Page 17 of The Hazardous Measure of Love
Luc, Garrick and I gathered in the study after breakfast to study the evidence boards. James and Kit had gone to the City with a long list of tasks for his godfather involving the bank and his legal advisors. Kit was muttering about new boots and Carola, a herbalist, was mixing herself potions against morning sickness.
We added Madame Vaillant to the suspects, then sat back and stared at the results.
‘Things to do?’ Garrick said after five minutes of unproductive silence. He pulled a fresh sheet of paper towards him.
‘Interview Madame V,’ I said.
‘Search Tillingham’s house before Adrien’s father returns.’ Luc glanced at the clock. ‘I should have thought about it earlier, but there might be any number of threatening letters or other relevant material.’
‘Adrien has had every opportunity to find and destroy evidence,’ Garrick grumbled. ‘We should have done it last night.’
‘I am certain he is innocent,’ I protested. ‘But the same goes for the staff. Should we go now?’
‘Yes.’ Luc got to his feet. ‘We can look for a weapon as well although, until we hear the results of the post mortem examination, we will not know precisely what it is.’
The wordssearch warrantalmost left my lips, then I told myself that this was 1807. If we didn’t search, then who would? If we found anything we would bring it to the attention of the authorities, of course. Possibly… Probably.
We locked up the study and went the few yards to the Tillingham house without bothering to put on hats or coats. Shocking behaviour for a lady, of course, being out on the street hatless. I felt thoroughly wanton.
Adrien was eating his breakfast in solitary splendour in the dining room, and seemed surprised to see us so early. He looked even more surprised when Luc told him bluntly that the house should be searched and poured himself a cup of coffee while he thought about it.
‘I suppose so,’ he said slowly. ‘I have never been in Cousin Henry’s bedchamber or dressing room and there are locked cupboards and drawers in the study I have never seen inside. You are right, there may be evidence.’
‘Do you have the keys?’ That was Garrick, always practical.
‘Yes.’ Adrien looked a little uneasy. ‘I removed them from his pocket before they took his body. Perhaps I should have left them, but I thought that would be what he wanted.’
‘You did the right thing,’ I reassured him. ‘The keys should not leave the house. I think we should begin to search as soon as possible: the Justice might not view it in the same light that we do.’
‘Yes, I agree. Actually it is interesting that the keys were still there. It shows that whoever killed Cousin Henry was not searching for something, doesn’t it?’
I caught Luc’s eyes and could see he was thinking the same thing I was: had Adrien used them?
Adrien reached a decision and pushed back his chair. ‘We should start in the study before anyone in authority tells us we must not. I did lock the bedchamber last night and told his valet, Picton, to leave everything as it was.’
Luc took the desk while Adrien opened all the cupboards. He and I searched those, while Garrick rolled back the carpet, tested floorboards, pulled furniture away from the walls and then, when he found nothing, began to tap his way around the panelling.
After an hour we gave up. Luc, who had been examining the underside of all of the desk drawers, replaced their contents and slid them back, one by one.
‘Nothing here, just what you would expect. Highly organised papers. Personal business on one side, Parliamentary on the other.’
‘The drawers this side were all estate business. I recognised all of it and I had the keys to those drawers anyway.’ Adrien, on the opposite side of the partners’ desk, had been checking the underside of the drawers too, and slid back the last one with a shake of his head.
‘The cupboards held nothing suspicious that I could see.’ I closed all the doors. ‘Rolls of estate plans, ledgers, old bills.’
We looked around us and I tried to let my mind wander freely, think outside the box. ‘Up the chimney?’
‘I looked,’ Garrick said. ‘And I tipped up the vases on the mantle shelf.’
There was something niggling at the back of my mind. Something I had read a long time ago… Georgette Heyer, of course. Now, what was the book?The Reluctant Widow,where vital papers had been hidden in a clock: that was it.
‘Who winds the clocks?’ I asked.
‘One of the footmen. But he doesn’t do this one.’ Adrien unlocked a drawer again and took out a gold watch on a chain with one fob and two small keys. ‘I locked this away when they took the body. Cousin Henry always wound the clock in here himself. He would take the time from the clocks in the House of Lords, set his watch by them, then check this one against that. He was a stickler for punctuality and that ensured he was always on time for Parliamentary business.’
‘Can you open it?’ I asked.
He looked puzzled, but unhooked one of the keys and went to turn the clock to expose the back. ‘It does seem strange to lock it,’ he said, fiddling the key into place. ‘I suppose he did not want to risk anyone changing it.’
