There was a long pause, and then Turner-Camden stepped back into view. He leaned both his hands on Gray’s desk. “Mr. Danford, I didn’t come here to determine anything about Clairemont. I came here to determine what I needed to know aboutyou.”
“Me?” Gray said softly. “What could you possibly want to know about me?”
“How involved you were in the schemes of Stalwood and…well, whoever the man masquerading as Clairemont truly is.”
“What?” Gray asked.
“Please, don’t pretend. My Perry saw it all.”
The door to the parlor opened a second time, and Clairemont watched as Perry stepped inside. He had a gun lifted, pointed squarely at Gray.
Clairemont moved on the latch to exit the secret tunnel, but Stalwood caught his arm.
“No, wait,” the earl said softly. “If you barge out now he’ll shoot for sure. Let it play out a moment.”
Clairemont gritted his teeth.
“Perry,” Gray said softly. “You shot at me a few days ago.”
“That’s right,” Perry said with a wide, ugly grin.
“Now, here is what we’ll do. You’re going to sign all the operations of the canals over to me,” Turner-Camden said.
“And why would I do that?” Gray asked, with surprisingly little fear in his voice.
“Why do you think I bloody killed the real Clairemont in the first place? The canals are everything, Danford, and Clairemont wanted a bigger cut, a better position. He refused to see the larger implications, the bigger political picture. He was in the way and wouldn’t see reason. And now he’s dead.”
Clairemont swallowed hard. The last piece of the puzzle had fallen into place. The real Clairemont had died because he cared about money and the Rooster cared about treason.
Turner-Camden pointed a finger at Gray. “Now do it. Or else you won’t be the only one to die. Your servants will die, and Perry will wait here for your wife and your sister-in-law to return andtheywill both die. Slowly. Uncomfortably.”
Once again, Clairemont moved for the door, but Stalwood grabbed his arm and held him back. “Wait, damn it.”
Turner-Camden pulled a set of paperwork from his inside pocket and held it out. “Now sign.”
Gray took the papers and set them down on the desk deliberately. He made a big show of seeking out a quill and ink as he looked up at Perry and his gun, trained on Gray’s head.
“When you came here a few days ago, you didn’t know Clairemont wasn’t the real thing, did you?” he asked.
Perry darted his gaze toward Turner-Camden and then back to Gray. “I don’t have to answer your questions.”
“No, you don’t,” Gray agreed, almost amiably.
“What is he doing?” Stalwood asked over Clairemont’s shoulder.
Clairemont smiled slowly. “He’s working the man with the gun. He’s giving us, and himself, a fighting chance.”
“Don’t you wonder whyhedidn’t tell you, though?” Gray continued as he dipped the pen in the ink and looked over the document, as if he were reading it before he signed. Like it was a normal business transaction. “After all,heknew.”
Once again, Perry glanced away from Gray and toward Turner-Camden for a flash of a moment. “He didn’t know nothing.”
“Are you daft?” Gray asked. “The man just admitted to killing the real Clairemont. Of course he knew the man here in London wasn’t the one he’d left bludgeoned on a floor in the countryside. You should hire smarter help, Turner-Camden.”
“Do shut up, Danford,” Turner-Camden said, but his gaze was shifting toward Perry.
Gray ignored him. “And if it was your partner here, that means he sent you to meet with me,knowingthat the false Clairemont would arrive. Knowing you would be unprepared to deal with him. What if I had told the imposter about your visit before he reached my home? What if he’d come prepared while you were not? It seems that would have ended badly for you. I wonder why Turner-Camden would do that. Unless it’s the same reason he killed Clairemont. He wants the entire canal scheme to himself.”
Perry’s mouth tightened. “That true, Turner-Camden? You send me here not giving a damn if I ended up dead?”
