Mrs. Miles screamed and attempted to wrestle herself from his grip. For an older lady, she certainly had plenty of strength. Amy grabbed the gun, and William shouted, “Bloody hell, Amy, put that down before you end up killing yourself anyway.”
Holding it with her index finger and thumb, she carried it to the desk, where she gently placed it on the polished wood. She really should get her own gun and take shooting lessons. Even Mrs. Miles could shoot.
William continued to hold on to a very agitated Mrs. Miles. She cursed and stomped on his foot, but he held on, murmuring to her in an attempt to calm her. Then suddenly she stopped and collapsed in his arms. He walked her to a chair and she sat, her hands covering her face, sobbing.
Amy almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
Amy turned her attention to William. “How did you get into the house?” Although happy and very relieved to see him, she really must do something about how freely people came and went through her doors.
“Your girl, Lacey, was racing down the stairs just as my carriage pulled up. She was frantic and said she passed the open library door and saw a woman holding a gun at you. She was off to the police department. I sent her there in my carriage.”
Amy nodded as her knees turned to water now that the threat had ended. She backed up into the settee and sat. “Oh, my. I feel a bit faint.”
“Put your head down between your knees. Get some blood back up to your head. You’ve taken a fright.”
Mrs. Miles had stopped crying but was sitting quietly in the chair, looking at the floor, her hands in her lap. A pitiful sight.
William sauntered to the desk and picked up the gun, disengaged it, and placed it in the middle drawer of Papa’s desk. He walked back to Mrs. Miles and stood in front of her. “Why did you kill Mr. St. Vincent?”
She remained silent and just shook her head.
Amy attempted to get her to talk. “Honestly, we thought Lady Carlisle was the culprit.”
That got Mrs. Miles’s attention. Her head snapped up and she glared at Amy. “That woman should have been the one with the knife in her chest.”
William looked over at Amy and shrugged. “Why do you say that?” he asked.
Mrs. Miles fisted her hands in her lap and glared at Amy. “She and your fiancé—”
“Ex-fiancé.”
“—were ruining my son’s life. St. Vincent dragged Richard into the drug trade with promises of great wealth. That didn’t happen, and my poor Richard got further and further into the nastiness while St. Vincent spent most of the money they made on Lady Carlisle.”
“Lady Carlisle?” William and Amy said at the same time.
“Yes. She was his mistress, led him around by his nose. When he tired of her and put her aside, she began to demand opium from my son. By that time she had become hopelessly addicted. She sold her jewelry to pay for the drugs, and when the money ran out and she started to show signs of withdrawal, she threatened to go to the police if Richard didn’t give her what she wanted.”
“But why kill Mr. St. Vincent?” Amy asked.
“Because he was the leader. He started the entire mess, dragging Richard into it. If there were no more drugs for Richard to sell, our life could return to normal. It would do Lady Carlisle no good to go to the police because it would have ended with no proof that Richard had been involved.”
“But what about Mr. Harris?”
Mrs. Miles shook her head. “I knew St. Vincent’s shipping company was in trouble with all the money he’d spent on that woman. I had hoped the business would close. I never counted on Mr. Harris being stupid enough to take up the trade.”
William touched her on the shoulder. “There will always be someone to deal in illegal drugs. I’m afraid the problem will never end.”
Lacey raced into the room, her face flushed, her eyes wild, with Detectives Carson and Marsh right behind her. Amy had to admit it was the first time she’d been glad to see the two men who had plagued her for weeks. Lacey looked around the room and let out a huge breath. “You’re safe.”
“Yes. We’re fine.” Amy walked to Lacey and gave her a hug. “Thank you.”
Detective Carson smirked at Amy and placed his hands on his hips. “More trouble, Lady Amy?”
Amy waved in Mrs. Miles’s direction. “We have your murderer, Detective.”
Marsh squatted in front of the woman. “I believe you are Mrs. Miles?”
She nodded.
The detectives glanced at each other. They appeared to be just as surprised to see Mrs. Miles as Amy had been. The woman had certainly fooled everyone.
“You want to tell us what happened?” Carson turned to Amy.
She took a deep breath. “Mrs. Miles arrived at my house, unannounced and uninvited, with a gun—”
“Pardon the interruption, but when someone shows up with a gun, they are generally uninvited,” Marsh said.
She nodded. “Understood. Mrs. Miles said she intended to kill me because she thought I was getting too close to identifying her.” She mumbled the last few words.
Detective Carson cocked his ear in her direction, a smirk on his face. “What was that last part? I’m afraid I missed it.”
She straightened and looked him in the eye. “She thought I”—she waved between herself and William—“we, were getting too close.”
When the detective said nothing in return, she added, “Very well, you were correct.”
“Go on.”
“William arrived—”
“Of course.”
“—and disarmed her. She then admitted to us that she killed my fiancé—”
“Ex-fiancé,” Detective Carson, Detective Marsh, William, Lacey, and Mrs. Miles all said at the same time. Stevens shouted it from the entrance hall.
