Lady Agnes said, “Gilbert, come and meet Miss Belgrave.”
Gilbert and his sister still had the contrasting looks so evident in the childhood photo. Where Lady Agnes had dark hair and eyes, Gilbert’s hair was fair, and his eyes were a light blue. I’d met him briefly and remembered him as a rather rumpled young man with a casual, jolly manner. He crossed the room and took Lady Agnes’s outstretched hand and patted it. “I thought I heard voices in here. Gave me quite a turn.”
He shifted his attention to me. “No need to introduce us, Aggie. Delighted to see you again, Miss Belgrave. I believe we met at a picnic. The Daltons’, wasn’t it? I confess that afternoon is a bit fuzzy. Too many gin rickeys, don’t you know.”
“Yes, it was near the Thames. There was boating.”
He still had that same mellow manner and easy smile.
“That’s right. Thomas and Jigs managed to overturn the boat that we were in.” He tilted his head toward Lady Agnes. “Which had nothing to do with the gin rickeys, I assure you.”
“I find that highly doubtful,” Lady Agnes said.
The dousing hadn’t perturbed Gilbert. He’d brushed away the water and said, “Good thing it’s a sunny day. It will dry.” It seemed his lenient attitude about his appearance hadn’t changed either. Today his coat didn’t fit smoothly over his shoulders, his collar was crushed, and a trace of what looked to be jam spotted his tie.
Gilbert ignored the knowing look on Lady Agnes’s face. “Are you enjoying the tour of Mulvern House, Miss Belgrave? Have you taken her to the grand gallery, Aggie?”
“We’ve just come from there,” Lady Agnes said. “But I’m not showing her the house. Miss Belgrave is going to help me convince the police to reopen the investigation into Uncle Lawrence’s death. She’s agreed to take our case.”
A frisson of excitement surged through me at her words—I had a case!—but I’d only agreed to give her my opinion after a thorough investigation of the facts. Before I could politely point that out, Gilbert cut his gaze in my direction. “Really?”
His tone suggested he expected Lady Agnes to declare her statement was a joke. But there was also another note I couldn’t quite identify. Was it fear? I wasn’t sure.
“Yes.” Lady Agnes said, her voice adamant. “Miss Belgrave has recently had two successes in sorting out rather . . . um . . . delicate matters. I think she’s the perfect person to help us.”
“I see.” A coolness infused his tone. The warm and affable man who had reminisced about summer boating had vanished. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to stir everything up again.”
“Again?” Lady Agnes said. “Nothing’s settled. Unless we do something, the newspapers will continue to bring up Uncle Lawrence’s death again and again. I was just telling Miss Belgrave about that morning when Hodges found Uncle Lawrence.”
“I don’t think—”
“Yes, Gilbert, I know you don’t think it’s a good idea, but Miss Belgrave has already agreed. I’ll go forward with you or without you, but I’d appreciate it if you’d tell Miss Belgrave what you remember about Uncle Lawrence’s death.”
Gilbert drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “All right, I’ll give Miss Belgrave the details, but only because I know how you are, Aggie, when you get a bee in your bonnet.” He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and some of his good humor returned to his attitude. “Completely unreasonable.”
Lady Agnes raised an eyebrow but didn’t bother to defend herself. “Go on, tell Miss Belgrave what happened.”
“There’s not much to tell, really.” Gilbert sobered. He pulled at his wrinkled collar. “Hodges knocked on my door a little after six thirty. He told me the situation, and I came here with him.” Gilbert halted, his gaze going to the four poster. “I could see from the first moment that Uncle Lawrence was gone. There was nothing to be done except send for the doctor, which we did immediately. Then I went to wake Aggie and Nora.”
The order he named his relatives was interesting. I wondered if Gilbert really did find Aggie and tell her the news before he told his wife. And I hadn’t missed another detail. Gilbert and Nora must have been sleeping in separate bedchambers if Nora hadn’t been awakened when Hodges went to alert Gilbert. It wasn’t that unusual for couples of their status to have separate bedchambers, but it seemed a little early in their marriage for them to be sleeping apart. But what did I know? I was an unmarried young woman.
