The Vanishing Thief(41)
“I doubt it, my lady.” I decided the room told me enough about the young woman to take a chance. “I’m an avid reader, but that’s not why I’m here. Is this your room?”
“Really, it’s Grandpapa’s, along with the rest of the house, but no one uses this room but me. You came to see the room?”
“No, but I like it very much.” I smiled with pleasure as I picked up a volume. “This is a room well lived in. Austen is one of my favorites.” I set the book down gently. “But I’m afraid I came to see you on two matters of great delicacy.”
She slipped off her glasses and set them carefully on the desk. “Then I suppose you need to come stand by the fire and warm up.”
I did so, gratefully, while she rang for a servant and ordered tea. Then she joined me in front of the fire. “Have we met before?”
“No.”
She glanced toward the window where rain could be heard beating on the glass. I was glad I had arrived before the downpour struck. “Why did you come here in this terrible weather, Mrs. Peabody?”
“It’s Miss. I am unmarried.”
She nodded at whatever she was thinking and then shoved aside two books to settle on one of the pale pink sofas. “Whenever you feel sufficiently dried off, please sit down and tell me what these two delicate matters are.”
“Thank you.”
Warmth had reentered my bones by the time the tea arrived. I sat while Lady Julia poured. Once we both had our cups and the servant had departed, I began. “I understand you were close to Lady Margaret Ranleigh.”
“I thought we were at one time.”
“You’ve not heard from her since she left town?”
“No. I wrote, but I never received a reply. I suppose her brother is keeping her locked up in their castle in Northumberland.”
Having met the duke, I could believe he lived in a castle and not a manor house. “Is it truly a fortress?”
“According to Margaret, it’s a massive stone castle overlooking the North Sea. The outer wall is medieval with ramparts and arrow slits and turrets.” Lady Julia smiled at a memory. “She used to joke about it, saying how much she hated growing up among savages and all the while imagining Vikings coming ashore to rescue her from the tower.”
“It sounds like you were great friends.”
“We were. Or I thought we were. We had the same dream of marrying for love, but it’s so hard for a woman with money. Neither of us could tell who was interested in us, and who was after our money. And Margaret had the extra problem of her brother. I’m glad mine isn’t like that.”
I felt an instant urge to defend the duke, but stopped myself. Lady Julia had known him much longer than I had. Perhaps, God forbid, her analysis of his character was correct.
“What is Lady Margaret’s problem with her brother?”
“He has her imprisoned in that castle in Northumberland, doesn’t he?” she snapped out.
“Why would her brother keep her locked up in a place she hates?”
Lady Julia’s expression turned distant and she drew slightly away from where I sat across from her as if distancing herself from me. “I’m sure I don’t know.”
I decided to take a risk. “I know it has to do with the sudden death of Miss Victoria Dutton-Cox. Lady Margaret hated her, didn’t she?”
“Yes.”
I waited, and when nothing else was forthcoming, I tried again. “Lady Margaret saw her the day she died. Were you there as well?”
“Yes. Well, not when she died. I’d already left.”
“Could you give me a clearer picture of what happened?”
“Surely it doesn’t matter now.”
“I’m afraid a man’s life may depend on it.”
Her eyes widened. “Who?”
“Nicholas Drake.”
“There’s a name I’ve not heard in a while. I spent last season studying at Oxford—well, at the ladies’ college Lady Margaret Hall—reading history and economics. I didn’t attend society events. I only saw Mr. Drake at balls the season before that. I know Victoria and Margaret spent a great deal of time in his company, but I avoided him.”
My own eyes widened in surprise. I’d thought Lady Julia might be one of his blackmail victims. “Why?”
“He was too smooth. Too friendly. Too quick off the mark. Does that make sense?”
“I believe it makes a great deal of sense. He wasn’t blackmailing you, was he?”
Amused disbelief flashed across her face. “No. My interest in books and banking is well-known. There are no secret lovers or torrid affairs in my past. I’m far too dull to be blackmailed. And now you want me to tell you what happened the day Victoria died, to save Drake’s life?”