Chapter Fifteen
Riley presented himself at Grosvenor Square at the appropriate hour that evening. A whirlwind descended upon him in a flurry of petticoats and bouncing curls.
‘Uncle Riley, there you are!’
‘Hello, Cabbage.’ Riley draped an arm affectionately around his niece’s shoulders. ‘What have you been up to?’
‘Oh, I have had the most tremendous time. Carolyn Morton and I are already the best of friends. She comes out this season. The lucky thing! We have been visiting the shops and choosing endless pretty things for her to wear. Of course, she is pretty enough in her own right and is bound to be admired wherever she goes, but still…Papa has returned home. I thought he might insist that I go with him, but in the end he didn’t even come to say goodbye. He just sent a message.’ Sophia seemed unperturbed by her father’s disinterest in her. ‘I should be used to that, I suppose, and it used to bother me but this time I was glad for it and…’
Laughing, Riley held up a hand to stem the breathless flow of words. ‘I almost regret asking,’ he said, unsure if he was relieved that his brother had left the capital or angry with him for continuing to ignore his delightful daughter.
Olivia joined him with her daughter Carolyn at her side. Riley greeted them and watched the girls wander across the room, heads together, talking one another’s ears off.
‘I’m sorry if Cabbage is being too exuberant,’ Riley said with a fond smile. ‘I enjoy that aspect of her character, but it’s definitely an acquired taste.’
‘I am very glad that she and Caro get along so well. My daughter is serious like her father, doesn’t make friends easily and isn’t as outgoing as Sophia. They are good for one another.’
There were twenty people present and Riley was absorbed into their midst. But as always, it was Amelia who held his attention. He made his way to her side and she smiled a greeting.
‘I suppose you are still delving the murky depths of London’s demi-monde,’ she said by way of greeting.
‘Something of that nature,’ he replied, raising her hand to his lips and lingering over it. ‘How are you? I hope Cabbage is not taking advantage of your good nature.’
‘I think it is rather more a case of me enjoying her lively company. It’s impossible to brood when I’m in the same room as her.’ A burst of laugher from the corner of the room occupied by the two girls had everyone smiling and proved Amelia’s point. ‘When did we become so jaded, Riley?’
‘Life tends to make one cynical, I find. I hope that doesn’t happen to Cabbage for a very long time.’
Dinner was announced and Riley offered Amelia his arm. The meal was excellent, and the company entertaining. Cabbage, seated across from Riley, behaved impeccably at what had to be one of her first adult dinner parties. Only when the ladies had withdrawn and the port was making its second circuit did Riley have an opportunity to discuss progress on the case, or the lack thereof, with Jake and his brother-in-law, Daniel Gaston.
‘I now think that my superintendent was right to suggest the entire affair hinges on money,’ he said quietly as the three men wandered, glasses in hand, towards a window.
‘Do you really think Celeste Clement could be that conniving?’ Jake asked.
‘I’m not sure,’ Riley admitted. ‘Salter and I visited her this afternoon and she showed no alarm when we told her that we’d tracked down the solicitor who handed Adelaide’s affairs and plan to visit him tomorrow in the hope of discovering who stands to inherit her wealth. Then would have been the time for her to admit that she knew it was her, but she said nothing. She seems genuine, a true friend to Adelaide who is distressed at her murder and wants to see the killer brought to justice.’
‘But the amount of money involved would be enough to turn a completely honest person’s head,’ Jake pointed out.
‘Quite.’ Riley acknowledged the point with a grim nod. ‘Celeste, to the best of my knowledge, is not dishonest but she is becoming increasingly desperate to be rid of her husband’s judgemental step-sibling. She can’t live openly with her husband and feel safe until she achieves that ambition, which makes her a prime suspect in my book.’
‘She wouldn’t have cut the girl’s throat,’ Daniel said.
‘No, but her husband might have been persuaded to do the deed. His wife is a trained seductress and Clement is besotted with her. It wouldn’t have been hard for her to talk him round.’
