“Sterling might be willing to dally here until dawn,” he snapped. “But I’d prefer to get on with it, Miss Merton.”
She bobbed a small nod. “Several months ago, Benedict and I began to notice small irregularities in Eli’s study and in his workshop. Tiny things, but to our eyes, items were out of place, as if someone had been riffling through papers and examining prototypes. When we mentioned it to Eli, he shrugged it off, but we noticed that he became more careful about locking up drawings and the parts to his new engine. We did as well.”
Octavia brushed an errant curl from her face. “It was then that we also noticed Lord Kirkland had come for a stay at his father’s estate and was making frequent visits to the Ashton residence. Benedict noted that he started loitering around the textile mill as well.”
“That was unusual?” asked Jeremy.
“Very,” answered Octavia. “Kirkland very rarely paid a visit to Blackstone Abbey. And when he did, word was he only came to rusticate from creditors and wheedle more money out of the marquess. He certainly never showed any interest in Eli’s mill—other than to see how many guineas he could squeeze from his father’s profits.”
“His father was a primary investor in Ashton’s business,” mused the earl. “Did Kirkland not own an interest in the company, too?”
“No. In fact, Benedict often heard Lord Blackstone speak disparagingly about his son’s intelligence and his inability to understand the fine points of finance,” answered Octavia.
Charlotte considered the information. “You implied to me earlier that you and Mr. Hillhouse suspected that Kirkland’s growing interest in Ashton’s affairs was personal.”
“We did.” Octavia’s expression turned grim. “Eli was spending more and more time with Benedict in the workshop, which is located in an outbuilding on the grounds. As my work was in the study, I was more aware of the comings and goings within the main house. Kirkland began appearing almost daily to taketea with Mrs. Ashton.” Her expression turned sardonic. “That is, tea was delivered to the parlor. What took place behind the closed doors I cannot say.”
“But you can venture a guess?” asked Wrexford.
“It’snotthat I have a sordid mind, sir,” replied Octavia somewhat defensively. “But Eli was like a father to me, and knowing how much he loved his wife, I worried that he might be crushed by a betrayal.” She drew in an unsteady breath. “So Benedict and I began making some inquiries. And the secret we discovered chilled us to the very marrow.”
Charlotte slanted a glance at Wrexford. His expression remained unchanged. Jeremy, on the other hand, was looking increasingly uncomfortable.
Secrets.No matter how deeply buried, they had a way of slithering their way back up to the light of day.
“In her youth,” continued Octavia, “Mrs. Ashton faced a time when she was in dire financial straits. Her father had lost his business, and on his death she was faced with being thrown into the streets. However, despite her lack of money, she did have two very valuable assets—her striking looks and her ability to bewitch men. She used them both to attract a wealthy protector.”
“Lord Kirkland?” guessed Charlotte.
“Lord Kirkland,” confirmed Octavia.
“You have proof of this?” demanded Wrexford.
“I’ll get to that in a moment, milord,” answered Octavia. “We also discovered that Kirkland had taken to playing cards with Neville McKinlock at a gaming hell in London that caters to deep play.”
Wrexford’s expression turned grim. “The owner of Locke and Wharton?”
“Precisely, sir.”
“Locke and Wharton is Ashton’s main competitor,” explained the earl to the others. “Their steam engines are verygood, but if Ashton had come up with a way to make his models more powerful, then McKinlock’s company would be left in the dust.”
“Exactly,” said Octavia, her voice rising in urgency. “So when we learned that Kirkland owed McKinlock a veritable fortune in gaming debts, we began to see how it all began to fit together.”
“Conjecture,” murmured Wrexford.
“We realized that, sir,” countered Octavia. “We knew we had to assemble proof to convince Eli that he was being doubly betrayed.”
“What you’re saying is that his wife and Kirkland were conspiring to steal Ashton’s invention,” intoned Jeremy.
“Yes! Giving it to McKinlock would allow him, not Eli, to file for the patent. Locke and Wharton is skilled in steam power. It would have been nigh on impossible to contest their filing.” She lifted her shoulders. “The legal precedent is, the victor is always the one who files first—and to him go the spoils.”
“A riveting tale,” drawled the earl. “But again, have you proof of this?”
A spasm of emotion flitted across Octavia’s face, but it passed too quickly for Charlotte to tell what it was.
“We put together the story through conversations with trustworthy people, but we’re not naïve, Lord Wrexford,” responded Octavia. “We began gathering actual evidence to corroborate what we had heard. However . . .” Her voice faltered for a moment. “However, Eli was murdered—”
“And then Hollis,” interjected Wrexford.
