Chapter 17 #2
Millie, a widow for four years now, had either pinched her cheeks to bring color to them, or she was actually blushing as she listened to the soldiers giving them their favor.
Nearly ten years Audrey’s senior, Millie had married a viscount of advanced age when Audrey had been nine.
She and her sister had never been close, and understandably so.
Millie was just so much older. She was also a good bit like their mother, the baroness.
Cold, distant, and extremely caring of her position within society’s good graces.
On the other hand, James, Audrey’s brother, had been six years her senior and had still doted on his little imp of a sister.
He’d taken after their father, who showered Audrey with affection as well.
Losing them both to a fever shortly after Millie’s marriage had devastated her.
She’d been left alone at Haverfield with her cold mother and her uncle, the new baron, and they did not hide their romantic affair very well, even during the time the baroness should have been in mourning.
Millie’s circle of friends and acquaintances differed from Audrey’s, and that was just fine by her.
Her sister’s presence tended to result in tensed shoulders and agitation that would linger for hours afterward, where Audrey went over everything they had said to one another, every action, with a fine-toothed comb in her mind.
She tried to tuck herself behind Genie in the hope that she would remain unseen.
Speaking to Colonel Trenton again might only bring up the murder, and Cassie had already conveyed worry over the attention.
But when William bowed at the hip and greeted her with an all too jovial “Your Grace, it is a pleasure,” his voice carried.
Millie’s sharp brown eyes sliced toward her.
Audrey met her with a thin smile, though Millie didn’t return it right away.
She seemed to hesitate, wavering over whether to excuse herself and come say hello.
Suspecting that Millie might admonish her for hesitating, and then accusing her of being high in the instep, Audrey made the first move.
She excused herself from Cassie, Genie, and William, and crossed the pavilion.
Millie saw her approaching and hitched her chin, putting on a false smile.
“You Grace,” she said with a small dip of her head, the public show of respect not something she would have done in private.
“Lady Redding, I hope you’re enjoying the review.” Calling her Millie in public would have been too informal and something her sister would lambast her for later.
Her group of ladies and officers waited for an introduction, and Millie dutifully—if grudgingly—obliged.
She ran through the names of the ladies and officers.
Colonel Trenton refrained from speaking.
Saying anything about their previous encounter at Lady Reed’s, now that the marchioness was so recently deceased, would have instantly consumed the light conversation.
And though the others surely connected Audrey to the discovery of Colonel Trenton’s recently murdered sister, that topic was also not broached.
Instead, Audrey settled for a superficial compliment.
“My felicitations, Colonel, I hear you are to be wed.”
The colonel, his expression flat, gave another bow. “I am, Your Grace. Thank you.”
At the drop of silence afterward, and Millie’s stricken glare, Audrey wondered if perhaps offering congratulations rather than condolences had been a gaff. Explaining that she had already met with the colonel and conveyed her sympathies earlier would have left her sounding like a babbling fool.
Another officer came to her rescue. He clicked his heels and bowed. “Captain Marcott of the 29th Regiment of Foot, at your service, Your Grace. I am acquainted with Lord Herrick. We were in the Peninsula together.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” Audrey said. “I arrived with his lordship just now. He is here, somewhere. I hope you will meet with him.”
It was a mundane comment, but Audrey didn’t wish to be drawn into any conversation. Her intent was to say hello and then excuse herself. Surely, that was all Millie wished for too.
Captain Marcott bowed again, graciously, his gloved hand resting on the ornate gold hilt of his short sword.
All the officers and infantrymen were kitted out in full ceremonial dress, and that included the short sword.
Next to his impeccably white glove, the sidearm’s decorative tassel—crimson to match the uniform—stood in stark contrast. Her attention caught and held on the tassel.
“Your sword, Captain,” Audrey said before she could stop to think.
Captain Marcott looked down at it. “Yes, Your Grace, I know it is rather boorish to wear such a weapon in the presence of ladies. If it were up to me, we would leave them off. This isn’t Waterloo, after all, now is it?”
There was a polite round of twittering laughs at his quip, however as Audrey’s eyes shifted toward Colonel Trenton, saw that he was not joining in. His eyes were no longer red-rimmed as they had been the morning after the disastrous soiree, but he still appeared melancholy.
Audrey looked back to Captain Marcott and his sword hilt and tassel. A strip of black leather tied the tassel to the gold hilt, the leather strip itself pinned together in the center by a gold leaf charm. Below the charm, the red tassel swung freely. She blinked. That charm. She recognized it.
“Captain, do all dress swords have that tassel and gold leaf charm?” she asked.
The question was met with a glare from Millie.
