Page 35 of Death at Fournier Downs
News of the pregnancy had cast yet another layer of darkness over Charlotte’s death. The two were related. As was the woman in the straw chip hat. But how? The itch of intuition wouldn’t leave her be for the rest of the long night. Finally, at the blue of dawn, Audrey had slept fitfully for a few hours. The crummy bit of half sleep only seemed to make her feel worse as she dressed for the morning’s visit to her former home in a somber dress of deep burgundy cambric, paired with a black embroidered spencer and matching gloves.
Greer informed her that the duke had already risen and had left with his steward, and the lightness that descended over Audrey’s shoulders made her feel a pinch guilty. She’d been prepared to invite Philip to Haverfield. Hugh’s warning that she should not go off by herself had not frightened her, but Philip’s discontent after the debacle at the stone cottage had been clear. Their marriage was the sort that often left them independent of each other, and Audrey thought perhaps an effort to include Philip might go a long way in soothing his recently gloomy moods.
However, he was already gone, so she shook off the guilt and called for the brougham.
Haverfield had been the country seat for four Lord Edgertons since the time of Henry VI. The barony was firmly established and respected, the home itself situated on a hillock with a quaint prospect overlooking a dale with intersecting stone walls and pastures. For anyone else, the estate would surely appeal. But for Audrey, there was a bleakness about it that seemed to seep into her bones whenever she visited. It was not something that happened often. She didn’t seek her mother out, and Lady Edgerton did not seek Audrey. It was as though, with her marriage to the duke, the baroness had wiped her hands clean of motherhood. Then again, her mother did manage to see Audrey’s older sister, Millie, Lady Redding, from time to time. The thought would at times send pangs through her chest, squeezing her heart in a weak show of jealousy, but they never lasted. All Audrey had to do was remember some of the cruel, cold things her mother had said to her over the years, recall the way she had summoned two matrons from Shadewell to Haverfield to pick her up and trundle her off to the sanatorium like some prisoner, and the envy died.
Millie could have the baroness all to herself.
The hard, cool glaze of indifference had settled once again upon Audrey’s shoulders and expression by the time she was led into the drawing room at Haverfield. It was early in the day for callers, so she wasn’t surprised to find herself waiting for several minutes while the butler, Gregson, left to summon the baron. The carriage had passed the dowager house along the drive, but her mother would not be found there, Audrey was certain.
That was where her motherclaimedto reside, even though she was not officially a dowager baroness. The new Lord Edgerton had never wed, and so there would be no new Lady Edgerton. The reason was clear to anyone who cared enough to look. Audrey’s mother and uncle were romantically involved. They were discreet about it, as a marriage to his former sister-in-law would be a voidable union, if ever challenged. Polite society would not favor it. It was, surely, one of the reasons Lady Edgerton no longer went to London. She and Audrey’s uncle ensconced themselves at Haverfield. For how long they had been carrying on their liaison, however, was the real question. Had it predated the previous Lord Edgerton’s death? Audrey didn’t want to know.
Sure enough, when her uncle entered the drawing room, Lady Edgerton was with him.
“Goodness, Audrey, we weren’t expecting a call, and so early too. Has something happened? Is the duke unwell?” her mother said with more annoyance than alarm.
“The duke is fine, thank you,” she replied. “I’m sorry to call so early, but there is something I wished to discuss.”
She’d also wanted to arrive before the coroner or Hugh Marsden.
“We were just taking breakfast,” her uncle said, then with indifference, “I suppose you could join us.”
“Thank you, my lord, but no. I’m not sure this is a discussion to be had over a meal.”
Her mother’s brow furrowed in concern, and she quickly rang for tea before taking a seat. “Well, then, do sit and be out with it.”
The baron grimaced, though Audrey suspected it was in reaction to being told he would not be getting back to his breakfast plate right away. He remained standing behind the baroness, his hands resting upon the back of the chair. Once again, Audrey recoiled at a memory that had been seared into her brain, compliments of a rope of sapphires her mother had insisted she wear to a musicale some years ago, when she’d finally returned from Shadewell. Pressed into Audrey’s palms, the necklace had fired off an image of her uncle’s near naked form clasping her mother to him. The dowager had screeched about Audrey’s clumsy fingers when the sapphires had clattered to the floor. From then on, Audrey had not been able to wear sapphires—or look at her uncle—without the ghost of that memory interjecting itself.
She sat across from her mother and asked, “Are any of Haverfield’s maids missing?”
Her mother’s lips popped open in surprise. She peered at Audrey as though a grotesque insect had just landed in her soup. “What?”
“Our maids? Missing?” Lord Edgerton spluttered. “What is this about?”
Audrey had spent some of her sleepless night deliberating how best to approach the questioning. Which information to give and what to hold back. As her mother and uncle already disapproved of her for the most part, she knew it would only anger or unsettle them if she announced she had stumbled upon yet another dead body.
“A woman was found on Fournier Downs land yesterday afternoon,” she explained evenly. Then, after a pause, added, “She was deceased.”
The baron released the chair and came around the arm to stand before Audrey. She wasn’t keen on him glowering down at her, but she also didn’t want to jump to her feet. Poise and calm would benefit the situation more.
“What gives you the notion this woman was one of our maids?”
Audrey lifted her chin. “I believe I recognized her.”
As expected, her mother gasped with dismay. “You’veviewedthis dead woman’s body?”
“I have.”
Withholding that she had been the one to find it continued to be her best strategy.
“I say, this is beyond the pale, you coming here to discuss such a turn of events. Where is Fournier? Why hasn’t he come?”
Audrey straightened her back and pressed her shoulders lower. The duke knew the coroner and Hugh were planning to visit; he hadn’t deemed it necessary to come himself. She hadn’t anticipated her uncle viewing that as odd, though she could see now it was shortsighted of her.
“He is attending to other business,” Audrey replied, leaving it vague as to whether it had to do with the dead body or something else.
The baron guttered something low in his throat in response, but it wasn’t audible. Nor would she have liked to have heard it anyhow.
