“On what charge?”
“As an accomplice to murder,” Kent said.
“That’s absurd.” Billings’ laugh was brittle. “I’m not involved in any murder.”
“You may not be, Mr. Billings, but I think you know someone who is.” Emma’s gentle yet firm tones drew the banker’s attention. “I met your daughter at the Blackwood ball.”
“Gabriella?” The banker’s countenance darkened. “What does she have to do with this?”
“She told me that one of your clients sponsored her to the affair. A rich and influential gentleman who owed you a large favor.” Emma paused. “We need to know the identity of that man. We believe that he may be involved in the assassination attempts on his grace.”
“My business was built on the precept of confidentiality. I have a reputation to protect,” Billings said stiffly. “The clients who seek me out—let us say they are not the most forgiving of men.”
Alaric had enough of beating around the bush.
“Neither am I, Billings,” he said with cool menace. “Tell me who this bastard is or I will use my power and influence to ruin you. I will take this bank apart brick by brick. I am not an enemy you wish to make.”
The banker’s eyes darted like a pendulum as he made internal calculations.
“I will tell you,” he said with clear reluctance, “but you didn’t hear it from me.”
“Spit it out, man,” Will growled.
“Lord Mercer,” the banker said. “He was the one who owed me a favor.”
Alaric’s stomach clenched. Goddamnit—the bloodyfopwas behind all this?
“What did you do for Mercer?” he demanded.
“About five months ago, he came to me. He asked me to broker a deal for him.” The banker straightened a pen on his desk. “It involved stock in United Mining.”
“Didn’t you take over the venture around that time?” Will asked Alaric.
Alaric gave a terse nod. “Why would Mercer want to kill me? If he bought shares, I’ve made him rich since I took the helm. After the expansion vote goes through, he stands to make a mint.”
“Well, that’s just it, you see. Mercer didn’t bet on the price of stock going up—he wagered on it goingdown.”
Comprehension sent ice floes through Alaric’s veins.
Of course. The sneaky, brilliant bastard.
“I don’t understand,” Emma said, her brow pleating.
The banker set about explaining in the pedantic tones of a schoolmaster.
“Mercer and I entered into an arrangement wherein he ‘sold’ shares to me and I paid him the selling rate at the time. In other words, I gave him money for shares he did not yet own, and in return, he signed a promissory note to present me with the actual shares within a specified timeframe—with an extra percentage added, of course. Do you follow?” Billings said.
Emma nodded.
“This happened a few weeks before Strathaven formed the venture. At the time, United Mining was a sinking ship,” the banker went on. “Mercer was certain that the price of the stock would continue to go down so he planned to use the money I gave him to purchase actual stock later, when the prices had fallen even further. In that way, he could pocket the difference and replenish his fortunes.”
“But then I took over and the prices went up,” Alaric said, “which means Mercer has been falling deeper and deeper into debt.”
“Precisely. Lord Mercer has managed to hide the fact that he’s in Dun territory up until this point, but now?” Billings shrugged. “He’s utterly on the rocks. And per our contract he is obligated to provide me with the actual stock certificates by the end of the next fortnight.”
“How much does Mercer owe you?” Kent said.
“At today’s price of United shares, approximately thirty thousand pounds,” Billings said. “That’s to say nothing of when United’s expansion vote goes through. From the talk I’ve heard, the stock prices will go through the roof. Mercer’s debt—it will be astronomical.”
