An Unexpected Title (Suspicious Circumstance Book 1)
Page 29
Giles threw back his brandy and poured himself another before he stood and bowed before Alexander.
‘Your Grace.’ He lifted his glass as Alexander shook his head and waved his friend down.
‘Don’t even think about calling me that when we are in private. Ormond in polite company and Alex as usual otherwise, though to be honest, with this potential disaster hanging over me I doubt I will be in polite company any time soon.
Denvers slumped back into the chair.
“By God Alex, this is terrible news. Bad enough that your father and brother have perished, but Ormond come to ruin as well? I don’t believe it. There has to be some kind of mistake.” There was a silence as there was a quiet rap at the door and the serving girl brought in another tray of food. She left quickly as Giles immediately began to help himself and Alexander continued with the story while his friend filled his stomach.
“I was of the same mind, but father and Phillip both wrote new wills only a week before the wreck. My mother and Anne are made provision for, but I won’t even be able to do that if these figures are correct.” He threw the accounts book across the desk and Giles picked it up. He leafed through the contents, his lips moving silently as he read the amounts. He frowned as he noticed the regular five hundred pound withdrawal. His eyebrows rose into his hairline as he flicked back through the book.
“This has been going on for months, possibly even years if you can check in older books. What in God’s name did he need that much for? The rest looks pretty clear but this is above other household expenses. Who is this fellow Oakley? Or is it there to remind him of the town.”
Alexander took a deep breath.
“I have no idea and have been racking my brains to think if it is a name I recall, but apart from the town called the same name near Ormond I can’t think of anyone. It is possibly only a reference for my father. Whether it means anything I have yet to find out. I have to get to the bottom of it or I will go under. The income from the estate will never keep up with this amount and there is already a debt the likes of which you would never imagine. I fear I am staring ruination in the face.” Alexander held his brandy glass firmly.
Giles stared at the book for a moment longer. Regular monthly amounts of this nature could only mean one thing.
“Stinks of blackmail if you ask me. A sum of this size, it can’t possibly be a mistress, but even if that were the case this amount would cover a veritable harem besides the fact that your father and brother both seemed the most unlikely candidates for that kind of caper. What on earth had Phillip to hide?”
Alexander closed his eyes briefly as he remembered his elder sibling; a quiet but strong man not easily roused to temper with a brain that far outstripped his peers. It was his avid quest for knowledge that led him into some of his stranger experiments. Pain ripped through his chest as he closed his mind to the disastrous experiment with the steam kettle though others were to follow during school breaks and Christmas holidays. In his dreams at night he could still see little Lily Smith’s smiling eyes and dark, unruly hair and he hoped with all his heart that there were not other deaths to be covered up.
“That’s what I hope to discover. I haven’t been home for over five years, Giles. I can only hope that my mother can shed some light on the matter though even asking her is not a prospect that I relish. In the meantime Carter is holding off on the debt. The bank is supporting the mortgage and I have approximately four weeks to come up with a solution. I confess that at the moment one eludes me and all suggestions will be considered.”
Giles Denvers snorted and gave his first smile of the evening.
“Easy, man. You are now a Duke. Marry a girl with plenty of blunt. It’s the beginning of the season; you’ll have your pick of the crop what with a title like yours. Problem solved.”
Alexander frowned deeply.
“If there’s blackmail at its heart then a wife’s dowry won’t last long as soon as the fiend gets wind of it, besides I had always thought to marry for love when the time comes. I’m not going to leap into leg shackles until I have excluded every other avenue open to me. In the meantime I have the delightful duty of telling the staff here that I may be their new employer but I have no money to pay them and may even have to sell this house. I am not looking forward to telling them that they could become homeless.” He flung back another measure of the brandy.
His friend helped himself from the bottle.
“Do you want me to stay? I can go and find a bed elsewhere if you prefer. I don’t want to be an extra burden while you are in crisis.”
Alexander waved his glass and dismissed his friend’s remark.
“I have never had cause to call you a fool before, please don’t give me reason to call you one now. You may as well have your fill of my company while you still can. I might be chucked into debtor’s prison in the very near future. Stay for as long as you can. I’m off on the morrow but you are most welcome to remain for as long as I can keep this place.”
Giles laughed at his friend.
“Now you are being the fool. Did you think I would let you fall into ruin by yourself? We have ridden together for the last five years; I’m not going to leave your side at the first difficult hurdle. I’ll come with you and help you discover what has brought Ormond to this low. My nag may not be as finely bred as yours but his hooves are sure and his heart is strong. We will ride together at first light.”
Alexander felt his insides warm for the first time since setting foot on shore.
“Thank you, my friend. I am honoured to call you such. Now go upstairs and get yourself settled for the night. We can drink the rest of this bottle after I have warned the staff of the imminent possibilities. I will take my father’s room tonight and you can make yourself comfortable in Phillip’s. I’m pretty sure that they will both have been regularly aired.”
Giles stood and laughed.
“After the bunks we have lain in all these years I’m not sure a feather bed will suit my hardened bones, but I will do my duty and attempt to make myself as comfortable as possible.”
The sarcasm was not lost on Alexander and he let out a low laugh as his friend left the room. And then he stood and sighed wearily as Bottomley, his wife, Simon and the maid all shuffled into the room.
This was not going to be easy.
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