He continued to read. He knew that if there was one thing Melissande hated, it was being ignored. Her husband had never learned that truth, and therefore never learned why his luck changed whenever he slighted her.
“How is dear John? I haven’t seen him in nearly a year. Still thick as thieves, you two? A miracle you were able to separate.”
He could see that she was reaching the end of her tether, and decided to throw her a crumb. It was never wise to bait a dangerous animal. They had the tendency to find a way to bite you through the cage. “John is well. Ask him yourself.”
“Away at school while you were stuck here under my thumb. Must have been hard.” She continued writing. “Dentry’s ward. As untouchable as your father.”
John had been the lucky one. “With so many servants and village boys to choose from, I’m sure you didn’t suffer.”
“Mmmm. So who is the murderer?” She perked up a bit, either at the subject change or that he was responding to her.
“And I would know this, how?”
“Because you know everything, Gabriel.”
Not everything. He had obviously not even known himself. “Why would I ask for a list?”
“Morbid curiosity? A way to help my poor victims?”
“I’m terrible at sympathy. I did what I could by stopping your club. While lacking in sympathy, I’m quite good at prevention and revenge.”
“Lacking in sympathy? With all those pathetic souls you help? It’s terribly amusing. Do you think you can compensate? Do you find peace? I hope not. All my hard work gone to waste.” Her eyes glittered. “My favorite creation destroyed. It would break my heart.”
“You give yourself too much credit. Abigail was far more terrifying.”
He watched the spark go through her eyes. “You are a terrible liar, Gabriel. But I will forgive you.”
“I feel indisposed to do the same.”
“Pity.” She pushed the paper across the desk. “There is your list. Woefully short. Most of the victims, as you deem them, quite enjoyed themselves.”
“Especially the ones with rope burns across their necks.” He scraped the list from the desk. “Apleasure, as always.”
“You are leaving? You aren’t staying here to protect me?”
Desperate for company as always, in the absence of her husband’s regard.
He lifted a brow. “Prevention, Lady Dentry. Other than that, you are on your own. Perhaps you should inform your husband of the circumstances?”
Her lips squished together.
“No? I bid you adieu.”
He found his father in the kitchen, chatting with the servants. He hadn’t wanted to stay out of the confrontation, but Gabriel had refused him. It would have been a show of weakness to have been accompanied. Unacceptable.
His father didn’t ask how he was, but he rested a hand briefly on his back as they walked, dropping it just as quickly. Still, the gesture filled Gabriel with warmth and shame. That he had blamed his father at all…
“What did you find, Gabriel?”
Names, familiar and unfamiliar, leapt up as he passed the list. There were a lot of things to do and people to contact, and not much time in which to do so.
“Two of these men were in London last I knew,” his father said. “Lord Dentry will be back tomorrow. Let me talk to him.”
His father still retained a relationship with the man.
Gabriel hesitated. Bringing in Dentry would complicate matters. “Very well.”
Their trip back to London was mostly silent, but comfortable for the first time in a long while. They usually went through bouts of cordiality and strife.