‘Wasn’t he supposed to be in France?’ Jake asked.
‘He could easily have slipped back into the country. He knew which day of the month the parties took place because he was required to deliver fresh stocks on wine on that day…or rather Ray delivered them on his behalf. If I ask to see his travel receipts you can be sure that they will show he left on the day that he said he did and returned well after the murder. But there’s nothing to say that he couldn’t have come and gone again in the meantime. He knew his way around Mrs Sinclair’s establishment and could easily have left a message for Adelaide to meet him in her workroom after the close of business. She trusted him and would have kept the engagement without suspecting anything.’ Riley paused to take a sip of his drink. ‘I’ve been wondering why she didn’t put up much of a fight, so assumed it must have been Mirabelle who cornered her. It very well might have been, but equally it could have been either of the Clements or her uncle. All four had compelling reasons to want her out of the way.’
‘And all four of them had the means of accessing that room,’ Jake said, nodding. ‘I don’t envy your task, Riley, but I think you have done the right thing to try and force the killer’s hand. Don’t dismiss Ray Clement simply because Adelaide wouldn’t have relaxed in his company. Bear in mind that he guts fish for a living. Sorry to be so blunt but if he somehow lured her into that room, she wouldn’t have had a chance to fight back. Rage, strength and proficiency with a knife meant that she wouldn’t even have had time to raise the alarm.’
‘Have you considered the possibility that perhaps Mirabelle recognised in Ray the resentful character that we know him to be?’ Daniel asked.
‘You think she persuaded him to do the deed on her behalf?’ Riley asked. ‘No, I had not thought of that aspect but it’s entirely possible. She could have got Adelaide into the room, accounting for her willingness to be there, and left Ray to do the rest.’
‘Ray disliked prostitutes. He might be willing to kill one, but not at the behest of another.’
‘You tell me that Mirabelle is beautiful and manipulative,’ Jake reasoned. ‘She desperately wanted Adelaide out of the way and recognised in Ray the means to make it happen.’
‘How?’ Daniel asked.
‘He delivered the wine to the premises and probably wouldn’t have been able to hide his disgust for what went on in there,’ Jake replied. ‘She would simply have had to spin him a yarn about being forced to do what she did against her will. That would put him in mind of his mother, although Mirabelle couldn’t have known that. If we are right, she must have thought that all her Christmases had come at once when Ray fell for her yarn so easily. My advice, Riley, for what it’s worth is that if she doesn’t come to you tomorrow then you should call her in and put that suggestion to her. She will let Ray take the fall in order to save her own skin, you just mark my words. “Oh yes, inspector. Now you come to mention it I did see the man who delivers the wine acting strangely. He seemed to be obsessed with Adelaide but never could have afforded her” Jake shrugged. ‘Or something of that nature.’
‘Thank you, Jake, and you, Daniel,’ Riley replied. ‘It helps to see things more clearly when I discuss them with those not directly involved.’
‘Those with a modicum of intelligence is what you meant to say, I think,’ Daniel said good-naturedly.
Riley laughed. ‘Very likely.’
‘Come along, gentlemen,’ Jack said, returning his attention to the rest of the men, still seated at the table and making steady inroads into the port. ‘Shall we rejoin the ladies?’
Riley trailed behind the rest of the men and was the last to enter the drawing room.
‘Come along, Uncle Riley.’ Cabbage danced forward. ‘We are going to play whist and you must partner me.’
‘Must I indeed.’
‘Oh, I think you should. Uncle Daniel is to partner Carolyn and she is a much better player than I am so you are needed to make the game more even.’
Riley felt the travails of his working day falling from his shoulders in the company of his enchanting niece. She was a far better player than she had led Riley to believe, had a good memory but found so much else to occupy her attention that she frequently forgot to concentrate. As a consequence she and Riley were narrowly beaten.
‘Oh dear,’ she said, smiling angelically. ‘Well done, Caro. I shall just have to practise some more so that I don’t let people down.’
