Anne Herries - The Regency Season - Hidden Desires - Courted by the Captain / Protected by the Major

Adam nodded grimly. ‘Precisely. Now supposing the previous owner came to demand the return of his property?’

‘You think they might have quarrelled over it?’

‘Perhaps.’ Adam frowned. ‘It’s the only clue we have.’

‘I don’t see how it helps,’ Paul said.

‘A necklace like this will be recorded somewhere,’ Hallam said. ‘It must have come from a London jeweller. At least that is where I shall start to enquire as soon as the funeral is over.’

‘It must be put away in Father’s safe for the moment,’ Paul said, a wintry look in his eyes. ‘If that devil killed Mark to get this, he won’t leave it there. He may return and look again.’

‘Yes. I’ve searched all the furniture, but I haven’t been through Mark’s pockets yet.’ Adam glanced at his gold pocket watch. ‘I must take Lucy and Lady Dawlish home. I’ll finish in here later.’

‘Couldn’t face it myself,’ Paul said. ‘I’ll lock the necklace away—and then Father wants me to sort out the details of the service. He’s feeling under the weather.’

‘I ought to go home and make some arrangements,’ Hallam said. ‘If you wouldn’t mind finishing in here alone later, Adam?’

‘Of course not. Mark would understand why we have to do this. You shouldn’t feel awkward, either of you—but I know how it feels.’

The cousins left the suite of rooms together. Adam then locked them and pocketed the key. He was frowning as he went down to the hall, where Lucy and Lady Dawlish had paused to say farewell to their host.

‘It was so kind of you to come.’ Lord Ravenscar took Lady Dawlish’s gloved hand. ‘And you, Miss Dawlish. Words cannot express my feelings.’

‘Or mine, sir,’ Lucy said, looking pale and distressed. ‘Forgive me.’ She dashed a tear from her cheek.

‘Miss Hastings. You will come again on a happier day, please.’

‘Of course, sir.’ Jenny impulsively leaned up and kissed his cheek. ‘I am so sorry for your loss, sir.’

‘Thank you.’ He pressed her hand. ‘If you will excuse me now. Adam is to escort you both home.’

‘How kind,’ Lady Dawlish said, shaking her head as the elderly gentleman walked away. ‘It breaks my heart to see him so, Captain Miller.’

‘Yes, I fear he suffers more than any of us,’ Adam said. ‘His health is not all it should be. This is a severe blow. All his hopes were centred on Mark and Lucy for the future.’

‘Naturally he expected heirs. Well, we must leave you. You will send word of the arrangements?’

‘Yes, of course. I shall come myself.’

Adam followed as the ladies went outside to the waiting carriage. He assisted them in one by one and a groom put up the steps and closed the door. Mounting his horse, Adam rode a little behind their carriage.

* * *

It had been a solemn procession that left Ravenscar for Dawlish. On their arrival Lord Dawlish came out to take charge and embrace his wife and daughter. Lady Dawlish was in tears, while Lucy was oddly pale and silent.

It was left to Jenny to thank Adam for escorting them.

‘You have been so kind. Will you come in for some refreshments? I know that Lady Dawlish intended to ask, but in the emotion of the moment she forgot.’

‘I should not dream of intruding at such a moment—besides, I have unfinished business,’ Adam told her. ‘There is something I have to do. We must bury my cousin, but my priority is to bring his killer to justice.’

‘Yes, I understand that,’ Jenny said. Impulsively, she reached out to take his hand. ‘You will be careful, Adam. I know that you cannot rest until this evil man is caught and punished—but I think he must be very dangerous and I would not have you share Mark’s fate.’

‘I thank you for your concern,’ Adam said and his smile came from within. ‘I shall take care not to be caught off guard. We may have a clue soon and when we do I shall call on the due process of the law. Paul speaks wildly of killing the rogue, but I prefer that he shall hang for his crimes—though I may give him a good hiding first.’

‘You are so angry and Paul has been torn apart by his grief. I saw it in his eyes when you were holding Mark at the first. You must not suspect him, Adam. He is so terribly hurt by this.’

‘You feel things and you sense them,’ Adam said. ‘If I had not already decided my first thoughts were foolish, I should have accepted your opinion. Thank you for being here. Your calm presence has eased my heart more than you can imagine.’

Jenny shook her head, a flush in her cheeks. ‘If I have helped, I am glad of it, sir—and I would do more if I could.’

‘What we must do is men’s work,’ Adam said. ‘But to know that I may talk to you of what is in my heart means more than I can say.’

The Dawlish family were about to go in. Adam stood back and allowed Jenny to join her friends, then mounted his horse and began the ride back to Ravenscar. For a while his thoughts dwelled on the young woman he had just left, but his thoughts soon returned to his cousin and the hunt for Mark’s killer.

If Mark had won that necklace in a card game, it might have brought the former owner to Ravenscar in the hope of retrieving it—by fair means or foul. Had he tried to buy it back or had he threatened Mark? Mark would surely have allowed the rightful owner to redeem it if he could pay his debt.

Somehow Adam felt there was more here than met the eye. What was he missing? It was an expensive necklace, but surely it was not so important that it would cause a man to do murder to retrieve it? Had it been the deeds to a man’s estate Adam could have understood it—but why kill for a necklace, however expensive?

There must be a further reason. Something of such importance that the murderer had been driven to desperate measures to attempt its retrieval.

In which case he would undoubtedly return to look for it.

Chapter Five

Adam returned to his task of searching Mark’s bedchamber later that afternoon. Having already checked inside the drawers, he took each one out in case something had either been lodged behind or got caught up at the back, but there was nothing to discover. He then began a search of his cousin’s coat pockets. As before he found various small items: a gold fob, a stickpin and several pieces of string, plus two pebbles and a trinket that took stones from a horse’s hooves. It was in a velvet evening coat that he finally came across some gold coins and a handful of screwed-up papers, which, when smoothed out, appeared to be IOUs from a card game.

Mark had won what amounted to five thousand guineas and two different hands had signed the notes. One name was Stafford, which Adam knew to be Lord Jeffery Stafford, or Staffs as his fellow officers affectionately called him. His note was for five hundred guineas; the remaining notes were from Fontleroy.

Mark and Staffs were the greatest of friends. If Staffs had lost five hundred guineas to Mark, he would undoubtedly have paid him when they next met. Fontleroy was another matter. Adam had not been aware that his cousin knew the fellow well enough to play cards with him. The marquis was not a man he would care to sit down with—Adam had once witnessed him cheating, but had kept quiet, advising the victim privately to be on his guard another time, rather than causing a scandal.

Could Mark also have won the necklace from Fontleroy? There was no mention of it amongst the notes—anything to say that he would retrieve it for money at a later date.

Since Adam had now completed his search of the room and both the necklace and the notes had been removed, Adam did not lock his cousin’s room when he left. He would not go there again for there was no reason.

Hallam was to take the necklace to London in an effort to discover the identity of its owner. Adam would show the notes to his cousins. They might provide a reason for Fontleroy to visit Mark, either to redeem them or come to some arrangement, but that meant little. It would be impossible to prove that he had been here or was responsible in any way for Mark’s murder. They had a clue to the possible identity of his cousin’s killer, but no proof as yet that would stand up in a court of law.