Late For The Wedding

Five

The servants’ floor mirrored the same scene of confusion, curiosity, and excited dread that Lavinia had seen on the lower floors. Small groups of people hovered in the narrow, low-ceilinged corridor, talking in soft voices.

At the sight of Lavinia and Tobias, all conversation ended abruptly. Everyone turned to look at the intruders from the guest floors.

Tobias focused on the nearest person, a young maid in her nightclothes.

“Where are the stairs to the roof?” he demanded.

The girl gasped and went as still as a rabbit confronted by a wolf.

She gaped at Tobias, eyes widening with fear. She made several attempts to speak but only managed a meaningless stammer.

“The roof, girl,” Tobias repeated, voice accented with faint echoes of impending doom. Where is the bloody staircase?”

Her companions retreated rapidly, leaving her to face Tobias alone.

“Puh-puh-please, sir-” The girl stopped altogether when Tobias loomed closer. She looked as if she was about to burst into tears.

Lavinia sighed. It was time to take charge.

“Enough, sir.” She stepped between Tobias and the maid, who was now trembling visibly. “You are terrifying her. Allow me to deal with this.”

Tobias came to a halt, clearly annoyed at having been deprived of his prey. He did not take his icy gaze off the shivering girl.

“Very well,” he growled to Lavinia. “But be quick about it. There is no time to waste.”

She did not blame the poor maid, Lavinia thought. Tobias was extremely intimidating at the moment. His attitude tonight put her in mind of the first time she had met him.

She recalled the occasion quite vividly. On that fateful night in Rome, he had swept into the small antiquities shop she and her niece, Emeline, had operated and proceeded to smash every statue in sight. She had thought at first that he was a madman, but then she had seen the chilling intelligence in his eyes and realized that he knew precisely what he was about. Somehow that had only made him seem all the more menacing.

“Calm yourself,” she said to the maid. She fingered the silver pendant at her throat and spoke in the low, soothing tones that she used when she wished to induce a light mesmeric trance. “Look at me. There is no need to be afraid. All is well. No need to be afraid. There is nothing to fear.”

The girl blinked once or twice and tore her anxious gaze away from Tobias’s implacable face. She stared at the pendant.

“What is your name?” Lavinia asked gently.

“Nell. My name is Nell, ma’am.”

“Very good, Nell. Now, where is the staircase that leads to the roof?”

“At the end of the hall, ma’am. But Drum has instructed the staff not to go up onto the roof. He’s afraid someone might fall. The wall is very low, you see.”

“I understand.” Out of the corner of her eye, Lavinia saw Tobias move off down the hall, heading toward the staircase. She was about to follow, but she paused for one last question. “Do you know all of the members of the household staff, Nell?”

“Yes, ma’am. We all come from the village or one of the farms.”

The girl was talking freely now. There was no need to hold her attention with the pendant. Lavinia stopped manipulating the necklace. The maid blinked again and raised her eyes to meet Lavinia’s.

“Are you acquainted with a maid who is somewhat taller than yourself and perhaps a few years older? She has very bright blond hair. Lots of heavy corkscrew curls. This evening she wore a large cap trimmed with a blue ribbon. It looked new and it had a brim that was much wider than yours.”

“A new cap with a blue ribbon?” Nell seized on what was evidently the most important aspect of the description. “No, ma’am. If one of us was lucky enough to get a new cap, we’d all know about it, I can tell ye that much.”

“Are any of your companions tall and blond?”

“Well, Annie’s tall but her hair is dark. Betty’s got yellow hair but she’s shorter than me.” The girl’s features knotted with concentration. “I can’t think of anyone quite like the girl you described.”

“I see. Thank you, Nell. You’ve been very helpful.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Nell gave a tiny curtsy and cast an uncertain glance down the hall at Tobias, who was opening a door. She swallowed uneasily. “Will sir be wanting to ask more questions?”

“Don’t be alarmed. If he wants to talk to you again, I will be sure to accompany him.”

Nell looked relieved. “Thank ye, ma’am.”

Lavinia went swiftly down the corridor. By the time she got to the staircase door, Tobias had already disappeared. Lacking a candle, she was obliged to feel her way up the narrow flight of steps. But when she reached the top, the door was open. She stepped out into the moonlight and saw Tobias at the low wall. He was looking down into the gardens. She walked toward him.

