A Murdered Earl

by Marina Oliver

  'Working for a City merchant would be a comedown after an Earl,' Aunt Margaret demurred.

  'He might prefer it, like Mrs Robinson.'

  'If I hear of anyone I'll tell you,' she promised. 'What about last night?'

  'One odd thing,' Luke said slowly. 'Apparently Frederick, the new Earl's cousin, the one who was sent packing from Redditch Court, has been accusing him of poisoning his father. It could be pure malice, but if he knows that Augustus might have had the opportunity to slip the poison into the chocolate, how did he discover it?'

  'Do any of the Redditch House servants know his servants? That's how gossip usually spreads.'

  'He doesn't have a house or servants in London. He didn't have a valet, and his wife had neither a maid nor a nurse for the children when I saw them.'

  'Then it must be wherever they are staying.'

  Luke nodded, but was unconvinced. 'It's possible that his wife's mother lives in London. All I know is that she's a widow, and the old Earl claimed she was chasing a Cit, hoping to marry him. If he spoke the truth it's likely she lives here.'

  'But not in the best part of town?'

  'I have no notion where, nor even her name,' Luke replied. 'Louis is going to try to discover it for me, or ask where I might meet Frederick himself.'

  He left soon afterwards to walk to Finsbury Square, not far away from his uncle's house. The buildings were new, and he paused to admire them, but though each side was different and elegant, copying the mansions of Mayfair, his eyes were drawn to a large dome at the far corner, surmounted by a flag waving gently in the breeze. That, he knew from what his uncle had told him, signified that Mr Lackington was in residence. He walked past the seemingly endless frontage, tempted to explore the vast interior where, Joshua maintained, a coach and six could be driven round the aisles.

  Later, he told himself sternly, aware that his greatest need was to discover all he could about the events that fatal morning. And his present financial circumstances did not permit him to indulge in books or other luxuries he'd once taken for granted. Uncle Joshua had given him directions, and he soon reached the Silbermann house. He presented himself at the kitchen door, and soon persuaded the young girl who opened it to admit him.

  'Mrs Robinson's in 'er room,' the girl said.

  'Tell her Luke Peters wants a word. It's about what happened the morning she left Redditch House.'

  The girl vanished, and within minutes was back, followed by the plump, motherly cook he'd known for a few short weeks.

  'What is it?' she asked suspiciously. 'I've nothing to say to anyone from that benighted house.'

  'Cook, I understand, but I need your help for fear I'm accused of murdering the master. Just a few questions, and it might lead me to the real culprit?' he wheedled.

  'If you find him, I'll shake his hand!' she muttered, but then smiled and gestured to Luke to sit at the big deal table in the centre of the kitchen. 'Kate, take yourself upstairs for an hour,' she said to the maid. 'You can be mending those sheets we was going to do tomorrow.'

  Casting a regretful smile at Luke Kate went slowly up the stairs. Mrs Robinson snorted.

  'All the same, silly young females, think a handsome face is all they need in a man!'

  Luke grinned at her. 'A sensible man always prefers a good cook to a pretty face, though when both are there, he gives heartfelt thanks,' he replied.

  'I suppose you want some of my pastries,' she complained, and tapped his cheek with her hand as she went to the big dresser and took down a bowl. Then she swung the kettle over the range and placed a teapot to warm. 'I could do with a cup of tea meself.'

  'You're an angel. Are you happy working here? Is Mr Silbermann a good master? I understand he's a widower?'

  'Yes, so no interference from a wife,' she replied. 'I'm let do what I choose, no changing the orders half an hour before dinnertime, for something I don't have or isn't in season or sometimes what takes a day ter cook.'

  'Was that what the Countess used to do?' Luke asked. He'd never before considered that sort of problem.

  Mrs Robinson busied herself with the teapot. 'That and worse. Luckily she'd forget what she'd ordered five minutes later, so it made no difference. I pleased myself. Now, young Luke, what do you want to know? I don't see as how I can tell you anything new. I was more concerned with packing my bags than caring what went on upstairs that morning.'