She supposed it was an odd inquiry, but that charm was the very replica of the one she had trod upon in Lady Reed’s ballroom while running through, in search of the woman who had screamed.
Its design, three leaves fanned out, was unmistakable.
The short, sharp post that had pierced the sole of her slipper and her foot would have been the length needed to pin the tassel’s leather strips too.
Without any hint of amusement, Officer Marcott answered, “Yes, Your Grace. Is it not to your liking? I admit, the ornamentation is a bit ostentatious.”
“I am sure my sister does not mean any insult,” Millie said quickly, her smile showing too much tooth. Audrey knew that look; it was the one that implored her to hush up. Audrey was embarrassing her, surely.
“None at all, officer. I was simply curious, as I believe I have seen it before,” Audrey said.
A military man had been at Lady Reed’s ball, it seemed. She didn’t recall seeing one there, however. They stood out in a crowd, what with the vibrant red uniform and their tall, feathered shako caps. However, she had seen a military man at Lady Reed’s the following day.
As gracefully and indifferently as possible, Audrey turned her attention toward Colonel Trenton. He was in possession of a short sidearm, just as all the other military men were, however his gloved hand rested upon the hilt, obscuring the tassel and charm.
“Of course, you have seen it before, my dear,” Millie said with a silly twittering laugh. “We are surrounded by them today. Officers, I hope we aren’t keeping you from your drills.”
She wanted to move away from Audrey’s strange question, and Colonel Trenton seemed to be of the same inclination.
He bowed in a clipped manner and was the first to take his leave from the group.
Millie noticed and glowered at Audrey, surely blaming her for driving away the colonel.
Audrey ignored her, following Colonel Trenton’s movement as he left the pavilion, his hand still covering his hilt and tassel. Her mind churned.
Like Bartholomew, Colonel Trenton would be ruined if Hugh’s father and April Barlow wed at Gretna Green, unbeknownst to anyone else.
His legitimacy would be negated. She recollected again the colonel’s red, puffy eyes when crossing paths with him at Lady Reed’s.
She had thought the state of his eyes was due to sobbing over his sister’s death. His hoarse voice, evidence as well.
But hadn’t she, Philip, and Cassie complained of sore throats the next morning? Her eyes had stung something wicked, and Greer had whipped up a compress to help reduce the inflammation. They had watered incessantly too. All because of the caustic smoke.
Captain Marcott and the remaining officer bowed and departed next, and Millie pressed her lips thinly. “So good to see you, as always, sister,” she said with barely concealed rancor before she and her friends carried onward, toward another part of the pavilion.
She ignored Millie and turned back toward Genie and Cassie. The pavilion had thickened with crowds as a fine mist began to fall. Cassie was locked in a pleasant conversation with William and a few others when Audrey drew Genie aside.
“I must leave,” she blurted, to which Genie’s grin crashed.
“What is wrong? Did Lady Redding say something unpleasant to you? Should we find Philip and Michael?” She began to look about, in search of them.
“It is just a head ache,” Audrey lied. “I will send Carrigan back after he leaves me at Violet House.”
That wasn’t where she was going, of course. What she wanted was to find Hugh and tell him what she might have just discovered. But he would currently be in Wanstead. Who knew when he would be returning? Or if he would even come to see her after.
“Oh, there they are,” Genie said, her search stopping as she found Philip and Michael standing along the edge of Rotten Row. “Let us fetch Philip.”
“No.” Audrey clamped her hand on Genie’s forearm in a startling and ungainly fashion. She jumped, and her eyes narrowed with alarm.
“No, that isn’t necessary,” Audrey went on, releasing the claw-like grip on her sister-in-law. Her stomach turned leaden as she saw that Philip and Michael did not stand alone. A handful of other men stood with them. Mr. Freddie Walker included.
Right then, Philip felt so far away from her that she couldn’t even begin to imagine traversing the gap.
“Stay. Enjoy yourselves. And keep an eye on Cassie,” she added, then turned and started toward the closest park gate.
Hugh had spoken of not being able to go to Sir Gabriel until he had proof in his hand.
If only she had kept the charm and not tossed it away!
But she could amend her witness testimony.
She could appeal to Officer Tyne and draw connections to the gold leaf charm’s presence and Colonel Trenton’s appearance the next morning.
Could it be enough to warrant Officer Tyne questioning him of his whereabouts that evening? Maybe. Maybe not. But she had to try.
“Your Grace,” Carrigan said as she came upon the coach. He looked for the others in her party and when he didn’t see them, returned his attention to her. “Are we going somewhere, Your Grace?”
“Yes,” she said as he lowered the step and extended his hand. “To Bow Street. Quick.”