Chapter 7

Ravi eased out a small sigh as his brother’s possible lover, and a suspect in his case, left the room. What a mess! When would he have time to discuss that with Sanjay? His shoulders tensed. Dr Carlingford’s glances gave him no clues about what she knew, and given the illegality of the situation, he’d had to work hard during the conversation to keep Sanjay’s secret. Any law that stopped people loving each other was ridiculous, but on the scale of how many daft laws there were, he didn’t think it would be dealt with for a long time. Too long for his brother. A fresh wave of guilt slammed him in the chest, tightening around his heart. He would have to find a bride soon before Sanjay lashed out and got himself arrested. Having a child to teach would give him a reason to keep the estate and its future in perspective. The idea of bringing up his children on the estate, with Sanjay offering sage advice, normally made him wary. Today, in the presence of Dr Carlingford, his heart started to race.

‘Excuse me. The details of the case, if you please,’ said Dr Carlingford.

Ravi sat up straight and refocused on his job, stamping his emotions down. One matter at a time. He must win this opportunity, before he could move forward with fulfilling his obligation to the Dalhinge title. Before he could examine his responses to Dr Carlingford, or wonder about small feisty versions of her scampering happily in the corridors.

‘My apologies. I was just compiling my thoughts,’ he said. She raised her eyebrows. He cleared his throat. ‘Would you like the negative or the positive first?’

‘Tell me the worst. How bad is it?’ she asked. He paused, dismissing the idea of mentioning her brother. Perhaps, he should see if she came to that conclusion herself.

‘I visited both newspapers that printed the race cards, and the results. I sighted the original letters that came from the Hunt Club, and I traced the source of the various telegraphs. Unfortunately, all this evidence points to the Carlingford residence. Either someone in that house was behind this scam, or someone has gone to considerable effort to make it appear like someone in that house did it,’ he said.

‘The telegraphs came from near our house?’

‘No, they were sent from a small post office on the North Road. Anyone with a horse could have travelled there, sent the telegraph, and returned back to their life without anyone being any wiser.’

‘So how did they point to Father?’

‘The person who booked the telegraph handed the choice of words to the postal worker on a piece of notepaper. The postal worker filed the note, and it has the Carlingford Enterprises billhead on the piece of paper.’

She gasped, her eyes wide. ‘But only Father uses those. He keeps them in his desk for special correspondence.’

‘Precisely. It is the key piece of evidence that Officer Wedsley used to arrest your father, and the only proof we have that this scheme originated at your father’s desk.’

‘There is a distinct possibility that someone knew that and used it to set him up. Father has extensive businesses and competitors are always trying to find advantage,’ she said.

‘Can we try to exclude the former first? Who lives with your father, and is it remotely plausible that they might have a motive?’

‘Fine. The Carlingford family consists of Father, Mother, myself, and my brother. You’ve met all of us, bar Mother, but her only motive would be to make more money to gain more status. Her sole goal is to get some randy old Duke to marry me, so she can make that final step into the peerage.’ Ravi blinked at the ferocious tone. Her ears and cheeks were flushed pink, and her hands moved quickly in the air with each word. Her words only reiterated what he already had discovered about her family, except the new information about her mother. No wonder she was so upset when she overhead Sanjay scheming. He swallowed down an apology, and tried to keep on topic.

‘And your brother?’

‘He never outspends his portion, and he tends to keep to himself. Even if he was being blackmailed …’ She paused and shook her head. He narrowed his eyes as the possibility of blackmail entered the picture. He would run it past Sanjay later. ‘No, he’s too clever to get into that situation. Too clever to be discovered if he did try a scheme like this,’ she said with a deep furrow between her finely arched eyebrows.

‘And whoever did this was discovered,’ he said. She glared at him, and he had to bite back a smile.

