Captives of the Night (11 page)

"Who was it," she demanded, under her breath. "Who was it had enough of you, Francis? He's going to get away with it, you know. Because I was so… oh, so damnably clever. A bit of ink, you see, to mask the… scent."

It was then she remembered.

Esmond… nearly a year ago… at the party, the unveiling of Madame Vraisses' portrait… the merest dab of perfume, put on hours before and all but evaporated… yet he'd accurately identified the ingredients.

Then she understood why the wall of ice had come between them.

"He smelled the poison," she murmured. "Not just the ink solution, but the poison, too, and he must have thought — " She looked about her. Heaven help her, she was reduced to this: talking to herself — in a graveyard.

What next, the ravings of a madwoman?

Was that what Esmond believed? That she was mad, a temperamental artiste who'd killed her husband in a demented rage?

But Esmond had
helped
her, and she had thought…

No, she hadn't thought at all. She had collapsed in his arms and stopped thinking altogether.

Because he'd come, as she'd wanted, from the moment she left Norbury House. She'd fled, yes, and that was right, but her heart couldn't be made entirely right. The wicked part of her had wanted what was wrong. She'd wanted him to pursue her and destroy her will and… take her away with him.

She shuddered. Vile weakness, that's what it had been. In a moment of distress and confusion — and yes, relief at his coming — her control had crumbled, along with her reason.

Esmond, so acutely perceptive, would have had no trouble sensing her guilt and terror — and must have promptly concluded she'd done murder. He hadn't sent for Quentin as a favor to her, but most likely because, being a foreigner, Esmond didn't
know
anyone else connected with the Home Office. He hadn't been trying to help her at all.

Good God, how stupid she'd been. Yet it was hardly surprising she'd mistaken Esmond's motives, she reflected bitterly. She'd deluded herself from the start. In a mad panic, she'd concealed the worst of crimes to save her own skin. Not even that — to save her precious career. And as to nobly shielding Andrew — she
knew
justice was far more important to him than badges or titles.

In short, she had proved that Francis had been right: like papa, like daughter.

Ten years after that first shameful sin with Francis, she'd slipped again. Disastrously. And because she was weak by nature, she would continue to sink… to worse, and still worse — to the very depths of degradation.

That, she found, was more terrifying than the gallows.

And so, she hurried from the burying ground out to the street, where she hailed a hackney and ordered the driver to take her to Whitehall.

"Be quick about it," she snapped — and added, under her breath, "before I weaken."

When he entered Lord Quentin's office, Ismal's countenance was angelically serene. His gut, meanwhile, was twisting itself into knots. It was his own fault, he told himself, for dawdling in London another week. Had he left immediately after the inquest, he wouldn't have been forced today to race to Quentin's office in response to the terse note: "Mrs. Beaumont is here. You'd better come immediately."

Ismal bowed to Madame and politely greeted His Lordship. When they were done with the usual courtesies, Quentin waved Ismal to the chair next to her. Ismal moved to the window instead. Whatever was coming was going to be unpleasant. Every instinct told him so. The air about her hummed almost audibly with tension.

"I'm sorry to put you through this again, Mrs. Beaumont," said Quentin, "but it's best that Esmond hear the story from you." He looked to Ismal. "I've already explained to Mrs. Beaumont that you've assisted us on occasion and might be trusted implicitly."

The knots inside tightened. Ismal merely nodded.

Madame stared at a large green glass paperweight on Quentin's desk. "My husband was murdered," she said levelly. "And I've done something very wrong. I interfered with the evidence."

Ismal looked at Quentin. His Lordship nodded.

"Madame refers to the ink, I believe," Ismal said.

She didn't even blink, but remained fixed on the paperweight. "You knew all along," she said. "Yet you never said a word."

"Most persons do not keep bottles of ink
upon
the nightstand, but upon a desk," Ismal said. "Still, your husband might have been the exception."

"You
knew
I brought it there," she said. "And so you thought — " She broke off, flushing. "It doesn't matter. I brought the ink there." She bit off each word, and the ribbons of her black bonnet trembled with the emphasis. "To mask the odor. Of prussic acid. I knew he hadn't died of an overdose."

After a pause, she went on. "I know it was wrong, but I had to make Francis' death look like an accident. I didn't kill him. Yet I also couldn't see how anyone would believe that, once it was known he'd been murdered."

"You did not realize at the time that Mrs. Dempton was mentally unbalanced," said Ismal.

"She was the least of my problems," Madame answered impatiently. "I know the difference between an inquiry into a suspicious death and a full-fledged murder investigation. The Crown must look into everything, and I couldn't afford to let that happen."

She turned her gaze full upon him then. Against the unnatural pallor of her face, her golden eyes burned fever-bright.

"My maiden name is not Dupont," she said. "It was changed years ago. My father was Jonas Bridgeburton."

Those five words tore across the space between them with the force of a rifle shot. The room reeled about him, but Ismal didn't move. His face didn't change.

The girl. This was the girl Risto had spied upon the stairs that night so long ago. Ten years it had been, yet Ismal remembered.

