Chapter Five
Lady Mary
I waited by the doors of the sitting room, smiling and nodding as Perrin’s other guests passed by on their way to their rooms. Either by fortune or by his own devices, Mr. Ryder was the last to exit.
I grabbed his arm and dragged him back into the room. “What,” I said, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice, “are you doing here?”
He ran his fingers through his hair, the patches at the temples just going white. “As I said, I was invited,” he replied mildly.
“You knew Perrin?” I tried to think on what occasion my proud brother-in-law would befriend the president of the London Society for Morality and Decency. Perhaps as a former attorney, Mr. Ryder had assisted Perrin in a dispute.
“The barest of acquaintances.” A loud knock upstairs indicated that one of the guests had closed a bedroom door with excessive force. Ryder poked his head out into the empty hall before returning his attention to me. “The earl’s invitation did indicate that you would be in attendance.”
My eyebrows snapped together. “And that induced you to come?”
He rubbed his jaw. “Not that it isn’t lovely to see you at any time—”
I huffed. The last time we’d seen each other, he’d been trying to get me to shut down my club.
The Minerva Club was the only social club in London, probably in all of England, whose members were women.
Men seemed to enjoy their time at White’s, and the more unsavory clubs; I saw no reason women shouldn’t have the same opportunity to shake out their skirts.
Perhaps if Perrin had been the type of man to allow my knife-throwing demonstration, he wouldn’t have been at the receiving end of the blade.
My face heated at my uncharitable thought. My annoyance only increased at Ryder’s next words.
“—but I wondered at the invitation. Why would a member of your family invite someone to a party you were attending whose presence so obviously would perturb you? What did Perrin hope to gain by asking me to be a member of the party? It raised my curiosity.”
His dulcet baritone almost had me believing that he’d been concerned. About me. The fact that the man wanted to close my club proved that a lie.
As I had no answer to his questions, except for the obvious one that my husband’s brother did, in fact, wish to provoke me, I stomped past him and back to the body.
Without the crowd around it, Perrin’s lifeless form somehow seemed more macabre.
Only his boots showed beneath the blanket, and the tented fabric above the chest made the presence of the knife even more glaring.
I looked at the carpet around Perrin’s body. It was large, spanning almost the entire space of the hall and was in muted colors of tans and light greens. Frowning, I bent beside the body and flipped the blanket back.
Perrin’s eyes stared at the ceiling.
“What are you doing?” Mr. Ryder lowered gently into a squat next to me, the skin between his eyes creasing.
“Does anything seem strange to you?”
His eyebrows flew skyward, and I hastily added, “Aside from the body with a knife sticking out of it?”
He disapproved of the question, I could tell. But to his credit, Mr. Ryder made a thorough perusal of the body. “What are you seeing that I am not?”
My tongue burned with the myriad responses I had to that, but I restrained myself to the present matter.
“Blood. There’s very little of it. That knife has a three-inch blade.
I would expect it to create a pool of blood or at least drips on the surrounding area.
” I chewed on my bottom lip. “And on the killer.”
The butler and two footmen entered with a wide, rough plank of wood.
I straightened, and Mr. Ryder stood, one of his knees making a popping noise. We watched as the footmen recovered the body, then lifted it onto the plank.
“We’ve made space in the ice house,” the butler said. “It’s starting to flood from these incessant rains, but my lord should be well above the water line.”
I nodded, my gaze transfixed on the space where Perrin’s body had lain. No blood there, either. I waited for Perrin’s servants to leave the room before turning to Ryder. “He wasn’t stabbed to death. I’d bet my club on it.”
“How can you possibly know that?” Ryder placed his fists on his lower back and arched, earning another satisfying pop. The moralist was tall and trim, but his body was as susceptible to age as the rest of ours.
The thought was oddly comforting.
“We hosted a surgeon as a guest lecturer at The Minerva Club last year. He discussed several famous murders in history.” My lips curved.
“The ladies’ queries flew off on some tangents.
He was kind enough to oblige our questions.
And one aspect of murder by stabbing that he discussed was how much blood it typically produced.
But if one is already dead, if one’s blood has already stopped pumping… .”
“A knife could enter a body without much of a mess.” Ryder looked back at the clean carpet. “Why would anyone stab a dead body?”
That was indeed the question du jour. My brother-in-law angered many people, but putting a knife in his lifeless chest seemed excessive.
I pushed my spectacles up my nose and turned for the stairs leading down to the kitchens. “I bid you goodnight, Mr. Ryder.”
“The guest rooms are all upstairs,” he called out.
“I know.” The stairs down to the kitchens were not in as good condition as the others, and I carefully picked my way down. The butler sat at a large, wide table with several other servants, large glasses of what I assumed liquor before them.