Riley patted her shoulder, stood up and strolled towards the window, watching the two tables still at play, one of which included Amelia. His gaze was frequently drawn towards her, his ears exclusively tuned to the sound of her musical laughter.
‘She really is very lovely.’
Olivia’s voice startled Riley. He hadn’t heard her approaching. ‘Matchmaking, Olivia?’ he asked in a tone of mild rebuke.
‘Absolutely not. I shall have quite enough of that on my hands once Caro comes out. I was simply making an observation.’
Riley smiled. ‘Of course you were.’
‘Even so, you could do worse.’
‘I expected a little more subtlety from you.’
‘And you would have been assured of it, had you not made your interest in Amelia quite so obvious.’
‘Obvious?’ Riley arched a brow, irritated to have unwittingly given Olivia a reason to broach the subject. ‘Amelia and I are friends.’
Olivia flashed a knowing smile. ‘Is that what they are calling it nowadays?’
‘She has made it abundantly clear that friendship is all she wants from me.’
‘Ah, I suppose she would have.’
Olivia’s statement assured her of Riley’s full attention. ‘Whatever do you mean?’
‘You know, I suppose, that her marriage was a complete disaster. A very unhappy period in her life that has left her scarred and wary of the men generally.’
Riley nodded. ‘I assumed that must be the case but I have never asked her about it. If she wants me to know, I imagine she will volunteer the information.’
‘She and I have compared notes at considerable length. We are both survivors of brutal and loveless first marriages.’ Olivia frowned as she absently played with the tassel that edged the thick velvet curtain immediately behind her, forcing herself to dwell upon a period of her life that, Riley suspected, had gradually faded from memory in lieu of years of happiness with Jake. ‘I have tried to convince Amelia that not all men should be viewed in the same light, but she is understandably cautious.’
‘Perhaps she is content with her life the way that it is now. She has her freedom and financial independence, enabling her to do more or less as she pleases. There is a lot to be said for that.’
Olivia chuckled. ‘I had managed to convince myself that I felt the same way. I had not only been married to a brute but also accused of murdering him. That is not the sort of situation one recovers from overnight.’ She paused. ‘At least Amelia has been spared the indignity of being publicly branded as a murderess.’
‘No one who knew you at the time could possibly have thought that way.’
Olivia offered him a wry smile. ‘Could they not?’
‘Ah, I think I understand you. Women were quick to condemn you because they were jealous of your beauty. Men were equally censorious because you hurt their collective pride by refuting their advances.’
Olivia lifted a shoulder. ‘Perhaps. All I can tell you is that Jake chipped away at my defences and eventually managed to convince me that there were still a few enlightened gentlemen in this world who were worth taking a risk on. He has never given me reason to regret that decision.’
‘And made you doubly unpopular with the rest of your sex because you snapped up one of the most eligible aristocrats on the marriage mart,’ Riley suggested with a smile. ‘Be that as it may, I can’t fault my friend’s choice. You are Jake were destined to be together. I recall thinking so when I first made your acquaintance. I was young at the time and such matters bored me rigid. Even so, it seemed obvious.’
A teasing smile flirted with Olivia’s lips. ‘I would say the same about you and Amelia, but for the fact that you would accuse me of matchmaking.’
Riley laughed. ‘I get quite enough of that from my mother. It’s bad enough that I am married to a career which most of my family disapprove of and which occupies the majority of my time. Much as I regret disappointing them, I am perfectly content with my solitary existence.’
‘Far be it from me to side with your family but—‘
‘But you are about to anyway,’ Riley said, forcing a smile. Olivia was one of the few people with whom he would tolerate having this conversation. ‘Go ahead then. Do your worst.’
‘I gather from my recent discourse with Martha that your nephew really is sickly,’ she said in a serious tone. ‘I think she had resisted telling you just how ill he actually is for fear of adding to the pressure you live with. Even so, facts must be faced. Like it or not, in all probability it will be left to you to sire the next marquess.’
