Spare us your self-pity,” Captain Wentworth said. “When you found out Sir Mark had died, you should have left at once.”
“I know I should, guvnor. And I’ll regret it till my dying day. But I didn’t know she’d done anything to him! She told me he popped off while they were on a trip—just when he would’ve been getting that inheritance. It seemed a real waste, and I didn’t like to leave a lady in the lurch.”
Mr. Belvedere’s lips twitched. “Very chivalrous of you.”
Caroline’s mind moved on other lines. “That’s why Lady Marston knew the cost of newspaper advertisements. She had recently done it, so it was fresh in her mind.”
“Speaking of advertisements,” said Captain Wentworth, turning his weighty stare toward Mr. Belvedere.
“There is still the matter of the East India Company. Our suspicions were aroused because of this business, which we now realize you were not involved in. But that does not mean you are innocent of the other.”
“It doesn’t mean I’m guilty, either,” he said. “That’s a—what’s it called?—a false dichotomy if ever I heard one.”
“Those letters of credential—”
“Yes, I will be honest with you all—my letters of reference aren’t genuine. There; you were right,” he said magnanimously. “But that does not mean I’ve tried to swindle the East India Company! A horrid idea. Terrible people.”
“Then why did you let us think so?” Richard demanded. “Perhaps you were trying to shield Mrs. Scott, but I don’t believe your altruism would extend to hanging for a crime you didn’t commit.”
“Truthfully it wouldn’t even extend to hanging for a crime I did commit.” No one laughed with him, and he grimaced. “Apologies; ill-timed humor! I will be serious. I didn’t plan to die for the false accusation at all; I planned to escape into Lisbon while I was being transported through town.”
“Cock-sure, you are,” Captain Smythe growled. “I wouldn’t have let you get far.”
Mr. Belvedere smiled apologetically. “I’m sure I would’ve failed.”
The captain snorted.
Richard sighed and rubbed his eyes. “This is a real mess, and no mistake. I think Captain Smythe is right that we will need to take all four of you to the British consulate tomorrow for questioning.”
Sophia had just taken another sip of her hot tea, but she swallowed it quickly. “Must I? I know I did very wrong, but I didn’t know how wrong…”
“And I believe you, ma’am,” said Richard.
“But where else would you go? You can hardly wish to be left alone in a foreign country. I’m sure Caroline and Anne wish to help you, but we are going to Istanbul in a matter of days.
Your employer will be under arrest, your friends gone, your prospects extremely limited—why, I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving you under such circumstances!
You will be safe at the consulate, despite everything.
If you are honest, and things are as you have said, you will be released when you get back to London. ”
Sophia felt the panic rising in her again. “If they believe me—if Lady Marston does not somehow twist her version of events to condemn me.”
Anne looked to Wentworth. “Isn’t there something we could do, dear? Could we employ her as a maid or a companion ourselves? She could come on to Istanbul with us…”
He shook his head, although regretfully. “She is a witness to Lady Marston’s crimes, however little she may think she knows. We cannot simply hie her off to foreign parts. Nor would I. I’m sorry, Anne, but as much as you pity Mrs. Scott, we do not know her.”
Sophia bit her lip, hearing the finality in his voice. She could understand his point of view, but that did not make it less terrifying.
Caroline recognized the justice of what he said.
They couldn’t steal away with an accessory to a crime.
Richard and Captain Wentworth, particularly as government agents, could not do anything so shady, and it was true that they knew next to nothing about Mrs. Scott.
It was logical and just, but it was unsatisfying for all that.
In a subdued mood, they all finally retired to their respective cabins.
Sophia consented to being locked in her room, and Mr. Belvedere in his.
Mr. Knapp—the false Sir Mark—was given a hammock to use down below, as no one wanted to face Lady Marston.
Minnie had emerged looking tear-stained and shaken.
“She is sleeping, Captain, but she is burnt to the socket. She looks so weigh-faced as you’d never believe!
She alternates between rages and tears until I don’t know which way is up. ”
“Minnie,” said Richard thoughtfully, “we had not thought to question you, but you may clear up several things. How long have you been employed by Lady Marston?”
“Oh—going on two weeks before the trip, sir. She hired me fresh, my first job since I tried to make the leap from parlor maid, and I was so thankful.”
“Two weeks,” Richard repeated so the others could hear. “And no wonder. Lady Marston wanted a completely fresh servant who knew nothing about Sir Mark or herself. Someone like Minnie, who was not accustomed to serving the gentry. She wouldn’t notice any slight deviations from Mr. Knapp.”
“No, I didn’t notice any—devations, sir,” said poor Minnie. “I knew that Lady Marston was often cross with Sir Mark and greatly disliked sharing a cabin and a bed with him. But many couples is that way! I had no way of knowing it was worse’n that.”
“No, you didn’t. We understand,” Richard said.
“Tomorrow Lady Marston and Mr. Knapp—that is, Sir Mark—will be taken to the British consulate, along with Mrs. Scott and Mr. Belvedere. I’ll put in a good word for you.
Most likely they’ll have you tend the ladies, and you’ll be sent back to England in the end. Have you family there?”
“Yes, sir—but I need to work.”
“I’m sure you can get another job as a parlor maid or lady’s maid—but I’m glad you will have family to help you find your feet.”
“I suppose so, sir,” said Minnie. “If I have to.”
Yes, Caroline felt oddly defeated as they went to bed, despite the burning thrill she’d felt when she solved the mystery.