Chapter Twenty-Two
On the settee, Landon held Opal’s hand, glad they were finally getting to the bottom of this whole thing. Lady Chadwick and Mr. Hamilton had been waiting for them in the drawing room when they sat down.
At first, Landon thought Lady Chadwick had also been a part of the plan, but as soon as everyone was gathered into the room, the detective absolved Lady Chadwick from any guilt by saying, “Forgive me for making you come here on such short notice, my lady.”
“Am I in trouble?” Lady Chadwick asked.
“No,” he assured her, “but there’s something important that’s hiding in this townhouse.”
Mr. Hamilton scanned the others in the room, and for some reason, his gaze lingered on Landon. Landon was about to ask him why he insisted on staring at him for so long. But then he caught the slight scowl on Mr. Hamilton’s face and realized that Mr. Hamilton stared at him because he blamed Landon for all of this. Landon had refused to let him rent this townhouse so he could get to whatever he wanted without resorting to the staff to drive Landon and Opal out of the place. Things would have been a lot smoother if he’d been able to rent this place and search it out at his leisure. But since Landon had moved in here instead, Mr. Hamilton had had no such luxury.
The detective now had sufficient proof to make sure justice would be served. Landon had given him the forged missive from Byron and the paintings of the graveyard and ghost. Catching Miss Kesner, the maid, and the gentleman in the bedchambers had been the final piece of the puzzle.
Detective Hall turned to Mr. Hamilton. “Why don’t you explain to Lady Chadwick why you wanted to rent this place?”
“He wanted to be close to his daughter,” Lady Chadwick told Detective Hall.
“There is no daughter,” the detective replied. “He has no children. But he does have a fondness for money. Lady Chadwick, are you aware that your husband hid money throughout this townhouse?”
Landon’s eyes widened in surprise. He couldn’t recall finding any money lingering about the place. He glanced at Opal and noted that she hadn’t seen any, either.
Lady Chadwick’s eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t understand. I didn’t see any money in anything before I put this place up for rent.”
“Tell her where her husband hid it,” Detective Hall told Mr. Hamilton.
After a long moment, Mr. Hamilton sighed and said, “Lord Chadwick was superstitious. He didn’t like to put the majority of his money in a bank. He hid most of it in secret compartments in the furniture.” With a glance at Lady Chadwick, he added, “The doctor who tended to him on his deathbed was my cousin. He had asked me to bring some medicine to manage your husband’s pain. Your husband was delirious and rambling about an assortment of things. I don’t think anyone took him seriously. But I was curious, so I searched the nightstand by his bedside, and sure enough, behind the top drawer, I found some money neatly secured there. He spread his money throughout this entire place.” He scanned the drawing room, as if he would be able to detect if there was any in the room.
“And you didn’t know about that?” the detective asked Lady Chadwick.
She shook her head. “I had no idea. We have plenty in the bank. I have never been without anything I’ve ever needed, even after he passed on to the next life.”
“There must be a substantial amount of money around here if Mr. Hamilton took the time to hire help.” The detective turned to Miss Kesner, the maid, and the gentleman who’d been pretending to be a ghost. “Which one of you would like to be the first to explain your involvement in this?”
He waited in silence for one to volunteer, but they remained quiet.
“I’d like to know why they would try to make my sister think she was losing her mind,” Warren spoke up. “And what does our brother Byron have to do with this?” He turned his gaze to the gentleman dressed up like a ghost. “How did you find out about him, and how did you forge his handwriting?”
Mr. Hamilton let out another sigh as if he resented having to answer the questions but knew he had no choice since he’d been caught. “I needed to give Lady Farewell a reason to leave this townhouse, and I needed her to take her husband with her. After asking around about her family, I learned of Byron and found out he was dead. Since he was buried in the country, I decided the best way to get them to leave this townhouse was to make her think the ghost of her dearly departed brother wanted her to visit his grave.”
