Page 27 of Seduced By a Scoundrel

“Of course,” the young butler said, stepping back and allowing him entrance.

That was, perhaps, the man’s first mistake.

“Can I be of some assistance, sir?” the butler asked once Derrek stood in the front hall, gazing around at the dusty old portraits and stiff furnishings.

“I was hoping to pay a call on the lord of the house,” Derrek said, then added, “Detective Talboys from London.”

The young butler’s eyes widened. “Detective? As in police? Has there been a crime?”

Derrek thought carefully before he spun a wild tale that even the inexperienced butler might see through. “No, not at all,” he said, chuckling for good measure. “I am acquainted with Lord Albert Howard is all. I heard whispers that he had returned to England and since I was in the county, I thought I would pay a call.”

“I am sorry to inform you that Lord Albert is not in residence,” the butler said. Derrek was almost certain he believed what he said and that he was not lying. Which meant that Lord Albert had not returned to his ancestral home before going straight to London.

“That’s a pity,” he said. He pretended to look around awkwardly, like he didn’t belong where he was and felt strangely about it.

“I am sorry that we could not be of any help,” the butler went on, standing straighter and putting on an air as if he were playing the part of a butler the way he thought it should be played. “Would you care for a refreshment before going on your way?” he asked.

Derrek could not have planned it better if he’d asked for tea. “Yes, thank you,” he said.

“Let me show you into the parlor, sir.”

It was beyond perfect. In his haste to show some sort of hospitality and likely break up what was certainly a monotonous life the young butler led Derrek to a mausoleum-like parlor and left him there.

Derrek wasn’t about to stay put where he was. As soon as he heard the butler’s footsteps disappear down the hall, he got up and left to explore.

The manor house of Maidstone Close was as empty and abandoned as a grand house could be. That was further proof that Lord Albert was not in residence, but it also meant he was not likely to find anything that would be of any use in implicating Lord Albert in Conroy’s nefarious plans. That did not stop him from searching, though.

The house had not changed much at all from the encounter he’d had there years ago, when Ashton and Billy had finally resolved their conflict with Lord Linton. The rooms and furnishings were all the same, not that Derrek had noticed them much before, only gloomier somehow. The house was all but silent, suggesting that the smallest number of servants possible to maintain the place were in residence. That worked very much in Derrek’s favor, however.

He searched out Lord Linton’s study, and with only a bit of effort and wandering, he found it. The large room was cold and dusty. It did not appear as though anyone had tidied it in the two years since Linton had fled. That, too, worked in Derrek’s favor. Many of the documents that had been lying out on the top of the desk were still there.

If only they contained information that would be of the slightest use. Much of it was correspondence, but it pertained to things that had been finished or exposed years ago. There were a few ledgers as well, but the records they contained ended around the time Linton had fled.

Derrek was on the verge of declaring the whole thing a failure and leaving the house when something on the far edge of the desk caught his eye. Or rather, the absence of something. There was a clear space at the edge of the desk, just above the top drawer on the right, as if someone had recently brushed their hand over the desk before opening the drawer.

With a curious frown, Derrek shifted and opened the drawer in question. It was empty, but even that told a story. If he was a betting man, he would have said that someone had removed the drawer’s contents recently.

“Sir?” the young butler’s voice echoed down the hallway. “Mr. Talboys?”

Derrek huffed and shut the drawer. It was possible that one of the servants had taken whatever it had contained, but instinct told Derrek that more was at play. He could not continue to wander around the house when the butler was aware of his presence, though.

“Mr. Talboys?”

Dissatisfied with the results of his search, Derrek strode back into the hall. He immediately put on a confused expression as he started back to the front of the house and the parlor where he’d been places.

“There you are, sir,” the young butler said with an unsuspecting smile when the two of them crossed paths near the front hall. “I thought I’d lost you.”

Derrek laughed. “Forgive me,” he said. “I set out in search of some sort of convenience.”

“Understood, sir,” the young butler said. “Did you find what you needed?”

“No, not really,” Derrek said truthfully. Then, in an effort to catch the young man unawares, he asked, “Has Maidstone Close seen any visitors at all of late?”

Unsuspectingly, the young butler replied, “No, sir. And to be honest, we have all been a bit bored. Your arrival today has been a rare treat.”

A twist of guilt struck Derrek. His plan to leave the house and continue his investigation elsewhere was forgotten in favor of giving the poor staff of Maidstone Close something to fill their day with.

“You’re welcome to join me as I take my tea,” he suggested to the young man. “Perhaps you could tell me all about the inner workings of this house when no one is at home and share anything you’ve heard from my friends via correspondence?”

---