The Marriage Trap (32 page)

“Coates told me where you were,” he said. “It's almost impossible to find you alone, and we have to talk.”

Her heart was beating very fast. “Who is looking after Robbie?”

“Lady Caro. She was coaxing him to eat from a bowl of thin gruel when I left.”

When he took a step toward her, she cried out, “Don't come any closer!”

He stopped, head cocked, staring at her. His voice was gentle. “So you've worked it out?”

“So it's true!” She was shocked and, at the same time, she wasn't surprised at all. “You stole Dorothea's diamonds!”

He began to laugh. “Is that all? Yes, I stole the diamonds, but I was sure you knew the rest. My dear Ellie, can't you guess? I murdered Louise Daudet.”

Her ears were ringing. She forgot to breathe. As her heartbeat gradually slowed, she shook her head. “Is this some kind of joke?”

A thin smile curved his lips and his brows rose. “It's no joke,” he said. “I killed Louise Daudet.”

She believed him. The boy she knew was no longer there. He held himself with catlike grace. The eyes that were weighing her, measuring, were those of a predator. And the key in her pocket was beginning to make sense. This must be the key he had exchanged for hers.

The word that was screaming inside her head came out as a whisper. “Why?”

“Because I could. Because I wanted to.” He laughed, the sound of a little boy who had done something clever and wanted approval. “You're looking for motive. What can I say? The opportunity presented itself, and I seized it.”

“You're . . . you're mad.”

“No, Ellie. What I am is clever. Brilliant, in fact. Not that anyone thinks much of that. Do you know how galling it is to live in the shadow of stupid people who are taken up and fêted by people who should know better?”

His voice didn't sound so gentle now. She swallowed hard. “Is that what Louise did with Robbie?”

“Robbie!” He almost snarled the word. “He's a dolt! He'll never pass that Greek examination! It's pathetic! He tries to memorize everything by constant repetition. And you're no better, for all that everyone is impressed by your grasp of classics. I've watched you teach Robbie. You teach by rote. I'm bored with you and bored with Robbie. I see something once and I make connections. You'll never be my equal.”

Why is he talking about Greek?
her mind screamed.
Who cares if he is brilliant? Who wants to be his equal? He's a murderer!

It was this last thought that kept her panic in check. He wouldn't be telling her all this unless he was going to silence her.

He was going to kill her.

Her mind had never worked faster as she plotted how she could escape. She had no doubt that if she opened her mouth to scream, he would have his hands around her throat before she emitted more than a gasp. And who would hear her? Where were Cook and her helpers? Where was Coates? And where, oh, where, was Jack?

A plan formed, but it wasn't much of a plan. She started to edge backward, inch by inch, so as not to provoke him. If she could only get to the laundry room, she could open the door to the drying green and run for her life.

“You murdered Louise because you were jealous of Robbie.” It was a statement, not a question.

He made a violent motion with one hand and she could see what she had not seen before. He had a knife in his hand. Now she knew why he'd come out of the stillroom. That's where the housekeeper kept her own supplies. By sheer force of will, she kept her eyes on his and her feet planted on the floor.

“Stupid!” he snarled. “Didn't you hear me? I murdered her because I wanted to. I murdered her because it satisfied my vanity, to show everyone that they were no match for me.”

She didn't believe him, or at least it was only partly true. He'd chosen his victims because he'd been made to lose face, not deliberately, but because he thought Robbie had succeeded where he had failed. It came to her that if only Robbie had told Milton why Louise favored him, none of this might have happened.

But this wasn't, couldn't be, where Milton's envy had begun. This was the culmination of a lifetime's frustration. No matter how brilliant he was, in his own eyes he'd failed the test. So he blamed others for his failure.

It didn't matter. Milton had made his choices and there was no going back. Her only choice was to run or fight him.

Or pray that someone would come looking for her. Sometime soon, surely her absence would be noticed. The servants would look for her, or perhaps Jack would. How much time did she have before he lost patience?

She had to keep him talking to gain a little time.

“You know, Milton, Louise didn't love Robbie.” It amazed her that she could sound so natural. “She took an interest in him because her mother and ours were once friends. Robbie should have told you. The reason he didn't was, you see, because it suited
his
vanity to make his friends think that he was, well, more experienced than he was.”

“You're lying!”

He looked like a child who had just broken his favorite toy.

“I'm telling you the truth. Listen to me, Milton. I like you. I've always liked you. I won't say a word to anyone about Louise. I won't say a word about the diamonds. You helped Robbie when he was stabbed . . .” She trailed to a halt.

He laughed and straightened. He'd recovered his equilibrium. “Have you just figured it out? I told you you were slow. I didn't help Robbie by choice. I thought I'd killed him, too. It gave me quite a shock when he stumbled out of the theater into my arms. I wasn't waiting for him. I'd just discovered that I'd dropped something in the struggle with Robbie and I was on my way back to get it.”

“What?” she asked hoarsely.

“Louise's key. If I'd met him on the stairs, I would have finished him off. But there were too many people outside the theater. I had no choice but to help him.”

Only one thing made sense to Ellie. Milton hated Robbie enough to kill him. The words were out of her mouth before she could think of their wisdom. “You must have had other chances to kill him before we left Paris. Why didn't you?”