“Why did you add the knocking on the door and put her comb back in the drawer of her vanity?” Landon asked. “That had nothing to do with her brother.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Mr. Hamilton countered. When Landon shook his head, he groaned. “Those were all ways Byron was trying to reach her. He was to start with simple things and then make his appearance. I hired Mr. Ackinson,” he motioned to the gentleman dressed up as Byron, “who looked like him to do the task for me. As for the handwriting, I found some missives Byron had written to gentlemen he gambled with.” He paused then added, “I don’t know everything Miss Kesner did, but my intention wasn’t to make your wife believe she was losing her mind. I only wanted her to think her brother was trying to reach her from the grave. A concerned sister should want to go to the country to find out what he wanted.”
Landon hadn’t expected that. He really had thought they were trying to make Opal believe she was losing her mind. But then, they didn’t know the details of her past. They didn’t know she had pretended to be insane to protect herself from her mother.
“What a terrible thing to do to a young lady,” Lady Chadwick said. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Mr. Hamilton.”
Mr. Hamilton rolled his eyes in a way that indicated he didn’t care what she thought of him, and this seemed to upset her even more.
“I think what matters is that we were able to prevent Mr. Hamilton from stealing more of your husband’s money,” Detective Hall said, turning to Lady Chadwick. “It would be in your best interest to go through all of your furniture to make sure you get it before someone else tries to steal it.”
“We didn’t move any of the furniture,” Landon told her. “We didn’t even know about the money. You are welcome to come here and look for it.”
Lady Chadwick nodded. “I’ll do that as soon as this whole thing with the detective is over.”
After a moment of silence, the detective asked Miss Kesner and the maid, “Did either of you know about the money?”
Miss Kesner and the maid glanced at each other, and then Miss Kesner answered, “No. Mr. Hamilton said he would give me a double sovereign for my trouble. When I realized I could not do everything myself, I promised the maid half of that.” After a moment, she glanced at Opal. “My previous employer had so little to her name that I didn’t have much of anything.”
“I didn’t want to be a maid for the rest of my life,” the maid finally spoke up. “The money would have afforded me a way out of a servant’s life.”
“How much money do you think is in this townhouse?” the detective asked Mr. Hamilton.
“He had half a sovereign in the nightstand,” Mr. Hamilton said.
Warren’s jaw dropped. “He kept that kind of money in an unsecured place?”
“Now you know why I wanted your sister to think your brother wanted her to go to the country,” Mr. Hamilton replied as if he were talking to a child.
Warren frowned, but the detective interrupted them. “How much money is or isn’t here is not our concern. That is Lady Chadwick’s business.” The detective’s gaze went to Lady Chadwick. “I advise you to have a servant you trust search through all of your furnishings with you.”
Lady Chadwick nodded. “Of course, I will.”
“Who moved everything around the den?” Landon asked when no one said anything for a few seconds.
The maid glanced at Miss Kesner. “We both did.”
“And the whispers I heard in the den?” Opal asked her. “Who did those?”
“Mr. Ackinson was there that day,” the maid replied.
“That was the day I first saw him in my bedchamber,” Opal told Landon.
He remembered that day. It was the day when he’d received the urgent message from the lad. He directed his gaze to Mr. Hamilton. “Did you hire a lad to tell me that my brother needed me on the morning Mr. Ackinthon came to my wife’th bedchamber?” Though he noticed the lisping he was doing, he forced aside his unease about it. This was more important than how much he was embarrassing himself.
“Yes, I paid the lad to do that,” Mr. Hamilton admitted. Then he looked at the detective. “Is there anything else?”
The detective glanced at Landon, Opal, and Warren. Landon couldn’t think of anything else. It was easy enough to put the rest of the pieces of the puzzle together now that he knew Miss Kesner and the maid had been the ones to switch things around the den, Mr. Ackinson had played the part of the departed brother, and Mr. Hamilton had taken care of the rest.
“Do you want to know anything that they haven’t mentioned?” Landon asked Opal.
