Page 52 of A Slight Problem with the Wedding
The door to the bedchamber opened and Flossie scurried out in tears, her demeanor no longer smug or scornful.
The matron remained standing at the threshold of the bedchamber. “No marks, Mr. Havers.”
He grunted in acknowledgment and turned to Gory’s aunt. “What is it to be Lady Easton? Lady Gregoria has also agreed to be inspected for scratches. Perhaps it will feel a little less odious if you go through the procedure together.”
“I do not want Gregoria anywhere near me,” her aunt shot back. “Why are you bothering with me when she is clearly the guilty party? She’s the one who stands to gain by my husband’s passing. She’s the one who was home with him. She’s–”
“How do you know she was home with him at the time?” Havers asked.
The question obviously caught her aunt by surprise, but she quickly recovered and cast Havers a disdainful look. “Where else would she be?”
Havers said nothing, merely continued to stare at her in silence.
Dear heaven, this man was wily.
Her aunt was shifting nervously and fumbling for her handkerchief as a means of distraction while she came up with a plausible response. “Was she not at home? Then how was she injured?”
Havers still had his gaze pinned on her aunt. “How do you know Lady Gregoria was injured?”
She waved her hand in the air, her handkerchief fluttering as she once again strained to come up with an answer. “Everyone gossips. I’m sure I heard it somewhere. From one of the servants, likely. Were you not injured, Gregoria?”
Havers shot her a glance that warned her to remain silent.
She pursed her lips tightly and stepped closer to Julius’s side, watching as Havers continued to interrogate her aunt. “Lady Easton,” he said with a disquieting calmness to his voice, “why did you claim just now that Lady Gregoria is the one to gain by his lordship’s passing?”
She tipped her chin up. “My husband told me what she stood to inherit.”
“And when did he tell you this?”
His tone remained calm and unhurried, but there was no denying how sharply focused he was on getting his answers.
“I do not recall. How am I expected to remember such a trivial thing?”
“Oh, I doubt it is trivial, Lady Easton. This was the first thing out of your mouth, so I would wager it was quite important to you.”
Her aunt became flustered once again. “It was not important to me at all, but I felt compelled to point it out to you since you are determined to get at the truth. She stood to gain the most, and this is something you ought to know.”
“Indeed, it is. Thank you for pointing it out. Anything else you would care to tell me about your niece?”
She shot Gory a malicious look that had Julius once again drawing her closer to him. “Gregoria has never liked us. Do not be fooled by her innocent look. She is a bloodthirsty ghoul who is fascinated by dead things. She ought to be your main suspect. Look to her, for she is the one who stands to inherit a fortune. I cannot think of a better motive for murder than greed.”
“Yes, it is quite a tempting one.”
It saddened Gory to see how much hatred was reflected in her aunt’s eyes.
What had she ever done to the woman to deserve such vicious spite?
“Gregoria also had the wherewithal to kill him since they were alone together in the main quarters of the townhouse,” her aunt accused, continuing to spew her bile.
“What makes you think she was alone?”
Gory’s aunt grew flustered once again. “What do you mean?”
“She could have returned home with a party of her friends. Those friends might have provided her with a solid alibi.”
Her aunt snorted in disdain. “My niece is reviled by all who know her. She has no friends other than a handful of ladies who are equally strange and ghoulish. I would not be surprised if they all conspired to murder my husband. They are a coven of witches.”
“Are you accusing a duchess, a marchioness, and an admiral’s wife of abetting a murder?” Havers asked.
