“Still, most marriages are consummated on the wedding night, regardless of how they came about.”
“Are you sure that you haven’t let something slip in conversation? To Jane, perhaps?”
“No,” she shook her head then stopped walking, frowning as she considered something.
“What is it?”
“Well… I'm not really sure,” she answered, slipping her arm through his as they continued walking, as if he were her anchor. “It’s just that Milton does make some rather risqué comments sometimes, which never fail to make me blush. Is it possible that he could guess from my reaction?”
“Unlikely,” Alex admitted, sensing there was more to this story. “Is there another reason that you suspect him?”
“Well… while you were away, I went to the south wing; I wanted to see Emma’s room and where she died. As I was coming down the servants’ stairs, I noticed Milton leaving the sitting room, although everything in there was covered in dust sheets. A few days later, Joe took me to see his mother’s portrait that hangs in there, and I noticed that the covers on one of the sofas were disturbed, as if someone had been sitting there. It made me wonder if he went into that room often.”
“To look at the portrait?” Alex asked.
“I don’t know. She was his sister so missing her would be normal, but going there regularly to stare at her portrait just seems a little… I don’t know. I suppose grief affects everyone differently.”
“But you wonder if he goes there because he feels guilty, not because he misses his sister?”
“It crossed my mind,” Helen admitted. “Then he received a letter while you were gone and left for Liverpool that same day, citing some business problem that he wouldn’t go into details about. He did seem to make unusual haste though.”
Alex was silent as they walked, considering her suspicions.
“Do you think it possible?” she finally asked. This conversation was keeping her thoughts off what had happened earlier and she didn’t enjoy the silence.
“At one time I would have said no. I always liked Milton and despite our businesses essentially being rivals, we have worked together in the past and I respect him.”
“But?” Helen pressed.
“He’s changed over the last few months, become more… salacious, flirting with almost everyone, married or not. I’ve even had to have a private word with him about Rose, as she looks most uncomfortable when he flirts with her.”
“But it’s only a recent change?”
“Yes, in the last six to nine months or so.”
“Then it’s unlikely to be a reaction to Emma’s death,” Helen reasoned.
“It also doesn’t make any sense that he would help Charles. What could he gain from it?”
“Perhaps Charles is offering him money.”
“He is rich enough. His business is thriving, he has homes in Liverpool and London, although he likes to come here as Jane and Anna are the only family he has left… at least that’s what he has always said. I suppose I could ask someone to look into his finances; it is possible he is having difficulties that I haven’t heard about.”
“Still, to kill his own sister?” Helen asked.
Alex nodded, agreeing with the sentiment. As much as Milton had tried his patience at times in the past six months, Alex found it difficult to see him as a killer. If he was having business difficulties that left him open to bribes, it was hard to keep that sort of information a secret, so it was likely that Alex would have heard, were that the case. Especially if these problems had been going on for two years or more, before Emma died.
But even if he were in financial straits, was he really so cold-blooded that he would kill his own sister? Alex didn’t think so.
On the other hand Helen’s evidence, while not damning, was highly suspect. Why would he still be visiting his sister’s portrait? For that matter, why not her grave? And who was that letter from, that had caused him to leave so hurriedly?
“Why hasn’t he married?” Helen asked, since he was only a year or so younger than Alex and most men were thinking of settling down by now and if he was wealthy, he wouldn’t be short of offers.
“I don’t know,” Alex admitted. “He always says that he is waiting for the right one but he doesn’t elaborate.”
“So how about Clarence?” Helen asked.
“Clarence doesn’t know what he wants and I doubt he’ll take a wife until he’s decided on a career.”
“Actually, I meant as a suspect for helping your uncle. I don’t mean to be rude but the rumours say that Emma had a lover and as you pointed out, he is the only man in the house that she’s not related to.”
“I have wondered the same thing myself,” Alex said with a long sigh. “They were friends but I never saw anything inappropriate between them. Besides, there are a lot of men on staff, and who is to say that she was having an affair with someone from the estate? The opportunities to meet up with someone from town would be fewer, but it would make more sense than Clarence.”
“And your mother? I’m not trying to suggest that she may have harmed Emma but she seemed very friendly with your uncle earlier; she could be his spy, for want of a better word, in the house.”
“Mother and Charles have been close for as long as I can remember, and she was most upset when I banned him from the estate. I know they’re still in contact but if she is providing him information about my household, I doubt she’s being malicious.”
Having lived with the woman for over a week, Helen thought that Pearl had a great capacity to be malicious, although she didn’t say so. Besides, whether she was helping Charles knowingly or innocently, it didn’t really change anything.
“She would also have no way of knowing if our marriage had been consummated,” Helen said aloud.
Alex nodded, agreeing with her. “Still, for the time being, I think it would be wise to withhold any information from Mother that we don’t want Charles to know.”
“Unless we could use it to our advantage,” Helen suggested.
