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The Vanishing Thief(66)

By: Kate Parker


She smiled for an instant as she looked away. “Oh. Yes. That’s right.”

“Except your grandfather lied to me. Look, I don’t care if your father ran with the Prince of Wales’s crowd. Heaven knows there’s enough scandals there to keep several blackmailers busy. I need to know what your family was being blackmailed over so I can judge the likelihood that it would drive a respectable family to kidnapping and murder.”

She leaned forward as she faced me. “Oh, it wouldn’t. There’d be no reason for us to attack Mr. Drake.”

“Really? Why?”

“Why should I answer you?”

“Because I’m a member of the Archivist Society and we try to be careful of reputations.” And because I wanted to know who killed Mr. Drake.

Lady Julia paced in front of the fire. Finally, she stopped and said, “You’re a well-read woman. I expect it has made you broad-minded.”

“I hope I am. Unless the subject is murder. I will not condone killing another human being.”

“Oh, no. But my father has a secret. One that is considered illegal in this country. That’s why Grandpapa sent him to the south of France. They’re more forward-thinking there.”

“And this stopped Drake’s blackmail?”

“Yes. The scandal doesn’t affect the rest of us, you see. Once Drake was convinced Grandpapa wouldn’t pay to keep it secret, and my father was out of danger of being arrested, the letters no longer had any impact.”

I looked at her blankly. How could it not affect the rest of them? So far I’d not heard anything that removed her grandfather from suspicion of hiring thugs to eliminate Drake from threatening his family. “I don’t understand.”

“There’s a new play on the London stage. The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. Have you seen it?”

“No. Is it good?” What did that have to do with—? Then I remembered the rumors of an upcoming trial involving Oscar Wilde and the Marquis of Queensberry, whose son was Wilde’s lover. The son had reportedly hurried off to France to avoid arrest and the brewing scandal.

But that affair was illegal. The church pronounced it a sin. And yet her father—oh, dear.

“I can see by your face you understand why Mr. Drake attempted blackmail on my father, and the contents of the letters my father wrote,” Lady Julia said.

“Even if your father stays safely in France for the time being, someday your grandfather will die and your father will inherit the title. If he returns to England?” I let the question hang in the air.

“Either the law will have changed by then, or something can be worked out to let my father stay in France and my brother inherit the title and everything entailed to the earldom. It’s not a problem.” She shrugged, moving her hands in an open circle. “Well, it’s one that will someday be ironed out by solicitors. It’s certainly not one that would have any of us paying good money to hire thugs to go after a blackmailer. What good would that do?”

I nodded and turned to go.

“Miss Peabody.”

I turned back.

“Please don’t repeat this. I’m trusting on your discretion in keeping my father’s secret.”

A lot of members of the aristocracy appeared willing to accept my promises of silence concerning their confidences. The Archivist Society had an excellent reputation. I was discovering just how good this reputation was.

I only had time to walk the length of Hyde Park Place once before returning to the bookshop, and I had no more success than on any other day since the first one. When I entered the shop, I nearly ran into Inspector Grantham in the doorway.

“Inspector, what can I do for you?”

“It’s what I can do for you. The details of Lupton’s murder a week after your parents’. I reviewed the file. There was no sign of a breakin, but it was business hours and the front door was unlocked. Lupton was strangled. It didn’t appear that he put up any kind of a struggle. While the antiquarian books were ransacked, no cash was taken and his records indicated none of the old books were missing.”

Grantham lowered his voice. “A man was seen walking away from the shop just before others walked in and found the body.”

“This man. What did he look like?”

“Well dressed. Prosperous looking. Tall, average build, blond hair. Carried a newspaper folded under his arm. Inquiries led nowhere. We had a dead body with no motive and no suspects.”

“Anything else?” I was holding my breath, hoping someone noticed something I hadn’t.

“No. I’m sorry there’s so little I can tell you. Lupton lived an ordinary life and he didn’t die due to a robbery.”