Riley nodded. ‘I don’t especially like it but I do accept that I cannot avoid my responsibilities indefinitely. It’s just that the more pressure my family bring to bear, the harder I fight against it. It’s in my nature.’ Riley smiled and spread his hands. ‘I can’t seem to help myself. And, if you want to know the truth, the prospect of being tied to one woman for the rest of my life scares me rigid.’
Olivia dealt him a sympathetic look. ‘Even Amelia?’
‘I have already told you,’ he replied, more acerbically than he had intended, ‘Amelia has made her feelings on the subject plainly apparent.’
‘That is what Jake thought about me.’
Riley was saved from making further excuses when the lady herself joined them.
‘Your husband is too good for me, Olivia,’ she said with a careless little shrug that drew Riley’s attention to her slender bare shoulder and the creamy skin of her décolletage. ‘In all the years that I have known you, I don’t think I have ever come out on the winning side when playing cards against him. I declare, I shall be bankrupt if I keep sitting down at the same table as him.’
‘He likes to win at everything he does,’ Olivia replied. ‘As do all men, in my experience.’
‘I feel duty bound to defend my sex,’ Riley said with a smile. ‘I did not win this evening. I hope that makes you feel a little more kindly disposed towards us mere men.’
‘Now you have left me with something of a quandary on my hands,’ Amelia said playfully. ‘If I say that you have never felt the need to prove your masculinity, it implies that Jake has, since it was his proficiency as a card player that promoted my complaint. But, of course, Jake has nothing to prove either.’ Amelia placed one hand on a delicate hip and pouted at Riley. ‘We shall just have to conclude that you two are the exception to the rule.’
Olivia smiled. ‘Aren’t they just,’ she said, fixing Riley with a significant look.
Riley wiped imaginary perspiration from his brow. ‘A narrow escape.’
‘Excuse me,’ Olivia said, glancing across the room and noticing one of her other guests attempting to attract her attention.
‘I have not had an opportunity to ask you how the investigation is going,’ Amelia said into the ensuing silence.
Riley noticed the changes in her at once. When Olivia had been with them, her tone had been light, flirtatious almost. But now that they were alone, she seemed remote. Riley didn’t know how to interpret her signals and was discomposed by the frankness of Olivia’s discourse. Clearly she had noticed his interest in Amelia and wanted to encourage it. Did she do so with that lady’s knowledge and consent?
‘Hang the investigation!’ he said passionately. ‘I would much rather talk about you. How have you been?’
‘You only saw me the other day.’ Amelia looked surprised by his uncharacteristic outburst. But not nearly as surprised as Riley himself was by having allowed his emotions temporary freedom.
‘Even so. How have you been occupying your time?’
‘Your niece is a constant visitor.’
‘I hope she isn’t making a nuisance of herself.’
‘How could she possibly do that? She’s a delight—and, I might add, a very diligent pupil. She is a natural harpist, and if she perseveres she will be more proficient than I am.’
‘Praise indeed.’ Riley raised a brow. ‘And she will persevere. She always does if something interests her.’
‘I am glad she has found a friend in Carolyn. Olivia’s daughter is solitary by nature but Cabbage seems to have brought her out of herself.’
‘It ought to be the other way around,’ Riley replied, watching the two girls with their heads together, laughing about something on the opposite side of the room. ‘Caro is the elder by two years and is on the verge of making her debut. But it doesn’t surprise me that Cabbage appears to be the livelier of the two. I can only hope that the pressure of presentation doesn’t rob her of her spontaneity when her turn comes.’
‘In other words, you don’t want her to grow up.’
‘There isn’t a man in England who’s worthy of her,’ Riley replied abruptly.
‘Oh dear!’ Amelia raised a gloved hand to her lips, as though attempting to hold in a smile that escaped anyway. ‘Poor Cabbage. I can see that any man who takes the slightest interest in her will find himself incarcerated for some fictitious crime or other until his fancy turns elsewhere.’