‘Hence the question becomes: was the misprint accidental, and therefore the scam was perpetrated by someone in our household? Or was the misprint created to make the scam public, and therefore a convoluted attempt to get Father’s attention away from his business at, presumably, a critical time?’ she said. Ravi could see Dr Carlingford’s brain whirring behind those gold-streaked brown eyes. She tilted her head to the side, and dropped her hands to the table.

‘I know you don’t want it to be your brother, but money tends to make a mockery of loyalty,’ he said. She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

‘As evidenced by your lightning quick switch from Woodleyville to us,’ she said. He choked on a laugh, sat up straighter in his chair and tried to get the conversation back to the topic at hand.

‘The level of detail in the letters sent from the faux Hunt Club is impressive. My initial impression was that only someone who worked at a similar organisation could have done this, because the letters conveyed a deep understanding of the administration of a race meeting.’

‘The only thing Wil knows about racing is how to parade in the member’s stand,’ she said. Ravi wondered at the change he heard in her voice. A doubt niggled. His instincts screamed that it couldn’t be her. Or was he blinded by his attraction to her?

‘Does your father encourage a particularly high level of competition between his offspring?’ he asked in a cautious tone. She pinched her lips together.

‘No. That comes entirely from Mother.’ She rested her elbows on the table and dropped her head into her hands. He held his breath. If she started crying, well, he had no idea what he would do. But before he had finished that worried thought, she lifted her head, squared her shoulders, and stared at him with narrowed eyes.

‘You are right. We can’t discount anyone yet,’ she said. Her tight voice had a squeak at the edges of her words.

He pulled off his glasses and cleaned them with the cloth he kept in his jacket pocket. ‘Do we need to visit your father to get a full overview of all the business threats?’ he asked.

She shook her head slowly. ‘Even discounting the fact that I’ve been ill for a week and may have missed anything new, you’d think that any aspect of the business that might have been involved—a competitor or the like—would have been in existence while this scam was being run,’ she said.

‘Yes. Although it may not have become apparent until your father was removed from the business.’

‘Oh,’ she gasped. ‘You mean to say that if the scam was put in place to get Father imprisoned, then the advantage must come while he is not in the chair, so to speak.’

‘Yes.’ Her shoulders drooped marginally, and she looked up at the ceiling. After a pause, she sighed and bit her lip. He shouldn’t stare at her mouth. Her perfectly kissable, mobile lips. He yearned to kiss them, to discover if she tasted as sharp as her words, like nimbu ka achaar with the punch of chili and lime. His mouth watered and he swallowed. Stop. She is the client.

‘I can’t figure it out,’ she said. He blinked as her gaze dropped back to his.

‘Could it be internal at Carlingford Enterprises? What is the structure of the business?’ he asked.

She grinned, a sly half-grin that made him lean towards her.

‘Are you telling me that you instructed clients to invest without understanding what they were investing in? That’s not very thorough of you,’ she said. An itch appeared just above his right ear.

‘No. Of course I did due diligence, but my clients’ only invested in projects run by Carlingford Enterprises, not the main company,’ he said.

She winked.

‘Your clients couldn’t invest in Carlingford Enterprises, even if they wanted to. It’s a holding company that owns many other companies. Your clients would have invested in those other businesses that the holding company set-up,’ she said. As she spoke, her grin faded but her lips and face became more mobile. He found himself leaning towards her, drawn to her energy. Even her hands joined in, flowing in the air as she articulated the details. ‘Of course, one of our largest companies is called Carlingford Manufacturing Enterprises, and many people confuse it with the holding company. You aren’t the first person to do that.’

‘If Carlingford Enterprises owns a range of other businesses, and some of those businesses are open to investor ownership, who owns the parent company?’ he asked.

‘I’ve always assumed that Father owns the entirety of the parent company, but he may have brought other investors in during its early days,’ she said.

‘Explain, please.’

‘All businesses have investment structures before they can grow. I don’t know all the details, but based on Father’s actions, I believe he may have had investors in the past. I’d guess he has since bought them out. That would account for the way he runs the business without a restraint that would come if he had silent partners.’

