Deadly Engagement: A Georgian Historical Mystery (Alec Halsey Crimance)

by Lucinda Brant

  When Alec arrived at Emily’s rooms the Duchess of Romney-St. Neots was sitting on Jenny’s narrow bed with her granddaughter cradled in her arms. Emily was being rocked to and fro as one does to soothe a small child. The Duchess thrust out a hand to Alec and he took it in an instant, eyes begging the question.

  “She’s in shock,” the Duchess said with an effort to control the tremble in her voice. “She won’t speak about it. I need you to go into her bedchamber and see what you can do. Your valet… He was—he was discovered alone with her.”

  “Olivia, what’s happened here?”

  She swallowed and looked away. “I don’t rightly know. And I can’t bring myself to think the unthinkable.”

  It was then that Alec really looked at Emily and was startled. She was still dressed in the gown she had worn at dinner, with the rubies about her throat, but the petticoats were crumpled and torn off her shoulders; her hair was a mess of tangled curls and dislodged powder. He must have stood there staring at her for an age because the Duchess lifted her head and said in a broken voice, “For pity’s sake, go and see what that boy has done in there!”

  Enough candles blazed in the bedchamber to light a cathedral. The room was in disarray. Shards of broken glass from a curio cabinet littered the carpet. A chair was upturned. Ink from a fallen standish had splashed up the side of the bureau and ruined the pretty wallpaper by the window. And there was Tam, huddled by the window seat and guarded over by a liveried servant who had his heel dug into the boy’s back to keep him still. One sharp word from Alec and the footman reluctantly removed his boot but he continued to hover menacingly over the valet until Alec ordered him out of the room.

  “But, sir, Mr. Neave said he was to be watched, in case he made a run for it!”

  “Out.”

  The servant eyed the cowering boy with resentment. “But, sir, y’can see he’s run amuck!”

  Alec opened the door with a jerk and the servant shuffled out, adding sullenly that he had his orders and he would stay by the door until Mr. Neave told him otherwise. Alec shut the door in his face and was about to cross to Tam when the unbelievable caught his eye. Jenny lay on her back on the carpet at the foot of the four-poster bed, a long strand of black hair across her pale face and with eyes open and unblinking at the ornate plaster ceiling.

  Alec glanced away then looked again, as if the action of closing his eyes would bring her back to life. He squatted to gently close her eyes and removed the strand of hair so her face seemed more at peace and somehow content, and it was then that he noticed the bruising about her throat and jaw. Yet there was no blood from a wound to indicate what had expelled life. It would take a physician to determine cause of death. That it was no accident seemed obvious enough, what with the room a shambles and Emily in such distress. But why murder a lady’s maid? What had gone on in this room? Shock. Anger. Frustration. All made it impossible for Alec to think clearly and he dared not cloud his thoughts with possible scenarios. A physician needed to be fetched and Jenny’s body moved to a more dignified setting. He would have to talk to Emily, as painful as that would be for her, and to the lackeys and the chambermaid, and most importantly, to his valet.

  He suddenly felt the cold damp chill from standing out in the drizzle and stood up, rubbing his eyes. Every muscle ached. And when he was tired he needed his gold-rimmed spectacles to see and thus ward off an inevitable headache from eye strain. He looked about for something to place over Jenny’s body and decided on the coverlet. It was then that Tam sprang up from the floor and rushed forward and tried to tug the coverlet out of Alec’s hands.

  “Don’t touch her! Leave her be! The physician, he’ll know what to do for her! To wake her up! Leave her be. Please, sir!”

  Alec continued to strip the bed. “I’m sorry, Tam. She needs to be covered so she can be moved.”

  “No one is movin’ her! Not even you!”

  “Let go of the coverlet. You’re being unreasonable. There’s nothing anyone can do for her here.”

  “We’ve got to wait for the physician. He’ll know what to do.”

  “Yes, he will. But he can’t examine the body here—”

  “It’s not a body! It’s Jenny. Can’t you see that? Can’t you?”

