Page 22 of The Curse of Ill-Gotten Gains
At first, she wasn’t sure what she was looking at, but the deeper into the book she went, the more obvious it became. When she reached the end of the entries, she lowered the book and, her tone severe, said, “I believe we’ve found one possible motive for why Monty wound up dead.”
Barnaby reached for the book, and she let him take it.
He, too, flicked through the pages. Incredulously, he said, “Blackmail?”
Grimly, she nodded. “That’s what it looks like.” She swiveled and studied Barnaby and Stokes, who’d moved to Barnaby’s side. The pair were examining the entries as she had. “As far as I can make out, each page relates to one person.”
“This is all in Underhill’s hand,” Stokes stated. “We’ve seen enough of his writing to be certain of that.”
“Lady Carville.” Barnaby glanced at Penelope. “She’s one of the guests.”
Penelope nodded. “I saw several others as well. But if you look at Lady Carville’s page, you’ll see a code at the top.I.Knowing Lady Carville, that likely means ‘infidelity’ or ‘indiscretion.’ I also saw the codeT, which might mean ‘thief.’ AlsoL, which might mean ‘liar.’”
Stokes pointed at a page. “Lord Morland. He’s one of the guests, too. AnotherI.”
Barnaby continued to turn the well-thumbed pages. “This has to be the motive. We’ve found nothing else, have heard of nothing else, that might have moved someone to murder Monty Underhill, but this”—he brandished the book—“surely would.”
Stokes nodded. “Depending on how scandalous or threatening the subject of the blackmail was.”
“These dates and figures beneath each name.” Barnaby arched a brow at Penelope. “Payments?”
“I think so.” She looked at Stokes. “Before we start our interviews, we need to determine which of the victims named in the book are here and whether any were scheduled to make payments yesterday morning.”
Stokes looked struck. “You think that’s why he was in the orchard, probably looking into that hollow in the tree?”
Penelope raised her hands. “We’ve found no other explanation, and if a payment was to be made yesterday morning, that would fit. Hollows in trees have a long history of being used to leave items for others to collect at some other time.”
“Finally”—Barnaby handed the book back to Penelope—“Underhill being killed is starting to make some sense.”
“He was clearly a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Penelope settled to page through the book again.
Stokes drew out his notebook and returned to his chair. “We need to make a list of the victims who are here and whether he expected to receive payments from any of them yesterday.”
Barnaby sank into the other chair. “He would have had to make contact and arrange the details of the payment—how much and where and when—before the victims left their homes, or they wouldn’t necessarily have the cash.”
“The book only gives date and amount,” Penelope said, “or in some cases, especially from the ladies, jewelry, like a ring or a necklace.” She hunted in her pocket and drew out the list she’d extracted from Pamela. She waved the list and held the black book out to Stokes. “Start at the beginning and read out the names, his code for whatever hold he had over them, and whether they were slated to make a payment yesterday, and I’ll note that on this list.”
She spread the list on the blotter and picked up a pencil, and Stokes dutifully worked his way through the book.
When he reached the end, Penelope had placed asterisks beside five names. “Five victims in the house,” she reported. “Lord Morland, Lady Carville, Lady Wincombe, Mr. Nevin-Smythe, and Miss Regina Hemmings, but only two—Lady Wincombe and Miss Hemmings—were due to make payments while here, and both were expected to make those payments yesterday.”
Stokes had flicked back through the book and was squinting at one page. “I’m not sure what this code is. It’s for Lord Morland, who, as you noted earlier, has anIbeside his name, but he has a second code letter that looks like anE. Nevin-Smythe has aCbeside his name—presumably ‘cheat.’ What couldEbe?”
Penelope held out a hand. “Here. Let me see.”
Stokes surrendered the book, and she held the page close to her glasses. “It’s not anE. It’s anF.” She looked at Barnaby. “Fraud?”
He shrugged. “I’m not aware of any likely fraud involving Morland.”
“Regardless”—she studied the page on which Lord Morland’s payments were recorded—“Morland’s been paying Monty for several years and quite tidy amounts, too.”
“Enough to murder to get out of?” Stokes asked.
Eyes on the page, Penelope tipped her head. “Actually, I wouldn’t have said so. These amounts should be well within Morland’s capacity to pay without any real difficulty.” She flicked to the next page and then to the next. “In fact, I would say that the amount Monty extracted from each of his victims was carefully calculated to be well within their ability to pay without causing any real hardship.”
Barnaby observed, “None of the five who are here, or indeed, any of those named in the book, would wish to risk those sortsof accusations being made public if they didn’t have to. It seems Monty gave them an option they preferred to take.”
“It also means he must have had knowledge or even evidence of their transgressions that he could cite.” Penelope closed the book and set it on the desktop, but the cover remained angled upward.
