Death of a Debutante (Riley Rochester Investigates Book 1)

by Wendy Soliman

  Almost, but not quite.

  Sophia nodded once and returned her attention to Terrance. Satisfied that she knew what she had to do, Riley took a deep breath and stepped forward.

  ‘Actually,’ he said calmly. ‘My niece is in the right of it. I don’t think you killed Emily.’

  ‘You!’

  Ashton’s pistol was now aimed directly at Riley, as Riley had hoped. He tipped his head again and Sophia scampered from her seat straight into Peterson’s arms as he stepped forward. He caught her and bundled her to safety.

  ‘You didn’t kill Emily but I was right earlier when I suggested that you think your father did to prevent you from marrying her,’ Riley said, assured of Terrance’s complete attention. He didn’t seem to notice that Sophia was no longer there. ‘And much as you hate and resent him, you can’t bear to give him up.’

  ‘What does it matter?’ Terrance sounded morose. He kicked at a loose floorboard and curled his upper lip. ‘You know about Susan so I’ll hang. Not that I care if it means I’ll be with Emily. The family will be disgraced anyway. I am sorry for Pru’s sake, but can’t pretend I care about the old man. He’s a tyrant and a bully, but then I don’t suppose I’m telling you anything you don’t already know.’

  Without another word, he moved the pistol aimed at Riley’s chest and held it against his own temple.

  ‘Don’t be stupid,’ Riley said, unsure if the unstable young man even heard his less than adequate words. Besides, in his situation, Riley suspected that he would prefer to take the easy way out rather than endure the ignominy of a scandalous trial and then face the hangman’s noose. He accepted that he was powerless to do anything to prevent Terrance from taking his own life since he was beyond listening to the voice of reason. But he would prefer for Sophia not to witness the gory scene. It was too much to suppose that she would look away, and he knew it would give her recurring nightmares if she actually witnessed it.

  He watched Ashton’s finger tighten. He watched him smile and pull the trigger.

  Nothing happened.

  Ashton toppled from his bench more in surprise, Riley suspected, than because he was actually hurt. He looked at the pistol in his hand, then touched his temple, seemingly unable to decide what had gone wrong.

  ‘Ha!’ he said in a disgusted tone. ‘I couldn’t even get that right.’ And then he curled in a ball and laughed so hard that Riley didn’t think he would ever stop.

  Riley stepped onto the veranda and removed the pistol from Ashton’s loose grip. There was nothing to say that there might be bullets in other chambers. Sophia pulled away from Peterson and hurtled herself, trembling, into his arms.

  ‘I knew you would come,’ Sophia said tearfully. ‘I was terrified.’

  ‘You certainly didn’t show it.’ Riley closed his arms around her. ‘I’m sorry you had to go through that but am so very proud of you. You kept him calm, which was exactly the right thing to do.’

  He beckoned Peterson over to handcuff Ashton. His manic laughter had subsided and he was mumbling to himself now, as docile as a lamb.

  ‘Summon help, Peterson,’ Riley said. ‘Call off the search, tell everybody that we have Sophia and take Ashton back to the Yard.’

  Peterson stepped into the street and used his rattle to attract the attention of the rest of the constabulary. They came running, cheered when they saw Sophia safe and relatively unharmed. She waved to them but still clung like a monkey to Riley with her free hand. Ashton was bundled into the wagon and the police left the area as quickly as they had arrived in it.

  ‘Are you sure he didn’t harm you?’ Riley asked Sophia as they watched them go.

  ‘I’m in one piece and when I get over the shock, I shall have a fine story to tell.’

  Riley laughed in spite of himself. ‘Actually, you won’t. This is not the sort of episode it would be wise to talk about. Can you ever imagine your mother allowing you to come and see me or Mrs Cosgrove again?’

  ‘No, I suppose not. How vexatious. And I suppose it would be unkind to make sport of another person’s despair.’ Riley nodded his approval. ‘I actually felt rather sorry for Mr Ashton. He was ranting like a madman but I think that really he was just very sad. What will happen to him?’ she asked as Riley walked her slowly back to Amelia’s, one arm wrapped around her shoulders.

  ‘Nothing good, I’m afraid. He killed a maid who worked in his father’s house.’

  ‘Yes, he told me about that.’