‘You have a good handle on strategy. Remind me not to play chess with you.’ She laughed, a pleased chuckle.

‘Wil is the chess master. He works hard not to appear too smart, but he’s terribly astute.’

Ravi tapped his thumb on the edge of the table. Wil did a great job of appearing to be a pretty fop with not a thought in his head. If Wil was smart, he hid it well, and if he could hide his intelligence, what else might he be hiding?

‘Is he? This case has the potential to tear your family apart, and you need to be prepared in case the perpetrator is someone you care about,’ he warned, but she only shook her head.

‘There is no reason for Wil to sabotage Father. They may not always move in the same direction—’ She paused, tilting her head slightly. ‘Wil is a solid contributor.’

‘For example?’ Ravi wanted to believe her. He took off his glasses and polished them. In his experience at Woodleyville, money corrupted family ties, making a mockery of the relationships. Claire could easily be manipulated by a tricky son who wanted everything, who didn’t want to share with his brilliant sister. How galling might that be? And if this Wil character was also hunting Sanjay? He should warn his brother.

‘Wil’s ideas come from the clouds—he has an ability to see the future, I mean who would have thought that investing in toilet paper was such a great plan? Yet, it’s one of our greatest earners. Flimsy paper that people buy only to throw away, when they could just use the news-sheets for free!’

‘And do you also contribute?’

‘Oh,’ she said, waving her hand dismissively. ‘I’ve had a few ideas, but they were all just extensions of what we currently do. A few improvements to process that resulted in lower cost—that type of thing.’

She might think that her sibling rivalry came from her mother, but it seemed to him that her father pitted her against her brother in competition regularly. He must thank his own mother for his balanced childhood when she returned from the sub-continent. He rubbed his eyes and replaced his glasses.

‘You’ve painted quite the picture of family involvement in the company,’ he said.

‘Yes, both Wil and I have plenty of reasons to see it succeed. Neither of us would do anything to put that in jeopardy. I don’t see how knowing this is going to solve Father’s case.’ She held his gaze and waited for him to budge. He resisted the urge to scratch his jaw. He was becoming addicted to learning more about Dr Carlingford and what drove her. From the moment she’d arrived in his office, name dropping the peerage to gain advantage, she’d interested him. He wanted to capture her mouth with his, and draw out all her secrets. He recognised her drive in himself, and knew that part of the appeal was that she’d bludgeoned her way past the hurdles that society threw at her. Just as he needed to.

‘I have copies of the notepaper in my office. Perhaps you should come and see for yourself,’ he said, even though the idea of having her lean over his desk to read paperwork made his blood surge. All those curves, wrapped tightly in her fashionable gown, close to him as they peered at the same piece of paper. He cursed himself for suggesting such proximity. He must find a way to focus on the case, to get his own legal practice, and stop thinking about Dr Carlingford as a vibrant woman that his body yearned for. From the way she held herself apart, she obviously didn’t have any of the same desire for him.

‘Great idea. I have a life to go and live. I need to get this done, so I can get on with that,’ she said. She started to stand up.

‘I have one further question,’ he said. She sat down again in a rustle of satin, and a hint of violets drifted towards him. He closed his eyes momentarily as he pictured her draped in regal purple silk, standing barefoot in a field of violets, with her gold-streaked hair long and loose around her shoulders.

‘Yes?’ Her impatient tone made his eyes pop open. On anyone else, that tone would have sent a cool shiver over him, but from her it only amused him and increased the heat throbbing under his skin.

‘Does your father intend for Wil to take over the business in time? Is there a possibility that this scheme has been set-up by Mr Carlingford to test Wil’s ability?’ he asked. Wil hid his apparent cleverness effectively, perhaps Mr Carlingford Snr required proof of Wil’s capabilities.

