Cassie’s eyes lit up as she laughed. “Please do report this,” she said earnestly. “And I will show all the receipts and books that do not match and the letter from Mr. Browning protesting a ten percent rent increase Mr. Gallagher informed him you requested.”
“I did no such thing,” he bristled.
“Precisely my point,” she said, now glaring at him.
Color rose up his neck and through his face. “What are you saying, madam?” he demanded.
“Edmund, you have callously ignored this estate. You have even denied Mr. Stillworth the ability to proceed with the plans he and Richard had begun for their venture. You have withheld my money and reduced my staff to a bare minimum. I’d like to know why?”
“But Edmund was saving the estate!” Mrs. Tidemark said, her expression pulled tight in confusion. “Isn’t that right Edmund? You told me everything is in funds,” she stated. “Just as my brother, Rupert, instructed you to do.”
Mr. Tidemark shifted in his seat. “Not precisely, my pet,” he admitted.
“Well, however, it was, I’m sure my husband has made the best decisions for you,” Mrs. Tidemark said airily. She reached for another cake from the tray at the end of the sofa.
“My brother started a new venture growing tea in Assam, India, you know,” Mrs. Tidemark rattled on.
“Vanessa, you know your brother said that is not for general knowledge,” Mr. Tidemark said. “Mustn’t speak of it.”
“Like Richard and Raymond’s venture?” Cassie asked.
“Yes, and better!” Vanessa said. “Edmund, this is not sharing in society. This is family,” she explained. “He said—”
“Vanessa!” Mr. Tidemark yelled at his wife.
“What?” she cried out, her expression crumbling. “I understand more than you think I do. I am not stupid.” Tears slid down her cheeks.
Mr. Tidemark rose from his chair to sit next to his wife. He put his arm around her ample shoulders. “I’m sorry, my sweet, I shouldn’t have yelled. It’s just… It’s just…” he trailed off.
“It is just what?” Cassie asked.
“Rupert convinced me he was more likely to succeed than Richard and Raymond. It would be better to invest money in his venture than sink any more funds into Baydon Imports.”
“But you have never told Raymond this, you merely ignored him whenever he would speak of it with you.”
He glared at her but reluctantly nodded.
“You undermined what could have been a profitable venture for the marquessate.”
“Rupert convinced me Richard’s plans wouldn’t be profitable. I was doing what I saw as right to protect young Alex’s inheritance,” he declared pugnaciously. “The estate has not been particularly profitable, quite the reverse. I have been worried for its solvency.”
“Problems caused by you and the Gallaghers,” Lakehurst said from behind him.
“Were you in league with the Gallaghers in their embezzling?” Cassie asked.
“Embezzling?”
“Yes. The Gallaghers, who you think were doing a good job, would get a receipt for goods at one price and enter a price twice that in the ledger books.”
“What? No! That’s daft. You know nothing about money and accounts. I am sure you are misinterpreting the entries.”
Cassie’s eyes flared. “We have proof. I, Lady Guinevere, Lord Lakehurst, and Raymond have all seen the falsified entries. They are quite easy to discern.”
Stillworth’s name seemed to bring him up short. Tidemark frowned. “Stillworth is here?”
Cassie nodded. “He is out riding the property right now.”
Mr. Tidemark frowned. “I didn’t think he’d actually come,” he said. “Too rustic, he always complained about Baydon, so I tried to dissuade him from coming. I thought when he left us he was returning to London. Didn’t even have his valet with him, you know.”
