‘Talking of Florence, I saw her cousin last week,’ said Richard. ‘Sir Charles Urmston. He stopped me in St James’s Street and asked after you. Coincidence, do you think?’
‘I doubt it.’ Wolf frowned. ‘He was hovering about when I came out of our lawyer’s offices yesterday. If you didn’t tell him I was in England—’
Richard scowled. ‘Since you had not deigned to tell me you were here I could hardly do so!’
‘Well, someone told him I was in England,’ said Wolf. ‘He asked me about Annie Meesden, my wife’s dresser.’
‘Perhaps he thinks she knows something,’ suggested Grace.
‘It is possible, I suppose,’ agreed Richard. ‘I saw her soon after she had moved to London and she appeared to be genuinely distressed about the death of her mistress. She blamed you for it, Wolf.’
‘That does not surprise me.’
‘If you did not do it, could it have been an accident?’
Wolf shook his head. ‘The more I have thought of it the more certain I am that someone pushed her over that balcony. Florence hated carrying my child, she was always complaining of her swollen body, and how ungainly it made her, but I do not think she would have taken any risks. And I think Urmston is involved in this somehow. His coming up to me yesterday was just too convenient.’
‘Well, I never liked the fellow,’ stated Richard. ‘I suspected him at the start, especially when I discovered he had come into a fortune within a week of the necklace going missing.’
‘Did he now? That is something I didnotknow, and it sounds very promising.’
Richard raised one hand. ‘Sorry to disappoint you, but it appears there is nothing in it. I made my own enquiries into the matter. Oh, I know it was some years later, but the facts are indisputable. The day after the tragedy Urmston left Arrandale and went to Newmarket. He met a young man there, a Lord Thriplow. He had just inherited the title and arrived in Newmarket eager to spend his money. Urmston took his whole fortune in one sitting. Poor boy blew his brains out the next day, but that didn’t worry Urmston. It’s an unedifying tale, but there are plenty of witnesses to it.’
Wolf grimaced. ‘Yes, people remember that sort of thing.’
‘Thriplow’s money did not last him very long,’ Richard continued. ‘Urmston soon gambled it away, as he did his wife’s dowry.’
Wolf’s brows rose. ‘So he married, did he?’
‘Aye, but his wife died soon after the wedding,’ said Richard. ‘Rumour has it he mistreated her. One thing is certain, he has no fortune now.’
‘And he told me he thought Meesden had taken the diamonds.’ Wolf frowned. ‘Perhaps he is not our villain after all.’
‘Or he and Meesden were in it together and she tricked him,’ suggested Richard.
Lady Phyllida shuddered. ‘I do not know Sir Charles Urmston well, but I never liked him, and not merely because he wanted to seduce my stepdaughter. I could easily believe he would steal from his own cousin.’
‘And at the time he did notknowhe was going to win a fortune at Newmarket, did he?’ Grace reasoned.
‘That is true,’ Wolf conceded. ‘But if Meesden did hoax him, why wait until now to find her?’
There was a soft tap on the door and Mrs Graham peeped in.
‘Grace, my love. Lord Hathersedge told me you had been taken ill.’ She came in, carefully closing the door behind her.
Wolf jumped up. ‘Pray be easy, ma’am, your niece is very well. Hermaladywas a ruse to throw our host off the scent of what could have been an embarrassing meeting.’
Mrs Graham’s anxious look disappeared as he made the introductions.
‘I would not have recognised you,’ she said, smiling at Richard. ‘But then, I have not seen you since you were a schoolboy. I hope you will be able to help your brother, sir.’
‘Aye, if he will let me.’
‘I would rather none of you were involved in this,’ declared Wolf quickly.
‘Pho,’ cried Richard. ‘That is uncharitable of you, Brother.’
‘None of you seem to appreciate the danger of associating with a felon.’