‘You are too perceptive for your own good,’ she said with a dry laugh. ‘It has crossed my mind that this is an elaborate test on Father’s part to find the person who can untangle this puzzle. Father set-up Carlingford Enterprises as a meritocracy; people earn their positions no matter where they started from. His core belief is that connections don’t matter.’ She shrugged and pursed her lips, an action that drew all his focus there. ‘I doubt that Wil would be given the position without having to work for it. But this belief of Father’s has been an advantage for me.’

‘Why?’

‘I gained this level of education because Father doesn’t believe that women are less capable than men. It’s a highly unusual perspective and I do appreciate that.’ Her tone rose as she spoke, each world punching out.

‘You’ve certainly proved him right. Are you a potential successor? Do you aspire to lead?’ he said.

She closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath before opening her eyes to glare at him. ‘No, I do not. You misunderstand me. I have absolutely no aspiration to run the business. It is one thing to make suggestions, even great suggestions, from the background. And quite another to be visibly in charge. I believe that Wilberforce would make a more acceptable leader—from the point of view of our investors, customers, and society.’

‘I see,’ he said slowly, even though he didn’t. She’d be great. Imagine all that contained force leading a business.

‘Do you? Carlingford Enterprises would suffer under my reign. Simply because I’m a woman. Father can’t see it. And as much as I might want to prove society wrong, I will be proved right, and the cost of that isn’t worth it. Perhaps my great-granddaughters could run the business. If it lasts that long,’ she said.

‘But—’

‘No.’ She spoke over him. ‘We are in the year of 1888—women can’t vote. Barely any girls get more than a basic education, and most don’t even get that. Men rule the world. It’s absurd to think that men would do business with a female tycoon. Father is blind to the impact. And don’t think about this from my point of view.’ She stood up, and started pacing along the far wall of the dining room. Her long gown swished in the air as she spun around at the end of the room, and the gas lamps on the wall silhouetted her. His hands itched with the need to trace her elegant shape. He wanted the weight of her against him, to capture all that energy with his body. He shifted on his chair to make himself more comfortable as his desire pressed into the fabric of his unmentionables.

‘Of course, I know I could run Carlingford Enterprises and do it better than most. But I must consider the bigger picture. This isn’t about me. You saw how the men treated me at Scotland Yard. Now imagine them as customers or investors, and their reaction to buying a product from a female-led company. We wouldn’t lose a few customers—we’d lose most of them. There wouldn’t be a business to run, no matter how hard I work or how good I am.’ Energy poured off her in waves, a cascade of bruising hurt that society could stifle her so much. There was no rebuttal to her argument, but he wished he could invent time travel and see her succeed in a time when all those problems weren’t so substantial. She kept moving back and forth along the far wall of the room, and he was glad that the table provided a barrier between them.

‘If all of that is true, and I believe it is,’ he added the second part quickly as she turned to him with her hands in motion.

‘It’s true. Men—’ she glanced in his direction then looked away, ‘—most of them, anyway, are fragile creatures who don’t like threats to their position in the world. The repercussions to the business would be immense.’ She paused, and dropped her hands to her sides.

‘Then why are you so invested in finding the answer to this case? Why isn’t Wil helping your father?’

‘I—’ She paused. ‘I can’t speak for Wil, but I’m doing this for Father because I care for him,’ she said. Her hands spread wide in front of her. ‘He is my champion. The only person who has seen me as a brain with potential. I would do anything for him.’ The depth of admiration in her voice called to him, and he shifted in his chair, his legs relaxing and spreading under the table, and his back twisting so he faced her square on. He wanted her to speak about him like that, to care for him that much, for her to know he saw her in the same light. A smile built slowly and warmth filled his chest, as if she was the sun shining on him and heating his whole world.

‘Even take over the business?’ He couldn’t help tease her, and his smile stretched wide. She grinned back at him, and the warmth inside his chest surged.

‘I just told you. I won’t be doing that,’ she exclaimed. He laughed, and she inhaled sharply. ‘Oh, you said that to rile me.’

‘Yes.’ He stood up and gestured to the door. ‘Shall we look at the notepaper?’ She nodded, walked around the end of the table, and swept into the hallway.