A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder

by Dianne Freeman

  “Don’t do anything to raise suspicion. If you see the man we’re looking for in the house, just address him as Ainsworthy, and we’ll take matters from there. Don’t go near him, or give him any type of warning.”

  I nodded my understanding just as the door opened. Crabbe must have heard our arrival, and ushered us into the dim foyer with a warm welcome. His face, however, bore a solemn expression which did nothing to ease my concerns. I chose not to introduce my companions, but only asked after the countess, while Hetty and I handed our wraps to a waiting footman. The inspectors kept their outerwear.

  “She is in the drawing room, my lady. I’ll announce you.”

  We were just a few steps behind Crabbe when he threw open the doors to the drawing room. I had only a glimpse of Delia as she jumped to her feet. “Lady Harleigh and guests, my lady,” Crabbe announced.

  I stepped past him and glanced around the room. Delia looked shocked to see me there, and even more so to see the people following me. But she was the only occupant in the room.

  I rushed forward. “Delia, where’s Lily?”

  Her lips moved soundlessly as her eyes darted from me, to Hetty, then to the two inspectors. The color drained from her face.

  Oh, dear. “Delia, what’s wrong? Where’s Lily?” I took her arm, guiding her to a chair where she promptly buried her face in her hands.

  “Oh, Frances! I’m so sorry. Lily has left with the viscount. I fear they’ve eloped.”

  Chapter 20

  It took a good twenty minutes, and a glass of brandy to calm Delia into any coherence, and another half an hour to pull the story out of her. Ainsworthy had been calling on them over the past few days. He returned early this afternoon with a new motor car and offered to take Lily for a drive.

  “A motor car? But they’re terribly expensive. How on earth does he come to be in possession of one?”

  Delia stared at me. “I could hardly ask such a thing. The two young people were so eager for the drive. I saw no harm in it. But now it’s been hours since they left, and it’s getting dark. I can only imagine they’ve eloped.”

  “Why would you jump to such a strange conclusion?” Hetty’s tone indicated she considered the idea ridiculous. “Automobiles are notoriously unreliable. It’s much more likely the thing broke down somewhere on the road.”

  Wonderful. “Thank you for that reassuring image, Hetty.” I turned back to Delia, intending to question her further, but Inspector Collins spoke first.

  “Do you know where he planned to take the girl, my lady? Or which direction they took?”

  The way Delia stared at the man one would think the sofa had just spoken to her. She turned to me with a stony expression. “Who are these men, Frances?”

  Good Lord. How to explain? “Viscount Ainsworthy is not who he says he is, Delia. These are inspectors with the Guildford police. They came here to arrest him. I can tell you the whole story later, but for now just answer their questions, so they can find him.”

  “Arrest him? Whatever for?”

  “Delia!” I was on the verge of shaking her. “He’s a dangerous man, and every moment Lily spends with him puts her further at risk. Now if he told you where he planned to go, for heaven’s sake, tell us.”

  “Well!” Delia glared at me in all her injured dignity. “He told me they would simply drive about the countryside. I believe he brought a picnic lunch with him. They turned right at the end of the drive, about five hours ago, and I haven’t seen them since. I’ve been pacing about this room for the last hour, wondering if I should contact the police myself. Your sister has had me worried sick, Frances. I fear she’s well and truly ruined herself.”

  Delia gave a sad shake of her head at the end of this pronouncement, but for my part, Lily’s reputation was the least of my concerns. She was alone with a murderer. They must be found. I felt Hetty’s hand on my arm. “He has no reason to hurt her, Franny. Don’t think the worst.”

  She was right. There was no need to panic, and I had no time for it right now. In order to be of any value to Lily, I had to keep panic at bay. I turned to the inspectors. “If they turned right, they weren’t heading to the train station or toward town. Perhaps my aunt is right, and the automobile has simply broken down.”