“How so?”
“Provide her with misinformation. Or tell her the truth!” Helen turned to Alex, suddenly excited. “At the moment, no one knows that you have changed your Will, correct?”
Alex nodded.
“Then if we tell Pearl that you have altered it but don’t tell her any details, if she then tells your uncle, the chances are your lawyers can expect some sort of ruse from Charles, as he attempts to discover the contents.”
“Or a break in.”
“Or that,” Helen agreed.
“It’s a good idea.” He smiled at her but it was tight.
“I’m sorry,” she said, stepping closer. “It must be very difficult for you to discuss your family as suspects.”
“I don’t enjoy talking about it but the truth is, they have been suspects in my mind since the day Emma died and it has tainted my relationship with every one of them. The only way that will change is if we finally discover who did kill Emma, so let’s continue, shall we?”
“All right, how about Rose?”
“I think Rose is far too timid to help Charles, and certainly incapable of murder.” He gave her a questioning look.
“I agree. The same goes for Jane, except for being timid. She seems to have genuinely loved her sister and is devastated by her loss. Since she was also the only one who told me the truth, that Emma had been killed, I hardly think she could be a suspect.”
“Which leaves us with Anna, Emma’s mother.”
“I don’t know her very well,” Helen confessed. “She seems to be a very self-contained woman.”
“She is,” Alex agreed. “Even although she has lived here for years, I sometimes feel as if I hardly know her at all and as much as it grieves me to think that any mother could harm her child, the phrase ‘still waters run deep’ seems to apply to Anna. I only wish that I knew what went on inside her head.”
“What do you know about her?” Helen asked.
“Well,” Alex took a breath as he thought. “She is the one who pressed for my marriage to Emma, wanting to improve her family’s social standing. She’s always polite, to a fault, I’ve never known her to get angry or even raise her voice. I think that she truly loved her husband; although it was hard to tell as an onlooker, both Emma and Jane led me to believe that in private, they were a little more affectionate with one another.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t have more children then.”
“They did. The youngest son captains one of Milton’s larger ships, the middle son is in America, handling that side of the shipping business from there, and they had three daughters who are married.”
“So you could have married another sister then?” Helen had been led to believe that since Jane didn’t want to marry him, Emma had been his only option.
“Two were married when I met Emma, and the youngest was just fifteen.”
“I wonder why Jane or Anna don’t talk about them?”
“As I understand it, they weren’t a close family. Jane and Emma were born in succession, with brothers on either side, so they were naturally close growing up. The rest of the children are content to write occasionally. In fact, I don’t believe they have seen their youngest daughter since her wedding, four years ago.”
“Really?”
Alex nodded. “I think it’s one of the reasons that Emma was so stubborn about spending time with the children; she didn’t want the distant relationship she had with her mother.”
Helen looked up at the overcast sky, almost feeling as though it was pressing down on her, oppressing her.
“So what about Jane?” she asked, slightly hesitantly.
Alex gave her a questioning look but didn’t press her to tell him why.
“Jane adored her sister. In many ways they were as different as night and day but there was real affection there. I can’t believe that she could hurt Emma.”
From what Jane had told her, Helen felt the same way about the siblings, but still…
“What aren’t you telling me?” Alex asked.
“Who says I'm hiding anything?”
“That frown line between your eyebrows.”
Helen smoothed her features and tried to appear innocent. Alex stopped walking and taking her shoulders, turned her to face him.
“No secrets, please. There are enough secrets already.”
Helen gave him a resigned nod. “I feel awful for saying anything but… well…” she was struggling to find the right words and couldn’t look Alex in the eye. “On a few occasions, I have felt uncomfortable with her.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know just… A little overfamiliar perhaps? Standing too close, touching my arm, embracing me. Not all the time but just sometimes, I feel as if there is something more to our interactions.”
Alex relaxed. “I don’t think you should read too much into that, Helen.”
She finally looked into his eyes. “Why?”
“Jane…” He placed Helen’s hand on his arm and they continued to walk. “Jane is an unusual woman.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No,” he sighed, keeping his eyes focused on the middle distance. “You see the thing is, she, uh, well, she doesn’t like men.”
“She seems to like you well enough?” She was so confused by this conversation that it sounded more like a question than a statement.
“Yes, it’s just that… well she doesn’t find men appealing, in that way. Do you understand?”
Finally Helen did and she blushed. “Oh.”
“So that’s why she has never married?”
“Indeed,” Alex breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t need to go into details. “She is still a lovely woman, however.”
“Oh, of course!” Helen looked to Alex, shocked that he should suggest such a thing. “It’s just unusual, that’s all. I’ve heard whispers of such people, and read references to them in books but to actually know someone… I’m sorry, you must think me a frightful fool.”
“You’re no fool,” he assured her with a warm smile.
“But how sad for her.” Helen’s frown line was back. “She will never have a family of her own, or her own home. She must be so lonely.”