She nodded. “Just so.” She returned her regard to Detective Carson, waiting for the lecture she knew he was itching to deliver.
Instead he said, “Where is the gun?”
William crossed the room and withdrew it from the drawer. “I’ve disengaged it.” He handed it to Detective Carson, who checked it and slid it into his pocket.
Detective Marsh rose and grasped Mrs. Miles’s elbow to help her stand. “Put your hands behind your back, please.”
Now entirely complacent, she did as the detective asked, and he fastened the handcuffs on her.
As the detectives and Mrs. Miles left the room, Detective Carson stopped and turned to Amy. “We will need you at the police station as soon as possible to give a full accounting of what went on here.”
William jumped in. “Will tomorrow morning be sufficient? I believe Lady Amy could use a break from all this.”
Carson snorted and followed the other two out of the room.
* * *
A couple of hours later, after a few brandies that had Amy feeling quite mellow, she and William continued to sit and discuss the events of the afternoon.
“What do you make of Sir Holstein’s digestion issues?” Amy asked as she eyed the half-empty bottle of brandy, wondering if she dared take another glass. She’d never had this much hard spirits in her life.
William shrugged. “It is possible he ingested some bad food, and not necessarily at the Carlisle house. I also can’t help but wonder if Lady Carlisle knew about Mrs. Miles’s involvement in St. Vincent’s death and wanted to spare the woman by removing Sir Holstein from the investigation. I did say theirs was a strange relationship.”
Through her fuzzy brain, she agreed with William’s assessment. “True. Most times they seemed like genuine friends, and other times, like when Mrs. Miles berated Lady Carlisle for selling her jewels, I felt as though she thoroughly disliked the woman.”
He nodded slowly. “As I said. An unusual friendship.”
“Whatever is going on in here?” Aunt Margaret smirked at Amy and William, both slouched on the sofa in the drawing room, two empty glasses and a partially filled brandy bottle on the table in front of them.
William made to stan
d and didn’t quite make it, which made Amy even more sure she would not take any more brandy—if even William was having a problem standing. After struggling for a few minutes, William managed to remain upright. He bowed in Aunt Margaret’s direction. “Good day, my lady.”
Then he burped.
Amy giggled.
Aunt Margaret regarded them both with narrowed eyes. “I believe you two are … soused.” She burst out laughing.
“I am not drunk,” Amy said, although she wasn’t quite sure the words that came out of her mouth actually voiced that thought.
William waved to the chair across from the sofa, barely missing Amy’s head. “Won’t you join us, Lady Margaret?” His legs seemed to give out, and he landed back on the sofa, a surprised expression on his face.
Her aunt placed her hands on her hips. “I think the two of you have had enough of whatever it is you have been doing and drinking.”
The front door closed, and within seconds Michael entered the drawing room. “What’s this I heard from Mr. Stevens that the police were here again? Are you still getting into trouble?”
Amy and William looked at each other and burst into laughter. No matter how hard she tried, Amy could not control the giggles that had overtaken her. Tears ran down her cheeks, and she swiped at them.
Aunt Margaret walked over to her and reached out her hand. “Oh, dear, I believe it’s time for you to retire for the day. Whatever this is all about, you can tell us tomorrow.”
“No, no. You must hear what we did.” Amy hiccupped.
Michael crossed his arms over his chest. “I am very interested to hear why the police were here yet again, and why my sister is alone with a man, with no chaperone, and a near-empty bottle of brandy between them.” He glared at William.
“I agree, my lord,” William managed to get out without too much difficulty. She noted he didn’t try to stand again. “I should not have allowed your sister to imbibe.”
“Indeed.”
Amy poked William in the arm. “Tell them.” She was afraid to attempt to put the story into words. She was feeling more and more unlike herself.
William related the tale, beginning with Mrs. Miles’s arrival and including all that followed. Amy smiled at him, grateful as always for his assistance.
After comments of surprise, and in Michael’s case, even admiration, Aunt Margaret took Amy’s arm. “All right, dear girl. Now it is time to sleep this off.”
William managed to climb to his feet with the help of the back of the chair. “I will be off as well.”
“Wait. I will walk you to the door,” Amy said.
With Michael and Aunt Margaret staring after them, William and Amy made it to the front door with as much dignity as possible. Mr. Stevens tried his best to control his smile at the sight of the two of them.
As the butler opened the door, William turned to her. He took Amy’s hand. “My dear Lady Amy. I will be forever grateful that you did not get shot today.”
“Thank you.” She swayed slightly, and William gripped her arms.
He stared into her eyes as if seeing something there he’d never seen before.
“What?”
He pulled her close and cautiously lowered his head and kissed her. A slight touching of lips. When she just stared at him wide-eyed, he kissed her again, this time with a bit more feeling.
Her insides turned to mush, and she clung to his arms to keep from sliding to the floor. William pulled back and rubbed his thumbs over her cheeks.
