A Little Mischief (16 page)

“Who do you think it is, Amanda?” Isabella asked, trying to draw out one of the shyest members of their group.

Amanda quickly looked down at her hands in her lap. In a quiet voice she answered, “Oh, if he is a spirit, I think it has to be that of Lord Pinkwater. He is the most famous ghost, isn’t he?”

It was clear to Isabella that Amanda had not been listening to their discussion about the book.

“Perhaps it’s Lord Pinkwater’s ghost. He seems to show up everywhere,” Lady Lynette said, and all the ladies in the room laughed.

Except Amanda and Isabella.

“But, ladies,” Isabella said after they quieted. “What is the point of this portion of the story?”

“Don’t send all the servants away on the same night,” Abigail said, and the ladies laughed again.

Isabella sat back in her chair and watched the young ladies enjoying the discussion and the humor about the horrid novel they were reading. If only she could get them to be as self-confident and lively when they were at the parties and balls. It was her desire that no young lady be as shy and nervous as she was when she first came to London.

When they quieted down, Isabella continued with her thought and said, “The point of the story here is that Elizabeth confronted her fears. She heard a noise in the other room. She was frightened, but she didn’t let the shadowy figure keep her from trying to find out what was going on just a few steps away.”

“She was very brave,” Beverly Smith said.

“Yes,” Isabella agreed. “That is what we need to learn from this story. And we need to apply it to our daily lives. It’s how we need to live. We need to know there is no reason to be frightened or shy if a handsome young man approaches us and asks us to dance. We are to stand tall, look him directly in the eyes, smile, and say, ‘Yes, thank you.’”

“But a ghost is not as frightening as a handsome gentleman,” Abigail said.

The ladies erupted into carefree laughter again. It pleased Isabella that they were having so much fun.

“Enough about ghosts,” Beverly said. “I want to know what we should do if a gentleman asks for a kiss.”

The room became very quiet. Everyone looked at Isabella, including Auntie Pith, who sat beside the window, engrossed in her stitchery while listening to the ladies.

Isabella was unprepared for the question. It reminded her of Daniel and the kisses they had shared. She would never forget the feelings he stirred inside her. Would it be possible for her to ever feel that way again?

As she looked around the room, she realized they were waiting for her to answer. But how could she tell them that if they ever had the chance to kiss a handsome man, they should? She would be banished from Town if she said such a thing.

Out of the corner of her eye, Isabella noticed her maid standing in the doorway motioning for Isabella to join her.

“Ladies, this is not an area I’m comfortable discussing, so I’m going to turn this question over to Aunt Pithany, who is far wiser than I on matters such as this. You don’t mind, Auntie Pith, do you?”

Her aunt rose from her chair. “Of course not. I’ll tell them the same thing I told you.”

“Good. Come sit here in my chair. I’m going to excuse myself for a few minutes.”

Isabella rose and followed her maid out into the hallway.

“You have a gentleman here to see you, miss,” her maid whispered.

That was not what Isabella expected to hear. She had told her maid to be on the watch so that none of the young ladies slipped into the garden.

“What is his name?” Isabella asked.

“He says he’s the Earl of Colebrooke, miss.”

Isabella’s stomach tightened, and then fluttered in anticipation. “Oh, oh,” she whispered, wondering what he could be doing here. Then it struck her. “He must think Gretchen is here for the Reading Society.”

“I don’t know, miss. He didn’t say why he was here.”

She looked at her maid. “No, of course he wouldn’t. I’m merely talking to myself.”

He would just have to take her word for it that Gretchen was not present.

“Where is he?” Isabella asked, wanting to get this over with.

“He’s in the book room. I told him you had your Reading Society here, but he said it was urgent and he must speak to you.”

“I’m sure he did.”

“Did I do the wrong thing?”

“No,” Isabella assured her. “You did the right thing. I’ll go speak to him. Come with me. I’ll leave the door ajar, and I want you to wait outside.”

“Yes, miss.”

Isabella and her maid walked to the book room at the back of the house. Isabella stopped outside the door and took a deep breath. There were still times she had to fight the shyness of her youth, and this was one of them.

She needed to heed her own words and remember there was no reason to be intimidated by Lord Colebrooke just because he made her knees weak, her lungs breathless, and her body taut with the ache to be held once again in his strong arms.

She walked inside. He stood by the unlit fireplace looking so handsome dressed all in black except for his white shirt and neckcloth. It was no wonder every young lady in London wanted to marry him.

“Daniel,” she said, and he turned to face her as she walked into the room to join him where he stood.

“Isabella,” he said. “Thank you for seeing me on short notice.”

“I don’t have much time. As you know, I have guests in the house, but Gretchen is not one of them.”

“I know.”

She hesitated. “You know?”

“Yes. I came to see you about another matter. That’s why I asked your maid to be discreet about my presence. Should your aunt find out I’m here, you can tell her I was hoping to find Gretchen.”

“What is so urgent that you had to interrupt my reading group?”

“If you have to ask that, it means you haven’t heard.” He paused. “Boswell Throckmorten was found floating in the Thames this morning.”

Isabella gasped. “Dead? Are you certain?” she asked, not wanting to believe it was so.

“Very.”

“Sweet blessed mercies,” she whispered under her breath. “I was hoping this wasn’t real.”

“I knew it was not a ruse or a fake.”

A little dazed at Daniel’s confirmation about the man, she asked, “What are we going to do?”

“We? Isabella,
we
are not going to do anything but stay quiet.”

“But we must. We have to make sure Gretchen is not implicated or even associated with this matter.”

