Penance for the Dead (Bow Street Duchess Mystery #4)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

Saturday Night

The stale, stuffy air inside Lady Reed’s ballroom reeked of floral perfume, cologne, and dank undernotes of sweat.

Audrey fluttered her silk fan in rapid beats in front of her face, attempting to disburse the overpowering scents.

Outside, winter clung on with freezing temperatures and icy gales, and while she didn’t particularly care for the blustery cold, she would have happily leaped into a snow drift right then if it meant escaping the ballroom—and the presence of Lady Minerva Dutton.

The dowager viscountess had been valiantly attempting to corner Audrey and Philip, the Duke and Duchess of Fournier, and Philip’s younger sister, Lady Cassandra, ever since the three of them arrived at the soiree.

Knowing the older woman’s penchant for gossip and for making thinly veiled cuts, Audrey had tucked Cassie close to her side and weaved between guests to evade her.

Cassie had only returned to London a few weeks ago.

She’d spent the last several months in Sweden with some of Philip’s trusted friends—Mr. and Mrs. Olsson, one of Philip’s former Cambridge professors and his wife, who had moved back to Stockholm.

They had graciously taken in Cassie when she’d found herself in a dire situation last summer.

Unwed and with child, she had needed a place to have her baby, far away from the eyes and ears of polite society.

Should anyone learn of her predicament, she would have been thoroughly ruined.

Unfortunately, Lady Dutton was as keen as a hawk when it came to spotting scandals, and Cassie’s absence had sparked the viscountess’s interest. Though the soiree was something of a crush, and she’d successfully eluded Lady Dutton for the past half hour, Audrey’s luck ran out at the punch table.

For the last several minutes, the viscountess had not relinquished her hold.

“But enough about this party’s ill-advised décor,” she trilled after commenting at length on Lady Reed’s decision to outfit the four corners of the ballroom to reflect the four seasons. “My dear Lady Cassandra, I am still waiting to hear how your aunt is faring.”

Cassie, who slipped a little closer to her elder brother, gave no reply. She seemed to freeze under the woman’s scrutiny. Philip had sipped his punch slowly during the woman’s tiresome monologue on proper ballroom décor, his expression impassive. Now, he cleared his throat.

“Our aunt has made a full recovery, thank you for inquiring,” he said.

Cassie had, allegedly, forgone the Little Season last fall to remain in Scotland with her ailing great aunt.

Lady Dutton flashed a grin. “I’m so relieved to hear as much, Your Grace. Tell me, Lady Cassandra, did you have any opportunity to socialize while you were there? I recall Lord Hartford saying he and his family were in Edinburgh for Michaelmas. Did you not see them?”

Audrey took a sip of her punch and met Philip’s glance.

By appearances alone, Cassie did not look any different than she had in the summer.

However, there was a seriousness to her now that had not been present before.

The old Cassie would have waved a hand through the air and spun some excuse with a light laugh and clever remark.

This new Cassie looked as dismissive and sour as Philip.

“No,” she answered sharply.

Lady Dutton’s forehead wrinkled above arching brows.

Audrey smiled, though the expression was wooden. “The duke’s aunt resides outside Glasgow. It’s rather rustic and out of the way.”

“I see,” Lady Dutton said. Audrey only hoped the woman did not see.

Only family knew the truth; it had been impossible to keep it from Philip’s brother Michael, Lord Herrick, and his wife, Genie.

Genie would undoubtedly write letters to Cassie in Scotland, to which Aunt Hestia would reply with the truth—that she was not there.

And if any of Cassie’s friends wrote to her, Aunt Hestia needed to know to redirect the letters to Sweden.

Their dour great aunt had been scandalized, but she’d agreed to protect the family name.

Michael had blustered and threatened to kill Lord Renfry, the blackguard who’d seduced and abandoned his sister, but then, like Philip had, he’d grudgingly agreed that keeping the truth from Renfry would benefit them all.

The man had stooped to seducing his own stepmothers, the Earl of Bainbury’s second and third wives, and neither Philip nor Michael wished for their beloved sister to be married to such an ingrate.

Tobias, their youngest sibling still at Cambridge, was the only one who did not know the truth.