‘I make no apology for wanting to protect her. She’s far too trusting. Besides, her damned father takes no interest in her whatsoever. He’s gone back to Chichester and I don’t think he spent more than ten minutes in his daughter’s company all the time he was in London. Instead he moped over a doxy who doesn’t want to know him and is in danger of making an almighty fool of himself.’
‘With your mother and Martha permanently in London to keep watch over Sophia, and with such a protective uncle on the side lines, no one will dare to dally with Sophia’s affections.’
‘They had better not!’
‘Now stop scowling and tell me about the case. You might not want to speak about it but I want to hear. I might even be able to help you.’
‘We should, both of us, feel free to speak to one another about matters we find it easier not to discuss,’ Riley said cautiously, thinking of Olivia’s advice and impulsively acting upon it. ‘I am not your enemy. I hope by now that you realise I only ever have your best interests at heart. Cabbage’s potential admirers are not the only ones who will have cause to fear my wrath if they step out of line.’
‘Why, Lord Riley,’ she said, flashing him a wary look. ‘If I did not know better I might think you were flirting with me.’
‘Not flirting precisely,’ he said, his expression serious. ‘Merely making my position clear.’
‘Clear to you perhaps,’ she muttered. ‘You and Olivia were conversing for some time,’ she added in a more normal tone. ‘May I ask what about?’
‘She was offering me the benefit of her advice.’ With Amelia’s hand resting on his arm they sauntered around the edge of the room. ‘Anyway,’ he said with a protracted sigh, accepting that now was neither the time nor the place to delve into Amelia’s past and persuade her to open up to him, ‘you were asking about the case.’ He outlined his suspicions with regard to Celeste. ‘Money is always a prime motivator. I didn’t look upon her as a suspect until I knew that she would benefit financially from Adelaide’s demise.’
‘If she knew she stood to inherit.’
Riley nodded. ‘If she knew.’
‘You cannot prove that she did, I imagine, unless she falls for your ruse about the fictitious diaries you just mentioned. But if she had known Adelaide since their childhood days, she would probably be aware that she was too cautious to commit anything to paper.’
‘You’re right.’ Riley shrugged. ‘You have a way of making me see things more clearly.’
‘Glad to be of service, although I haven’t done much. You are no nearer to knowing who committed the crime.’
‘Unfortunately not. I have a fistful of suspects and no way of proving which of them is the guilty party.’
‘If you fail to solve the case, Danforth will lose his job and you will be criticised for not trying hard enough. I know you too well, Riley, and can easily imagine what you must be thinking. You assume people will say you haven’t troubled yourself over the death of a courtesan in the same way that you did over Emily Ferguson’s demise.’ She squeezed his forearm. ‘Poor, Riley. You are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.’
‘Precisely.’
Riley thought it odd that he and Amelia could speak without reservation about his investigation, but the moment they strayed into personal territory, Amelia became evasive. Olivia had clearly got it wrong, he decided, surprised by just how much that realisation pained him. She wanted only friendship from him, whereas Riley was becoming increasingly convinced that he wanted a great deal more than that from Amelia.
‘Thompson has implied that if Danforth goes, I shall be in line for promotion.’
‘Well deserved,’ Amelia said, smiling her approval.
‘Perhaps, but it wouldn’t feel right to take advantage of Danforth’s downfall.’
‘If you do not, someone else will. It doesn’t surprise me that your principles prevent you from profiting from Danforth’s stupidity, but really, Riley, he has brought this on himself and you don’t owe him any loyalty. He has tried to undermine your position at every turn and made your life very difficult.’
‘That’s undeniable.’ Riley briefly covered her hand with his own. ‘But if he keeps his position he will be in my debt and my life will be easier as a consequence.’
‘Can he keep it?’
