Death of a Debutante (Riley Rochester Investigates Book 1)

by Wendy Soliman

  Riley fixed Terrance with a frosty look. ‘You actually intended to kill an innocent girl to make a point?’

  Terrance shrugged, clearly incapable of feeling remorse, or responsibility for his own actions. ‘I’m not sure what I intended. I took her back to Emily’s summerhouse. I’d never been inside but I’d heard her talk about it. But it was locked, so we sat on the veranda.’

  Riley wanted to laugh. He was capable of murder and abduction, but a locked door defeated him. Just as well though, he thought, sobering. If they had been inside, Cabbage’s rescue would have been that much harder to effect.

  ‘Lady Sophia was very kind. She understood me like no one else ever has.’ Terrance shook his head. ‘No, I wouldn’t have killed her. The only person I wanted to kill was myself.’ He appeared disgusted with his failure in that regard. ‘And I couldn’t even manage that.’

  ‘What do you think, sir?’ Salter asked, when the two of them returned to Riley’s office. ‘Do you believe him?’

  ‘Yes, actually I do. He feels no remorse for what he did and thinks Susan brought it on herself, but he was telling the truth about Emily. He didn’t kill her; I’ll stake my reputation on that fact.’

  ‘Then Lord Ashton must have done so. Terrance thinks he did and makes a good case against him, founded on fact rather than spite.’

  ‘Yes.’ Riley leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms above his head. ‘But we don’t have a hope in hell of proving it. Unless…’ He returned to an upright position and grabbed Emily’s diary from the drawer into which he’d thrown it. ‘Unless the victim herself left us a few clues.’

  More in hope that expectation, Riley flipped through the pages covering the last few weeks of Emily’s life. They were filled with a neat hand that made frequent mentions of “H”. Harry Grant, presumably. She also poured out feelings of resentment directed at the pressure her father was putting her under.

  ‘Anything, sir?’ Salter asked.

  ‘Nothing as yet.’ He turned another page, read a few lines, and his body jerked upright. ‘This is it! Sergeant Barton!’ he yelled, standing and leaning his head around his door.

  ‘Yes, sir?’

  ‘Send three men to Ashton House immediately, if you please. Arrest the footman, Murray, and bring him back here. Send more to Mr Leith’s rooms in Moon Street and arrest him, too. If he isn’t there, they will find him at the Gaiety Theatre.’

  Barton nodded, for once carrying out Riley’s instructions with alacrity. Hopefully, the changes that their relationship had undergone that day would ensure continued improvements in the sergeant’s cooperation.

  Riley threw the diary at Salter, who read the revealing passage avidly.

  ‘We have him,’ Salter said with satisfaction.

  ‘It seems we do,’ Riley replied. ‘Barton!’ he called again. ‘Have Lord Ashton released. Escort him to the steps of the building. Do not offer him a ride home.’

  Barton dealt Riley a wide grin.

  Chapter Seventeen

  They brought Murray in first and Riley had him locked in a cell to cool his heels for an hour or so. He wanted to interview Leith first and Barton’s men had further to go to arrest him. Riley spent the intervening time reading every word that Emily had written.

  ‘Leith was at the theatre,’ Sergeant Barton said, leaning his head round Riley’s door. ‘Wasn’t too keen to come along, by all accounts, but my men persuaded him to see reason.’

  Riley chuckled. ‘I don’t doubt it.’

  ‘Where do you want me to put him?’

  ‘Bring him in here, please, sergeant, and round Salter up, if you would be so kind. He needs to take notes.’

  Salter arrived just before Leith was brought in looking pale and agitated.

  ‘Sit down,’ Riley said, unsmiling, ‘and explain why you lied to me about your relationship with Miss Ferguson. And in case you intend to lie again, you should know that Thad Murray is currently in the cells.’

  Leith dropped his head. ‘You know that Emily had agreed to marry me?’

  ‘I do now,’ Riley replied. ‘I won’t bother to ask why this vital piece of information was withheld from my investigation. But I will ask this. Did Thad knew about the arrangement?’

