Page 64 of Who Cries for the Lost

Sebastian kept his gaze on her beautiful, closed face. “I don’t believe you.”

She looked up, tossing her head to shift a stray lock of hair from her face. “Indeed? How perfectly ungracious of you to say so. Personally, I’m not convinced I should believe anything you’re telling me about this child. Why should I?”

“Miles saw Phoebe Cox that Saturday morning and again later that evening. You told Lady Devlin he came here early in the afternoon. Is that true?”

She nodded, her eyes wide, her face completely wiped clear of all expression.

Sebastian said, “How did he know Monty wouldn’t be here?”

“But he didn’t know. He came to see Monty.”

“Cut line, Lady McPherson,” Sebastian said impatiently, setting his untasted tea aside. “He came to see you. So how did he know Monty wouldn’t be here? Did you send him a note?”

She hesitated, then nodded again, her cheeks coloring as her gaze slid away.

“And he said nothing to you about Phoebe Cox or her baby?”

“I keep telling you, no!”

“And you can’t think what he might have done with the baby? That woman is in prison right now, accused of killing her own child. She could very well hang for it. What did he do with her baby?”

“I tell you, I don’t know!”

Sebastian gave up and tried a different tack. “Did Monty know you were having an affair with his friend?”

She gave a high-pitched false little laugh. “Don’t be absurd. I won’t deny that Miles and I were enjoying a flirtation, but there was nothing more to it than that.”

“Of course,” said Sebastian dryly. “So did Monty know of this ‘flirtation’?”

She looked directly at him, as if she could somehow compel him to believe her. “No. And I know what you’re thinking, but you’re wrong; Monty could never kill anyone. Never.”

After their time together in the Army, Sebastian knew only too well what Monty McPherson was capable of. But he kept that thought to himself.

She sat forward, her hands coming together to rest in her lap, her own tea obviously forgotten. “I assume Lady Devlin told you about the list—the one with the names of people in London who’ve been in contact with Napoléon?”

“Yes.”

She licked her lips as if they’d suddenly gone dry. “But the list wasn’t the only thing Miles brought back from Vienna. He also carried official correspondence—Austrian proposals for the future governance of France in the event that Napoléon is defeated.”

“He told you that?” Good Lord; did he tell his secrets to all his women? Sebastian wondered. Jarvis had been wise not to trust the man. Except why the hell hadn’t Jarvis convinced Castlereagh or Bathurst to do the same?

She nodded. “The Austrians want Napoléon to be allowed to abdicate in favor of his son.”

“Of course they do. His son is half Austrian and currently being raised at the palace in Vienna—which is only one reason why the British government will never agree to such a scheme.”

“You don’t think the controversial nature of those proposals might perhaps explain why Miles was killed?”

“No. If he’d been killed before he delivered them, then one might be able to make the argument—although I would still find it difficult to believe. But they had already been delivered.”

“Yet it’s still conceivable that someone in the government wanted to keep others from learning of the proposals, isn’t it?”

If so, they should have chosen a more discreet courier, he thought. But he simply shook his head and said, “Did Sedgewick ever mention Cabrera to you?”

He didn’t expect her to know what he was talking about, but to his surprise, she did. “You mean the island where all those French prisoners died?”

“So he did talk about it?”

“Yes, but it was months ago, back before he went to the Continent. Why?”

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