Page 52 of The Tart's Final Noel
But that’s when Brydie realized— Hadn’t Rafe said the dead nanny had enough coins to take the toll road to the city?He’d assumed she’d taken the cut through between the toll road and the highway to save the coins for herself.Was this, perhaps, not all about Willa, but about greed and ignorance?Should they be searching Birmingham for the children’s family?
But the highway also went south and Gravesyde would have been a less expensive route...to Bath.
The butler announced dinner was served.As Damien arrived to escort her, Brydie leaned past him to the young gentlemen.“Do any of you come from Bath?”
The shorter, russet-haired gentleman shrugged while eyeing Damien warily.“Chatham’s family has a place in Bath, but they generally reside in London.”
Chatham, the suave viscount.Viscounts had money and estates and wouldn’t lower themselves to stealing from a parsonage or killing nannies.But perhaps he had a servant...
“What was that about?”Damien murmured as the young men fled his glower.
“The Birmingham highway also runs south to Bath, does it not?”she asked, fretting her bottom lip.She was better at action than puzzle piecing.
“Eventually, not directly, why?”
“What if...”She closed her eyes but couldn’t work it out in her head.She needed to talk it through.“What if the nanny, or Mr.Elton’s sister, or whoever the cart driver was...meant only to spend the night with Willa.What if she knew about family in Bath and meant to take them there?”
“And someone killed her to prevent that?And killed Willa for the same reason?It doesn’t change much, does it?”
“I suppose not,” she said slowly, still thinking.“Only, whoever may have sent her down this road must not have known the bridge was closed.”
“And given that letter Willa received, whoever waits on the other end evidently has no idea why the children have been delayed.Even the post must go the long way around, so that letter she received could have been written before we found the children.And if anyone is actually looking for them, it will take a while before they come searching.That does not put us any closer to discovering a villain.”
Brydie sighed.“I suppose, it’s just nice to believe they have decent family somewhere.It would relieve Verity’s mind.”
In the enormous dining room, with places set for a veritable army, Damien hesitated at the place holder for Brydie, then checked the names of her companions.
“Does the killer know that the children did not arrive?”She glanced at the cards too.Mean-faced Mr.Watson and smarmy Viscount Chatham, ugh.“Our trio of young guests came from London, but they are familiar with StratfordandBath and did not know the bridge was closed.”
Damien appeared puzzled.“You do not think our London fellows are killers?”
Brydie glanced down the glittering, candlelit table at the fashionably elegant guests milling about, conversing civilly.“If we assume Willa’s death wasn’t a crime of passion, that her killer was a rough criminal sort like Parsons or Elton, doesn’t it seem sensible that they did it for money?Except she had little and none seemed to be missing.And if we believe the opium was intended to kill, the nanny and children had nothing any more valuable than a few coins, which the killer did not take.In which case, isn’t it more likely their killer waspaidto remove them?”
Damien stared at her, considering the implications with obvious dismay.
Which was when Brydie murmured the fear that had bothered her all evening.“What if the person who hired the killer wasn’t local and has just learned that the children are still alive?”
Damien had already deduced the answer.“Then if that killer is still here, he might be rather desperate to finish his task if he wishes to be paid.”
Twenty-seven
Rafe
Having just reassuredVerity that the attic was well secured and helped her tuck the orphans and Lynly into bed, Rafe swore vociferously when Minerva arrived to tell him the stair lock had been jammed.
Accustomed to rough soldiers, Minerva did not flinch at his profanities but Verity did.His wife was already round-eyed with fear.He didn’t mean to upset her more—especially if the intruder had been up herein the past hoursince he’d checked the deuced door.
He rubbed reassuringly at the delicate fingers clutching his big arm.“Now we know which door to watch.”
“Or there is more than one intruder,” Minerva warned.“They must know by now that the children aren’t alone.”
“We are leaping to conclusions.It may only be a thief intending to steal.Or worse, they could be after the heirs.There is no good reason to believe anyone wishes to harm either.”Verity picked uncertainly at a thread in Rafe’s coat.“Will it be safer if we have all the children in one room or will that unnecessarily endanger one set for the others?”
Even Minerva frowned at that conundrum.
Rafe knew all about divide and conquer, but he didn’t think it applied here.“There is only the one corridor to reach both rooms and two entrances into it.Unless an army marches in, they cannot take us all at once.Are there any musical instruments or bells or other noisemakers in this maze of clutter?”
Both women brightened.With troops as intelligent as this, Wellington might have beaten Napoleon much sooner.