  ‘Oh yes. Emily and I reached an understanding about a week ago, but we agreed not to make it public just yet. She had someone important to her who needed to be told first, and I needed to gain parental approval.’

  ‘Why did you propose to her if you prefer your own kind?’ Riley asked.

  ‘She was secretly in love with someone whom she couldn’t marry.’ He snorted. ‘I’m in a perfect position to recognise the signs. I was also under pressure from my father to find a suitable wife and give him a grandchild.’

  ‘You can manage to—’

  ‘I don’t have any difficulty in that regard. It’s simply that I prefer my own sex. I prefer Thad, to be more specific.’

  ‘Did you explain the precise nature of your preferences to Emily?’ Riley asked.

  ‘Lord no!’ Leith looked affronted by the very suggestion. ‘She’d led a sheltered life and would have been disgusted, I expect. No, I simply told her that I took a modern view of matrimony. We were both under pressure to make suitable matches and that we could help one another in that regard. Once I was married, my father’s generosity would know no bounds. Her family wouldn’t have had to worry.’

  ‘You intended to make sure she had a child and then leave her to her own devices?’

  ‘More or less.’ Leith shrugged. ‘I think she was tired of all the men who hounded her and was relieved by my honesty.’ Riley nodded, aware from her diary entries that it was the truth. ‘The dour individual who looks after me. You met him when you came to my rooms.’ Riley nodded for a second time. ‘He’s my father’s faithful servant. The pater suspects my predilections, you see. There was an unfortunate incident on the estate not long after I left university. I was found in a compromising position with a neighbour. It was hushed up but I’ve never seen the old man half so angry.’

  ‘Accounting for your father’s desire to see you married, and explaining why he set a man to watch over you until that came to pass.’

  ‘More or less.’ Leith ran a hand through his hair. ‘Which is why I can only ever see Thad in secret or at the theatre. Once I was married, I promised him employment. He fancies himself as quite the actor and I can just see him treading the boards. It’s what he was born to do. Anyway, I couldn’t have him there before then since Davis, my father’s man, sometimes comes by unexpectedly to spy on me. Besides, I wouldn’t have been able to resist the temptation. Pathetic, I know, but there you have it.’

  ‘How did the two of you become acquainted? He is a junior footman. I don’t see how your paths could have crossed.’

  ‘I met him at the theatre. He came several weeks in succession to watch the same matinee. Totally engrossed with it, so he was, but all I could look at was his beautiful profile. He was simply the most divine boy I had ever seen, and I just knew…Anyway, we became friends, I offered to help him out because he was short of money, and it went from there.’

  ‘He knew you intended to marry Emily?’

  ‘Yes, but I didn’t trust him not to say anything spiteful to her at that soiree if I didn’t attend and keep him in line. He can be a little possessive, you see, which is why I arranged beforehand to meet him outside the kitchens at a certain time.’

  ‘When you argued?’

  ‘Not at first. He knew I loved him with a passion, and he wasn’t jealous of Emily’s looks. To me, Thad is by far the more beautiful. He appeals to me on levels over which I have absolutely no control. Believe me, I know because I’ve tried to deny it to myself, and to him, but it does no good. I simply can’t live without him.’

  ‘Why did you argue?’ Riley asked, breaching territory not covered by Emily’s diary.

  ‘I’m not sure how the subject arose, but he seemed to have assum
ed that the marriage would never be consummated. He joked about how incensed her other suitors would be if they knew she would remain a virgin. That evening at the soiree I put him straight in that regard, explaining why it had to be done, and assuring him it wouldn’t make any difference to us.’

  ‘He was blinded by jealousy?’

  Leith nodded. ‘Seemingly so, even though I thought I had reassured him.’ He ran a hand through his hair for a second time, looking devastated, but Riley suspected that self-preservation was uppermost in his mind. ‘Then I heard that Emily was dead.’

  ‘And you thought Thad was responsible?’

  ‘No!’ Leith sighed. ‘Well, perhaps…he’s unpredictable, hot-headed, so I suppose I worried that it might be possible. I’ve spoiled him, idolised him, given him everything he asks for, and he’s become accustomed to having his way.’

