Chapter Sixteen #2
“No one will leave this room until I say!” Bright’s exclamation echoed in the sudden silence. Beside her, his body was as taut as a bowstring. No doubt he had taken the slight about his position within the ton to heart. “None of this will stand, for a crime is a crime.”
Viscount Tifton snorted. “You have no idea what my father has done in his lifetime, what this family has had to do to keep those things from getting out. To make certain bloodlines remained clear.”
“That doesn’t make it right,” Bright said as he crossed his arms at his chest. “Let us not waste more time. Who killed the duke?”
Mrs. Benson smiled, and oddly, it was the most serene expression Mary had witnessed that day, albeit slightly on the mad side. “We all did, Inspector.”
“What?” Another wave of shock plowed into her. “Every person in this room had a hand in murdering the duke?” Her respect for Bright’s deductive abilities went up because this was truly unfathomable.
“No, not everyone.” The housekeeper glanced in Lord Arsdale’s direction.
“Arsdale and his betrothed weren’t there that night, but everyone else was, with the exception of the duke’s middle daughter, who is not in London just now.
” She said it as if they were talking about the weather instead of murder.
“But then, I didn’t expect Arsdale to partake, even if he has good reason to. ”
That got a rise out of the young lord. “For the first time in my life, I’m glad that I’ve never been considered good enough to be a true part of this family.
” He shook his head as he scrambled to his feet.
“Though I may be Papa’s bastard son, after today, I will never return to London for any of you.
My life is my own, and I refuse to have my upcoming marriage tainted by the rest of you and your insidious secrets and exclusions.
” With a hand extended, he assisted his fiancée into a standing position. “I would like to leave, Inspector.”
Bright nodded. “I’ll grant it because I fully believe you are innocent in this horrible crime.”
“Thank you.” The young lord met Mary’s gaze. “I appreciate your efforts in solving the murder, but as I told you before, I won’t return to London any time soon. There is nothing here for me now that Anthony is gone.”
“I wish you luck, Lord Arsdale.” She offered him a smile, but when the couple moved toward the door, Cravitts stopped him.
“I’m afraid I can’t let anyone leave this room,” the butler said as he pointed the pistol at the young lord. “We are in this together, for they can’t prosecute us if we remain in solidarity.”
Hot annoyance continued to rise in Mary’s chest. “Enough of this.” She left Bright’s side, and though fear circled through her gut, she confronted the butler.
“You have one pistol, which means one shot. Yes, someone may be hurt or even killed, and it might be me, but you can be assured that the inspector will avenge my death. He’ll also make certain you are pursued to the highest extent of what Whitehall will demand. ”
“That is the truth, of course, Mrs. Bright, but you’ve forgotten about me.
” Mrs. Benson took a knife from the folds of her voluminous skirt and brandished it like a sword—the same sort of knife they’d found at the earl’s home.
“I’m afraid no one is leaving, especially if they won’t be able to keep a secret. ”
Gasps cycled through the assembled group.
This was rapidly going from bad to worse, but something must be done. Mary glanced at her husband, whose expression resembled a thundercloud. After widening her eyes and hoping he would follow her lead, she turned her attention back to the housekeeper. “Whose idea was it to kill the duke?”
The woman’s eyes glittered dangerously. “It was a group effort. One day, the servants were gathered in the hall enjoying tea when one of the maids came running in crying. When we discovered that she’d been cornered by the duke and he forced himself on her, we decided that his reign of tyranny needed to stop. ”
The butler took up the narrative at that point. “After what happened to our daughter, we didn’t want that to be anyone else’s fate.”
Bright scowled at the pair. “Your daughter was the governess—Arsdale’s mother.”
Another round of gasps went through the room. Ah, a secret most of the family didn’t know. How interesting, and more than a bit sad.
“Yes.” Mrs. Benson nodded. “She was such a lovely girl, but then Boddingford ruined her, tossed her away like she was rubbish. There was nothing we could do but watch her decline.” The woman glanced to the door at Lord Arsdale’s fiancée.
“When the same happened to Miss Bentley, we were propelled into action.” Slowly, she glanced at Mary.
“So you see, Mrs. Bright, what we did stemmed from love. We were avenging a host of wrongs against innocent people.”