“Is that the place where Fullerton fell?” she asked.

“Yes, I think so. There are marks in the dirt on the wall here. Do you see them?”

He raised the candle to angle the light across the barrier. There were several smears in the dust, soot, and grime that caked the stone. They certainly appeared to be traces left by a man grasping desperately to keep himself from plummeting to a certain death. A chill went through her.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I see.”

“It would appear that the woman lured him up onto the roof. Tobias paced deliberately along the wall. You said Fullerton was quite drunk. He would no doubt have been unsteady on his feet. It would not have required much strength to topple him over the edge, merely careful timing.”

“I know that for some reason you have yet to explain, you are convinced this was murder,” she said quietly. “But I have seen nothing yet that indicates it could not have been an accident.”

“What of the tall, blond maid?”

She hesitated. “Nell could not think of anyone who matched my description,” she admitted.

He paused at that and looked at her. In the candlelight, his face had a decidedly sinister aspect. She could understand Nell’s reaction. If one were not well acquainted with Tobias when he was on the hunt, she thought, one would be strongly inclined to run for one’s life.

“One of the guests, perhaps,” he said slowly. “Dressed in a costume that she wore to the ball earlier this evening?”

She summoned up the brief glimpse she’d had of Fullerton’s female companion. “I do not think it was a costume that any of Beaumont’s guests would have worn to a ball. It was too ordinary, too realistic, if you see what I mean. The materials were not fine enough for any of the ladies here tonight. The gown was fashioned of a dull, sturdy fabric. The shoes, stockings, and apron looked very much like those worn by Beaumont’s chambermaids.”

“Not a costume, then, but a true disguise,” he said slowly.

“Tobias, I think it is time you told me precisely what is going on.”

He said nothing for a moment, resuming his prowl of the rooftop instead. She knew that he was looking for other signs of what had taken place here a short time ago. She feared that he would attempt to avoid her question. But when he reached the far corner he began to speak.

“I have told you that during the war I conducted several confidential inquiries for the Crown on behalf of my friend Lord Crackenburne.”

“Yes, yes, I know that you were a spy, sir. Pray get to the meat of the matter.”

“I prefer to avoid the term spy when discussing my former profession.” He leaned down to take a closer look at something he saw in the dust. “It has such unsavory connotations.”

“I am well aware that the profession is not considered a proper career for a gentleman. But there is no need for either of us to mince words when we are alone like this. Indeed, you were a spy. I was obliged to engage in trade in order to survive in Rome. Neither of us possesses the sort of past one would wish to have made common knowledge in elevated social circles. But that is hardly important at the moment. Continue with your tale.”

He straightened and stood gazing out into the night. “Bloody hell, Lavinia, I am not even sure where to start.”

“Why don’t you begin by telling me why you took that ring from Fullerton’s night table.”

“Ah, you noticed that, did you?” Tobias smiled a little. “Very observant. You are making great progress in acquiring the skills of your new profession. Yes, I took the damned ring.”

“Why? You are no thief, sir.”

He reached into his pocket and took out the ring. For a moment he examined it in the light of the candle. “Even if I were inclined toward thievery, I would not have willingly pinched this particular bit of jewelry. I took it because I am quite certain that it was left there for me to find.”

Ice melted slowly down her spine. She walked to where he stood and looked at the ring on his palm. In the flickering candlelight she could make out a miniature gold coffin. Tobias opened the lid with the edge of one finger. A ghastly little death’s-head stared up at her from a bed of crossed bones.

“A memento-mori ring,” she said, frowning slightly. “They were quite popular in past eras, although why anyone would want to be constantly reminded of the inevitability of death is beyond me.”

“Three years ago, an aging countess, a wealthy widow, and two gentlemen of means died in a series of what appeared to be accidents and suicides. One afternoon I chanced to engage my friend Crackenburne in a discussion of the events. It occurred to me in the course of the conversation that, in each case, someone had gained substantially from the unexpected demise.”

“You refer to inheritances?”

“Yes. In all four cases. The end result was that several large fortunes, a couple of sizable estates, and a title or two changed hands.”

“What struck you as odd about that? Such things happen when wealthy, titled people die.”