  “Yes, Tam, I can,” Alec said gently, and with the coverlet free of Tam’s grasp placed it over Jenny’s lifeless form. “But she isn’t going to wake up… I’m truly very sorry…”

  Tam stared at the shapeless coverlet and then at Alec, his eyes blinded by tears. “S-sorry? You’re sorry? Well it’s too late for that! She’s gone and there’s nothin’ anybody can do about it! What do you care? Miss Emily can get another maid. Three if she wants. What’s the loss of a maid to the likes of—”

  “I’ll give you your grief, Tam, but I won’t stand for your impertinence,” Alec said sharply. “You’re being selfish and unreasonable. You know very well what Jenny meant to Emily and to St. Neots House!”

  The boy’s bottom lip quivered. Tears slid down his hot cheeks. Alec took a step toward him but his look of concern and sorrow was too much for Tam. The boy turned away and threw himself on the window seat, hugging a pillow to his stomach and crying until his whole body was racked with great, dry, shuddering sobs. When he was quiet Alec sat down beside him.

  “Tam, I need to know what happened in here. And you must tell me everything and it must be the truth.”

  “I didn’t k-kill her. I didn’t! You’ve got to believe me! I didn’t do it!” Tam said in an agonized whisper and began to sob anew.

  “I believe you. Perhaps a drink would settle your nerves?”

  The boy nodded and sniffed.

  Alec returned to Jenny’s bedchamber. The Duchess’s lady in waiting, Peeble was there. She had brought a tray of drinks. He helped himself to a brandy and poured a mug of punch for his valet. He saw that Emily was taking her milk and signaled for Peeble. The maid came at once, face devoid of emotion.

  “I need two strong and discreet footmen,” he said in a low voice, “and a room in which to put Jenny until the physician arrives. And send someone to fetch my spectacles. There are several pairs in a drawer of my dressing table.” He glanced at Emily. “Has she said anything?”

  Peeble shook her head.

  Alec nodded and returned to Tam. When the valet had drunk most of the punch Alec questioned him about what had gone on in Emily’s bedchamber but Tam knew little. He recounted everything that had happened from the time the chambermaid had opened the door to him to finding Emily face down on her bed and the footmen bursting into the dark room and jumping to the wrong conclusions because he happened to be giving Miss Emily a comforting pat on the back. The chambermaid had only made the situation worse for him by screaming and carrying on and being too overcome to be of any help in verifying his story.

  “Where is the chambermaid now, Tam?”

  “I don’t know, sir. She fainted when she saw Jenny’s—when she saw Jenny and they carried her out. Sir,” Tam said quietly and looked up at his master sheepishly, “you do believe me, don’t you, sir?”

  Alec smiled and squeezed the boy’s shoulder. “Yes. You obviously disturbed whomever attacked her and frightened them off before any real harm could come to Miss Emily.”

  “But I didn’t disturb anyone, sir,” Tam stated. “He—well, Miss Emily…”

  “Go on.”

  Tam looked into the empty cup. “Sir. The murdering dog had already gone. The servant door to the stairs was wide open and making a great racket banging against the wall and Miss Emily was on the bed sobbing, and I saw in the moonlight that her clothes were torn and…” He looked up at Alec. “Don’t you see, sir? Whatever happened to Miss Emily had already happened before I got to her.”

  Alec wiped his mouth. “Mon Dieu.”

  “Do you think—I mean—Why did he kill Jenny?”

  “I don’t know, Tam.”

  “I know one thing!” Tam said fiercely. “I’d like to kill the poxy bastard!”

  Th
e appearance of two burly lackeys in the doorway gave him a start. He looked to his master, then at the coverlet spread out over Jenny on the carpet and turned away. He did not want to see them pick her up. He could not bear it if they fumbled or the coverlet slid off. “Sir. I-I need to wash up.”

  “Of course,” said Alec. With an arm about Tam’s shoulders, he led him into the next room, keeping his back to the two men who silently went about their business. “You can go to bed.”

  “No, sir. I couldn’t sleep. I’d prefer to do something to help. Anything but sleep.”

  “There is one thing you can do. Amongst your potions and powders do you have an opiate, a mixture of some sort, for Emily? I want her to sleep uninterrupted tonight. No dreams. No nightmares. Do you understand me, Tam?”