  ‘He actually admitted it?’

  Sophia snuggled against his side and shrugged. ‘He said that you already knew. He blamed the girl. Said she flaunted herself in front of him and that he was only human, whatever that means.’

  Riley chuckled. ‘You’ll find out much too soon.’

  ‘She was going to have a baby and he said his father would flay him alive if he brought that sort of disgrace upon the family name.’

  ‘He most likely would have done just that. The father, I mean.’

  ‘He said she refused to see reason and was threatening to implicate him in Emily’s murder. He knew that you already suspected him of having committed it and she could have sealed his fate. So she had to be stopped.’ She blinked back tears as she looked up at Riley. ‘Will he hang?’

  ‘I’m afraid he probably will. Either that or he will be committed to a lunatic asylum. Personally, I think hanging might be a kinder fate than living out his life in one of those hellholes.’

  Sophia shook her head. ‘The poor man.’

  ‘Save your sympathy for the maid, sweetheart, and for yourself. He could have killed you, you know.’

  ‘No he couldn’t. His pistol obviously wasn’t loaded.’

  ‘But you didn’t know that. Nor did I.’ A long breath hissed slowly through Riley’s lips. ‘When I saw him there, waving that gun about, I…’ His words trailed off and he gave Sophia’s shoulders a squeeze instead. ‘Come on, Amelia is beside herself with worry about you. Let’s set her mind at rest. Are you sure you are unharmed?’

  ‘Perfectly. Just a little shaken, now that it’s all over.’

  ‘That’s my brave girl. We will make a detective of you yet.’

  Sophia grinned. ‘Perhaps I will take you up on that offer.’

  Riley grimaced, not doubting it for a moment.

  Martha’s carriage was outside the door and Amelia and his sister were at the window when Riley approached her house. Amelia opened the door herself and fell upon Sophia, demanding to know what had happened. Martha hovered at her elbow.

  ‘I hear you have had some excitement.’ Martha could be relied upon to remain calm in a crisis.

  ‘Something of that nature. Sophia is unharmed but badly shaken. Terrance Ashton tried to blow his brains out in front of her,’ Riley explained in an undertone as Amelia continued to fuss over Sophia. ‘Fortunately, he’d forgotten to load the gun.’

  ‘Dear God!’

  ‘Best keep this from Mother.’

  Martha nodded. ‘Definitely.’

  ‘And try to make sure that Cabbage doesn’t mention it in her letters to her mother.’

  ‘I don’t think she writes home,’ Martha replied. ‘And even if she does, she has more sense than to say anything that might keep her from your company. I think she gets more attention from you and me than she does from her parents, and prefers it that way.’ Martha smiled. ‘You are her hero, you know.’

  Riley harrumphed. ‘Some hero. I almost got her killed.’

  ‘Sophia has already recovered from the shock. She is nothing if not resilient. Look at her.’ Martha indicated the child, eyes bright as she related her adventures to Amelia in tones of awe and excitement. ‘She’s rather enjoying herself now that it’s all over.’

  ‘I am glad that she’s able to take it so easily in her stride. Watch her later, Martha. There may be a delayed reaction.’

  ‘Don’t worry. She will be perfectly safe with me.’

  Amelia and Soph
ia were seated on a settee in the drawing room. Riley crouched in front of Sophia and took her hands in his. ‘Is there anything else that Terrance said to you that I might find helpful?’ he asked softly.

  Sophia bit her lip and slowly shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. I…’

  Amelia caught Riley’s eye and gave him a warning look. Riley nodded.

  ‘In that case, if you have no objection, ladies,’ he said. ‘I must return to the Yard. I have a suspect to charge with murder.’

  ‘And kidnapping,’ Amelia added.

  ‘Probably better not. Murder is more than enough to ensure that he gets his just deserts. I don’t want Sophia’s name dragged into this.’

  ‘Return later and let me know what transpires,’ Amelia said.

  ‘I will if I possibly can.’ He squeezed Amelia’s shoulder. ‘I am sorry that you have been inconvenienced by this wretched business.’

  ‘I am simply glad that Sophia came out of it unscathed.’

  Quite.’

  ‘Don’t forget that you promised to drive me in the park, Uncle Riley,’ Sophia said. ‘I want all my friends to see me with my handsome uncle.’