  Luke explained. He couldn't entirely exempt Mrs Robinson from his list of suspects, but it was so unlikely she'd have poisoned her late master he could risk telling her his suspicions. 'The poison was in the chocolate, so it must have been put there either in the kitchen, or while Jenny left it on the landing for a few minutes.'

  'Why'd she do that?'

  'The cat had got up there, and she was afraid she'd be blamed after what happened the day it got into the dining room. I know more or less who was upstairs, alone, but there were a lot of people in the kitchen, and some of them didn't belong to the house.'

  'There was a lot o' folk, now you come to mention it. I was that flustered, I didn't care who was there.' She poured out the tea. 'Have some pastries, do. Mr Silbermann eats hardly any sweet things, and I love making them! Quite my speciality, they are.'

  'Thanks.' Luke took one. He'd have to jog her memory. 'Do you remember Maggie being there?'

  'Let me see. Yes, I think she was, but I'm blowed if I can remember when exactly. Mr Drummond was there, I know. We was both waiting for the hackney. Sam, I think. Or was it Joseph? Mebee both of them, some time.'

  'The girl who brings the milk was there, Jenny said. Isn't Joseph sweet on her?'

  'That's right!' she exclaimed triumphantly, and helped herself to another pastry. 'They was over by the door, and moved away when the butcher's boy came in. He's a cheeky young devil too. But I wasn't going to order nothing. Came in with lad who said he was from the fishmonger. I hadn't seen him before, new one he must have been, and they were both laughin' together.'

  'Someone said the fishmonger himself was there,' Luke said, and she flushed.

  'That was the regular one, Mr Hadleigh. I don't know if the lad was with him or from somewhere else.'

  'I see. Who else was there? Was Harris?'

  'Harris? No, I think he was still abed. There was one of the grooms, I think it was Amos, and Suky was fussing about. Miss Armitage wanted tea for her ladyship. No, that was earlier, Suky had made that, and she'd gone back upstairs. Then there was the woman who wanted a sewing job. Came day before, she did, but Mrs Grimsby told her to bring some samples, then o' course, she couldn't see her 'cause she'd gone out herself.'

  'Who was this woman? Did you know her?'

  Mrs Robinson shook her head. 'Only saw her the twice. Scrawny dab of a thing, wi' an old grey wig on, twenty years out o' date. If that were what she thought fashionable, no wonder she was in need of a job mendin' sheets! Then there was someone from the Countess's milliner, didn't know her either, but she was complaining about a bill that hadn't been paid, wanted to go upstairs herself and see the mistress. And the boot boy was idling, gossiping with Jane, the laundry maid.'

  'Are all mornings as busy as that?' Luke asked, appalled. 'It sounds like a coaching inn on the Bath road! How on earth did you ever get the cooking done?'

  'I didn't normally allow it,' Mrs Robinson said, tossing her head. 'They were doing what they're paid for, those from the house, and the others came in and stated their business, and then went out again, sharpish. But it weren't my kitchen any more, why should I bother?'

  ***

  'So what it amounts to is that so far as she can recall, and she's none too certain of anything, almost all the servants had been in the kitchen, and several strangers. Any of them could have dropped the cyanide into the milk while it was boiling or the chocolate after it was made,' Luke said despondently to his uncle an hour later. 'I'm no further forward. And she didn't know the fishmonger's lad, or the woman wanting sewing. Though why a stranger should want to kill the Earl I can't think.'
>
  'Unless they'd been paid by someone who took care to be safely out of the way,' Uncle Joshua said thoughtfully. 'Were there often strangers around?'

  'I asked her that, and she said scarcely a day went past without someone coming to ask for work. And it was often different delivery boys, they don't seem to stay in their jobs for long. I suppose it's possible one of them had been hired, but the Countess and Miss Armitage are the only ones I can be sure couldn't have done it. And somehow, I don't see the Countess hiring an assassin.'

  'Her milliner's girl? Or someone pretending to be that?'

  Luke shook his head. 'From all I knew of her it's very likely she owed them money. But even if it were so, who could it have been? Who might she trust with such a commission?'

  'Has she family?'

  'I don't know anything about her family. But would even a sister do it? They could be sent to the gallows.'