Audrey snapped her fan shut. “It is quite a change of pace being back in town after so long in the country,” she said, attempting to formulate a reason for her sister-in-law’s sullen attitude. “Cassie does so enjoy the fresh air.”

Cassie forced an anemic response. “Yes, it is quite overwhelming here.”

Audrey’s chest tightened with sympathy. Cassie had not said much about the birth of her daughter, or of handing her newborn over to Mrs. Olsson, who’d found a loving home for the child, but she was clearly heartbroken.

And seeing Genie and Michael’s new baby, George, had likely been salt in a wound.

Little George, now nearly five months old, was a round-cheeked, black-haired angel, and even Audrey was not immune to pangs of maternal longing when she held him.

Lady Dutton simpered. “I never marked you as a country girl, Lady Cassandra. Perhaps your newfound love of the countryside is the reason your correspondence while away was so…irregular?”

The letters would have traveled from London, to Scotland, to Sweden and back again, causing quite a delay. It had not gone unnoticed, it seemed.

“Either that or my sister grew weary of dull conversation. A sentiment I share, completely,” Philip said, more agitated now.

Lady Dutton’s eyes narrowed at his implied barb.

“If you’ll excuse us, my lady,” he said, and then took Cassie by the arm and stepped away. Audrey quickly followed.

“She won’t have anything kind to say about you now,” she whispered to Philip once she was by his side again.

“Has she ever?”

“The woman is a wretch,” Cassie added, and Audrey could not disagree.

“Perhaps we should take our leave soon,” she suggested.

None of them had wanted to attend Lady Reed’s soiree to begin with but snubbing one of the most important events of the Season had not been an option.

The Duke and Duchess of Fournier hadn’t received many invitations during the Little Season, as they’d still been entrenched in scandal.

First, Philip had been accused of a gruesome murder, one from which he’d been exonerated, but it had still damaged his reputation.

And then, two murders on the grounds of their country home, Fournier Downs, had threatened to drag them back into disgrace.

Getting back into society and introducing Cassie properly was expected.

With any luck, it would also begin to repair the Fournier name.

But not if Philip continued to be such a bad-tempered bear.

Cassie stopped to say hello to a few ladies she was acquainted with, and Audrey and Philip fell back, near one of the many tall windows lining the walls of the vast room. The glass radiated cold, and Audrey longed to press her cheek against it.

“Are you feeling unwell?” Audrey asked him after a moment.

He had undergone a second mercury salivation treatment the previous week, and it had left him bedridden for three days.

His first round of treatment had taken place in November, and though the physician had told him it would completely cure his syphilis, Philip had become unwell in January with what he called a “flare”, though he refused to elaborate on the symptoms to Audrey, who needled him out of pure concern.

Once he was feeling well again, Dr. Bagley from Lock Hospital had met him for another treatment.

He still appeared pale, his cheekbones more prominent than usual.

“I am fine,” he replied, then with a sigh, added, “Just a little tired.”

Audrey took his arm. To the rest of the ton currently in the ballroom, the action would look like a wife taking her husband’s arm in loving affection.

And while Audrey did love Philip, and he loved her, it was not in the traditional sense.

They were the best of friends now that they’d been wed three years.

Audrey often wondered if she and Philip might even be closer than many of the married couples surrounding them.

So often, people married for alliance, for money, for titles and position.

She and Philip had married for convenience, too, but with the mutual understanding that theirs would be a marriage based on friendship.

That didn’t mean they did not have their hiccups.

The one that immediately, and often, came to her mind had a name: Principal Bow Street Officer Hugh Marsden.

It had been several months since she’d seen him, and since they’d been in lockstep while uncovering a deadly blackmailing scheme that involved Audrey and a few of her former acquaintances at Shadewell Sanatorium.

When they’d pinned down the culprit and arrested the deranged woman, Hugh had made sure Audrey would not be connected to the asylum in any way.

He’d been true to his word. The last five months had been normal to the point of tedium.

Considering that his status as a Bow Street officer was leagues below her own rank as duchess, there was no acceptable reason for them to see, or so much as bump into, each other.

She missed him. The yawning ache in her chest whenever she thought of him was proof. Perhaps, if another few months passed, and then a few more, that ache would begin to lessen. Audrey wasn’t certain if she looked forward to that, or if she dreaded it.