“Indeed. But there were other aspects of the deaths that aroused my curiosity. The two suicides, for example, seemed unlikely to me. Crackenburne, who is always in the know when it comes to the affairs of the ton, was not aware that either of the two men who died in that manner suffered from melancholia or desperately ill health. Neither had sustained any recent financial losses.”

“And the accidents?”

“The aging countess went through the ice that covered a pond while out taking a walk on a cold winter afternoon. The wealthy widow fell down a flight of stairs while alone in her house one night. She broke her neck.”

There was a short silence. Reluctantly Lavinia looked toward the place where it seemed Fullerton had made a frantic attempt to avoid the fall that had killed him.

Tobias followed her gaze and nodded once. “Indeed, her death was not unlike Fullerton’s.”

“Continue, sir.”

Tobias resumed his slow pacing. “Crackenburne urged me to look into the deaths. Discreetly, of course. No suggestion of murder had been implied, and none of the families in question would have welcomed one.”

“What did you discover?”

“In the course of making some inquiries into the demise of the widow, I learned that her housekeeper had found a very unpleasant item of jewelry near the body.”

Apprehension made her palms grow cold. “A memento-mori ring?”

“Yes.” Tobias closed his hand tightly around the ring. “The housekeeper had served her employer for many years and was positive that the ring was not part of the widow’s collection of jewels. When I investigated the two suicides, I was told that similar odd rings had been found in the libraries of both men. Neither man’s valet recognized the ring.”

She was suddenly keenly aware of the slight chill in the night air. “I begin to perceive why you are so concerned about Fullerton’s death.”

“A fortnight after I began my inquiries, there was a fifth death. An elderly peer had apparently taken an overdose of laudanum. But this time I learned of the suspicious suicide almost immediately, thanks to Crackenburne’s connections. With his assistance, I was able to get into the house before the body was removed and study the bedchamber where the man had died. I found the ring on his desk. But that was not all I discovered.”

“What else did you learn?”

“There was also some mud on the windowsill. It looked as though someone had climbed into the bed chamber that night, perhaps to tamper with the laudanum. In the garden below the bed chamber, I discovered a scrap of fine black silk that had snagged on a tree branch. I eventually located the shop where it had been sold and got a description of the man who had purchased it.”

“Brilliant work, sir.”

“Other clues came to light.” Tobias paused. “I will not bore you with the rest of the details. Suffice it to say that one thing led to another and eventually I identified the killer. But he realized that I was closing in on him.”

“Did he flee the country?”

Tobias put one foot on the low stone wall and braced his forearm on his thigh. He appeared to be lost in whatever he was looking at on the dark horizon.

“No,” he said eventually. “He considered himself a gentleman who had challenged me to a lethal duel of sorts. When he perceived that he had lost, he chose to put a pistol to his head.”

“I see.”

“I found his collection of memento-mori rings together with his journal of accounts detailing the crimes stored in a hidden safe in his study.”

“Good heavens, he actually kept a journal of accounts?”

“Yes.”

“What of the rings? Why did he leave them at the scenes of his crimes?”

“I believe that the rings were his signature, his way of taking credit for the murders.”

She stared at him, appalled. “You mean he signed his horrid deeds the way an artist signs a painting?”

“Yes. He took pride in his skills, you see. Obviously, he could not risk boasting openly in his club, so he settled for leaving a memento-mori ring among the victims’ possessions.”

“Thank God you realized what he was about and put a stop to his career.”

“The entire affair was hushed up, of course. There was never any direct proof of murder, and none of the wealthy families involved wanted to invite the scandal of an investigation.” Tobias’s voice hardened. “I have often thought that if I had paid closer attention and acted more quickly, I might have saved some lives.”

“Rubbish.” She went to stand directly in front of him. “That is quite enough of that sort of talk, Tobias. I will not have you blaming yourself because you did not solve the case immediately. It sounds as if no one even realized that people were being murdered until you put the pieces of the puzzle together. Obviously you identified an extremely clever killer who would no doubt have continued to murder indefinitely if you had not stopped him.”

Tobias clenched his hand very fiercely around the ring and said nothing.

“Did this man commit murder merely for the sport of it?” she asked. “Or did he have some crazed motive?”

