Page 44 of Murder at Madame Chambon's
LuluBelle drew herself up, her sweet, tired expression transformed by anger though her words were soft as she said, “Iwas with Captain Blackheath and you know it, Madame.Captain Blackheath visits me every Friday and weren’t no different this time.”
“Well, he’s been cleared because he had an alibi, so enough insolence from you, LuluBelle,” muttered Madame.“All five clients and girls have been interviewed and they have been cleared.”
“Cept the sixth gentleman,” said LuluBelle softly before Madame swung round and said, “Dunstable was a blackmailer, and he was cruel to you, LuLubelle.Yes, I’ve heard this from another of the girls here but I haven’t told the police as I didn’t want them to thinkyouhad a motive to kill his Lordship.”
LuluBelle gasped.“No, Madame!Lots o’ the gennelmen are rough, and Lord Dunstable were no rougher.He weren’t a real sadist, like, so’s there’d be uvvers I’d ha liked to have staked with a paperknife before ‘im,” she went on before putting her hand to her mouth again for her incautious words.“But I never killed any o’ them and I never killed Lord Dunstable and I don’t know who did.I reckon only the killer knows that.”
“Discovering the killer’s motivation in killing Lord Dunstable would go a long way towards discovering his—or her—identity,” mused Lily before she asked, “Madame, was anyone other than Lord Dunstable blackmailing you?”
Madame was very still.“The Inspector knows I was not in the vicinity of Lord Dunstable when he was killed,” she said, ignoring the question.
So that was it.Lily had spent six months living under this roof.She’d honed her ability to read a person’s responses through her two years locked away in a lunatic asylum in Brussels.Madame was being blackmailed by someone else, only she wasn’t about to admit it.
And, quite possibly, he was the ‘sixth’ man to whom LuluBelle had alluded.
With a nod at Archie, Lily asked, “Please, would you and LuLubelle leave us while I have a few words with Madame, alone?”
When the door had closed behind them, Madame Chambon said viperishly, “So, m’lady, you know the truth about Evelina, but do you now wish to expose her to the world as the daughter of London’s most infamous brothel-keeper?Well, I will do anything to preserve the future of the creature I hold dearer to me than any other, and I will not give you the satisfaction of destroying her.Yes, Lord Dunstable was blackmailing me.But you already know that.At first, he blackmailed Celeste, for he’d discovered she was from a good family, whom he intended to blackmail, in turn.I did not know this until he’d established from the general gossip that I had a daughter who was being educated in France.”
“A daughter who comes with a handsome dowry so that Dunstable was prepared to overlook her illegitimacy and the fact you are her mother in order to marry her.”Lily showed her disdain.“You traded her with Dunstable.”
“She agreed to marry him willingly,” Madame snarled.“I was never more relieved, for I thought it possible she could make him love her and be kind to her and that he’d be satisfied with the money she brought to the marriage.”
“Except you knew he was rotten to the core.”
“I also knew he would have no compunction in destroying Evelina if either of us had an objection.What choice did I have?”
“But if Evelina’s dowry is so great, she obviously has the backing of someone who can ensure her reputation is not destroyed; someone who would be glad to know she could enjoy happiness in her choice of marriage partner …rather than be coerced into marrying a blackmailer.”
“Her father, of course, though don’t think I will reveal his name!But he will never acknowledge her!He is too powerful—” Madame put her hand to her mouth as if she’d said too much, adding more quietly, “Evelina has money…”
“But a background that potentially could damage the reputation or aspirations of the husband brave enough to marry her,” finished Lily.
Madame hissed through her teeth.“I don’t know what you hoped to accomplish in coming here.LuLubelle knows nothing she hasn’t told the police.Everyone who was here that night has been questioned.I suggest you leave me, and my girls, alone.I was good enough not to make of you the demands I could have when you lived here.Now I would thank you to just leave!”
As Lily walkedwith Lord Bellingham through Covent Garden, she asked, “What do you intend to do now, Lord Bellingham?You can’t marry Evelina.Not with the risk of discovery of this unpalatable truth so great.You’re going to have to let her down gently.That would be kindest.”
With quiet and grim determination, he shook his head.“Madame wasn’t going to reveal the name of Evelina’s father, but I believe if I can learn it, I might persuade him to acknowledge his daughter, at least.You say you think Madame is being blackmailed by someone else and that’s the most important piece of information to discover.I believe her father’s identity may be at the root of all this.”Looking grimly ahead as he wove his way through the streets of London, a little ahead of Lily, he went on, “Whomever he is, he has money.Perhaps a title.If that were the case, it may be that he is immune from society’s opprobrium and Evelina in turn would be accepted and her mother’s name could be kept out of it.The marriage can be done quietly.We can make a marriage tour of the continent immediately afterwards—”
“This was just as Lord Dunstable had planned it.Yes, he led Evelina to believe it would be a lavish wedding,” said Lily.“And then he pretended to change his mind, though his plan was conceived before he even met Miss Tarot.Later, he either told her, or intimated, he’d organized a Special Licence and they would elope.”Lily glanced at his profile, wishing she’d not visited such pain upon him.She’d misunderstood the depth of his feelings and realized, now, that the couple must have met, and fallen in love, long before their meeting during Lady Gilray’s Ball.
“Someone wants to ruin Evelina,” muttered Lord Bellingham.“And I need to discover his identity.And discover her father’s identity.”
“And what if her father is a criminal, languishing in prison, having bestowed his ill-gotten gains on Evelina?”
Lord Bellingham shook his head.“I’ll do whatever it takes to protect the woman I love.”
“Remember, we are not the only ones who know Madame’s secret.”
“But it’s a secret which must be kept from Evelina.”Lord Bellingham swung round and.“Lord Dunstable’s killer needs to be found before I can safely ask Evelina for her hand in marriage—for that is what I intend to do.”As they reached St Paul’s Cathedral, the energy seemed to drain from him as he added, softly, “Poor Evelina has no idea of her parentage and I’m not sure how she would survive if the truth were revealed.But if I can find out who her father is, and ensure that he, or at least, his fortune, will protect her, then much of her pain might be mitigated.”
Lily drew level as they prepared to go their separate ways.“But what if Lord Dunstable’s murderer is not discovered and Evelina is not acknowledged by her father?Would it not be a kindness to her to let her down gently?For you know that the moment your marriage is announced, her background will be closely scrutinized?”
Lord Bellingham regarded her a long moment.“I love her, and I will not live without her.And I will pave the way for her public acceptance.Even if it means crossing the threshold of that … hellhouse once more to speak to Madame Chambon to demand the answers she would not divulge today, I will do it in order to secure a future with the perfect being who remains blameless and innocent in all this.”
Chapter20
Sleep was elusive that night, and it was dawn before he was plunged into a merciful, dreamless sleep.