  The valet nodded eagerly. “I know just the mixture, sir. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  A disruption in the corridor had the Duchess on her feet. Peeble was arguing in frantic whispers with someone in the shadows. It was Neave. When he saw his mistress there was no further argument from his lips and he looked at her as if he expected a moment of her time. Peeble was all for shutting the door in his face.

  “Neave,” the Duchess stated, “there’s been an accident. Yes, a tragic accident. Miss Emily’s maid, Jenny, Jenny fell down the back steps and-and broke her neck. It’s a horrid business, as you can imagine.”

  “An accident, your Grace,” the butler repeated. Whether he believed her or not she did not care, and he did not seem to mind as long as some explanation was offered him for all the late-night servant activity and below-stairs air of mystery. “If I can be of any assistance, your Grace?”

  “No. Yes. Yes, you can. But not now. It’s all happened so—so—”

  “—unexpectedly, your Grace?”

  “Of course it was unexpected!” she snapped. “What I do want is for you to make certain there is no undue gossip and speculation. And I don’t mean just from my household.”

  “Not a word will be spoken out of turn, your Grace,” he said with a glare at Peeble’s tight-lipped countenance.

  “It’s all these others we have in the house at the moment. I don’t want them meddling and asking questions. I don’t want my guests disturbed by an—an incident which concerns no one but us.”

  “I perfectly understand, your Grace. May I express the household’s deepest regrets at the loss of Miss Jenny. She was well-liked by all. It certainly is a tragedy, your Grace.”

  “Thank you, Neave. And should you hear, while going about your duties of course, hear anything of interest from either servant or guest, I would appreciate your confidence.”

  The butler nodded gravely though his eyes shone triumphantly at Peeble, who instantly turned away into the shadows. “I shall of course wait up for the physician. I presume Sir John…?”

  “No. I didn’t disturb Oliphant. The village doctor was called some time ago. God knows where the wretched man is!” She dismissed him with a view of her back and called for her maid. “Nothing to Charlotte or Sybilla. Not a word.”

  Peeble pursed her thin lips. “Of course not, your Grace.”

  The Duchess eyed her suspiciously. “Don’t cross me, Janet. I know what you’re thinking but I am perfectly capable of handling this without my daughters’ interference. I have to be. Emily needs me, needs all of us, to be strong. So don’t pamper her, not outwardly. Understand me?”

  Peeble nodded, saying abruptly, “I shall see to Miss Emily’s night things,” and disappeared before her mistress caught sight of her wet eyes.

  The Duchess went back into Jenny’s room just as Alec closed the door over to Emily’s bedchamber. “You sent the boy off then?” she said disapprovingly.

  “Yes, Olivia,” Alec replied evenly, drawing her aside so that Emily would not overhear their conversation. “He’s told me everything he knows and despite what those two thuggish footmen think to the contrary I’m convinced of his innocence. An hysterical chambermaid too overwrought to explain the situation caused those over-zealous idiots to jump to the wrong conclusion about Tam’s presence in Emily’s bedchamber. The intruder had already escaped via the servant’s stair and Jenny was dead before Tam even entered the room. I’m confidant Emily will assure me this is so when she is capable and ready to talk to us.”

  The Duchess stared at Alec then nodded. “If you are satisfied then so am I. He may be a little misguided and a possible horse thief but I don’t think the boy is inherently evil. I would hate to think he had anything to do with this horrid business.” When Alec slipped on a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles the Duchess blinked. “When did this affectation take root?”

  “If it was only that,” he answered with a tired laugh, looking down his bony nose and over the rims. “My dear Olivia, you’ll be disappointed to know I am an imperfect Adonis; my eyesight is failing me. Reading the printed page unaided is a thing of the past. Hideous, aren’t they?” He glanced at Emily who still sat on the bed, wrapped in shawl and drinking hot chocolate, staring blankly before her. “Emily sleeping with you tonight?”

  “With a monster in my own home?” the Duchess snorted. “In my bed!”

  Emily looked up at Alec then and said, “Eyeglasses make you look bookish; like an Oxford don.”

  “So you think? I don’t know whether to be flattered or deflated,” he said calmly, though his heart gave an odd leap at Emily’s sudden animation. “You said once they made me appear distinguished,” he continued casually. “Do you remember Cosmo laughed at that? The impudence of the man when he sports two quizzing-glasses about his neck!”