“Exactly.” He moved closer to her. “That’s why I came to see you right away. I had to make sure that, now that Throckmorten’s body has been discovered, you hold to your promise not to reveal your and Gretchen’s involvement in this matter.”

“My involvement?” Her voice rose and she immediately remembered her maid was right outside the door, so she lowered her voice and moved closer to him. “I have no involvement in this, sir. It’s your sister that I have tried to protect from this at every turn.”

“You are the only one who has seen her with Throckmorten. I want to make sure you don’t breathe a word about this to anyone.”

“If I implicated Gretchen, I would also implicate myself, considering she was first with him in my garden. I am not a simpleton, Daniel. I know that Gretchen had nothing to do with Mr. Throckmorten’s demise, even though we found her standing over his body.”

“We can forget an implication to you. I think it’s clear he was not dead when in your garden.”

“All right then, when she was with him in Lord Gleningwold’s garden. We can assume we are the only ones who saw her, but we can’t know that for sure. There was a crush of people at that party. And no doubt the real killer saw her.”

His eyes searched her face. “Don’t think I haven’t thought about that.”

“Daniel, we must find out who killed him, before someone discovers something that leads them to your sister.”

“You are unbelievable.”

“I believe you’ve told me that before.”

“That’s because it’s true.”

“Thank you.”

He smiled a little. “Not everything I say to you is a compliment, Isabella.”

“I’m aware of that.” She would not let him change the subject. This was too important. “But back to our discussion. More than likely the killer is someone who was at Lord Gleningwold’s party and someone who had recent dealings with Mr. Throckmorten.”

“That is a fair assumption, but just how would we know who he has had recent dealings with?”

Isabella glanced toward the door before stepping closer to Daniel. “Well, I…” She paused.

“What have you done?” he demanded softly with no anger in his voice.

“It just so happens that while you were talking to Mr. Throckmorten’s butler, I managed to read the calling cards that had been left on his table.”

Surprise lit his eyes. “You snooped through his private correspondence in his home?”

“It wasn’t as if it were his personal letters or invitations. It was calling cards. Besides, how private can something be if it is left lying out in the open for anyone to see?”

“Damn private. Especially if it’s in his home,” Daniel whispered loudly.

“I knew if Mr. Throckmorten’s body was ever found, Gretchen could be at risk.”

“This is more of your mischief. I should have known you had a specific reason for wanting to go to his house with me.”

“And it’s a good thing I did because we now have some clues.”

He lowered his face dangerously close to hers. “Clues? We don’t have anything, Isabella, because we’re not going to get involved in this.”

She held her ground and didn’t back away. “We are already involved. I can’t believe you are thinking of just letting this drop.”

“Gretchen had nothing to do with the man’s death. And as long as you remain quiet about what you know, there will not be any repercussions from this to damage her reputation.”

“You know that I will remain quiet. I’ve promised it. Gretchen is a part of my group, and all the ladies are important to me. I will not see her harmed by this in any way. But we must have a contingency plan in case we are caught unawares by unknown facts.”

“Once again I have the feeling you are not telling me all you know about this strange turn of events.”

“I am not withholding anything of importance other than the names of Mr. Throckmorten’s most recent visitors. Do you want to know who they were?”

“No,” he said a bit gruffly.

She started to say all right and drop it but realized he said no too quickly, and there was almost a catch in his throat. As she looked in his golden brown eyes, something told her he wanted to know, and was only trying to do the right thing by saying no.

She remained quiet, giving him time to ponder.

After a moment he squared his shoulders and said, “All right, yes. I want to know.”

She gave him an engaging smile. “Good. One of them was Sir William Peabody.”

“I’ve met him, but can’t say I know him. The Peabodys are a highly respected family. I can’t see him as the kind of man to stab another even in anger.”

“Mr. Franklin Jackson.”

“There’s no way it would be him. He and Throckmorten have been friends since they wore short pants. He can’t possibly be a suspect.”

“Mr. Bradford Turnbury.”

Daniel’s eyes perked up. “Really? My cousin? It’s no big surprise that he called on Throckmorten. They’ve been drinking and gambling friends for years.” He stopped and rubbed his forehead in frustration. “Isabella, this is really getting us nowhere. I can’t see any of these men harming Throckmorten for any reason.”

“Not even over a gambling debt?”

“Especially not over a gambling debt. They’ve owed each other money for years. That’s nothing new. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Throckmorten owed half a dozen men.”

“All right, that’s a good point. Do you want to hear the last name that I saw?”

“I might as well.”

“Mr. Chilton Cummerford. I believe I’ve heard the man is your best friend.”

Eleven

Shock snapped in Daniel’s eyes and burned across his face. “Chilton? Are you sure?”

“Quite.”

“Did you see the entire card? Perhaps it was a name similar to his.”

She huffed with indignation. “I saw the entire card, my lord. And lest you have any other concerns, my reading capabilities are very good.”

“I don’t doubt that, Isabella.” A deep frown wrinkled his brow. “It’s just that I’ve never known Chilton to have anything much to do with Throckmorten.” More thoughtfully he added, “I wonder what Chilton could have been doing at his house.”

“Perhaps he is one of his gambling and drinking friends.”

“No. Chilton has never been a part of Throckmorten’s gaming friends. He didn’t like the fellow any more than I did.”

Isabella thought she saw uncertainty replace shock in his eyes, and she said, “Well, if Mr. Cummerford didn’t like Mr. Throckmorten, then your friend is definitely a man we want to consider as a suspect.”