“A dying man can’t chase after someone young and fit like Drake,” Jacob pointed out.
“Waxpool has a manservant, Price, who the old man bragged to me about at Lady Westover’s. Price will do anything Waxpool tells him to do. The earl may want to remove the threat of blackmail from the title before he dies, fearing his son will destroy the family fortune to save himself from prison.” I shook my head. “Poor Lady Julia.”
“Waxpool may also be worried about the family name. Consider him a suspect,” Sir Broderick said. Ticking the names off on his fingers, he continued, “Hancock is in deep financial trouble, which makes him a good suspect but not a good candidate for blackmail. The market for his one big invention is drying up as new chemicals make it obsolete, and nothing he’s worked on since has found a viable application. In fact, his inventions have a nasty habit of blowing up and injuring the people they are supposed to help.”
Sir Broderick shifted in his chair before he continued. “Any unentailed land the family had here or at his country home was sold off long ago. No, blackmailing Hancock wouldn’t have gained Drake anything, so I doubt he tried very hard.”
“Hancock tried to sell an old book to me for ten times what it’s worth,” I told them.
“Did he seem desperate?” Sir Broderick asked.
“He seemed angry.”
“The Duke of Blackford, however, is still a mystery.” Sir Broderick stared at me as if daring me to refute his words.
“Not any longer.” I had to tell them. “Lady Margaret, Blackford’s sister, died nearly two years ago from drowning near their country estate. She’s buried in the churchyard under her own name, but the death was never reported to the authorities, so it doesn’t appear in the books on the peerage. Anne Drake knew about the death from her mother.”
“And presumably she told her husband,” Emma said.
“What I don’t understand is why Blackford, who would recognize Drake from when he was a footman for his family, didn’t give him away when he met Drake out in polite society spending time with Blackford’s fiancée. Drake pretended to be descended from French aristocracy, but Blackford knew his true lineage.” Blackford was the only one in the group whose actions made no sense to me. Perhaps that was why I found him so fascinating.
“Do we know if Blackford is paying blackmail to Drake?” Fogarty asked.
“We don’t know. Blackford did admit Emma and I are to be bait tomorrow night,” I answered.
“Do we have any idea what’s behind Blackford’s plan for the masked ball?” Sir Broderick asked.
“No.” I could feel tension mounting in the room. All signs were pointing toward Blackford, and, while he was up to something, I didn’t want to believe he was the one who’d hired thugs to attack Nicholas Drake in his home. Remembering the way he’d looked at me, I couldn’t believe he’d hire anyone to hurt me. And after meeting Sumner, there was no possibility I’d think Blackford would hire anyone so inept as to kill the wrong man.
I’d come to admire Blackford. I didn’t want him to be guilty. “Do we know who followed Conover to Hounslow on the train that night?”
Fogarty shook his head. “Two strangers got off the ten o’clock train. One went into the Red Lion and the other disappeared into the town. We haven’t been able to get a good description or find out when the second man returned to London.”
“That’s a dead end, then,” Sir Broderick said. “Jacob, you’re going to be one of the footmen for the ball tomorrow night. And you will be armed. Fogarty, we’re going to have to find a way to get you into that house as well.”
“I think Blackford deserves scrutiny,” Fogarty said.
“Well, I don’t.” I sounded mutinous rather than sensible.
“Based on what, Georgia? He invited you to a ball and bought you a pretty dress?” Jacob asked.
“Based on a feeling. He wants Drake in his hands for reasons he won’t share, but I don’t think he’d hire thugs to find Drake. He’s using us to do that job.” I looked around the room. “Our fancy dresses will make us easy to find in the crush of the ball.”
Part of Blackford’s plan came to me in a rush. “What better place to hide than in plain sight in a costume? My guess is Blackford has set up a meeting with Drake that will take place at the ball. Blackford has probably told him about our eye-catching gowns.”
“I hope you’re right, Georgia,” Sir Broderick said. “We’ll keep an open mind. But you must be ready to act if Drake’s attacker is Blackford.”