  “He just wishes he had a reason to do so,” said Emily, sitting up and brushing the hair out of her eyes. “He laughed more because you were most annoyed we caught you wearing them. You really did look fit to strangle him, to—to—” She swallowed convulsively, a shaking hand to her mouth. She put aside the empty chocolate mug. “I’m sorry. I’m such a coward. I—I—Oh, Alec.”

  “Emily.”

  She flew off the bed and into his open arms to be gathered up in a protective embrace. “I—I didn’t know what to do,” she said haltingly. “He-He put his mouth over mine when I screamed and then—and he-he kissed me! Ugh, it was horrid. I couldn’t breath. And then he—he pushed down on me… He wanted me to lie still. He wanted—He ripped my gown. I should’ve fought harder. I should’ve found the strength to push him off—I’m such a-a coward.”

  Alec hugged her closer, stroking her tangle of powdered hair, feeling sick to the stomach by such revelations yet remaining calm for her sake. “You’re safe now,” he said gently. “Your grandmother and I will keep you safe. No one will harm you ever again. That I promise you.” He glanced over her powdered head at the Duchess and wasn’t at all surprised that Emily’s halting confession had greatly affected her grandmother. She had a shaking hand to her mouth to stifle a cry of outrage and was doing her best to remain upright and stoic, but nothing could hide the desolation in her tired eyes. “Emily, do you think you could help your grandmother to her rooms? She’s much too frail to be up at this—”

  “I beg your pardon—” interrupted the Duchess, not quick on the uptake until Alec glared at her significantly and she shut her mouth tight.

  “It’s been a very tiring and long day for her,” he enunciated with a smile at the Duchess. “And you know how possessive Peeble is of your grandmother’s health.”

  To the Duchess’s great surprise, Emily nodded and came over to take her arm. “Come, Grandmamma. We don’t want Peeble fussing at us, do we?”

  “No… No, I couldn’t bear that; not tonight,” answered the Duchess, choking back tears. “My dear boy, will you…will you take care of—of everything?”

  “Of course,” he said quietly, herding them both to the door that lead on to the passageway. “Tam has gone to fetch something to help you sleep; you are both to take whatever concoction he gives you without question. Understand?”

  At that Emily turned in her grandmother’s embrace to l
ook at Alec. “Please thank him for me. I—I don’t think I can… not yet. He–he found me and was very kind to stay with me until Grandmamma came.”

  The Duchess and Alec exchanged a significant look, and Alec kissed Emily’s hand. “Tam will turn pink with pleasure to hear you say so.”

  At the breakfast table the next morning all anyone could talk about was the accidental death of Emily’s maid; how the poor girl could break her neck on a servant stair she must have run up and down a hundred times a day? And of all the nights to have taken a tumble! Of course it was to be expected the engagement celebrations would continue but one wondered how the bride-to-be would bear up under the strain of losing her personal maid in such tragic circumstances.

  Into these ramblings about unthinking servant behavior and preparations for the Fireworks Ball, Alec arrived, very late for breakfast and the last of the house guests to do so. The majority had already tossed aside their napkins but still stood about discussing whether to ride out or spend the time before dinner in a game of cards in the Long Gallery. A footman set clean cutlery before the latecomer and poured him out a dish of coffee but Alec barely noticed. Nor did he acknowledge the several people who lingered over their coffee dishes. His thoughts were preoccupied with the late-night visit of the village doctor.

  Though not a great and knighted physician like Sir John Oliphant, Henry Oakes was nevertheless nobody’s fool, and Alec did not treat him as one. Oakes gave it as his opinion that Jenny had suffered a heavy blow to the head that had been sufficient to kill her. He had discovered pinkish red fluid leaking from her ear that he suspected meant her brain had been injured but there was no wound to be found and her skull was not smashed in. Oakes was honest enough to admit that it was beyond him to know whether murder had been the intruder’s intention. Perhaps the intruder had just wanted to shut the girl up and had been too heavy-handed with her; witness the bruising about her throat and jaw, as if a strong hand had grabbed and held her there before throwing her away, like a rag doll, intentionally hitting her head up against the poster or carelessly in that direction so that the outcome was the same.