  'She might pretend it was something uncomfortable but harmless, a purge, perhaps. She could say it was a jest, to pay him back for being parsimonious.'

  'She isn't that kind of woman, for subtle gestures. I don't think she'd gain any satisfaction from it, and anyone close to her would certainly know that. When she's angry or upset she just rages and screams and has hysterics.'

  Uncle Joshua nodded. 'Yet it would be hard to trust someone else, a stranger.'

  'If she paid enough, there are people who would risk it and then disappear.'

  'But surely she'd be too afraid they'd come back for more money, or threaten her?'

  'Somehow I can't believe it,' Luke said. 'And she'll probably be worse off with Augustus holding the purse strings. Would she want him having power over her?'

  'If she knew she had a large jointure promised, she might want independence.'

  'It's possible, I suppose, and I don't know what was arranged. That's another thing I might have to discover. No, I'm sure there are more likely murderers around. If only I could be certain Augustus had the opportunity! He's my favourite.'

  'You're going to see the butler, what's his name?'

  'Drummond. Yes, I mean to go to the Duke's house this evening.'

  'He may recollect more clearly than Mrs Robinson does exactly who was in the kitchen and where they were. But is evening the best time to talk to him?'

  'Unless they have visitors, after dinner is normally a quiet time. Drummond used to sit in his pantry then, cleaning the silver, and I suspect he had a private store of brandy and port. He could be in an expansive mood.'

  After his own dinner, Luke set off once more, this time to Berkeley Square. He called at the tavern to see if Amos had left any messages, but there were none. He was walking past the Grosvenor Market when a man emerged from a small alley and almost cannoned into him.

  About to apologise, the man halted suddenly, then grinned. It was an unpleasant grin. He swept off his hat, revealing roughly shorn, brilliant red hair, and bowed ironically. 'Bon soir, Monsieur le ci-devant Comte! Well met. Are you enjoying your experience of London?'

  'Bossard!' Luke stepped back, and glanced round, but it seemed that Bossard was alone. That was fortunate. He could overcome one man. He bunched his fists and prepared to fight.

  Bossard shook his head gently. 'Oh, don't fear for your miserable skin this time! I know I can hardly carry you off without assistance. And I've no wish to kill you – yet. Not until you tell me what I want to know. Then I can take my revenge for the death of Martin du Plessis. You did it deliberately, first because he was one of our leaders in the area, but also because he knew your father's secret.'

  'What's that? What do you mean?' Luke demanded. He was genuinely astonished. He'd had no idea anyone else knew about the jewels, or where they had been taken on that secret journey.

  Bossard sneered. 'Don't play the innocent! Martin followed your father, and you knew. You were afraid he would retrieve the jewels before you could yourself. What a pity it made you leave France so hurriedly, before you could get to them.'

  'Are you so certain they are in France still?' Luke asked, smiling. He was rapidly reviewing the possibilities. As long as he could keep Bossard in suspense, the man would hesitate to kill him. If only he could make him believe Sylvie knew nothing. But it would be more dangerous to try and convince him of that than ignore the suggestion. If he protested too much the man would assume he had something to hide.

  'One day I will meet you when I have friends with me. Don't think you can escape me. I know where to look for you. Then, when you have told us what we need to know, you will be taken back to France, and punished, as an example to all stupid aristos. You, Monsieur, are destined for Madame Guillotine.'

  'And then the wretch vanished before I could say another word,' Luke said later when he was back in Clerkenwell. 'I wish I'd wrung his neck then!'

  'But you would have been arrested,' Aunt Caroline said. 'From what you say you are safe for the time being.'

  'But I am afraid he knows I am staying with you. I don't want to bring trouble on you, just because you have been kind to me.'

  'Nonsense, my boy. What else are families for, but to give help when needed?'

  'If it looks dangerous, I will find somewhere else to live,' Luke promised.

  'Forget him. What did you do then?'

  'I tried to follow him, but he darted into a tavern, and must have gone through a door at the rear.'

  'You should be more careful, it might have been a trap,' Aunt Caroline fussed.

  Luke grinned at her. 'I was so startled, first at his appearance, then by the fact that he didn't even try to attack me, that I wasn't thinking straight. But it's a pity he knows I'm in London.'