“There is no doubt but that he did it, in part, for the money,” Tobias said. “He took fees for each of the deaths. The transactions were all neatly recorded in the journal of accounts, complete with the dates of the deeds and the amounts he had received. He was quite careful to protect his clients. Their names were not written down. Evidently they, in turn, never knew the identity of the man they had hired to do cold-blooded murder.”

“A professional murderer for hire,” she whispered. What a truly appalling way to make a living. You said this man was a gentleman?”

“Indeed. He possessed excellent manners, an eye for fashion, and a good deal of charm. He was well-liked by both men and women. He never lacked for invitations. Belonged to two or three clubs. In short, he moved freely in Society.” Tobias looked at the little death’s-head.

“That was his hunting ground, you see.”

“Hunting ground. What an unpleasant turn of phrase.”

“He found his clients and his victims in the polite world. He had nothing but disdain for ordinary footpads, thieves, and murderers.

“He did not consider himself a common criminal.”

“Yes, well, as we have discovered, sir, there are any number of criminals born into respectable circles.” She paused, concerned more than ever by his haunted mood. The events of that case three years ago had obviously been very personal for him. Her intuition flared.

“Tobias, were you acquainted with this person before you learned that he murdered people for money? Did you consider him a friend?”

“There was a time when I would have trusted Zachary Elland with my life. In fact, there were occasions when I did precisely that.”

The stark admission told her everything she needed to know.

“I am so sorry.” She touched his shoulder. “How terrible it must have been for you to discover the truth.”

“It was our bloody friendship that kept me from seeing the truth for so long.” The hand resting on his thigh tightened in a gesture of self-disgust. “He counted on that connection. He used it in the vicious game he played with me. He even pretended to help me investigate the killings.”

“Tobias, you must not talk as if you failed. You solved the case.”

He paid no attention to her. Instead, he gazed out over the moonlit woods beyond the gardens. “Crackenburne introduced us. He had been watching Zachary at the gaming tables because he knew that we needed someone skilled at cards for a particular investigation.

“He also sensed that Elland had the sort of temperament that would make him useful as a spy. Zachary enjoyed taking risks.”

“I see.” She kept her hand on his shoulder, trying to give him some wordless comfort. “I still do not understand why all this concerns you so intimately, Tobias.”

“I regret to say that I may have been the one who was responsible for setting him on the path that led him to become a murderer for hire.”

“Sir, that is outrageous.” Shocked, she gripped his shoulder very tightly. You cannot possibly mean that you are to blame for the fact that your friend became a killer. That is utter nonsense.”

“I only wish that were true. But the fact of the matter is, the first entries in his journal were dated shortly after he and I began to work together.”

“Tell me what made you conclude that you had a hand in turning him into a killer.”

“I was his mentor. I taught him his craft as a spy. I was the one who gave him his assignments.” Tobias exhaled deeply. “He certainly had an aptitude for the work.”

“Go on.”

“On his second assignment, there was an incident. I should have paid more heed.”

“Describe this incident,” she said crisply.

“I had set him to follow a man we suspected of having a direct link to a ring of traitors. According to Zachary, his quarry spotted him and pulled out a knife, intending to murder him. Zachary told me later that he was forced to defend himself. He killed the man and got rid of the body in the river. At the time there was no reason to question his version of events.”

“Pray continue.”

“Zachary acquitted himself well in that investigation and was eager for more of the same sort of work,” Tobias said.

“Crackenburne’s highly placed friends in the government were extremely pleased. The death of the traitor certainly did not bother them. I was told to give Elland other tasks.”

“Were there more such deaths?”

“One more that I was aware of. Again, Crackenburne’s friends in the government agreed that it was a clear case of self-defense, and since the man who died was a killer himself, no one shed any tears.

“There may have been two other such incidents. I will never know for certain. Zachary did not admit to them, and no one wished to conduct an investigation.”

“Because the deaths were convenient for the government?”

“Not only that, they resulted in the acquisition of vital French military and shipping intelligence.” Tobias hesitated. “I have often wondered if Zachary acquired a taste for the business of murder during that time when he served as a spy.”

“But what happened after Napoleon was defeated the first time?”

“Zachary went back to the gaming tables. He seemed to be doing rather well for himself. Our paths separated. We met on occasion in the clubs, but for the most part we saw little of each other.”

“Is that when you first heard rumors of mysterious deaths in the polite world?”

