Chapter 28
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH CHAPTER
And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe, And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot, And thereby hangs a tale.
—As You Like It
If that day was one of partings, the following was one of homecomings.
Father and Brisbane returned just after tea, exhausted and in identically vile moods, although they seemed to have made up their quarrel after a fashion.
They made straight for Father’s study and the whiskey bottle in spite of the hour.
Father poured out a large measure for them both, a daintier portion for me.
“Aquinas informs me we have lost four guests,” Father said mildly.
I bristled a little at the implied criticism.
“They were determined to go, Father. I had no authority to hold them.” Brisbane’s mouth opened and I held up a hand.
“And I took the precaution of having Charlotte searched. The Tear of Jaipur was nowhere to be found, and I am certain Morag was painfully thorough. She must have cached the stone somewhere before she came to the Abbey.”
“And now I have missed the opportunity to follow her whilst she retrieves it,” he said sourly.
“Then you ought to have stayed with her,” I returned. He raised a brow at the tartness of my tone, but said nothing.
Father wagged a finger. “Enough. The fault is indeed ours, Brisbane. If we meant to keep everyone here, we ought to have seen to it before we went haring off to London.”
Brisbane’s only reply was to take another deep draught of his whiskey. I turned to Father.
“Where is the inspector? I thought he would return with you.”
Father smiled thinly. “He is warming his bottom by his own hearthside, my dear. He was pleased enough to take the body and the villain into custody and to take our word for which was which.”
“That cannot possibly be right. He ought to have come here, investigated properly, taken statements, asked questions,” I trailed off, too indignant to finish.
“Yes, he ought,” Father agreed, draining the last of his whiskey. “But he did not. He is content to accept what Brisbane and I told him and leave matters at that. Ludlow confessed again, this time to the inspector. Our involvement is not required. The boy will swing for it at his own request.”
I said nothing. Father was pleased because it meant there would be little in the way of repercussion as far as the family were concerned.
But it seemed deeply unsatisfying to me that it should all end thus.
Ludlow was a murderer and deserved to be punished to be sure, but to be dispatched with so much haste and so little concern for his motives struck me as unjust. I could not like that Lucy had escaped so easily from bearing the consequences of her role in this tragedy.
Then I thought of her life with Cedric and realised the consequences to her could hardly be worse.
I left them then with their black moods and whiskey. They would be drunk as lords by dinner, I thought, and appropriately so. I turned the corner toward the staircase and nearly collided with Aquinas. He was coming from the direction of the kitchens, holding a festively wrapped box in his hands.
“What have you there?” I teased. “My Christmas present?”
He smiled. “No, my lady. It is a Christmas pudding. When Mrs. King stirred up the puddings for the family, she made one for each member of the house party, including herself. Before she left she asked Cook to send hers on.”
I felt a prickle along the back of my neck. It could not be so simple. “Why did she not take it with her?”
“Mrs. King took only her portmanteau. She asked that her trunk be sent directly to her hotel and told Cook to tuck the pudding into her trunk before it was sent on. I have her direction. The maid has nearly finished packing her trunk. I meant to dispatch it today.”
I took the parcel from him, pricking my finger on the little sprig of holly Cook had tied neatly to the top.
I ripped through ribbons and brown paper until I reached the pudding itself, firm and glistening, a masterpiece of the confectionary arts.
The smell of fruit and spices rose from it, perfuming the air with Christmas.
I took a deep breath and plunged my hand into the pudding.
Nothing. I pushed further. My heart gave a great lurch when I pulled out a trinket, but it was only a coin, stirred in for luck and prosperity in the coming year.
I pushed my fingers into the sticky mess one more time, willing it to be there.
Aquinas said nothing through all of this. He merely stood, serenely, behaving as though it were the most natural thing in the world for his mistress to destroy Christmas puddings.
I pulled out my hand.
“My lady?” he asked. “Did you find what you sought?”
I turned my hand over and opened my fingers. There on my palm lay the largest diamond I had ever seen, winking up at me through spiced crumbs and bits of currant.
“I have indeed, Aquinas. May I introduce the Tear of Jaipur?”
