A Lady's Guide to Gossip and Murder. Dianne Freeman
for the assistance.” Hetty locked eyes with me and lowered her brows, daring me to interfere.
I shrugged. “If the two of you are in agreement, I won’t stand in your way.” Hetty gave me a satisfied smile while Lottie beamed. Odd what some people do to amuse themselves.
“Excellent,” Hetty said. “I’ll review everything with you when you return from your outing this afternoon.” She turned to me. “And speaking of afternoons, wherever did you vanish to yesterday? You left to speak with Hazelton and I didn’t see you again until we passed each other in the hall when I went out for the evening. Surely you weren’t discussing Mrs. Archer’s murder the entire time?” She lifted a brow suggestively.
“Sorry to disappoint, but indeed we were.” I leaned over the desk, and keeping my voice down, told Hetty what little I could reveal.
Her expression grew more concerned as I spoke. “I always suspected Hazelton was more than just an idle gentleman, so I won’t inquire how he became involved in this case. And I can certainly understand he’d want to defend his friend, but why on earth is he handing this task, as you call it, off to you?”
“The task is a simple parsing of documents, which may produce some evidence.” I shrugged. “He thinks I can help.”
“Perhaps Lottie would be of better use assisting you than me?”
“Cousin Charles has asked to help.”
Hetty’s expression grew clouded. “Is that wise? I understand he’s your cousin, dear, but a woman was murdered and Delaney has reason to suspect Mr. Evingdon.”
I shook my head in a firm negative. “I’m quite convinced he is perfectly innocent and it’s my fault he finds himself in this mess. Not only did I introduce the two of them but I’m the reason Delaney suspects Charles of murdering her.”
Hetty gave me a warning look and placed a hand over mine. “I’m confident Hazelton will do his best to protect you, but be careful all the same.”
As if on cue, Mrs. Thompson knocked on the door and announced George and Charles. Both Lily and Lottie turned to cast admiring gazes on the latter as the gentlemen entered the room. To my eyes, Charles faded into the background when standing next to George but I suppose everyone has her own preference.
Charles made his preferences clear when after greeting the rest of us, he walked straight over to Lottie. “Miss Deaver,” he said, giving her a shallow bow. “Delighted to see you looking so well, though I suppose I don’t actually know if you are well. What I mean to say is you appear perfectly uninjured.” He gave her his boyish grin. “After your misstep yesterday.”
Her cheeks pinkened. “I am indeed well and uninjured, thanks to your assistance.”
I left them to their conversation and turned to George. “It seems Aunt Hetty and Graham have plans to work here today. Could we conduct our business in your library?”
“Of course,” he said. “I was planning to suggest that anyway as the documents I’ve acquired are more numerous than I’d expected. If you’re ready, we can go now.”
“But if you rush off, you’ll miss Leo,” Lily said.
“I’m afraid we must, dear.” Mostly because I was itching to dig into Mary’s files, and worried that George could change his mind about my involvement at any moment. I had no wish to wait around for Leo. “Please make our apologies.”
Lily’s lips turned down in a pout. “At least try to remember we are to dine with the Kendricks tomorrow.”
Oh, yes. Dinner with the Kendricks. Actually, I was eager to become better acquainted with Lily’s future in-laws, but the business at hand had pushed it from my mind. Lily didn’t need to know that. “Of course I remember, dear. Saturday evening.”
With that, George, Charles, and I stepped into the garden, where I gave Rose a hug, and we took my sneaky back path from my garden to George’s, and from there to his library.
“Rather convenient, that private route,” Charles said. He choked back a chortle as George turned around and glared. “Not that I’m suggesting anything,” he added.
George grunted a reply I didn’t quite hear and pulled a leather satchel from behind his desk, dropping it with a thud on the desk.
“I hope it’s the bag that’s so heavy and not its contents,” I said.
My hopes were dashed as he unbuckled the straps and removed several large files bound in stiff paper and fastened with strings. He gave me a crooked smile. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid it’s the contents.”
Charles surveyed the stack of files and let out a whistle. “What is all this?”
I raised my brows as I turned to George. “You haven’t told him yet?”
“Told me what?”
“The police suspect Mrs. Archer was involved in a blackmail scheme,” George said, watching for a reaction.
Charles’s head jerked back as if he’d been struck. “The devil, you say! She was being blackmailed? Whatever for?”
“No, Charles.” I placed a hand on his arm. “The police believe she may have been blackmailing someone. Perhaps many people.”
He sank into a chair near the desk as if he were deflating. “No, no. That’s impossible. She was a kind and caring person.”
George gave him a sympathetic look. “These files contain information of a personal nature about nearly every prominent member of society. More investigation will have to be done to determine if she was using it to blackmail anyone, but the fact that she has this rather strange collection of facts about so many people in society, suggests it may be why she was murdered.” He shrugged. “Particularly since no other motive has surfaced.”
He tapped the top file with his index finger. “Someone found out she had damaging information about him and murdered her to keep it quiet. I daresay his name is in here.”
It sounded like a logical conclusion, but something was missing. “If the police found these files in her house, why didn’t the killer take them before he ran? Or at least take the note that pertained to himself?”
“He may have searched for them, but he wasn’t as thorough as Delaney. The whole bundle was found under a loose floorboard in a closet, covered by a rug.”
“Why’d the police turn them over to you?” Charles asked.
“Let’s just say a friend called in a favor. The files are said to be rather scandalous and he’d rather have me reviewing them than the police.” He leveled his gaze at Charles, then me. “That said, I expect confidentiality from both of you. None of this can be made public.”
Charles waved a hand. “Yes, yes. Mum’s the word and all that. After all, I’m hardly likely to discuss this with anyone. Not much for gossip myself.”
“Though I have every confidence you’ll both act with discretion, you’ll be taking in a great deal of information. Take care that none of it slips out.”
George waited for an affirmative reply from both of us. “All right then, let’s get to work, shall we?”
He handed each of us a bulging file of paper.
I seated myself in the guest chair next to Charles. “What exactly are you hoping to find in here?”
George took the chair behind the desk. “Anything that looks like fodder for blackmail. The more damning, the more likely. You might want to start with the most prominent names you find.”
“Are you staying to help us? I thought you intended to check up on the police investigation today.”
“That was my plan, but the constables were canvassing Mrs. Archer’s neighbors again this morning. I’ll need to wait for them to leave before I can