The Vanishing Thief(20)

“Odd. I’d heard he was given to underpaying.” She was up again, closely examining a dead frond on a large and ugly fern.

“And while I was godmother to the last Lord Hancock’s wife, I don’t know his brother, the current Lord Hancock. I wasn’t asked to sponsor his ward, my goddaughter’s child, when she came out last season.” She made an expression of disgust, which could have been for the leaf or Hancock’s failure to ask for Lady Westover’s help.

“And Blackford. Oh, my. Sir Broderick said you’d met him.”

I’d been enjoying the tea and sandwiches while I wrote. I swallowed and said, “Yes. He seems to have either a strange sense of humor or a kind nature behind his gruff exterior. I expected to get thrown out of his house on my rear, but he was polite enough to tell me his side of the story. He claimed Drake was a thief and they figured it out after the Duke of Merville’s daughter’s engagement party. He wouldn’t tell me who ‘they’ were, but Lord Hancock supplied the names.”

“I’ve never heard the Duke of Blackford described as kind, but I’d believe he has a perverse sense of humor. He hasn’t been rumored attached to anyone since Victoria Dutton-Cox’s death a week before their nuptials. He has a brilliant head for investments and has made an absolute fortune.”

“What can you tell me about his sister?”

“His half sister. Margaret. He raised her after the deaths of both her parents. She was the old duke’s child with his second wife. She was presented to the queen, but by the next season, after Victoria Dutton-Cox’s death, she was up north at their castle and has never returned to London. Can you imagine a young society belle not coming to London for the season?”

“Was her season successful?” Maybe she’d been ignored by the men despite her brother’s fortune. I considered the possibility and discarded it immediately. From the royal family to the poorest in East London, everyone gravitated to money.

“Oh, yes. She had her pick of men, but she was too busy having a good time to settle on one.”

“Would her brother have made her miss the next season to be in mourning for his fiancée?”

“No. The two girls came to hate each other. He wouldn’t have expected Margaret to do more than a token mourning. He kept his mourning for the entire year, but it didn’t keep him from conducting his financial affairs.”

I looked out the window past the plants hanging there for a minute while I thought. “The only thing these men seem to have in common are young ladies in the family who were recently involved in the London season. Can you think of anyone else who fits into the same group and might have had something stolen from them by Mr. Drake?”

“Plenty of young ladies have been out in society the last few seasons. I don’t know of anyone who had something stolen. Still, it’s odd this Mr. Drake could get away with it for so long. Margaret hasn’t been in society the past two seasons. Daisy Hancock just came out last season. Why didn’t the word spread through society that the man was not to be invited?” Lady Westover raised her eyebrows before she took a sip of her tea.

“Blackford told me no one realized the connection until Merville made a comment after his daughter’s engagement party.”

“And you believe this?”

“On the face of it, yes.”

Lady Westover laughed a wheezy rumble. “My dear child, this man Drake had no real standing in society, things were presumably stolen while he was around, and no one questioned the losses or his presence. Don’t be naive.”

I was no sheltered miss. I’d never considered myself naive. “What do these men have in common, then?”

“No. The question is why have they kept quiet so long, even to each other, but when they suddenly discover they have something in common, they immediately join forces. I believe if you look closely, you’ll find they were all being blackmailed.”

I nearly dropped my delicate china cup. “Blackmail? We hadn’t considered that possibility.” I thought over what I knew and what the Duke of Merville had said as he left my shop. “But it makes sense.”

Lady Westover nodded and then took another sip of tea. “Sir Broderick’s note says we need to turn you into a society miss. Not an easy task when everyone knows everyone else’s family tree back five generations. I’m afraid you’ll have to have a questionable pedigree. Would you prefer slightly wanton or deliciously decadent?”



*



I RETURNED TO the bookstore and hung up my cloak and hat while Emma finished with a customer. Once the bell rang over the door marking the shopper’s exit, I joined my assistant. “I’ve had an interesting meeting with Lady Westover.”