  Riley shook his head. Clearly, she was suffering no lasting effects. ‘I have not forgotten, Cabbage,’ he assured her, tugging on one of her curls.

  ‘Oh, I almost forget.’ Amelia turned and stretched to the table behind her. ‘Emily’s missing diary. It was in the summerhouse, just as you imagined it would be.’

  ‘Thank you. Anything of interest in it?’

  ‘I haven’t read it. It seemed macabre somehow. I’ll leave that to you.’

  ‘I understand,’ Riley said with a straight face. ‘I am paid to be macabre.’

  Amelia chuckled. ‘If you say so.’

  Riley took his leave of Amelia and Martha. He hugged Cabbage, who appeared to be recovering with remarkable speed and insisted upon chattering about her ordeal. He smiled to himself, aware that nothing this exciting had ever happened to her before. God willing, it never would again.

  Peterson awaited him outside and they lost no time in returning to the Yard. They arrived to a scene of mayhem.

  ‘What the devil, Rochester?’ Danforth blustered the moment he walked through the door. Lord Ashton stood at his shoulder, scowling. ‘It seems I cannot leave you alone for five minutes without your disobeying my orders. Come in here. I need to talk to you.’

  Danforth headed for his office, followed by Ashton. Riley sighed, raising his eyes at Salter as he followed along behind.

  ‘What’s the meaning of your releasing Grant?’ Danforth demanded as soon as Riley stepped foot into his inner sanctum.

  ‘I will not discuss the case in front of Ashton,’ Riley replied, deliberately not referring to the man by his full title. ‘He is a suspect and it would be highly unprofessional.’

  ‘A suspect? Me? Your men have been stomping all over my house and my place of business, without telling me why, and it was damned embarrassing,’ Ashton shouted. ‘In fact it was worse than embarrassing. Damage has been done to my property and my reputation and I shall be instructing my solicitors accordingly. In the meantime I have a right to an explanation.’

  ‘Actually, Ashton, you have no rights at all, but I have no objection to telling you,’ Riley said, fighting a losing battle to remain detached. ‘It’s really quite simple. Your son impregnated your housemaid and then killed her when she threatened to make trouble for him.’

  ‘Rubbish! The girl committed suicide.’

  ‘Terrance has admitted to his crime.’ Just not to me. Yet. ‘After he abducted my fourteen-year-old niece and threatened her with a pistol. Now please feel free to run off and fetch your blasted lawyer,’ Riley’s voice was rising to anger as he pushed his face close to Ashton’s.

  ‘I say, steady on!’ It was clear that Danforth had only just returned to the Yard and hadn’t heard about the abduction. He plucked at Riley’s sleeve, but Riley shook himself free with a gesture of impatience.

  ‘What?’ Ashton cried.

  Riley briefly related the events of the day, taking pleasure from the manner in which the colour gradually drained from Ashton’s face as his son’s involvement became harder and harder for him to deny. For once neither Danforth nor Ashton interrupted him. In fact, Danforth looked downright worried. The abduction of a marquess’s daughter in broad daylight was not something that could be swept under the carpet, even by a man of Danforth’s rank, if Riley chose to make it public. Riley decided not to tell them quite yet that he didn’t intend to charge Terrance with that particular crime.

  ‘There is no doubt that Terrance killed Susan,’ he said instead. ‘She lured Emily to the music room at Terrance’s behest, but he claims not to have killed Emily and I believe him.’

  ‘Grant killed her and you let him go,’ Danforth said, but there was no conviction in his tone.

  ‘He did not, and I can prove it, but I will not discuss the evidence I hold to prove his innocence in front of a man who is determined to pin the crime on him,’ Riley said, fixing Ashton with a disdainful look. ‘Terrance thinks that you killed Emily in the mistaken belief that she had agreed to marry him,’ Riley said, pointing an accusatory finger at Ashton. ‘That was a situation you couldn’t permit.’

  ‘Nonsense! Where’s your proof?’

  ‘You couldn’t allow him to marry a penniless nobody because you are suffering severe financial strain and your investment company is on the brink of collapse, which I can prove.’ Ashton’s eyes bulged with indignation but he didn’t attempt to deny Riley’s assertion. ‘You needed Terrance to bail you out of trouble by marrying a girl from a good family with a substantial dowry. Her money would help to keep your investments solvent and connections to her family would add respectability and status to your name. Terrance knew that, and also knew there was little you would not do in order to achieve that end.’