“I don’t disagree, but as long as she has friends like you, I think she’ll be fine.”
Helen smiled up at him, pleased with his praise. “Does everyone know or was this told to me in confidence?”
“No one ‘knows’ as such, and Jane certainly hasn’t said anything to me about it. I think her mother suspects, and her brother knows, but it would be wise to keep this to yourself.”
“Of course.”
They continued in silence for a few paces
“So where did we get to on our suspects list?” Alex asked.
“I believe we finished it but we have a small problem.”
“Oh?”
“It’s just that Milton is our prime suspect but even if he were still here, I can think of no way to trick him into revealing his guilt.”
“Good point,” he agreed. “I can have his finances looked into, of course, and I’ll contact my lawyer’s office in Liverpool and ask if they can find out what the pressing matter was, that made him leave so suddenly.”
“We should check the room with the portrait in as well; just because I saw him leave that room once, doesn’t mean that other people couldn’t have been going there too.”
“What good will that do?”
“In all honesty, probably none but if the dust sheets have been sat upon since I was last there, we’ll know that Milton wasn’t the only one in that room. If they aren’t disturbed, then he probably is the only one visiting her picture.”
“And if that is the case?”
“I don’t know,” Helen confessed. “There’s so little that we do know, I wonder at us ever solving this crime.”
After two years, Alex couldn’t deny that he felt the same way.
They visited the puppies, which had been bred by the head groundskeeper’s wife and were ensconced in a basket by the kitchen fire. At just six weeks old, they were small, tiny and full of love, which cheered Helen’s mood a little, and Alex’s too if he were honest about it.
As they left the house however, thunder rolled ominously in the distance and their moods quickly soured again. Rain was clearly not far off and they kept a brisk pace back to the house.
“Do you think Joseph would benefit from having a puppy?” Helen asked as they walked.
“I hadn’t given it much thought,” he confessed. “Why?”
“I just wonder if it might help him. He seems so hurt and angry, almost afraid to get close to anyone; I thought that perhaps a puppy might help him to care again.
“It’s an interesting idea,” he said, although he sounded sceptical.
“It was just a thought,” she dismissed the suggestion, her expression downhearted.
“Helen,” he couldn’t help but smile. “I’m not saying ‘no’ and even if I did, you can always change my mind.”
“But they’re your children and this is your house.” She sounded very meek and he didn’t like that.
“I understand that you weren’t above claiming the rights to this house or the children while I was away,” he reminded her. She was about to interrupt him so he carried on before she could. “And you were right to do so. This house is your domain now, to run as you see fit. The children are also yours and parenting decisions should be as much yours as they are mine.”
“Thank you,” she smiled up at him.
“Would you like one of the puppies?” he asked, seeing how much she had enjoyed their company.
“I should dearly love it,” she confessed with a happy smile. “But I think that I have more important things to focus my energies on at the moment. I have to learn to run this house, to try and make your boys love me, and to figure out who, if anyone, wishes me harm.”
He nodded his understanding. “Well, perhaps in ano
ther few months, if you would still like one.”
“Thank you.”
As she stopped walking and turned to face him, Alex could see the desire in her eyes and he began to lean forward to kiss her. Before his lips could make contact however, a fat droplet of rain hit his cheek and as he looked to the heavens, a torrent of other drops quickly joined the first. He looked back to Helen, wondering if she would be used to being caught in the rain and intending to offer her his coat.
Instead she wore an impish grin and by unspoken agreement, he took her hand and they ran back to the house, laughing as the rain soaked them and they splashed through puddles.
The servants’ entrance was the closest and Alex directed them there now. They paused just inside the hallway and Helen burst out laughing. Alex couldn’t help but laugh too. He hadn’t run like that since he was a child, and he hadn’t really enjoyed the rain since then either. He felt young again.
“Oh, my slippers are ruined!” she exclaimed between laughs, as she raised the hem of her skirt to see them in all their mud-spattered glory.
“Damn the shoes,” he said, pulling her close. Both were still laughing.
Thankfully the inner door of the hallway was closed so they hadn’t been seen by the staff but as Alex’s lips claimed hers in a passionate kiss, their luck didn’t hold.
They separated to see the scullery maid standing there, mouth agape.
Alex and Helen began laughing again and surprising her, Alex swept her into his arms, carrying her bridal style into the house and causing the scullery maid to quickly scarper out of the way.
All eyes were on them as they made their way through the servants’ halls, Alex telling each person that they passed to “Carry on.” That combined with their shocked expressions, was enough to keep them laughing as they climbed the servants’ stairs and entered Alex’s bedroom. He placed her on his bed, climbing on beside her.
He hadn’t really given any thought as to what they would do once they were up here, alone, but as he kissed her, he quickly felt his longing for her increase and when he ended the kiss, neither one of them was laughing any longer.
Love, Lies and Murder Page 16