* * *
Had I a better sense of the theatrical, I would have cleaned the jewel carefully and presented it to Brisbane with a flourish and a fanfare.
But I knew time was of the essence. No sooner had I shown it to Aquinas than I gathered my skirts in my sticky free hand and dashed down the hall, cursing my corset as I ran, Aquinas hard on my heels. I flung open the door to the study.
“I have it!” I cried. “And her direction as well.”
Father stared owlishly at me over his spectacles, but Brisbane surged from his chair, at my side in a heartbeat. He took the diamond, rubbing at the traces of pudding with his thumb. He sniffed at it, then poked a tentative tongue at the mess.
“Pudding? She had it cooked in a Christmas pudding?” he asked. Emotions warred on his face, disbelief, elation, and a deeply felt satisfaction, I think. Father rose and came to look at the stone, clucking under his tongue.
“It is a very fine thing, when it isn’t covered in muck,” he observed.
I looked at Brisbane. “She told Cook to make certain it was packed in her trunk and sent on to her. Aquinas has the direction. She will not move without the Tear.”
“Unless she feels cornered,” Brisbane said, taking out a handkerchief and carefully pocketing the diamond. “Aquinas?”
Aquinas retrieved a slip of paper from the pocket of his coat. “A hotel in Southampton, my lord.”
“Southampton!” I exclaimed. “She has taken a page from Sir Cedric’s book. She must mean to quit the country as soon as she has the jewel.”
“She will not have the chance,” Brisbane said grimly.
“I will summon the carriage, although I believe the last train to Southampton has already left Blessingstoke station, my lord,” Aquinas put in.
“I need a train to London,” Brisbane corrected. “I must return the jewel for safekeeping before I pursue her.”
I shuddered at his tone. There was a grim determination there I had not seen in him before, and I felt suddenly rather sorry for Charlotte King.
“Ah, in that case, if we make haste, it should just be possible,” Aquinas said, withdrawing quickly to make the arrangements.
“I shall go with you as far as the station,” Father offered. “I must pay a call upon Fly in any event. He will want to know what Scotland Yard has said about the murder of Mr. Snow.” His expression was doleful as he left us.
When we were alone, Brisbane turned to me, his eyes bright with anticipation. “Well done,” he said softly.
The words were simple enough, but in that moment I was acutely aware of his physical presence.
“Yes, well, if I hadn’t happened to fairly run Aquinas down in the hall, I might never have discovered the jewel,” I told him.
He said nothing for a long moment. He merely stared at me, his dark gaze roving restlessly over my face as if memorising every feature.
Time stretched out between us, and everything else, the sounds of the Abbey, the urgent knowledge that he must hurry to leave, all of it fell away.
I felt stripped somehow. The moment was far more intimate than any of the kisses we had yet shared. I dropped my eyes, breaking the spell.
He stepped closer. “I must go,” he murmured. “I do not know when I will return.”
He was mere inches from me, so close I caught the scent of his skin.
“Of course,” I replied. With every word we moved closer to one another, not quite touching, but with only a breath between us. I stared at the buttons on his waistcoat.
“Thank you,” I said faintly.
He bent his head toward mine, brushing his cheek against my hair. I heard him inhale deeply. “For what?”
“Saving Father in Trafalgar Square.”
I knew in this moment he would not deny it. After a moment I felt him nod. I ran a finger along the silk of his sling. “I promise I shall not ask it again if you tell me the truth. Will you be quite all right?”
“The shot was a clean one,” he replied, his voice muffled by my hair. “Another month and I will be right as rain.”
“Thank God for that,” I murmured.
The noises in the hall grew more frantic and I heard a footman announce to Aquinas that the carriage was drawing around to the door.
Brisbane stepped back sharply. Once again he had assumed the unfathomable mask I knew so well.
The moment between us, whatever it might have been, whatever might have been said, was lost.
I sighed and moved aside to let him pass. “Godspeed, Brisbane. I hope you find her.”
He nodded and moved to the door, but paused with his hand on the knob. “You are wrong, you know.”
I raised a brow. “About what?”
That fathomless black gaze held mine. “I think you are more my equal than any woman I have ever known.”
And before I could reply he was gone.
* * *