  ‘That’s…that’s defamation of character and I will see you removed from your position!’ Ashton cried in an unconvincing display of bravado.

  ‘Fine, you go right ahead. Once I release you.’

  ‘Release me?’

  ‘I’m taking you into custody for obstructing my enquiry and for sheltering a known murderer…’

  ‘I say, Rochester…’ Danforth began.

  ‘Sir, with the greatest respect, be silent. Sergeant Barton, take this man away and lock him up.’

  Ashton shot Danforth a pleading look, but Danforth, Riley noticed, had taken a step away from him, never slow to distance himself from the losing side. Riley knew a good lawyer would have him out in a few hours, but for now Ashton was led away, blustering about finding the best possible legal representation for his son. That it was all a misunderstanding. But there could be no disguising the fact that he was a worried man.

  He had every reason to be.

  Terrance, when Riley and Salter interviewed him, admitted to killing Susan. He did so offhandedly in an emotionless voice and without showing any remorse. He insisted that the girl had brought it all on herself with her unreasonable demands.

  ‘She thought I would marry her,’ Terrance said, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘When I made it clear that was not possible and pointed out that I had never made any such promise, she began her scheming. Yes, she lured Emily into the music room because I asked her to, and took two glasses of champagne in there for me. I was going to woo Emily with a grand romantic gesture, you see. There were no drugs in the champagne, as I’m sure Dr Maynard will tell you when he finally gets round to examining the glasses.’

  ‘I find it hard to understand why Susan would help you when she had designs upon you herself,’ Riley said.

  Terrance shrugged. ‘Emily had rejected my proposal twice. Susan knew because I told her. Perhaps she felt confident that she would do so again and that by helping me, I would turn to her in my hour of disappointment, as I had previously.’ He threw his hands in the air. ‘Who knows how a woman’s mind works?�
�� Terrance leaned forward, the words now tumbling from his lips so fast that Salter could barely keep pace with his note-taking. The relief of a burden shared, Riley supposed. He had seen it before. ‘She threatened to tell you what she had done at my behest.’ Terrance shook one finger from side to side. ‘No, no, no,’ he said in a conspiratorial tone. ‘I couldn’t let her do that.’

  ‘Did you see Emily in the music room?’ Riley asked.

  ‘No, I did not. I keep telling you,’ Terrance cried in exasperation. ‘I wish that I had, then I could have protected her, but she was dead when I got there. Then the pater found me crouching over her and was convinced that I killed her. But I know I didn’t, so it must have been him. There was no one else around. He has a terrible temper, you know. He hates people when they don’t do what he tells them to.’ Terrance began to sob, and the detectives patiently waited for him to regain his composure. ‘Especially me. I never could do anything to please him.’

  Riley and Salter kept at him for an hour, but he refused to change his story. He admitted to killing Susan but insisted that he loved Emily and wouldn’t have harmed her, even if she’d decided to marry someone else.

  ‘Why did you abduct my niece?’ Riley asked in a sudden change of tack, his tone silk on steel.

  ‘After you left the office this morning I knew the game was up. I wanted to go somewhere where I would feel close to Emily whilst I still had my freedom. Holland Park was her favourite place. I often used to find excuses to go there in the afternoons, just in the hope of catching a glimpse of her, or pretend to run into her by accident. I don’t think she was ever fooled by the accidental nature of our meetings, but she was too kind to say so.’

  ‘Today?’ Riley prompted when Terrance fell into a reverie.

  ‘Oh, right, yes. I went there today to find some peace, and to talk to Emily.’ Riley and Salter exchanged a look, both probably thinking that he was verging on insanity. ‘Then I saw your niece and something inside me snapped. You would keep insisting that I killed Emily, you see, and you wouldn’t believe that I loved her. If you love someone, you’re incapable of harming them, even if they disappoint you. I saw you at Lady Bilton’s, dancing with your niece. You didn’t dance with anyone else apart from Mrs Cosgrove, despite all the females who were vying for your attention. It was obvious from the way you were laughing with your niece that you really love her, so I wanted you to know how it felt to lose a loved one.’