Chapter 20 #3
“His only use for me seemed to be in marrying me off,” she added in a voice throbbing with heartbreak, and I watched the way the words caused the muscles in my brother’s back to ripple with his own silent despair.
But Gage seemed to decide this was enough self-pitying talk. “You do realize it was that bottle of vitriol you brought that was likely used in the attack on Miss Whitlock,” he told Matilda severely. “That the killer seized on the opportunity your malicious jealousy presented them.”
Matilda paled, eliciting a gasping wheeze as if she’d been punched. While Gage’s harsh remarks provoked Trevor to pivot back toward the room, offering us his quarter profile, he didn’t speak.
“I’ve half a mind to take you down to the cellar and show you what damage your acid caused.”
Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how very irate my husband was. And he wasn’t wrong to be. I suspected my own anger had been blunted by astonishment and concern for my brother, but it was still there, simmering deep in my belly.
Silent tears tracked down Matilda’s cheeks as Gage continued.
“All of you Birnams!” he stated in disgust. “You profess to have cared for Miss Whitlock, and yet all you’re worried about is yourselves. Not a one of you has been entirely honest with us.”
“You’re right,” Matilda ventured in response, her voice quaking.
“But that doesn’t mean I don’t care. I know it may not seem like it, but I do.
Portia and I…” She crossed her arms as if to insulate herself from the chill of his glare or to squelch the pain of her admissions.
“Once upon a time, we were so close. And she wanted to be again.” Her lower lip trembled.
“But Mother said it was inappropriate. And I listened to her.” She turned her head to the side. “Oh, why did I listen to her?”
Gage all but ignored this confession. “Is there anything else you’re keeping from us?”
Matilda blinked rapidly, her eyes gleaming with unshed tears as she shook her head.
“What of your mother?” he pushed. “She purports to have cared for Miss Whitlock in her own way, but the animosity she felt toward her was crystal clear.” He arched a single eyebrow in challenge.
“Perhaps McClintock told her about the vitriol. After all, her loyalty is ultimately to your mother, isn’t it?
Perhaps your mother decided to put the acid to use. ”
Matilda gasped, shaking her head. “No. My mother could never…”
Gage’s second eyebrow joined the first, daring her to finish that statement.
“I don’t think she could,” she amended.
“But you weren’t with her during the time frame the attack occurred?”
“No,” she admitted in a small voice.
“And what about your father?”
She scowled. “I just told you that Father favored her. In his eyes, she could do no wrong. Why would he attack her?”
“What if she was about to betray him?” I interjected.
She turned to me in confusion.
“What if she was about to divulge secrets about his businesses? Perhaps something even corrupt?”
Matilda’s mouth had formed a small “o” in dawning astonishment. Her silence was rather telling. Not only did she stop insisting her father would never have harmed Miss Whitlock, but she also didn’t deny the possibility that some of her father’s business methods might be unethical.
Before she could recover, I pressed her on another point. “Your brother. He is the one person who has openly admitted to loathing Miss Whitlock. He called her deceitful and a liar. Do you know why?”
“I have heard him say that as well,” she professed. “But I’ve never understood why.” Her brow furrowed in chagrin. “He doesn’t confide in me, his little sister.”
Trevor turned his head back toward the window, but not before I caught sight of his bitter frown. Did he know something about Jemmy’s accusations or was he thinking that “deceitful” and “liar” applied to Matilda?
“We’ll be confirming your story with Mrs. McClintock.” Gage crossed his arms, gazing down at Matilda sternly. “So if you’d like to revise any of your claims, now is your chance.”
“No. Everything I’ve told you is the truth.” She glanced toward Trevor, whose face was still averted, before adding ruefully, “This time.”
“Then, stay where we can find you,” he directed her as he shifted away from the door. “We may have more questions for you.”
She nodded forlornly, understanding this was her dismissal.
I turned toward my brother, wondering if he wanted company or to be left alone. Gage seemed to think it was the latter.
“Are you coming?” he asked, holding the door to our suite open for me.
“Yes,” I said. But I couldn’t leave without at least arching up onto my toes to press a kiss to Trevor’s cheek.
He surprised me when he halted me by lightly grasping my arm.
His lips curved into the facsimile of a grin, but it did not reach his eyes.
I knew he was trying to reassure me, and that almost broke me.
He chucked me under the chin. “Go on. We’ll talk later.”
I smiled as bravely as I could and did as I was told.
Gage was still waiting, and he wrapped his arm around me, tucking me close to his side as we left the suite.