The Incorrigible Mr. Lumley (30 page)

The groom shook his head. “He told me to
destroy the list. Ain’t had but one horse name afore this.”

“Who is ‘he?’” David demanded.

“How do I know you’ll pay?”

“You’ll have to take that chance,”
Knightwick said. “We won’t pay until he’s convicted.”

“Pay me part now, for the name.”

“The name, and any evidence you can give us.
One quid now, the rest on his conviction.”

The groom scowled. “And if I don’t have a
name?”

Whitley stuck the note in his pocket and
straightened. “Then I’ll have to take you before the magistrate to
be charged with all the crimes yourself.”

Hanging his head, the man appeared to
consider his chances. “Sir Frederick Ardwen is yer man.”

David’s hands fisted. “Is he here at the
race meeting?”

“I dunno. I only speak to him at ‘is London
house.”

Whitley walked between David and the groom.
“I’ll take it from here, Lumley. Leave the investigation to me and
my men.”

“But we have information about all of the
poisonings, and a few suspicious injuries,” David argued.

“We’ll be contacting you to tell us what you
know, of course. And we’ll see to the arrest of Sir Frederick if
the evidence warrants it.” Whitley motioned to a large man who
appeared in the doorway, then roughly took the arm of the groom and
led him outside.

After the constable left the tack room, all
the starch in David’s bones left him. He sagged against the wall.
“Is it done, then?”

Knightwick raised his hands. “Who can say?
They need to gather the proof, make the arrest, then take him
before the magistrate. They’ll have to contact all the other
parishes with what they know and try to connect Sir Frederick to
the crimes there. We’ll be called to testify for the trials we are
involved in.”

“We’ll have to be on our guard until he’s
arrested. There’s no telling what he might do to shut up the
witnesses.”

Sir Jasper spoke up. “Right now, we need to
find Northcotte and inform him of what happened.”

“I want to talk to the three owners of those
horses today,” David said.

Knightwick threw his arm across the doorway,
blocking David’s exit. “Whitley will take care of it.”

“But I need to know—”

“No, you don’t. Whitley will find out why
Sir Frederick was doing this. Our part is done.”

“But—”

“David, speaking to those men won’t cure
what’s ailing you now.”

Tension coursed down David’s arms again and
he ran his hands through his hair to burn some of the tingling
away. “I want to kill him for what he did to Joanna.”

“We all do,” Sir Jasper said. “You can’t
challenge him to a duel over this, and anything else you tried
would land you in court.”

Knightwick withdrew his arm and stepped back
so David could leave the tack room. “Why don’t you go back to
London and let Lady Joanna know they are close to arresting the man
who harmed her? I’ll stay with Triton, and speak to
Northcotte.”

David met his brother’s gaze, then that of
Sir Jasper, who nodded. “I’ll ride to Town with you. Lady Ophelia
is concerned about us all.”

“Very well, I’ll call on Joanna.” He turned
on his heels, letting the pent up frustration out as he strode to
the inn where he’d stabled Nemo. Perhaps seeing Joanna, reaffirming
she was well, would calm him, finally.

As David mounted Nemo ready to return to
London, one of his grooms ran up. “Mr. Lumley, Lord Knightwick says
you’re to come to the Downs. It’s urgent.”

Waving for Sir Jasper to follow him, David
kicked Nemo’s flanks and galloped down the street to the stable at
the racing grounds. He jumped off his horse, leading him by the
reins as he entered the building. “Knightwick?”

“Here.” His voice came from the tack
room.

David stood in the doorway. “What news?”

“Sir Frederick was in the village after all.
Whitley is escorting him to the magistrate in Gloucester as we
speak.”

“He was here? Did Whitley question him?”

Knightwick shook his head. “There is little
to charge him with unless the three horses take sick. Whitley says
they’ll hold him and contact the magistrates in the other shires
where Lady Joanna became ill and Northcotte’s groom died. The
coroners who investigated those crimes will probably come here to
question him and decide which of them will prosecute first. Most
likely they’ll try him for the groom’s death, although unless the
man we caught today had more information, they won’t have enough
evidence.”

David gritted his teeth. “Perhaps I should
overtake them on the road and question him myself.”

“Don’t do anything foolish. I hoped you and
Sir Jasper would ride to Gloucester and follow the proceedings. Or
at the very least, the questioning.”

Northcotte entered the stable and called out
to them. “Is my man telling the truth of it? Sir Frederick has been
arrested?”

“He has. He’s on his way to the house of
corrections in Gloucester.”

“I hope they are able to prove something.
I’ll ride there and tell the magistrate what I know about
Ascot.”

“Good. Sir Jasper and I are going, also.”
David shook his head, knowing this all might come to naught. “Would
it do any good to ask others who’ve borrowed money from him if they
experienced any attempts at blackmail?”

Knightwick stroked his chin. “I say it can’t
hurt to find as many charges as we can against Sir Frederick, in
case the two serious crimes can’t be proven. I’ll finish what I’m
doing here in Bibury, looking for Sir Frederick’s hired men, and
will contact the gentlemen we know who have had dealings with the
man.”

David had to chuckle at this. “What happened
to ‘leave the investigation to Whitley?’”

