Chapter Thirty-Six
Lady Mary
The hoot hoot of the tawny owl jerked me back to wakefulness. Or perhaps it was a barn owl. I wasn’t an expert on bird calls. I was only certain it was an owl that had kept me company on my hours’ long vigil.
I checked the mantel clock. I had placed it on the table in front of me in the front sitting room so the light of the waxing moon illuminated its face. Only six minutes had passed since last I checked. Not enough time for my brief nap to allow anyone to escape this house unnoticed.
I pushed out of the settee and stretched. My back popped, making the tendrils of regret I’d had about forgoing my bed that night resurface. I shoved them down. I had a killer to catch. Any fatigue or minor aches and pains could hardly measure against that.
I dug my knuckles into a sore muscle in my lower back. And these aches and pains definitely didn’t need to be mentioned to Jane. Instead of supporting my idea, she’d had the temerity to laugh in my face as she’d made her way to her comfortable bed. Told me I’d regret it.
I sniffed. I might, but I’d never admit it.
The killer must have heard Katherine. Why wasn’t he running?
She and the owl watched black melt into Prussian blue and that turn into a mercury-gray morning.
The house started to awaken with the sounds of the servants moving about.
Southey hunted her down, seeming most excited to find her boot available for a good chew instead of locked behind her bedroom door.
He was a warm lump on her lap until the first of the guests called their carriage to the front doors.
Southey wasn’t overly fond of horses and carriages, apparently, so he opted for greener pastures.
The kitchen I suspected, begging for a bigger breakfast.
The Havenstones seemed the most eager to leave. As they had the farthest distance to travel, their early start made sense. The sun had barely broken the horizon when their trunks were secured to the back of their carriage and Lord Havenstone was handing his wife into the conveyance.
She leaned forward from her seat and stared at Perrin Manor. “Good riddance to a house of sadness. I hope the new Lord Perrin can make a better go of it.”
As Perrin’s eldest son had taken on a profession that preferred to manage relationships with God instead of earldoms, I somehow doubted it. I expected the new earl to sort through his father’s matters and then turn the running of the estate over to his younger brother.
“Why do you call it a house of sadness?” I asked. “I’d always found gatherings here to be most merry.” Especially when Perrin absented himself from the group.
Lady Havenstone shrugged. “Just something Cook Clem said. About the manor ghost now having two more to keep her company.”
Lord Havenstone sighed. “Sarah….”
“My husband doesn’t believe in ghosts.” Lady Havenstone sniffed, her nose turning up. “I, however, have always enjoyed a good horror story.”
“Who is supposed to haunt these halls?” I, also, didn’t believe in ghosts. But there had been those shadows and that face in the window Katherine had seen. A shiver raced down my spine.
“The Lady Perrin.” Lord Havenstone trundled past me and climbed into the carriage, sitting across from his wife.
He also leaned forward, both of their heads framed by the carriage doorway.
“It’s a story the servants apparently use to scare the new hires.
That Perrin killed his wife and now her spirit haunts the manor, getting up to mischief.
Why any fool would believe that.” He shook his head.
Lady Havenstone straightened. “Are you calling your wife a fool?”
He patted her knee. “Never, my dear. Good day, Lady Mary. I wish you safe travels back to London.” He tapped the ceiling of the carriage and shut the door. He lowered the carriage window and gave Perrin Manor one last look.
“This has been a most trying ordeal.” Lord Havenstone frowned. “Trapped with a killer, suspected of inhuman actions. The only good consequence is that Perrin can no longer cheat anyone else. He will not be missed.”
And without even a nod of his head, he raised the window and they were off.
“We won’t be inviting him to speak at Perrin’s funeral,” I said to the butler who stood next to me.
His lips twitched. “No, milady.”
Mr. Ryder left next. “Will you be all right here by yourself?”
“Perrin’s eldest should be arriving within a few weeks. And I won’t be alone.” I nodded to the butler.
Ryder took my hand and bent over it. “There is never a dull moment with you, is there?” He set his hat on his head, his eyes warm. “I look forward to furthering our acquaintance in London.”
I had no answer to that. Ryder was an irritant, a threat to my business. Yet a part of me would look forward to sparring with him again. I must be perverse to feel the slightest twinge of regret at my foe’s departure.
I had no such feelings at Miss Walker’s egress, and she was not as efficient at the taking of her leave as Mr. Ryder.
She wandered down the hall of Perrin Manor, a scone in her hand, poking her head into each room she passed and sighing deeply. “Poor Perrin. Such a tragedy.”
“Regardless of the size of one’s home, being murdered usually is.”
Miss Walker glared at me. “His boys, dear as they are, won’t know how to manage all this. I hope they know they can always depend on—”
“Your father must be most anxious to have you home.” I put my hand on the woman’s lower back and guided her toward the open front door. “You are his rock, as I understand it.”
“Yes.” She turned on the front terrace, looking up at the manor house. Regret flashed across her face. “So much wealth here when my father and I have so little. I had hoped—” She pressed her lips together. “Well. I must be off. Be sure to tell—”
“I will.” I tapped the tip of my walking stick against the top step of the front terrace until the woman was safely away. That only left Betram and my fellow conspirators.