  One of them nodded in agreement. “We’ll light the carriage lamps, and do our best to look for them, my lady.” With that, they were off, and I turned to Delia, a thousand recriminations on the tip of my tongue. I bit them back. It was far too easy to blame Delia, but while she’d been lax as a chaperone, to say the least, she had no idea the viscount was so wicked. Her talk of worry and pacing the room rankled when I’d seen her myself, stitching at her embroidery as we’d entered. But I had to remind myself, Lily’s presence was forced on her.

  “I’m truly sorry about Lily, Frances. You must know I never wished her any ill.”

  “Of course you didn’t, dear. I suppose now, all we can do is wait for the police to find them.” I smiled with more confidence than I felt. “Hopefully very soon.”

  “I’m sure Crabbe has made rooms ready for you. I’ll have a maid take you upstairs so you can freshen up before dinner.”

  The maid answered the bell and showed us up to two guest rooms as Lily had been given my old room. Hetty pulled me into a hug at my door. “Try not to worry, dear. I’m sure Lily will be just fine. He has no reason to hurt her, and she is far more resourceful than you think.”

  I hoped, rather than believed, her to be right. “I’m going up to the nursery to check on Rose first, then I’ll come back to change for dinner.”

  “I’ll just go to my room and rest a while then.” Hetty squeezed my fingers, and we parted at her door.

  I spent the better part of an hour with my daughter and nephews, listening to them recount everything they’d been doing for the past few days, while Rose’s kitten slumbered in my lap. But even while their chatter had me laughing, I couldn’t escape my worry over Lily. Where had she and Thomas gotten to?

  And for heaven’s sake, what was wrong with Delia? What was she thinking, sending Lily off alone with the viscount—or Thomas? I was having a hard time remembering that. But even if he were a titled aristocrat, Delia would know better than to let them spend an afternoon together unchaperoned. And to say she saw nothing wrong with it? Was she just a disaster as a chaperone, or was her negligence deliberate?

  I pondered the matter as the children’s voices rose and fell around me, but could divine no reason why Delia would wish to ruin Lily. I determined to question her at dinner where I’d have Hetty to back me up. Before returning to my room, I gave Rose a kiss, promising to come back up before she went to bed. I brought in a taper from the hall and lit the paraffin oil lamp on the dressing table.

  “Still no gas up here.”

  I jumped at the unexpected voice. Delia reclined in a chair by the glass doors to the balcony, a taper in the sconce beside her cast an earie glow. “Goodness, Delia, you startled me. Why are you waiting here? Am I late?”

  She seemed not to have heard me. “No gaslight. Drafty rooms. Crumbling walls. Did you notice the scaffolding outside when you arrived?”

  “I’d be surprised if it was missing,” I replied. “It seems to have become a fixture.” A maid had unpacked the skirt and blouse I’d brought, and laid them out on the bed. Not entirely suitable for dinner, but at least they were clean. I decided to go about the business of changing my clothing. Delia clearly had something to say to me. She could do the talking.

  “We’re taking down the stone balconies on the west wall on this floor and replacing them with railings. We can’t afford to repair them, and they’re just too dangerous to use.”

  “That seems like a wise idea,” I said, unbuttoning my blouse.

  “The whole place is crumbling down around us and we simply can’t keep up with the repairs.”

  “It’s always been an expensive proposition, maintaining a home like this.” I pulled off my blouse, and began working on my skirt. “I can’
t begin to tally the pounds I’ve spent on this place. I think it was the roof that needed replacing when I first came here.”

  “This once great estate is the sole legacy of the Wynn family, and we’re losing it piece by piece because we can’t afford to keep it up.” Her voice was soft, defeated.

  I gave up on unfastening my skirt and turned to face her. Were we really going to discuss finances now? “Delia, you have my sympathy, but I’m not in funds any longer myself.”

  “It’s a shame you weren’t able to control Reggie. You brought a great deal of money into the family, and Reggie squandered it before I was able to stop him.”

  Actually he hadn’t, but I wasn’t about to quibble. After all, he had squandered a fair portion of it. As I pulled on the clean blouse, the rest of her statement tickled my consciousness. “What do you mean, before you stopped him? When did Reggie ever stop spending money?”

