Chapter Seven #3
“I know you and Mrs. Thornfield would have prevented anything improper from occurring,” Kate soothed. “But strong emotions, even kind ones, can lead to ultimate unpleasantness. Did either of them try to slip around your guard?”
“No, my lady.”
It was frustrating. She knew he was hiding something. Did he know Dinah had been with child and was covering for Lewis?
“They were allowed half days away from the house, were they not?” she pursued.
“Never at the same time.”
“Of course not. On the night she died, Kemp, you were one of the first people to find her.”
“After the curate.”
“Indeed. You heard him cry out for help, I believe?”
“I did.”
“Did no one else?”
Kemp blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
“Who else heard Mr. Grande call for help?”
The butler closed his mouth into a thin line. “I could not say, my lady. Since no one else came out, I would guess no one else heard him.”
“But they heard you call to have Lord Chadbon informed.”
“I left the door to the house open. Dinah didn’t.”
“She came out through the laundry door, didn’t she?”
“She was shirking, as usual,” Kemp said in a rush.
“I could tell she was trying to slip away and leave the others to do her share of the work. I saw her take a couple of cloths into the laundry—the first thing she’d done voluntarily all evening.
So I watched for her coming back out. When I realized she hadn’t, I thought to catch her lounging at her ease in there, but she wasn’t. ”
“So, since she hadn’t come out, you knew she must have gone outside?”
“I’d got as far as the drying yard when I heard the curate shout. I ran through to the garden, and there was Dinah lying there, with Mr. Grande kneeling over her.”
“What did he do?”
Kemp raised his eyebrows, almost as if he were dealing with a slow-witted servant. “Hadn’t he done enough? My lady.”
“What did you see him do, Kemp? Did he notice your arrival? Speak to you? Did you see him push the knife into her? Feel for her pulse? What?”
Kemp swallowed, clearly taken aback by her sharpness.
“I didn’t think he’d noticed me. Like I said, his hand was hovering over the hilt of the dagger.
I didn’t know whether he’d stabbed her or was about to pull the thing out of her.
He never looked at me, only at the body.
He just said, She’s dead. Send for everyone you need to. ”
“How did he sound?” Kate asked. She didn’t know why. It just seemed important to know.
“Sound?” the butler repeated blankly.
“Was he brisk? Loud? Did his voice tremble? Was he visibly upset?”
At least Kemp thought about it. “Shocked, I’d say.
His hand was unsteady. His voice was quiet, but I heard it clearly enough.
He never looked up from the girl as he spoke.
Not until he realized I hadn’t moved or spoken.
Then he glanced up and his eyes and his face were—” He broke off, shaking his head at the impossibility of finding the right word.
“Grief-stricken?” Kate suggested. “Afraid? Angry?”
Kemp shook his head, almost impatiently.
“Just seemed a mess of emotions. A bit wild—mad, even. I shouted toward the house for them to send for His Lordship, and then I had the sense to tell them he should come via the orangery, and I shut the laundry doors to stop them all spilling out from the kitchen to gawp.”
“And then you went to the stables personally to send a lad for the doctor?”
“I did.”
“Because you understood that was what His Lordship would want?”
Kemp nodded. “He is a public figure. Propriety and appearance are important. This could have been a terrible scandal.”
It still could be if Rupert Grande is not freed…
“Then at the time, it seemed sensible to leave Mr. Grande alone with Dinah’s body? You did not suspect him of anything untoward then?”
“Dinah was dead,” Kemp said deliberately. “What more could he do? If Your Ladyship will excuse me, I have duties, and you do not wish to be seen in such a long conversation.”
Kate blinked. Even as a child, she had never been dismissed by a servant before. “Just one more thing. Did you recognize the dagger that killed Dinah?”
“Of course.”
“When did you last see it?”
“I could not say, my lady. I never noticed it was missing from the study, if that’s what you mean.”
“I understand Dinah was responsible for cleaning His Lordship’s study.”
“Mrs. Thornfield supervises the maids.”
“I am aware. Kemp, who do you think killed Dinah?”
He held her gaze. “The curate, my lady.”
Even though she knew he would blindly follow his master’s lead and the magistrate’s convenient decision, Kemp’s words shook her. She began to understand the full strength of Chadbon’s power here and just what she would face if she tried to shake it. And if she succeeded…
She shivered. Chadbon would cast Gilbert into the political cold. And it would be her fault. Was she really prepared to let that happen?
She was halfway upstairs before she realized that she was.
Otherwise, all the idealism both Gilbert and Chadbon claimed to stand for meant nothing.
But it was more than possible her investigation would achieve nothing, and that she would have to involve Lord Winster.
In which case neither Gilbert nor Rupert would speak to her again.