A Lady's Guide to Gossip and Murder. Dianne Freeman
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raised her brows. “He left about an hour ago. About the same time the girls returned. You’ve been gone for most of the day, dear.”
My gaze darted to the clock on the mantel. Goodness, nearly time for dinner already, yet we’d accomplished little to nothing. I decided on sherry and poured a small glass.
“You look rather done in,” Hetty said. “Come sit down and tell me what you’ve been doing all day.”
“Surprisingly little, considering how exhausted I feel.” I took a sip and seated myself next to my aunt.
“You mentioned reviewing some documents this morning.” She placed her glass on the tea table and turned her scrutiny on me. “What type of document could provide evidence of a murder? And why does Hazelton have them?”
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you what the documents are, but you know Mr. Hazelton occasionally works with the authorities when discretion is required. It is definitely required in this case, so he accepted the responsibility of reviewing the documents.” I gave her a helpless smile. “Sorry I don’t know what else to call them, but they’re of a very confidential nature and may lead us to another suspect.”
Hetty dropped her hands to her lap. “Do the police still believe Mr. Evingdon murdered her?”
“I don’t know if they actually believe it, but he is a suspect and, at the moment, he’s rather an attractive suspect.” I took a sip of sherry. “Unfortunately, he was near her home the evening she was murdered. He also saw a man leaving Mrs. Archer’s house, and the police are checking into that as well. But until such time as they find the other man, or we find something in the documents that turns the direction of the investigation, Mr. Evingdon will remain under suspicion.”
“Then you must find something.”
I twisted around to find Lottie in the doorway. Heavens, how long had she been standing there?
“Why haven’t the police exonerated Mr. Evingdon by now?” she asked, stepping into the room. I winced as she banged her knee on the tea table but she seemed barely to notice.
“It’s not quite that simple, dear. I’m afraid a police investigation can take some time.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked. “Mr. Evingdon could never do something so horrible.”
I was surprised by the conviction in her voice as well as her determined expression. Before I could reply, Mrs. Thompson ushered George into the room and I turned my attention to him. His weary step and troubled expression told me the heavy satchel in his hand wasn’t the only burden he carried.
“Ah, have you come to dine with us, Hazelton?” Hetty asked.
“Dine?” Lottie glared her outrage. “A man’s life may hang in the balance.”
George stared. Blinked. Then turned his gaze to Hetty. “Under other circumstances, I’d be delighted, but as it happens, I’m seeking only a moment of Lady Harleigh’s time.”
Hetty stood and took Lottie by the arm. “Dinner will be another quarter of an hour at least. We’ll just retire to the library and allow you use of the room.”
Lottie opened her mouth to speak but, with a tug from Hetty, allowed herself to be led from the room. I gestured for George to take a seat beside me and inclined my head toward the satchel. “Has something developed?”
He slumped down beside me. “Not as much as I’d like. I visited the coroner this morning for further details of Mrs. Archer’s murder. Since then I’ve been focused on identifying the man Evingdon saw leaving her house.” His lips compressed in a thin line. “If she was spending time with another gentleman, they were both very discreet about it. No one has heard of anyone connected to her.”
“Then the man he saw was not another suitor?”
“It seems unlikely. I need to move on to questioning her neighbors and in the event one of them is our unknown man, I’d like Evingdon to go with me. He might recognize him. Will you carry on searching for suspects through these notes?” He indicated the satchel.
“I’d wondered why you brought that with you. Yes, of course I’ll carry on. But now that you mention this man, does that not narrow the scope of suspects?” I considered my own question. “Should I eliminate any notes that only implicate a woman?”
“Given what I learned from the coroner, that’s a safe assumption. A woman might possibly have strangled her with a scarf or length of rope, but the coroner has ruled the bruises on her neck were caused by a reasonably large pair of hands, probably a man’s.”
I shuddered as I considered the method of her death, and he placed a steady hand on my arm. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”
I waved away his concern. “Yes, of course. It’s a rather gruesome image I keep seeing in my mind, but it only makes me all the more determined to help. If going through those files will lead us to the murderer, I’ll do it.”
“Tell me you’ve found some worthy suspects.”
I frowned. “Sadly, I’ve found little anyone would pay to keep quiet. Much of it is embarrassing, but hardly scandalous. And most of the notes Charles read from his file were common knowledge.”
“I’d like to see what you have.”
I had him lift the satchel to the table, and I reached inside to pull out the file I’d been reviewing. “Well, now that I’m eliminating females, I believe there are only three. I haven’t gone through the entire file, of course, but we have no plans for this evening so I can keep reviewing them.”
I leafed through the pages and handed him the three most likely suspects. “I wonder if these files were already bundled together when Delaney found them.”
George was reading through the notes, but he spared me a quick glance. “Do you suppose that signifies somehow?”
“Only that there was nothing of note in Charles’s folder. Everything we’ve found came from this one. Perhaps Mary already had them separated and my file has all the juicy bits.”
“Then why collect the other information at all?” he asked. “And I should remind you there are two more files to be reviewed.”
“Yes, I suppose I can’t make any judgments until I’ve seen everything, but I do wonder if there is some other reason she would keep such a collection. Frankly, if Mary was a blackmailer, she was not a very discerning one. She has notes about people who couldn’t possibly pay her.”
“Perhaps they could grant her favors though.” He turned away from the pages to meet my gaze. “And that reminds me, I need to find a way to check with her bank. See if she’d made any deposits lately.”
“Isn’t Delaney doing that?”
“I’m sure he will, but as my official assignment is limited to reviewing these files, I can’t depend on Delaney to share his findings with me.”
“I’d be very curious about her financial situation. I realize we’ve just begun this investigation, but I can’t help thinking we’re going about this all wrong. How do we even know she was using this information for blackmail?” I gave him a sharp glance. “By the way, do you plan to slip into Mary’s house at some point?”
“Is there something in particular you’d like me to search for?”
“Money.” I shrugged. “Perhaps she kept it somewhere at home rather than in her bank.”
He gave me a half smile. “You’re becoming rather accomplished at this investigating business. That’s a very good point. I’ll try to do that this evening but this time you cannot accompany me as you have a great deal of work to do.”
I let out a groan. “I am learning far more about my acquaintance than I ever wished to know. Once I’ve ferreted out the likely suspects, how do you wish me to proceed?”