“Yes, I suppose so. But I must admit that the occasional demise of an elderly lord or a rich widow did not arouse curiosity or interest in me or anyone else. I was busy with my career as a man of business and raising Anthony. There was little time to spare for idle speculation. Then Napoleon escaped from Elba and we were once again at war.”

“And Crackenburne summoned you back to your other profession,”

she said.

“He also summoned Zachary. But this time Crackenburne did not ask me to give Elland his instructions. Elland and I were colleagues of a sort and we exchanged information, but we did not work together.”

“When did you become suspicious of him?”

“In the months following the victory at Waterloo, the series of suicides and accidents I mentioned occurred in a fairly short span of time. At that point I was on my way to establishing my new career as a private-inquiry agent. I began to notice some of the similar details of the deaths, as I told you.”

“And you eventually tracked down Zachary Elland,” she concluded.

“Yes. In the course of the investigation I showed the death’s-head rings to Crackenburne. He remembered old rumors of a professional murderer who had once used the same signature. They called him the Memento-Mori Man. It was said that no one who met him and learned his true identity ever lived to tell the tale. Elland obviously had heard the stories and decided to pattern himself on a legend.”

“Tobias, listen to me. Elland’s decision to become a professional murderer had nothing whatsoever to do with the work he did for you.”

“There was a note in the safe where I discovered the rings and the journal. It was addressed to me. In it Zachary said that if I found the letter it meant that I had won. He congratulated me as though I were the victor in a chess match.”

“Such villainy is almost incomprehensible.”

“In the note he informed me that I was a worthy opponent. The last line of the letter read, It is the thrill of the hunt that I will miss the most.”

“He was truly a monster.”

“I must tell you,” Tobias said in a low voice, “there are times when I can comprehend his passion for the hunt all too well.”

“Tobias.”

“There is a very intense sensation that comes over me when I know that I have picked up the scent of the quarry. There is no denying that there is a certain dark thrill attached to the business.” He looked at her across the candle. In the light of flaring flame, his eyes glowed like those of some great beast of the night. “Elland once told me that he thought the two of us had a great deal in common. He may have been right.”

“Stop it at once, Tobias.” She squeezed his arm very fiercely. “Do not dare to suggest that you and Elland were alike in any way. To take satisfaction in the hunt is one thing. It is your nature to seek answers and to see that justice is done. It is quite another matter altogether to take pleasure in death. We both know that you could never do that.”

“Sometimes late at night, I have wondered if the difference between Elland and myself is only a matter of degree.”

“Damnation, Tobias, I will not abide such foolish talk. Do you hear me, sir?”

He smiled humorlessly. “Yes, Mrs. Lake, I hear you.”

“I never met your old acquaintance, but I can assure you that you and Zachary Elland are as different as night and day.”

“Are you quite certain of that, madam?” he asked much too softly.

“I am absolutely positive of that fact. My intuition, as you well know, is extremely keen.” She wanted to shake him. “You are no killer, Tobias March.”

Tobias did not say a word, but his gaze was disconcertingly steady. Belatedly, she thought about their last case, the one she had privately titled the Affair of the Mad Mesmerist in her journal.

She cleared her throat. “Yes, well, there may have been one or two unfortunate incidents along the way over the years, but they were accidents, as it were.”

“Accidents,” Tobias repeated neutrally.

“No, not accidents,” she corrected instantly. “Desperate acts of great bravery required to save the lives of others such as myself.

“Most definitely not cold-blooded murder. There is a vast difference, Tobias.” She drew a breath. “Now, then, enough of that subject. Tell me where Aspasia Gray fits into this affair.”

“Aspasia?” He frowned. “Did I not explain?”

“No, sir, you did not.”

“She was Zachary’s lover.”

“Elland’s lover. I see. That explains a few things, I suppose.”

“They met in the spring before Waterloo. Aspasia conceived a great passion for Elland, and he appeared equally enthralled by her.

“They made plans to wed. When Zachary returned to his work as a spy that summer, he used Aspasia’s entree in Society to obtain access to certain wealthy people. We believe that in addition to using the introductions to gather intelligence, he also took advantage of those opportunities to acquire some of his private clients.”

“Dear heaven.”

“One evening Aspasia stumbled onto the truth about how Elland made his living. In her horror, she fled from him. I have often wondered if the real reason he put the pistol to his head that night was not because I was closing in on him but because he had lost the woman he loved.”

