“My God,” she said, looking up at Adrian, who was clutching the polished edge of the desk in a grip so tight, his knuckles had gone white beneath the strain. “I cannot believe it. Everything is here, all the evidence of what Longleigh did…”
“Neatly organized by date, from the first letter to the last,” he said, his voice bitter and grim. “Clearly, he was either too confident in his abilities to hide what he had done, or he never got the opportunity to destroy the evidence.”
Tilly flipped through more letters. “The items in question will provide more than ample evidence. All the pawns for this particular chess game are in place. We commence at your command…”
There was no misunderstanding the tone of the letters. Although George Shaw had taken great care to use vague language and to refrain from outright owning what was happening, now that she knew what had befallen Adrian, there was no doubt in her mind. Pippa’s husband had been paid by the Duke of Longleigh to facilitate the arrest. From euphemisms, she was able to understand that Shaw had paid someone with the police, and that he also had paid a contact at the prison where Adrian had been sent.
Worse, Shaw had alluded to the fact that he was no stranger to such ruinous deceptions. Indeed, he apparently had filled his pockets by fixing the problems of other wealthy men, just as he had done for Longleigh.
The betrayals she and Adrian had just unwittingly discovered ran deeper and far more ruinous than what had happened to Adrian. There were others,problems, as Shaw had discreetly referred to them, whom he had been paid toremove.
“It is all here,” Adrian said, flipping through the remainder of the letters. “The evidence is undeniable. Longleigh paid this Shaw to see me arrested. Shaw arranged it so that Longleigh could keep a degree of distance between himself and the dirty business of having his bastard son arrested for a theft he had never committed.”
“Yes the evidence is all here, preserved and tidy.” At the realization, Tilly’s heart was breaking anew. For Adrian and what had happened to him, for the final, clear proof of Longleigh’s cruel betrayal. But for Pippa, too. Pippa had been in love with her husband. Tilly knew her friend—she was nothing but good. If her husband had been involved in such desperate, villainous affairs, there was only one conclusion to be reached.
Pippa had not known.
She thought back to her own acquaintance with Mr. George Shaw. He was the third son of an earl. Tilly had always assumed his wealth and largesse had been that of his family’s. But now she was no longer so certain. She thought back to dinners she had hosted for Longleigh. Of Pippa and her Mr. Shaw attending. Of the inevitable times when the ladies withdrew and the men were left to their port and cigars. What had they been discussing?
“We need to take these letters to the police,” Adrian was saying. “This Shaw…if he has orchestrated my own imprisonment for money, there is no telling what he will have done to others. We may be able to save them, or at the very least to keep him from hurting someone else. From sending another innocent man to prison.”
“There is no need to fear that,” Tilly said. “Mr. Shaw can no longer do anyone harm.”
At least, not in the sense Adrian meant. He could, however, severely hurt Pippa from the grave.
Her husband frowned down at her. “How can you be so certain?”
“He is dead.” She paused, trying to collect herself, to explain. “Mr. Shaw is—was—my dear friend Pippa’s husband. He died not long after Longleigh drowned at sea.”
“Christ.” Understanding dawned on Adrian’s countenance. “Mrs. Shaw. I had not thought to put the two names together… Could she have known?”
She shook her head. “I do not think it possible. I have known Pippa for years. She is a wonderful woman, with a kind and compassionate heart. She loved her husband dearly, and I can only believe she had no notion of the evil deeds to which he had turned.”
“There is one way to know for certain,” Adrian said grimly.
“How?” She gripped the letters tightly, her mind whirling as she struggled to think of what their next step must be.
They had gone from talks of redecorating the study to the finding of Longleigh’s despicable plotting. But not just his. Pippa’s husband’s as well. The tone of the letters made it clear that while Longleigh had first contacted Shaw for aid, Pippa’s husband had been the one to devise and organize the plan to see Adrian arrested and ultimately sent away to prison.
“We need to take these to the Duke of Northwich,” Adrian said. “He is the one who found me at Dunsworth. He facilitated my early release. He is the reason I am free. But there is more to the reason why he was searching. He was investigating the prison because he suspected the warden of corruption. This is proof.”
She had not known Northwich had been responsible for Adrian’s release from prison. She had merely known of the unlikely friendship the two had forged after Adrian had helped him when he had been robbed. This new information, coupled with Pippa’s dislike of the duke, thrust everything into a confused, murky light.
One thing was certain. They needed answers. And if the Duke of Northwich could help them to find them, then they would turn to him first.
She nodded. “Then let us go to Northwich now.”
* * *
Tilly,Adrian, and the duke reconvened in the drawing room of Northwich’s home, a tray of tea untouched on aLouis Quinzetable. Refreshments were the last thing on any of their minds, though Northwich had made every effort to play the role of genteel host. It was the first Tilly had seen him since their wedding breakfast, though she knew well that Adrian had continued to spend time with the man who had proven such a good friend to him.
She was grateful to Northwich for his loyalty to her husband. If he had not intervened on Adrian’s behalf, he would have still been in prison. That was all she needed to know about the duke to understand he was trustworthy and good.
At her side on the settee, Adrian was a comforting, warm presence. His hand slid into hers, their fingers interlocking, half hidden in the silk of her gown. The gesture was as much for her comfort as for his, she thought. They were each other’s mutual support.
Northwich finished perusing the last letter in the stack of correspondence from Mr. Shaw to Longleigh, and looked up. “These letters validate my suspicions concerning Shaw. I am amazed Longleigh kept them intact.”
“It is possible he was retaining them as a sort of blackmail,” Adrian allowed. “Longleigh was cunning and heartless. He would do anything to anyone to get what he wanted.”