  ‘You volunteered information to me about your relationship, hoping to protect him and put us off the track.’

  Leith lowered his head and shook it from side to side. ‘I didn’t want to believe that Thad’s jealousy would lead him to do such a thing. He knew that all the time I remained unmarried, he would have to work for Ashton, a job he hated. But jealousy does strange things to a person. He swears he didn’t do it. I’ve asked him time and time again.’

  ‘Do you believe him?’ Riley asked. ‘The truth, if you please.’

  ‘I want to believe him. He insists it was Ashton or his father and I desperately want to believe that’s the case. They were heard arguing shortly after Emily was found.’

  Riley dealt Leith a probing look. ‘I don’t have any reason to arrest you, Mr Leith,’ he said in a formal tone. ‘I am satisfied that you didn’t kill Emily Ferguson, but you have consistently lied to me, and I could charge you for that offence. At present I would like you to give me your word that you will wait here whilst I speak with Murray. Do I have it?’

  ‘Yes, of course. I’m not going anywhere until I know what he has to say for himself. Can I see him?’

  ‘Of course not.’

  Riley beckoned to Salter and the two men left the room. Riley left Peterson to keep an eye on Leith, with instructions to write down anything that he said.

  Murray was brought up to the grim interview room, looking shaken and terrified. Such a pretty face, Riley thought. He could understand why a man with Leith’s predilections would be so taken with him, and why he would go to such lengths to cover his own back. He could understand it, but he couldn’t condone Leith’s conduct.

  ‘Do you know why you are here?’ Riley asked briskly, pushing his sympathy for the young man aside.

  Murray looked up at him through those ridiculously long lashes and blinked. ‘Something about Miss Ferguson, I would imagine.’

  ‘Mr Leith is in the room next door to this one.’

  Murray jerked upright. ‘I’m glad the secret’s out and we don’t have to pretend anymore.’ Riley and Salter shared an incredulous look. The child didn’t appear to appreciate that what they were doing was against the law. ‘I want to see him.’

  ‘You’re not in a position to make demands, young man. Not until you tell me the truth.’ Riley lowered his voice, making it gentle, understanding. ‘What happened after you saw Mr Leith outside the kitchen on the night Miss Ferguson died? You can tell me.’

  ‘Nothing. I went back to my duties and that was it.’

  ‘We know the truth,’ Riley said in a convincing tone, sensing that Murray was too naïve to doubt him, or to appreciate how much trouble he was in. ‘But I would like to hear it from you.’

  Murray’s eyes darted wildly about the room. ‘He told you they were to marry and make a child? Is that what you mean?’

  ‘That is the natural consequence of marriage.’

  ‘I didn’t know that. Couldn’t stand the thought of him being with her in that way.’

  ‘Is that why you killed her?’ Riley asked softly.

  ‘I was that upset. I went back into the kitchen and I expect I would have got over the shock eventually. But then, Mr Farlow sent me upstairs on an errand. I went by the terrace and saw Miss Ferguson in the music room alone, as though she was waiting for someone. I assumed it was Michael. He hadn’t told me that he had an assignation with her, right after we’d just…How could he do that to me? Anyway, something snapped. I thought Emily deserved to know the truth about the man she planned to marry. So I went in and spoke to her. She was kind at first, if surprised to see me. I’m not usually allowed above stairs, you see.’

  ‘Go on,’ Riley encouraged when Leith’s words dried up.

  ‘I only wanted her to know the truth.’

  ‘But things got out of hand?’

  ‘I suppose they did.’ He looked around. ‘I don’t want to say anymore. I need to get back to my duties.’

  ‘You have to stay here a little longer,’ Riley told him. ‘It will cause problems for Michael if you don’t tell us what happened.’

  ‘It will?’ Riley nodded. ‘Can I see Michael when we’re finished?’

  ‘Perhaps.’