Oh, dear God. What a coil. Though she understood the motivation—a bit—deep in her soul, the notion that a group of people willingly committed murder turned her stomach.
“Yet how the devil did you include the duke’s own family?” Bright wanted to know, for like her, he apparently couldn’t fathom how anything like this could have occurred. “Boddingford was adamant that your two worlds never intermingle.”
Oddly, a laugh escaped the housekeeper. “Of course he was, and yes, London society as well as most of the world, truly belongs to the Quality. What kind of world would it be if everything was equal? Complete chaos, that is what.” She nodded to herself while twisting the knife in her hand so that candlelight arced off the blade.
Perhaps her mind was twisted as well. “Yes, those who are our betters are ridiculous and self-centered, and they care nothing about anyone else, especially those they consider beneath them.” Her gaze went to the duchess, who stared back with a blank expression.
“And from what I’ve seen, they are also cowardly.
As long as an issue doesn’t affect them directly, they ignore it.
So Cravitts and I took matters into our own hands.
Justice was served, as far as I’m concerned. Now my daughter can rest in peace.”
The butler nodded. “And Miss Bentley doesn’t need to fear for her future.”
While that may be true, the depth of the crime remained mind boggling.
“But none of that explains how the damned duke’s family helped you.” Exasperation rang in Bright’s voice. When he took a few steps toward the butler, the other man cocked the pistol, and that sound echoed loudly in the silence.
“It was relatively simply, Inspector.” This from Mr. Markum, the duke’s valet. “We servants came up with the plan.”
“I realize that, but why involve the family? You could have accomplished the same goal with them none the wiser.”
“Fair point.” The valent nodded. In the candlelight, his thinning gray hair was more evident. “However, when the night came to enact our plan, the duchess was in a snit with the duke. She came into the room just as we assembled inside the suite with the knife clearly on display.”
Mary flicked her gaze to Lady Boddingford. “Is that true?”
“Yes, of course. I have nothing to hide.” Her shrug was elegant and queenly.
“I immediately ascertained what they wished to do, and quite frankly, I was relieved. Boddingford was becoming a hindrance in our lives as well as an embarrassment. He was a duke and quite powerful, but everyone hated him, and he wielded that as a weapon. To make his enemies squirm.”
“What happened after that?” Bright wanted to know as he relaxed his arms.
“What do you think, Inspector?” She glared. “I asked the servants to wait until I could summon the family. I sent the footman across London to wake my children and bring them here. In an hour, everyone had assembled, except Anthony, since he was already dead.”
Slowly, Mary shook her head. “When your children and perhaps some of their spouses or life partners came home, how did you get them to agree to this insane plan?”
The Earl of Edgington answered that question.
“There was no conversation, truly. We were told what the servants wished to do and were given leave to make our own decisions as well as to say our goodbyes.” He shrugged.
Sadness as well as relief warred for dominance in his expression.
“Then Markum held a pillow over Papa’s face, and since he’d always been a heavy sleeper anyway… ”
Cravitts nodded. “The first stab was the most difficult,” the butler admitted with the same nonchalance as the rest. “I did that one, which woke the duke, but by the third one, the fight had left him.”
That answered another question and explained why the stab wounds were varying depths and sizes. Still, even though she could understand the reasoning, the urge to cast up her accounts grew stronger. How did one even excuse such a crime committed by so many people who had wild motivation?
The earl nodded. “One by one, we all stabbed my father. Every one of us has specific reasons, and every one of us had been victimized by him. Now we have peace and closure.” When he bounced his gaze between Mary and Bright, her heart wrenched for him.
“Life can now be restarted since Papa is gone, and we can only hope his memory will be forgotten before too long.”
“Good God, you people are insane.” Bright shoved the fingers of one hand through his hair, leaving it in furrowed rows.
“This was a group murder. You are all guilty of killing a man, and a duke at that. Don’t you see how wrong that is?
None of you have the right to decide who lives and who dies!
” Exasperation wove through the statement.
He glanced at the butler. “And you, killing an innocent man who did nothing wrong except marry a duke’s daughter. ”
Mary gazed with empathy at her husband, but she couldn’t form any words.