“I find it rather difficult to believe that a killer would have such a romantic sensibility,” she muttered.

“The odd thing is that, in his own way, Elland’s nature was both dramatic and romantic. He reminded me of an artist or poet who lusts after any experience that will provide him with the highest peaks of emotion and sensation.”

“Without regard to the price he must pay?”

“Elland never counted the cost. He lived for the next thrill.”

“What did Aspasia do after she learned he had taken his own life?”

“She was utterly distraught. It is the only time I have ever seen her in such a state. Elland was the only man she had ever truly loved, and she was inconsolable. It was not just the fact that he had taken his own life that wounded her so deeply.”

“It was that she had loved him and not seen the truth of his nature?”

“Yes. Aspasia is a woman of the world, as I’m sure you have guessed. She considered herself too intelligent and too strongminded to be deceived in matters of love. Zachary’s deception shook her to the core.”

She told herself that she ought to feel some sympathy for Aspasia, but every time she thought about how she had discovered the other woman with her arms around Tobias’s neck, she found it impossible to summon up much pity.

Nevertheless, she had to admit, learning that one’s lover was a professional killer who took such a degree of satisfaction in his work that he marked it with his personal signature was enough to give any woman, even Cleopatra, a bad case of nerves.

“I collect that you feel a sense of obligation in all this,” she said.

“And Mrs. Gray is no doubt playing on that sensibility. Does she blame you for starting Elland down the path that led to his personal destruction?”

“She did not say as much aloud, but, yes, I suspect she does.”

“Rubbish,” she said again, very harshly this time. “Absolute rubbish.”

“I think she also feels a measure of guilt, because she was the one who helped him achieve the connections in Society that led to certain murders.”

Lavinia sighed. “What a sad tale.”

He opened his hand once more so that the candlelight flared on the small skull and crossbones. “And now it would seem that someone is determined to retell it.”

“Surely you do not believe that Zachary Elland has come back from the grave to resume his career?”

“No, of course not. I myself found Elland’s body, and I saw him buried. But this new killer sent a ring such as this to Aspasia, and I am quite certain that he intended for me to find this one tonight.”

“An old acquaintance announcing that he is back in town?”

“So it would seem. The discovery of the ring on her doorstep this morning threw Aspasia into a panic. That is why she followed us here.”

“Hmm.”

“Tobias frowned. What is it?”

“I must tell you, sir, that Aspasia did not appear to be in a panic tonight.”

His mouth twisted wryly. “She is hardly the type to succumb to a fit of the vapors. But I know her better than you do, and you may believe me when I tell you that her nerves were in a very rattled state tonight.”

“If you say so. Personally, I believe that she is attempting to use guilt as a means of manipulating you.”

“She has no need to go to such lengths to acquire my assistance in this matter, and I’m certain she is well aware of that.” Tobias pocketed the ring. “No one wants to find this new Memento-Mori Man more than I do. He has thrown down the gauntlet and there is no time to waste.”

“You must allow me to help you, Tobias.”

“I do not want you anywhere near this case.”

You have said it is imperative that you resolve this matter as soon as possible. You need all the assistance you can obtain.

“Furthermore, it is not as though I am an amateur at this sort of thing.”

“Bloody hell, Lavinia”

She raised her hand to silence him. “I would remind you that I am the only witness you have at the moment. Granted, I cannot give you a good description of the maid who accompanied Fullerton up here tonight, but I noticed some details that may be helpful.” Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed a bit of white cloth in the deep shadow of a chimney. “Well, well, what have we here?”

She took the candle from his hand and hurried toward the chimney.

“Tobias took his foot down off the stone wall and followed her across the roof. What is it?”

“I’m not sure. But if it is what I believe it to be, we have our first clue.” She bent down and scooped up the object. “Her cap.”

“Are you certain?” Tobias took the large, floppy cap from her hand and examined it carefully by the light of the candle. “It looks like any other woman’s cap to me.”

“Not quite. It has an unusually large brim and a ribbon. That is most certainly the one the blond maid was wearing. I would not be surprised to find a few blond hairs inside when we take a closer look in a strong light. Tobias, this proves that the new killer is a woman.”

Tobias studied the cap for a long moment. “Or a man who wore women’s clothes to disguise himself.”