She viewed him through half-lidded eyes. “What was that for?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know.” He pulled her against him. “But let’s do it again.”
And so they did.
EPILOGUE
Six months later
Amy and William sat side by side in the back room of the Atkinson & Tucker bookstore, awaiting the arrival of the other members of the Mystery Book Club.
Since Mr. St. Vincent’s murder and the work she and William had done together, they’d found themselves in a sort of courtship. Nothing had been formally declared, but they did spend a lot more time together than they had before the murder investigation.
And, of course, every time Papa visited from London, he made a point to invite William to dinner, and to accompany him to his club. Although William didn’t seem to mind spending time with Papa, she had to admit it made her a bit nervous, always wondering when Papa would whip out the marriage contracts.
On the positive side, there had been the few kisses they’d shared since the somewhat drunken ones the day Mrs. Miles was arrested.
William flipped through the pages of Keene’s Bath Journal, the local newspaper for Bath. Amy continued to read the latest Conan Doyle story about Sherlock Holmes. She was a bit annoyed to find that the book she was currently writing was similar. With all the mystery books being published, that situation was bound to happen, but it was always an author’s concern.
“Listen to this.” William turned to her and glanced back at the newspaper. “An unidentified man’s body was found floating in the River Avon early yesterday morning. Attempts are being made to identify the man so his family may be notified.”
Amy shuddered. “That’s terrible. I wonder who the poor unfortunate man is.”
The other members began to filter in, and William closed his newspaper and tucked it into his satchel. Amy closed her book and then stood to greet the others. She made her way to the small group of women who had arrived.
Lady Carlisle no longer belonged to the club, since she and her husband had moved to France after he had received the much-sought-after ambassador position. Amy hoped Lady Carlisle had received the help she needed to end her addiction.
Mr. Miles had drifted away also, which was no surprise, since his mother was currently in jail awaiting her trial for murder. As far as Amy knew, the police had shut down the drug-importing business, and RSV Shipping was currently up for sale.
“It is time to begin our meeting.” Mr. Colbert stood at the front of the room. He smiled at the members; then his eyes shifted to the doorway, and he frowned. Amy turned, and an unfamiliar man stood there, looking around the room.
“May I help you, sir?” Mr. Colbert asked.
“I’m looking for a Lord Wethington.”
William stood and waved the man over. The man held out a folded paper to William. “This is for you, milord.”
William thanked him and returned to his seat.
“What is that?” Amy pointed at the paper.
He shrugged and opened it, his eyes scanning the missive. After a few moments, he inhaled deeply and looked over at her, his face pale. “The police have identified the man found floating in the river.”
“And they notified you?”
“Yes. He is Mr. James Harding. My man of business.”
ALSO AVAILABLE BY CALLIE HUTTON
SCOTTISH HEART SERIES
His Rebellious Lass
A Scot to Wed
NOBLE HEART SERIES
For the Love of the Viscount
For the Love of the Marquess
For the Love of the Baron
For the Love of the Lady
For the Love of the Duke
For the Love of the Gentleman
PRISONERS OF LOVE SERIES
Adelaide
Cinnamon
Becky
Miranda
Nellie
LORDS AND LADIES IN LOVE SERIES
Seducing the Marquess
Marrying the Wrong Earl
Denying the Duke
Wagering for Miss Blake
Captivating the Earl
MCCOY BROTHERS SERIES
Daniel’s Desire
Stephen’s Bride
OKLAHOMA LOVERS SERIES
A Run for Love
A Prescription for Love
A Chance to Love Again
A Wife for Christmas
Anyplace but Here
A Dogtown Christmas
MARRIAGE MA
RT MAYHEM SERIES
The Elusive Wife
The Duke’s Quandary
The Lady’s Disgrace
The Baron’s Betrayal
The Highlander’s Choice
The Highlander’s Accidental Marriage
The Earl’s Return
THE MERRY MISFITS OF BATH
The Bookseller and the Earl
The Courtesan’s Daughter and the Gentleman
Lady Pamela and the Gambler
OTHER NOVELS
Caleb
Heirlooms of the Heart
Julie: Bride of New York
Miss Merry’s Christmas
An Angel in the Mail
Emma’s Journey
A Tumble Through Time
The Pursuit of Mrs. Pennyworth
Choose Your Heart
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
USA Today bestselling author Callie Hutton has penned more than thirty-five historical romance books, and writes humorous and spicy Regency with “historic elements and sensory details” (The Romance Reviews). Callie lives in Oklahoma with two rescue dogs and her top cheerleader husband of many years. Her family also includes her daughter, son, and daughter-in-law. And her four year old twin grandsons “The Twinadoes.”
This is a work of fiction. All of the names, characters, organizations, places and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real or actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Colleen Greene
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crooked Lane Books, an imprint of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Crooked Lane Books and its logo are trademarks of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publication data available upon request.
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-64385-302-4
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-64385-323-9
Cover design by Lori Palmer
Printed in the United States.
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