‘It depends on whether his regular attendance at a cathouse and the predilections catered for in that establishment become common knowledge,’ Riley sighed. ‘I would imagine the details will emerge in the fullness of time. I’m surprised word hasn’t leaked out already, despite my best efforts to keep his involvement under wraps. He will be laughed at and it will be hard for him to retain any sort of respect. Not that the men had much respect for him in the first place, but still. He has a large family to feed and needs his employment, so if he retains his position he will have to weather the storm.’
‘Do I get the impression that you are not anxious for promotion?’
Riley smiled. ‘I never could deceive you.’ He sighed. ‘The fact of the matter is that I struggle to juggle my career and social obligations as it is. Besides,’ he added, treating Amelia to a probing look, ‘perhaps it’s time I made my mother happy and thought about taking a wife.’
‘Oh.’ She looked momentarily discomposed. ‘Do you have a particular lady in mind?’
‘Alas, the only one who could make me content seems determined not to marry.’
‘If she is worth pursuing, perhaps you should attempt to change her mind.’
‘I wouldn’t have her marry me because she felt sorry for me.’
Amelia’s laugher echoed around the room, drawing curious glances from several people. ‘You are not the type of man to invoke pity, Riley. Envy perhaps from other men, and you set female hearts fluttering everywhere you go. But pity.’ She shook her head. ‘Never that.’
Talking to Amelia in an abstract manner about his personal ambitions was, it seemed, acceptable to her. But surely she was aware that the woman he referred to was her. Olivia had noticed his interest but Amelia was either blind to his attentions or was trying to let him down gently by pretending not to realise. Dear God, give him a straightforward murder to solve any day. It was a deal easier than trying to decide what went on inside an intelligent woman’s head.
‘Uncle Riley, we need your advice.’ Cabbage skipped up to him, with Carolyn walking more sedately at her side.
‘Since when did you ever listen to any advice I gave you, Lady Cabbage?’ Riley asked, tugging at one of her curls.
‘Oh, I always listen to you because you speak sensibly.’ Riley thought his niece would revise that opinion if she’d heard him clumsily skirting around his desire for Amelia, petrified of rejection. Why the devil he couldn’t simply tell her what he felt and be done with it was a mystery. He did have to marry and the only woman he wanted to marry was Amelia, but so long as he didn’t actually declare himself he couldn’t be disappointed. ‘Anyway, Caro and I find ourselves in something of a quandary.’
‘What quandary would that be?’ Riley asked.
‘Well, Papa is being most unreasonable.’ Sophia pouted. ‘He came to see me a day or two before he returned to Chichester.’
‘Nothing surprising about that, Cabbage. You are his daughter.’
‘He chose a most inconvenient time to remember that I exist.’ Sophia chewed her lower lip between her teeth. ‘Just when I was starting to enjoy myself.’
Riley could see that his beloved niece was putting a brave face on a situation that clearly worried her. ‘What is it?’ he asked, throwing his free arm around her shoulders. ‘What did your father have to say for himself?’
‘He wants me to go home,’ she said gloomily.
‘Why?’ Amelia asked. ‘I thought you were settled in London indefinitely with your grandmother and aunt.’
‘So did I, but Papa says I shouldn’t be enjoying myself when Jasper is unwell. But really, he is always unwell.’ Sophia, normally full of joie de vivre, was a study in righteous indignation. ‘I don’t see what I can do to change that,’ she said with straightforward logic. ‘Oh, I know I’m too young be involved with all the society parties and balls and what have you, but it is so much fun being on the periphery.’
‘Sophia gives me courage to face it all,’ Carolyn said. ‘I wasn’t looking forward to it because unlike her I find it hard to express myself to strangers and worry that no one will ask me to dance. But her interest is infectious and it doesn’t seem quite so daunting with her as a friend.’
‘You will have to convince Papa to let me stay,’ Sophia said, tugging at Riley’s arm. ‘He will listen to you.’
‘Perhaps you should propose to the lady who has stolen your heart,’ Amelia suggested when, having been assured of Riley’s help, the girls had wandered off again. ‘That way, your family won’t be able to deny you anything.’