  She smiled. “Well, he certainly quit spending it after he died, didn’t he?”

  “Delia! That’s a terrible thing to say. Reggie was feckless and irresponsible, I agree, but I know you didn’t wish him dead for all that.”

  “Oh, I did more than wish him dead. You may as well know now, I made sure he took a very heavy dose of his heart medicine.”

  I shook my head, confused. “But he had a heart attack. How would his own medication cause that?”

  She shrugged. “Because he rarely took it and I gave him a triple dose.”

  My fingers froze on the buttons of my blouse. “You couldn’t have.” I scarcely knew what I was saying, I just needed to utter any words that would negate what she was admitting.

  “Someone had to stop him.” She lurched forward in her chair and pointed a finger at me. “You had no control over him. For heaven’s sake, he was never even here with you. I can hardly credit that you miss him.”

  “He was my husband!”

  “And he spent his time dallying with other men’s wives. He was a terrible husband, and an unworthy earl. He should have been a custodian of the earldom of Harleigh, but he let it fall into ruin, and this house into rubble, all for want of funds.”

  She pushed up from the chair and walked toward me, anger twisting her face into a grimace. “He never cared about the title and he never cared about Harleigh Manor. I hoped when he married you he’d finally step up to his responsibilities, but instead he used your money to fund his escapades.”

  I felt moisture on my cheeks, and realized I was crying, as the horror of her words struck me. “Why are you telling me this? You’ve kept your secret for this long, why force it on me now?”

  She sighed. I could see the anger leaving her body, not that she relaxed, but simply calmed, her face set in firm lines. “Because I’m afraid we’re going to have to dip into your family’s deep pockets again, and I wanted you to understand how desperate we are. I won’t take no for an answer.”

  She pulled a pistol from behind her back, and my heart pounded a frantic beat. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Delia! Put that away! I’ll give Graham the money in my account, for all the good it will do you.”

  “That’s nowhere near enough. I can’t believe Graham even bothered trying. We need a sum that will tide us over until his investments start paying off. Or until the boys are old enough to find their own heiresses. Otherwise we’ll lose the estate. Without this, we’re nothing.”

  I couldn’t take my eyes off the gun. She waved it around with the flow of her words, making me wince at each pass. “What do you hope to gain from killing me? Once I’m gone, you’ll never see another penny from my father.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. He wouldn’t want his granddaughter to live in poverty, and since she’ll be living with us, I think your father will be inclined to provide for her support.”

  My stomach roiled. The movement of the pistol fogged my brain. I desperately needed to understand what she was talking about, so I could say, or do, the right thing to make her put that damn pistol down. “Why would Rose be living with you?”

  “Well, dear, I’m afraid no matter what happens between the viscount and the police, your sister will be ruined. Either that man will be arrested while in her company, or she’ll have run off with a known criminal. After that, no court would give her custody of a young child.”

  She stepped toward me, placing herself between me and the door to the hallway. As she advanced, I backed away, moving toward the glass doors, and the balcony outside. Perhaps if I ran out and screamed someone would hear me.

  Delia continued her explanation during this maneuver. “I’m sure your parents will try to gain custody themselves, but Rose is British, and Graham is a peer, and we’ll pull every string we must to keep her with us. Though we’ll encourage them to continue her support.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Frances. It’s not personal. I just can’t see us getting by any other way.”

  “Delia, listen to me. No one knows you killed Reggie.” I held up my hands, imploring her to wait, while the words rushed from my lips. “The police questioned the doctor. He was certain it was a heart attack.”

  Delia’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Why did the police question the doctor?”

  “There was an anonymous letter. They suspected me of killing him, but I wouldn’t let them do an autopsy. Delia, we’ll work something out. I’ll get the money you need. You don’t have to kill me.”

  Delia’s jaw dropped as she stared at me, her face blank. “I don’t believe it,” she muttered. “How could everything have gone wrong?”