Lady Agnes picked up the narrative. “It didn’t take Dr. Thomas long to arrive. It was while he was here that I noticed the note on the desk.” She ran her hand over a fur cuff of her dress as she spoke, stroking it in an absentminded way. “I went over and picked it up. That was when my hand began to shake—when I read it. My mind simply couldn’t process the words on the page. Uncle Lawrence wouldn’t commit suicide.”
Gilbert put a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “As the doctor told us, these things often don’t make sense. You may have to accept that.”
“No.” She shrugged off his hand. “Not until we’ve explored every other option. The police did a slipshod job of looking into Uncle Lawrence’s death. Once it’s been thoroughly investigated, if there’s no other answer . . . well, then I’ll accept it. We have to know the truth. I won’t accept supposition and conjecture.”
Lady Agnes touched her forehead, and her fierce tone faded. “I’m sorry, Gilbert. I shouldn’t bite your head off like that. Forgive me.”
“There’s nothing to forgive. We’re all a bit touchy. I’m sure Miss Belgrave understands and will make allowances for it.”
“Of course,” I said, trying to work out the dynamic between them. Lady Agnes had the more forceful personality of the siblings. Gilbert had yielded to her insistence I take on the case rather quickly, I thought. But apparently Lady Agnes did care what her brother thought of her and didn’t want to hurt him.
“Did you want to ask Gilbert anything else?” Lady Agnes asked. “He has a tendency to disappear off to his club, so you should ask him now while he’s here.”
“Yes, a few things,” I said, my mind spinning through possible questions. “Did anyone leave the drawing room the evening of the dinner party?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Gilbert said. “Rather hard to remember, you know. It was just a regular dinner party. We had no idea that the next morning . . .”
“Of course. But it could be important. Did anyone slip away?”
“No—well, when we left the table to join the ladies in the drawing room, Mr. Rathburn went to—um . . .”
“Use the facilities?” Lady Agnes asked, her distress at her outburst fading as she returned to her matter-of-fact manner.
Gilbert cleared his throat with a sidelong glance at her. “Um, yes, I believe so.”
“Really, Gilbert, you don’t have to be so namby-pamby,” Lady Agnes said. “We’re gathering facts here.”
“That’s correct,” I said. “Anyone else?”
“No, not that I remember.”
“And did you see anyone go into Lord Mulvern’s room that evening?”
“Only Hodges, but that was perfectly normal.”
“Did you go into his room?” I asked. I felt the weight of Lady Agnes’s gaze on me as I waited for Gilbert to reply.
“Me? No—certainly not. I had no reason to.”
“Calm down, Gilbert,” Lady Agnes said. “Miss Belgrave isn’t accusing you of anything, are you?” She emphasized the last two words, and I heard her warning.
“Certainly not. Simply gathering facts.” I’d thought if Gilbert had stepped into his uncle’s room, he might have noticed something unusual, but it seemed merely asking him if he’d entered the room bothered him, which was intriguing. I made a mental note to ask everyone if they’d actually stepped into Lord Mulvern’s room so I could see their reaction.
Lady Agnes checked her wristwatch. “Well, I believe that’s all we have time for now. Miss Belgrave is joining us for dinner tonight,” she explained to Gilbert, then turned to me. “Mr. Rathburn is dining with us tonight as well. It will be a good opportunity for you to meet him and lay the groundwork for a future conversation about the dinner party that night.”
“Good luck with that. Rathburn only talks about himself,” Gilbert said.
Lady Agnes sent him a repressive look, but then said, “Mr. Rathburn can be a bit . . . challenging.” Her tone changed as she said briskly, “Now, we still need to discuss your fee and send for your things, Miss Belgrave.” Gilbert looked puzzled, and Lady Agnes said to him, “Miss Belgrave is staying with us for a few days.”
The news seemed to unsettle him, but then his good manners took over. “Happy to have you,” he said before I followed Lady Agnes out of the room. I had the distinct impression he meant exactly the opposite.