He'd gone to Bridgeburton seeking revenge on another man. After that visit, Ismal had gone from one mad act to the next, to the very brink of death. The scar in his side bore testimony to that. It twinged now and then, when something occurred to remind him of those dark days.

Bridgeburton he'd scarcely thought of at all. The man had been merely a means to an end — a brief visit, a prompt departure, and it was over. But it wasn't. Nothing ever was.

Fate, Ismal thought. He said nothing. His body and countenance he could control. He was not sure he could trust his voice.

Unaware of the enormity of what she'd just revealed, Madame continued in the same bitingly precise tones. "You may not have heard of him. He was murdered ten years ago this week. His enemies spared the Crown the expense of trying and hanging him. He was a criminal, you see. He stole military supplies from his own government and sold them to the highest bidder. I was informed that the government had compiled a long list of his crimes. Blackmail and slave trading, as I recall, were just a few of his many other activities." Her gaze reverted to the paperweight.

"
A
rather large dossier was compiled," Quentin amplified, apparently for Ismal's benefit, though His Lordship knew perfectly well this wasn't news. "Our men, in conjunction with the Venetian police, were in the process of investigating Bridgeburton when he met with a fatal accident."

"They claimed it was an accident, but it was murder," she said. "The authorities must have agreed they were well rid of him. Doubtless they thought it a waste of time and money to find his killers."

Just as certain other authorities had seen no point in finding Francis Beaumont's killer, Ismal reflected. Yet according to the report, Bridgeburton had fallen into a canal, drunk on absinthe and wine. Surely he hadn't been murdered. Ismal had told Risto and Mehmet the man was not to be killed… though that didn't mean they'd followed orders, curse them.

"At any rate," she continued, "how Papa died isn't the issue, but what he was. I knew that if people learned my father was a criminal, I should be ruined — even if Francis hadn't been killed. As it was, I could hardly expect anyone to believe Jonas Bridgeburton's daughter hadn't followed in his footsteps."

Beyond doubt, in normal circumstances, she would have been ruined, if not hanged, Ismal reflected. The sins of the fathers all too often were visited upon the children, even in this enlightened country.

Yet she had come to Quentin and confessed all this damning truth. And Quentin — who had as much reason as she to support the accidental death verdict — hadn't tried to convince her she was mistaken about her husband's demise. On the contrary, Quentin had sent for his top agent.

"Why was I summoned?" Ismal asked, his voice very soft.

"Mrs. Beaumont wants her husband's death looked into," Quentin answered. "I agree with her."

She hadn't wanted Ismal here, though. He could feel it: the rage gathering and pulsing within her and rippling through the quiet chamber, like a dangerous undertow in a falsely still sea. "If you've sent for me, you cannot wish it looked into openly," he said.

"That's correct," said His Lordship. "
I've
explained that we generally call on you when we encounter problems of some delicacy. Mrs. Beaumont had already perceived the potential for embarrassment to certain parties." He smiled ruefully. "We haven't much choice, it appears."

Madame's chin went up, and the ribbons fluttered. "
I
simply pointed out to Lord Quentin that my husband did not limit his debaucheries to the lower orders. He was a corrupting influence. He had a talent for attracting innocents. I am sure any number of husbands, wives, and parents wished him dead. Many of their names may be found in Debrett's Peerage. I saw that in the course of a murder investigation mine would not be the only name dragged through the mud. I felt Lord Quentin should be alerted to the problem."

"Most perceptive," Ismal said softly. "Yet do you also perceive the futility of a
covert
investigation? What is to be done if we discover the so-called murderer's identity? Are we also to try and hang him — or her — secretly?"

"I did not
demand
a covert investigation," she said. "I know that, in trying to save my own skin, I as much as helped my husband's killer get away scot-free. I have committed a wrong. I wish to make it right. It is up to Lord Quentin how to do it." The anger she so ferociously held in check throbbed in her voice now. "I did not send for you. He did. That makes him the one to ask, I should think."

Though he knew what the answer would be, Ismal dutifully turned to Quentin. "My lord?"

"Why don't we cross that bridge when we come to it?" Quentin said, as any fool might have predicted. "Will you take the case or not?"

As though he had any choice, Ismal thought angrily, while his impassive gaze moved from one to the other. She wished him at the opposite end of the earth, and he wished he could oblige her. But the investigation could be turned over to no one else. He was the only one who would not inadvertently stumble onto the matter of
Vingt-Huit
. Furthermore, as Quentin well knew, no man had more to lose by betraying Madame's origins than Ismal did. If that came out, so might the other scandal, closely connected — the one in which Ismal had figured prominently, and for which he ought to have been hanged.

But it was Fate, Ismal reminded himself. Fate had begun spinning this web ten years ago.

Bridgeburton's daughter, this woman in widow's black.

Bridgeburton's daughter, this woman who made his heart beat too fast, who made chaos of reason. It was on her account Ismal had come to England, on her account he'd lingered, against wisdom and caution. She had drawn him here, to this moment… and it was upon the web of her life that he was caught.

And so, there was no choice and only one answer to give them.