When the door closed again, Billings said cuttingly, “I don’t give a damnwhythat French bitch stole from me, I want to know where the bloody necklace is now!”
“I advise patience, sir. The two questions are interrelated; finding the answer to the former may lead us to the latter.”
Billings turned red in the face. “In the meantime, I am outten thousand pounds.That is entirely unacceptable, do you hear me?”
“I believe the entire party can hear you,” Strathaven drawled. “You were interested in discretion, were you not, Billings?”
It took visible effort for the banker to rein himself in. Clearly, money was the one topic that could rile his emotions.
“Yes, we must be discreet in the search for the thief. Men from the stews,”—Billings straightened his lapels—“they take offense at the slightest provocation.”
“If you think cutthroats are touchy, try accusing a dowager of theft,” Mrs. Kent said.
“You must not offend anyone,” Billings said with finality. “You must find the necklace while maintaining an appearance of decorum.”
“Assuming the jewelry is still here,” Violet pointed out.
“My gut says that it is.” Kent drummed his fingers against the desk. “Working on the assumption that whoever came upon Monique saw a crime of opportunity, he or she was not prepared to take possession of a priceless piece of jewelry. No one has left the estate since we discovered Monique’s murder, and the necklace is too valuable to simply send off somewhere—the killer wouldn't risk letting it out of his or her hands. So that leaves the possibility that the necklace is hidden somewhere in the house... or on the estate.”
Richard considered the vastness of Traverstoke. “Performing a search will be no small task.”
“Indeed,” Kent said. “We’ll have to start with the most obvious place—the guest chambers—and fan out from there.”
“And how do you plan to do this without the guests knowing? Because they must not suspect a thing,” Billings insisted.
“We need a diversion,” Strathaven said.
“Something that will get everyone off the estate.” The duchess tapped a finger against her chin. “A trip to the village, perhaps? An organized activity to draw everyone out.”
“How about a fair?” Billings said.
“That would work splendidly,” Her Grace said.
The banker gave a curt nod. “Leave that to me. I’ll set it up for tomorrow.”
“You can set up a fair in one day?” Violet said.
“Money can move mountains, Miss Kent,” Billings said crisply. “What’s a country fair?”
“A fair’s not a bad idea,” Strathaven acknowledged, “but we will need someone to accompany the guests and keep an eye on them. The last thing we want is for the culprit to get wind of things and slip away.”
“I’ll speak to Jones. He can set up a perimeter around the village—yes,discreetly.” Kent forestalled their host’s predictable refrain. “Having a few constables present at the fair, on the pretense of securing goods and preventing pickpockets, will seem like nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Then I’d best go make arrangements,” the banker said.
When the door closed behind him, Kent raked a hand through his hair. “Bloody hell, I wish I could just search the place and the people and be done with it, discretion be damned.”
“Much as I hate to defend Billings, he might have a point. Best to act with stealth when it comes to cutthroats,” the duke drawled.
“Aye. Although it will be no small feat to do a thorough search of this place,” Kent muttered.
“Could the magistrate lend you some men, darling?” his wife asked.
“Whoever he can spare. Don’t forget, he needs to surveil the village.”
“The Blackwoods could help,” Richard said.
“I’ll speak to them. God knows I’ll need all the help I can get.” Lines deepened around Kent’s mouth. “Moreover, we can’t all stay here tomorrow; that would rouse suspicion. We’ll need to split up, send a few of our team to the village to keep an eye on things.” He gave a sigh. “Not to mention on Polly and Primrose.”