Bertram I was sad to see leave. The loss of his wife and sister seemed to have wounded him more than I’d realized. He was paler and thinner than I remembered. Even his hair was thinner. I wondered if I would ever see him again.
I clasped his hand. “Even though this party turned to disaster, it was good to visit with you once more, Betram. If you should ever come to London, please call on me.”
“Of course, of course.” He turned and looked back at the house. “Same goes for you.”
My heart ached. It was another connection lost for the both of us. We might not have liked Perrin, but he had been the brother to both our spouses, and with him gone, there was one less memory, one less string connecting me to Cavindish and Betram to Miranda.
I squeezed his hand. “Don’t you worry. I’ll see to it that Miranda’s gardens are maintained.
She so loved her primrose and foxgloves, her cornflowers and monkshood.
” I tried to remember the names of the plants in the Perrin gardens but could come up with no more.
“I will make sure her sons know how important it is to maintain them.”
“Yes.” Bertram pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and coughed into it. “Very well. ’Til we meet again.” And then he was gone, as well.
I found the rest of our group in the dining room. Mr. Smith had piled his plate high with bacon and cakes. Katherine and Henry only had cups of tea and sat across from each other at the table, studiously avoiding eye contact.
“Everyone else has gone,” Katherine said. “We should be going, too.”
“I am going to fully enjoy Cook Clem’s last meal.” Mr. Smith licked a dab of icing off of his thumb. “Besides, we are only traveling to Exeter today. There is no great hurry to leave.”
“Why Exeter?” Katherine sounded suspicious. “We stayed at that lovely public house in Ilminster on our way here.”
“Exeter also has lovely public houses.” Henry directed his words to the father. “I will give you the names of a few I know to be quite comfortable.”
I made my own cup of tea and sat with them. I felt weighed down. Not only had all my suspects left the house, now Katherine and her beau were at cross-purposes. Perhaps the house was cursed, a sad phantom wandering the halls ensuring no one else could find happiness.
All too soon, Katherine managed to convince her father to make their departure. She gave me a fierce hug, ignored Henry’s attempt to assist her into the carriage, and left Perrin Manor with her father without even a backward glance.
A groom held the reins to Henry’s horse. “We sent your trunk ahead this morning, sir.”
“Thank you.” Henry took the reins. He waited for the groom to leave before turning to me. “I am only thirty miles away, but a half a day’s ride. If you or Perrin’s sons need any assistance with the disposition of the estate, let me know.”
“I’m sure they will be contacting you.” I raised my hand, shading my eyes from the sun. “So is that it then? You’re giving up?”
He raised one eyebrow. “The magistrate has taken over the case. Hopefully, his physician will be able to narrow down the poison, giving him a better idea of who murdered Perrin. It isn’t giving up to leave the matter with the proper authorities.”
I wholeheartedly disagreed with that sentiment, but at the moment, that wasn’t the point. “I meant are you giving up your intentions regarding Katherine? I had thought you were made of sterner stuff than that.”
He blinked. “You knew that Katherine, Miss Smith, and I were….”
“Courting?” I snorted. “If you were trying to be subtle about it, I regret to inform you that you didn’t succeed.”
He turned the brim of his hat about in his hands. “And you aren’t shocked that an attorney would be fool enough to try to pursue an heiress?”
“At my age, there is very little that can shock me.” I thought of the attorney’s calm and kind demeanor when he’d given me Perrin’s letters.
Apparently very little shocked Henry, either.
“Your match would definitely make the gossip circles. Katherine might lose the company of some who had pretended to be her friends. But if your intentions are noble, there is nothing immoral about your pursuit. Who cares about wagging tongues? If, that is, you haven’t given up.
” Katherine deserved better than a man who turned tail at the first trial.
His lips curved. He truly was a handsome man when he smiled. “I have not given up.” He slapped his hat on his head, making his horse skitter to the side. Henry placed a calming hand on the animal’s neck. “The Smiths and I are meeting for dinner tonight. Katherine and I have much to discuss.”
“An apology for whatever you did that raised her feathers wouldn’t go amiss.”
A muscle ticced in his jaw. “She misconstrued a situation.”
A laugh burbled out of me. How much he had to learn. “I wish you luck.”
Henry nodded and mounted his horse. “I will send you an invitation to the wedding when it is announced.”
“You’re that certain of success?”
“I am a skilled negotiator.” The horse pranced backwards, kicking up dust. “Besides, there are also practical concerns for why we must marry. She will see reason.”
I waved him off, then turned back to the house. Henry’s optimism had buoyed my spirits for a couple of minutes, but the reality of the situation quickly deflated them.
The servants should be directed to put black crepe in the windows before Perrin’s sons arrived. I would let Perrin’s boys go through his personal belongings, but I needed to determine if any bills needed paying. What purchases needed to be made to keep the estate running.
I had a moment of envy for my brother-in-law. Dying was easy; it was the cleaning up after that was hard.
My chest tightened. That was a detestable thought. What were a few hardships to the joy of waking up to a new day?
I grabbed my skirts and raised them an inch as I climbed the stairs back to the house. My steps dragged, each foot seeming a mile. I didn’t want to face the fact.
Perrin was dead. Murdered. And whoever had killed him had returned home to his or her warm bed.
I had failed.