She shook her head. “No. I know all I need to.”
“I think we’re done,” Landon told Detective Hall.
The detective nodded and then gestured for the four culprits to leave with him. “I’ll make sure they don’t cause any more problems,” he assured Landon.
Landon thanked him. As the detective led the four out of the townhouse, Landon turned to Opal. “How are you doing?”
“Much better. It helps to know what’s been going on and why,” she replied.
Lady Chadwick, still looking overwhelmed, rose to her feet, and Landon, Opal, and Warren followed suit. “What an unfortunate thing you went through.” She went to Opal and gave her a hug. “I thought Mr. Hamilton was a nice gentleman, and to find out he was behind all of this…” She shook her head. “There are no words to describe how I feel.”
“You really should get a servant through here to help you find the rest of your husband’s money,” Warren said. “If I was him, I’d want it with you where it belongs.”
“Yes, I’ll go get one and come right back.” She glanced at Landon and Opal. “I’ll try to make it quick.”
“Take as long as you need,” Opal said.
She smiled at Landon and Opal. “I’m glad I went with you two. You’re very sweet people, and those are the kind I want to live here.”
After she left, Warren crossed his arms. “If you ask me, trying to make a young lady think she’s seeing the ghost of her dead brother is in poor taste. I hope Detective Hall gives those four what they deserve.”
“He will,” Landon said, joining Opal in standing up. “Guy promithed Detective Hall will do the right thing.”
Warren nodded and looked at his sister. “Why didn’t you tell me or Iris what was happening?”
“I didn’t want anyone to know,” she replied. “I didn’t even want to tell Landon. I didn’t want anyone to know there was something wrong with me.”
“But there wasn’t,” Warren said.
“We know that now. But I didn’t know it then. Warren, I remember how everyone used to look at me when I was pretending I was insane. I didn’t want to be pitied like that again. I wasn’t planning to even tell Landon. He just happened to find me right after I thought I imagined seeing Byron’s ghost.”
“You can’t blame her for not wanting to tell anyone,” Landon told Warren. “It ith hard to be different from your family, let alone everyone in London.”
Warren glanced between Landon and Opal then sighed. “I suppose you’re right. I’ve never had to deal with a lisp or had to worry that someone might think I was losing my mind. It’s just that…” He paused. “We’re family. You should be able to come to me about anything.”
“We did come to you,” Landon said. “Why do you think I wanted your help today?”
“I just wish it hadn’t taken so long.” Warren turned his gaze to Opal. “If Landon hadn’t insisted you tell him what was happening, would you still be keeping this whole thing a secret?”
She lowered her gaze to the floor, and Landon put his arm around her shoulders.
“Forgive me,” Warren said, his expression softening. “I’m not as sensitive to these things as you two are. I just don’t want to see anyone I care about going through something like this.”
Opal looked back at him. “I know you don’t. I wasn’t trying to hide it from you as much as I was trying to hide it from myself. I didn’t want to believe what was going on. As soon as I told anyone, it was going to be real.”
“When you put it that way, it’s understandable,” Warren replied. “In the future, though, please know that Landon and I won’t think there’s anything wrong with you.”
“We won’t,” Landon told her, hoping to further assure her. “You’re perfect. We know that.”
She laughed. “I’m far from perfect, but I appreciate you saying I am.” She stepped away from him so she could hug her brother. “Thank you for helping me and Landon.”
“I’ll always help you both,” Warren promised, returning her hug. “We need to support each other.”
“I know,” she said.
He released her and smiled at Landon. “I’m glad you came to me. It’s nice to know we took care of the situation.”
Once Warren left, Opal hugged Landon. “Thank you. It’s nice to know you never lost faith in me.”
He gave her a kiss. “I’ll alwayth believe in you.” He smiled and brushed her cheek. “Do you feel up to eating dinner?”
She nodded. “Now that everything is over, I’m famished.”
Slipping her arm around his, she let him lead her out of the room and to the dining room.