Knightwick didn’t smile in return. “I see
nothing wrong with speeding up the investigation. Perhaps the
gentleman would speak more freely with a peer than a constable. But
as my connection to these crimes is less glaring than yours, I
think it’s better I be the one to do it.”

Leave it to his brother to justify doing
exactly what he’d told David not to do. Since he was itching to
confront Sir Frederick, David was relieved he could finally do
so.

Night had fallen by the time David,
Northcotte, and Sir Jasper arrived in Gloucester and found lodging.
They had to wait until the next morning to speak to the magistrate.
As they sat in the pub drinking ale and eating cold, sliced meat
and bread, Northcotte suddenly grinned.

David swallowed what he was chewing, waiting
to see if the lord would speak, then asked, “What has you so
merry?”

Northcotte raised his mug. “This. Us. A year
ago, I never would have imagined we’d be sharing a table and a
tankard without guns pointed at our heads.”

David leaned back in his chair. “I was never
as rude as that, was I?” He tried to recall any time before recent
months that he’d spoken crossly to Northcotte. That he’d spoken to
the lord at all.

“Sometimes words aren’t needed for a message
to come through clearly.” Northcotte sobered and took a bite of his
bread.

Pride pushed David to defend his actions.
Perhaps he’d drunk a tankard too many, but he didn’t want the lord
thinking he bore any ill will from incidents before they were born.
“I explained myself when we spoke in your study. I carried the
anger my father instilled in me. Or, that I thought he instilled.
As it turns out, he didn’t bear your father any anger. I think he
felt sorry for the former earl.”

Sir Jasper studied his food as if he’d never
seen such fine cuisine. Northcotte took a drink, set down the mug
and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “That is not
surprising. Among my father’s possessions when he died was a letter
to a Lady Katharine.”

Mother
. David tried to choose his
words carefully. “Father mentioned an attachment long ago on the
side of one party, but not the other.”

“That’s putting it delicately. She turned
him down, yes. It was never mentioned in my lifetime and I believed
he truly loved my mother.”

“I don’t fully understand how that came to
affect their lives so completely when it came to horses. Their
rivalry was enough that I believed my father hated yours. We would
be wise to let the rivalry end with us.”

“If I couldn’t set it aside, I would not
have accepted your offer for my sister’s hand.”

David took a long drink and motioned to the
innkeeper for another round. “Well, she has her own reasons for
keeping our families separate.”

“You’ve asked her again? I was certain she’d
come around.” Northcotte stared at him with wide eyes.

“No, I am giving her time to consider her
heart. She was not as easily convinced to brush aside my believing
you capable of murder.”

Sir Jasper coughed into his tankard, but
recovered quickly and continued to eat in silence.

Northcotte chewed his lip. “I can see her
point.”

“I never really believed it, you know. You
were a convenient target for my frustration. I couldn’t let on I
was incapable of breeding a winning runner.” The words were still
difficult to bite out. He’d managed Fernleigh for enough years he
should have produced another horse like Zephyr. But none of his
foals had the right combination of muscle and stride length to run
like that horse.

As if Northcotte heard his thoughts, he
said, “Zephyr was one of a kind. Breeders all across England are
kicking themselves that they haven’t bred his equal.”

It was probably true, but it didn’t help
ease the dissatisfaction David still carried. Triton had winning
qualities and was a fine runner, but he was not Zephyr.

“You aren’t the man I thought you were,”
Northcotte added, catching David off guard.

David’s gaze jerked up to meet the lord’s.
“What do you mean by that?” he barked.

“I thought you loved my sister. Otherwise,
if it weren’t for Sir Frederick’s threat, I would never have
considered you suitable for Joanna. Yet you are willing to walk
away without a fight.”

David gripped the edge of the table, leaning
forward and fighting to keep his voice down. “Walk away? I am
giving her what she wants. She has her horse, and the freedom to
find some other man to marry. She begged me to go. I’m not the man
to force her into a marriage she doesn’t want. That was Sir
Frederick’s role.”

“She didn’t object to seeing you in Windsor.
She seemed quite taken with you as she recovered. She never
mentioned turning you down.”

“Well, she did. And that’s the end of
it.”

“It appears you aren’t the man for her.”

“I
am
perfect for her. Who else would
ask her opinion about a foal’s future as a runner? Who else would
encourage her to spend time in the stables? As my wife, she would
be happy for the rest of her days, and be loved, not displayed for
social status, or whatever that bounder wanted her for.”

Northcotte’s eyes narrowed. “But she won’t
have the chance because you’ve given up the fight.”

“I told her I’d stay away.”

“Before or after she almost died?”

“Before. But you sent for me to come to
Windsor, so I was not going back on my word by calling on you
there.”

Sir Jasper cleared his throat. “I believe
the ladies are removing to Bath next week.”

“That’s fine. The waters should help her
recover.” A whisper of jealousy snaked through David at the thought
of her meeting other men, but the number of eligible, interesting
men in Bath should be fewer than she’d met in Town. He shouldn’t
feel that way, but he did. He wanted her for himself.

Northcotte chuckled, shaking his head. “I
believe he thought you might recall some business you needed to
attend to in Bath.”

“Of course. I was simply trying to plan my
scheme to run into her there.” In truth, he was still trying to
convince himself she’d see him as something more than the friend
she’d agreed to tolerate. Something much more.