He gave a short laugh. “Believe me, I would have if I thought I could get away with it.”

She said with a sneer, “You mean, if he'd turned his back on you? What happened, Milton? Did you lose your nerve? Was Robbie getting stronger every day? Were you afraid that he could beat you in a fair fight?”

She stopped suddenly, realizing that she was goading him when she should have been placating him.

“Bitch!” he spat, and spittle sprayed from his mouth. “Do you think I'm stupid? He was holed up in his hotel. If anything had happened to him, I would have been suspected. Only tell me where the key is, Ellie, and I'll let you both go.”

He must really believe that she was stupid. This time, however, she kept her mouth shut.

“Where is the key, Ellie?”

Air was rushing in and out of his lungs, and she knew time was running out. He was losing control. She began retreating again, edging her way to the laundry room.

She said dully, “It was you who broke into my rooms and lay in wait for me.”

“At last, you're beginning to use that intelligence you take such pride in. I knew you had the key, but knew you didn't realize its significance or you would have mentioned it to Robbie.”

She was sickened by what he was telling her, but beneath the revulsion, anger was beginning to simmer. She and Robbie had made a friend of this boy. They'd trusted him.

“You engineered the attack on Robbie in the park.”

“Oh, the fireworks were Robbie's idea. As I told you before, when an opportunity presents itself, I seize on it. And there have been too few opportunities since you and Robbie came to live in this house. I could never rest easy, you see, waiting for one or the other of you to figure everything out. And how right I was not to become complacent! First Robbie wants to clear the dresser's name, and now you have remembered a key you have misplaced. But another opportunity presented itself and here we are.”

“‘Clear the dresser's name'?” she said, just to keep him talking. “What difference will that make?”

“I'll become a suspect, Ellie, and I can't let that happen. That's why I attacked Robbie in the park. He can no longer be trusted to keep his mouth shut.”

Was it her imagination or was he enjoying himself?

“I searched everywhere for that key, Ellie—your rooms, your Uncle Freddie's house, this house—and could not find it. Where did you hide it?”

“I didn't have it.”

“But you have it now or you would never have accused me of stealing the diamonds. In Robbie's room, you were your usual condescending self. Now you're afraid of me. You needn't be, you know. We can strike a bargain. Give me the key and I'll let you go. Then I'll be on my travels with the proceeds of the diamonds. I'll be far, far away, in Greece, viewing the ruins. You might even like to come with me.”

He really must think she was a simpleton if he thought she would believe that. Once he had the key, there would be no reason to keep her alive.

Straining to sound as reasonable as he, she said, “I know you won't hurt me, Milton, because Coates knows you're here with me. And if anything were to happen to me, Jack wouldn't like it.”

The strain was unbearable. She wanted to cry and scream and rage. She wanted someone to help her. But most of all, she wanted to drive a knife through his black heart.

He giggled, and that terrified her. “Ellie,” he said, shaking his head, “give me credit for some intelligence. Coates doesn't know I'm here. I told him I was going out for a breath of fresh air and wondered if you'd like to come with me. He told me you were in the kitchens and I told him I wouldn't disturb you. Everyone thinks I've left the house. I opened the front door and called out a cheery good-bye. Then I shut the door and came to get you. And don't look for the servants to help you. They are delivering trays to various rooms. I took the liberty of locking the door to the basement. When I leave, I'll go by the back door. It's a mistake to underestimate me, Ellie. You see, I've thought of everything.”

She knew he wouldn't kill her before he had the key, and that made her dangerously obstinate. “It's not that I underestimate you, Milton,” she said. “It's just that you're hapless. You may be brilliant at Greek, but look what a muddle you've made of Louise's murder, not to mention the theft of the diamonds.” Her voice developed a crack. “And why attack Robbie? What threat could he possibly be?”

He was advancing. She was retreating. “He knew about the key,” he said. “Now the games are over. Give me the key, Ellie, or I'll use the knife.”

One of the servants' bells jingled, cutting the silence like a clashing cymbal to Ellie's ears. Milton gave a start and looked up at the board. With sheer animal instinct, Ellie threw down her candle and gave him a hard shove. As he went reeling back, she whisked herself around and sprinted for the back door.

Jack arrived home, veering between temper and despondency, temper because coachmen had not slackened their pace though the ice made the roads treacherous, and despondency because Cardvale's disclosure about Louise Daudet's dresser brought them full circle. Robbie was back to being the prime suspect.

No one answered the door when he pulled the bell, and he had to search through his pockets to find his key to let himself in. Wigan was descending the stairs, shrugging into his coat.

“Where is everyone?” asked Jack, stripping off his own coat and handing it to the butler.

“The dowager and Lady Frances are resting in their rooms, and I believe that Lady Raleigh and Lady Caro are in the sickroom with Master Robbie.”

“Not the family, Wigan. Where are the servants?”

Wigan's stoic expression cracked a little. “We're working in shifts, sir, to compensate for a sleepless night. As you may remember, the staff were kept busy attending to guests while the constable asked questions, and after the guests went home, the staff had to clear away. By the time we finished, we had to begin our next day's work.”

Jack couldn't be bothered with this. “Thank you, Wigan. I wasn't finding fault. All I wanted was information.”