  Did she seriously expect an answer? I had no idea what she was talking about.

  She let out a miserable laugh. “And you have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

  My first thought was if she could read my mind, it was going to be all the more difficult to get that pistol away from her. Then I realized she was simply reading the complete bafflement on my face. I gave a little shake of my head.

  “Nothing worked out the way it should have.” She flung her arms out in frustration, but never lost her grip on the pistol. “Reggie wasn’t used to taking digitalis. He should have become sick before his heart stopped. The doctor should have suspected he was poisoned. And I was prepared to point the finger at you.”

  “Me?” I squeaked.

  “Then I would have been rid of the both of you and had Rose in my care. But nothing ever works for me!” She slapped the pistol against the side of her leg, punctuating each syllable.

  I was in awe of the tantrum she was throwing, but I must confess myself utterly devoid of sympathy. “You planned to murder Reggie, then see me hang for the crime?”

  “We would have pleaded for leniency,” she said with a shrug. “You would probably have been committed to an asylum.”

  Suddenly everything became clear. “You wrote the letter to the police. You told them to look to me—the wronged wife!”

  “And that didn’t work either!”

  I could see anger and frustration was making her even more deranged, but I didn’t care. I was furious and lunged forward, ready to throttle her. Despite her possession of the pistol, she darted aside, toward the balcony.

  “So then you arranged for me to have an accident, didn’t you?”

  “What else could I do, Frances? I didn’t know the police had acted on my letter. I thought they ignored it. When Lily told me about her accident on the bridge, I could only wish it had been you going over that rail. And then I thought why not? It took a little work, but I found a man in Guildford who would do just about anything for the right price. And he didn’t ask any questions. I’m pleased to hear he at least made an attempt.”

  The little witch! As I advanced further she backed away. “An accident would certainly be more convenient. However will you explain that I’ve been shot?”

  She looked down at the pistol in her hand.

  Oh, dear. Stupid question. Smiling, she took aim. “I’ll think of something.”

  I dropped to the floor as she fired, lodging a bullet deep in the wall b
ehind me. On all fours I barreled into her legs, knocking her out the balcony door. She screamed as she fell and the door slammed shut as her outstretched arm banged against it.

  I pushed myself up from the floor as the room spun about me. Oh, my Lord, I couldn’t be sick now! Hasty footsteps sounded behind me, as I reached for the door handle, my breath coming in gasps. Should I just lock it or check on her? Something was very wrong about the way she fell.

  I opened the door and stepped forward.

  “No!” Hetty’s arm circled my waist, pulling me back into the room.

  In an instant I saw why. The candle, burning in the sconce on the wall, threw off enough illumination to see that where the balcony had been, was now simply space, air, nothing. Scaffolding stood to both sides of the doorway, but there was no balcony. I looked down, and in the darkness, I could barely make out the shape of Delia’s body, twisted over a huge pile of stone.

  Hetty pulled me away from the door. I clung to her as she walked me back to sit on the bed, my head spinning. “She might still be alive,” I said hopefully, thinking of the Delia I had known, and trying to reconcile her with the crazed person who had just attacked me. “It wasn’t a long fall.”

  “Once your head clears, we’ll go down and find out.” Her voice did not hold much hope.

  Chapter 21

  Delia did not survive the fall. The distance hadn’t been great, but landing on the broken chunks of stone, from the old balcony, had ensured her death. I tried to stop my tears by reminding myself that this was the fate she had chosen for me. Still, they flowed for some time.

  Hetty sent a servant to Guildford to inform the police and send a telegram to Graham. The children were already in bed and we asked the nurse to keep them upstairs should they waken. I felt my eyes water again as I realized someone would have to tell the boys about their mother in the morning.

  Before a constable could arrive from town, Lily returned with one of the inspectors. I’d completely forgotten their names by then. She rushed into my arms, and I was so relieved to have her back safely, I almost neglected to tell him what had happened here. I gave him the briefest summary, and Hetty took him up to my room to review the scene, leaving me alone with my sister.