He quickly stood when I entered. “My lady, I—”
I flapped my hand at him. “Please, sit. I was hoping I might be able to speak with the stable master. Has he retired yet for the night?”
“I don’t think anyone will be getting much sleep tonight, milady.” He nodded to one of the footmen, and he scurried off, presumably to fetch my quarry.
There was an awkward silence as we waited. I didn’t think Perrin spent much time in the kitchens, which was his loss. Everyone knew that midnight pudding always tasted better when shared with those who had cooked it.
“What are we going to do?” one of the maids finally asked.
It was the one who had found Perrin’s body.
She was a hearty girl, one you could picture milking a cow and carrying the buckets with ease.
Her red hair and pale skin spoke of an Irish heritage, though any brogue had long since left her voice.
“Our employer is dead. Do we wait for the ’eir to take over? Look for other employment?”
The butler frowned. “Hush, child. That isn’t Lady Mary’s concern.”
My heart sank. It felt like it was, at least until Perrin’s heir could arrive.
Perrin was the father of two boys, young men now, but neither would be able to attend to their duties quickly.
The eldest was in Rome, on a tour of the continent, his father had said, when all of society knew he had taken orders in the papist religion.
The younger was in the Navy. I didn’t know when he would be released from service.
I leaned against the table, fatigue catching up with me. It had been quite the day. “I can’t make that decision for anyone, but if you do decide to stay on until the next owner takes possession, I’ll make sure your wages are paid.”
The butler inclined his head. “Most generous, milady.”
The stable master arrived, unwrapping himself from a dripping blanket he must have covered himself in to try to avoid the rain. “You wanted to see me, Lady Mary?”
“Yes. I just wanted to confirm that our last guest arrived after Lord Perrin’s body was found?”
“He did.” The man rubbed his bristly jaw. “We had a hell—” He cleared his throat. “A difficult time getting his carriage from the road. We’ll be cleaning mud from the axles for a long time.”
I nodded. I hadn’t truly thought Mr. Ryder would be involved in Perrin’s death, but it was nice to be able to eliminate him as a suspect altogether.
“This is a delicate question, but with your master dead, murdered, the time for delicacy is over. Do any of you know any reason why someone would want to harm Lord Perrin? Has he had any threats made against him recently? Any enemies you know of?”
Everyone looked to the butler. He grimaced.
“I think I can speak for all the servants when I say the master wasn’t the easiest man to work for.
He was as free with his tongue with his associates as he was with us.
” He ran his fingers through his thinning hair.
“But I know of no specific threat against him.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy. I said my goodnights and made my way up to the first floor where my guest room was. My lady’s maid, Jane, was there to meet me with a small brandy and an exasperated look.
“I can’t say I’ll cry any tears over your brother-in-law, but another murder?
” She shook her head, a lock of iron-grey hair escaping from her cap.
Jane had been with me since I was but a child of ten.
Although her back may have bent and her step become unsure, she had lost no strength in her tongue.
Toeing off my slippers, I dropped into the tufted chair by the window. “You act as though it is my fault another person has been killed in my vicinity.” I sipped the brandy, feeling the need for a good brood coming on.
Jane dragged the dressing chair from its position and sat across from me. “Of course, it’s not your fault, but you’re going to put your nose into this, aren’t you?”
I slouched deeper into the cushions. “We are staying under the same roof as a killer.” Perhaps.
Perhaps Perrin had simply fallen down the stairs?
But why put the knife in his chest? “I must ask some questions, at least until the magistrate or constable arrives.” I looked toward the window.
The curtains were drawn, but the sound of pounding rain hadn’t lessened one whit.
It might be days until a message could be sent out, much less have the authorities arrive.
I handed Jane my glass, and she tossed back the rest of the liquor.
“I’ve asked the servants whether they know any reason someone would harm Perrin and received no answer other than Perrin’s disagreeable nature.
” My mind flashed to all the little digs he’d thrown my way in the short time I’d been at his home.
My husband’s brother had certainly been unlikeable.
He’d had a motive with his pointed remarks toward me, one I probably now would never know.
“But they aren’t likely to be completely forthright with me.
If you could ask around, see if you can learn more… .”
Jane sighed heavily. “I suppose there isn’t anything better to do, what with being trapped indoors. I’ll see if I hear anything.”
If boredom was the only reason to gain her assistance, I’d take it. Jane hadn’t approved of my investigation into the murder at my club last year, and it didn’t seem as though her view had changed even though the victim was now a relation.
Perrin had been one of the last connections I’d had to my husband. I blinked against the burn in my eyes. I mourned that loss, but I couldn’t say that I mourned the man himself.
I sighed. I wasn’t the sort to dwell in malaise, but this day was trying my self-possession.
And the worst part was, most of my sorrow was just me feeling bad that I didn’t feel sadder about Perrin’s death.