Page 81 of Murder at Hambledon Hall
That must be it!Thatwas the strong motive I’d been missing. Esmond Shepherd was killed so he couldn’t tell anyoneheshould be the earl. It put the man known as the current Lord Kershaw at the top of my suspect list with several exclamation marks and a circle around his name.
Chapter17
Isat at my writing desk and drew a family tree in pencil, with the fourth Lord and Lady Kershaw at the top on the left. On the right, I wrote the names of Mabel and William Shepherd. I ruled solid lines from the Kershaw side to their two children, Lady Elizabeth Wentworth and her brother, the fifth earl, the man who’d married the Shepherds’ daughter before he inherited the title. Their marriage would probably have angered his parents, if they’d known. I wasn’t yet sure if they had. It was possible only the local vicar and the obligatory witness knew at the time.
“The marriage must have occurred in secret,” I said to Harmony. “Otherwise it would be common knowledge in Morcombe.”
She peered over my shoulder and pointed to the name of Esmond Shepherd. “There should be a dotted line connecting him to his adoptive parents, Mabel and William, and a solid one connecting him to his real parents, Susannah and the fifth earl.”
I ruled the lines as described. “If the fourth earl didn’t know about his son’s secret marriage at the time, surely he found out when Susannah died.” I tapped the pencil against my chin as I realized something didn’t add up. “The name recorded in the parish register for burials was SusannahShepherd, her maiden name, not Wentworth.”
“The fourth Lord Kershaw could have used his influence to force the vicar to record it that way, so that nobody found out his son married her.”
That would explain it. It seemed he’d known after all, but perhaps not at first. “The fourth Lord Kershaw may have been the one who tore out the marriage register page. I wonder if he also tore out the pages in the St. Michael’s baptism register, or if that was Esmond’s doing.”
“I think it was all Esmond’s,” Harmony said. “He must have hadsomeproof, otherwise it’s just slanderous gossip nobody would believe.” She watched as I extended the family tree with branches for the sixth Lord Kershaw and his sister, Mrs. Browning. It just occurred to me that Mrs. Browning had a relationship with her half-brother. I wonder if she knew.
Harmony traced her finger along the lines up the tree, stopping at Lady Elizabeth. “Do you think she knows? Do you think she knew all along? She’s the only one alive now who was old enough to be aware of events back then,andthe fifth earl was her brother.”
If she did know, she’d lied to my face.
Harmony leaned her hip against the edge of the desk and crossed her arms. “Why bother hiding the marriage after Susannah died? Her husband was free to marry again, and to a woman of his family’s choosing if that was so important to them. Why not admit that he’d married Susannah, thereby making Esmond legitimate? By denying the marriage, he denied his son legitimacy and all that goes with it.”
“I suspect that was the intention. As the firstborn son, Esmond would inherit and become the sixth earl. Any sons of a second wife would simply be spares. The best wifely prospects from the best families would never accept that, and the Kershaws wanted only the best.”
Harmony pulled a face. “I’ve seen blood sports that are less brutal.”
“When you realize that, murdering Esmond makes sense. It didn’t before, but this…” I underlined his name on the family tree. “His legitimacy is the motive. With proof, he could oust the current Lord Kershaw. Imagine the upheaval.”
“Proof,” Harmony echoed. “Where is it? Those torn pages must be somewhere.”
“Unless whoever killed Esmond destroyed them. That’s what they were looking for in Esmond’s cottage after he died. Some time after we looked through it that first day, and before Harry and I went back, someone searched high and low. They must have been looking for the pages torn out of the registers, which Esmond told his killer he possessed. The question is, did they find them? And have they been destroyed?”
Dinnerin the hotel restaurant was a laborious affair. Now that I was confident I knew why Esmond had been killed, and that Lord Kershaw was most likely the killer, I couldn’t concentrate on the chatter around me. I tried to surreptitiously watch him while he talked and ate, bearing the new information in mind.
I was also very aware that I hadn’t talked it through with Harry yet. It wasn’t that I needed to; Harmony had been an excellent sounding board. I simplywantedto talk to him. It would have to wait until the morning.
Despite my frustration, I think I managed rather well to keep my features schooled and pretend nothing had changed. I listened to just enough conversation to contribute a comment here and there or laugh at an appropriate moment. When dinner eventually came to an end and it was time for the ladies to retreat to the private sitting room, I pretended I didn’t have a care in the world. All the while, I sifted through the evidence in my head, sorting absolute facts from the circumstantial, and deciding who I needed to speak to next.
The person who emerged as most likely to tell me something of use turned out to be Mrs. Browning. While Lady Elizabeth possessed decades’ worth of knowledge, I decided not to speak to her again. I suspected she’d already given me everything she would, or could. Likewise, Lord Kershaw was unlikely to admit he killed his half-brother so he could keep the title for himself. Mrs. Browning, however, had known Esmond very well. As her lover, he may have told her things he’d not told anyone else. Even if he’d not known who his parents really were in those days, he might have told her about hiding places within his cottage. Places where he could have hidden the proof of his birth.
The problem was, I didn’t want to reveal that I knew about the circumstances surrounding Esmond’s birth. For one thing, it could make Mrs. Browning clam up altogether. For another, it could place me in danger if she informed the killer.
I waited until tea and coffee were brought in by the waiters. I helped serve then took a seat beside Mrs. Browning. She couldn’t get up without appearing rude in front of everyone.
Realizing I’d cornered her, she sighed heavily. “What is it now, Miss Fox?”
“I simply wanted to speak to you on your last night with us. Have you enjoyed your stay in London, Mrs. Browning?”
“Well enough. Thank you for accompanying my daughter this morning to Harrods. She says the tiepin was your suggestion. I think it’s a good choice for her fiancé.”
“He’s going into politics, I hear. How exciting for them both. What an interesting life they have ahead of them.”
She narrowed her gaze at me as she sipped her coffee, perhaps trying to detect if I were being sarcastic.
“I’m looking forward to their wedding,” I went on. “Janet tells me it will be a lavish affair.”
Her gaze narrowed further.