  ‘Well, it’s all quite simple really. I told Miss Ferguson that I knew about her and Michael and asked her if she was aware what she was getting herself into. She looked confused, so I tried to explain. She was horrified. She called me perverse.’ His eyes widened, as though he couldn’t understand her reaction. He very likely could not, Riley imagined. ‘I grabbed her wrist, attempting to explain that there is nothing perverse about what Michael and I have. I told her it was love in its purest form. She didn’t want to listen. She snatched her wrist from my grasp and tried to get away from me. I couldn’t let her go, though, you must see that.’

  ‘I do.’ Riley nodded his encouragement.

  ‘She would repeat what I’d said and ruin everything so…so I hit her in the stomach, just to stop her from running. She doubled over and I found my hands around her neck.’ Tears streamed down his face as though he only just realised the enormity of what he had done. ‘I didn’t mean to kill her. I didn’t plan to. If Farlow hadn’t sent me upstairs…I just wanted to keep her quiet and make her understand that it would be a mistake to marry Michael. He wasn’t what she thought he was and wouldn’t make her happy. I set her body out to make it look like she was sleeping. I thought it might…I thought it might help her to wake up.’

  ‘Well,’ Salter said as Murray was taken back to the cells and he and Riley returned to the latter’s office. ‘A good day’s work all round.’

  ‘But a sad one,’ Riley said. ‘Such a waste of Emily’s life, and for what? This can’t be kept quiet. Leith’s secret will come out at Murray’s trial and his family’s reputation will be in tatters. All because of an indulged young man with a jealous nature. If he hadn’t killed Emily, I suspect Terrance would have held himself in check and not felt the need to kill Susan.’

  ‘I wonder why Emily didn’t tell young Grant that she’d decided upon Leith.’

  ‘Would you, knowing how possessive he was? She had told him she couldn’t see him again because she knew the official announcement would soon have to be made and didn’t want to tell him herself, I dare say.’

  ‘Most likely.’ Salter yawned. ‘Well, sir, if you don’t need me anymore this evening…’

  ‘No, Jack, you get on home. I shall be leaving myself directly.’

  ‘Goodnight then, sir.’

  ‘Goodnight, sergeant.’

  ‘Well done, Rochester!’ Danforth strode into Riley’s office just after Salter quit it, beaming. He mentioned nothing of their exchange earlier. ‘Knew I could depend upon you to get to the truth.’

  Riley merely shook his head, wondering why he was still surprised by the extent of the man’s hubris. He glanced at his watch after Danforth left and realised how late it was, and just how weary, how jaundiced, he actually felt. Cases as complex as this one always drained him. He sent a message to Amelia expressing his regrets and promising to call upon her the following day. In
fact, his note said, if her offer of dinner still stood, he would be delighted to take her up on it. Then he went home, allowed Stout to feed him and fell into bed immediately afterwards.

  The following morning was taken up with paperwork, ensuring that both cases were ready to be handed over to the barristers acting for the crown. After luncheon, Riley told Salter that he would be unavailable for the rest of the day. He returned home, collected his carriage and drove it to his sister’s house. Cabbage was delighted that he had remembered his promise to drive her in the park. His jaded spirit was revived when he saw what pleasure she took in the simple outing, smiling and waving to people she knew and to others she did not. Everyone, he noticed, smiled and waved right back at her.

  ‘No bad dreams, Cabbage?’ Riley asked.

  ‘Not a single one.’ She beamed at Riley. ‘Did you find out who murdered that poor girl?

  ‘I did. It was a footman in Lord Ashton’s house.’

  ‘Oh.’ Fortunately she didn’t ask what could have possessed him to do such a terrible thing. ‘I expect Emily caught him doing something he ought not to have been doing, and he feared for his position.’

  Riley suppressed a smile and told her that she was right.

  ‘There are dark clouds,’ Sophia said. ‘I think the weather is about to break.’

  Riley glanced up at the sky and nodded. ‘I had best return you to your aunt’s home before it does.’

  ‘Thank you so very much, Uncle Riley,’ Sophia said, bouncing up and down in her excitement. ‘I have had a perfectly lovely afternoon.’ She treated him to a mischievous expression. ‘I have seen all the envious glances sent my way by ladies who don’t know I am related to you. It is the most amazing fun.’