  'He probably doesn't know where. Could he have tried to follow you?'

  Luke shook his head. 'No, I went straight to Berkeley Square, and was with Drummond for a good half hour. It was dusk by the time I left, and I left by way of the mews. I kept a good watch for him, my wits had returned. He can't have trailed me this time.'

  Uncle Joshua chuckled. 'He'll probably think you work for the Duke. Let's hope he spends his time waiting for you there. But what had Drummond to say?'

  'In the end less than Cook. He went out to look for the hackney, he was impatient for its arrival. But it seems she was right about the people who were present, though he can't recall where they all stood, or who they talked with. He did say he thought Maggie went out very soon after Miss Armitage took up the Countess's tea, but he didn't know who either of the strange women were, and he didn't think the lad was from the fishmonger, he suggested it was a friend of the butcher's boy.'

  'Did he have the coach house key?'

  'He swore he'd left it in his pantry that very morning. He'd been so angry he said he didn't want anything more to do with Redditch House, he'd not even take away the half bottle of brandy which he claimed was his, given to him by the Earl because he said it was poor stuff, too inferior for him to drink.'

  'That I don't believe,' Aunt Caroline said with a snort of laughter. 'The chances are he'd drunk it all the night before, and only the dregs were left.'

  Luke smiled. 'That's what I believe too, but I think in the rest he was telling the truth.'

  'So it wasn't likely to have been Drummond in the coach house. Now what do you plan to do?'

  'I must see Louis, to ask whether he has found out where Frederick is lodging. And I promised to meet Jenny,' he added ruefully. 'Perhaps she will have something else to tell me.'

  Louis had not yet discovered the address, but on the following morning he told Luke he had met a man who claimed to be a friend of the elusive Frederick. 'So by tonight I hope to have his direction. Come to supper, we will enjoy a few bottles of claret.'

  Luke thanked him and then went, more reluctantly, to his tryst with Jenny.

  She greeted him with open relief. 'I dain't think yer'd come, Luke,' she said, clasping his arm and raising her mouth, pursed, clearly hoping for a kiss.

  'I promised, didn't I?' he asked lightly. 'How are you? Is the new Earl provin
g as dreadful as you expected?'

  'Worse! There were such a to do last night! Out on the front steps, it were, and the whole Square must have 'eard.'

  'What was he doing? Quarrelling with someone?'

  She shook her head. 'Well, not exactly. He was just goin' out, an' Joseph still 'ad the door open. I was 'elpin' lay the table fer the mistress's dinner. She 'ad some friends comin', I think it was 'er sister, and she was mad as a wet 'en at 'im fer goin' out. She was screeching down the stairs, an' then a lot o' yellin' started outside.'

  She paused, and Luke stifled his impatience. 'Well, what was it about?' he asked eventually.

  'It were Mr Frederick,' she announced. 'An' yer should 'ave 'eard what he were sayin'! Proper wicked, it was!'

  'Frederick?'

  'Thought yer'd be interested,' she said, pleased.

  'But what did he want? Did he hope his cousin would give him an allowance, or let him go back to Redditch Court?'

  'No, nuthin' like that.' Jenny took a deep breath. 'What 'e said, an' I could 'ardly believe me ears, was that 'e'd seen the Earl, a few nights back, in Seven Dials.'

  She paused again, and Luke suppressed the urge to shake it out of her. 'Well, why shouldn't he have been there? I imagine he goes to some pretty unsavoury places at times,' he added, hoping to provoke her into further speech.

  'Mr Frederick said 'e'd 'eard the Earl talkin' ter someone, the night before 'is Pa were killed. 'E said it were a cove the constables knew traded in poisons!'

  'Poisons? And Frederick heard him talking with the Earl?' Luke demanded.

  'Yes. 'E said 'e 'eard them talkin' about 'ow much ter use, 'ow much it'd take ter kill a big man, and then the Earl gave this cove a purse, it chinked, 'e said, wi' gold coins. So it must 'ave bin the Earl, 'e bought the poison, Mr Frederick said, an' used it ter kill 'is Pa!'

  ***

  Chapter 10

  'Do you believe her?' Louis asked.