‘I have been very careful,’ he confirmed. ‘Once you were back, I bided my time and limited the attention on this house and thedamage to the duke through ensuring that Knatchbull took the lion’s share of the success.’
‘By both stealing our secrets and sabotaging the plants,’ said Frankie.
‘Exactly,’ said Fletcher coldly. ‘But I knew it would only be a matter of time before your deviant souls committed a crime too heinous to ignore.’
‘Inevitable,’ said Doctor Herbert, and Thea flinched. ‘While your status and wealth may preclude a formal investigation into your inversion, I believe the crime of murder may be just the ticket required to putting you where you belong. Mr Fletcher has chosen his time well.’
‘And so, you went to the police?’ said Martha to Fletcher, in a tone that suggested she still didn’t quite believe it.
‘You must be made a spectacle of,’ said Fletcher. ‘There are too many liberties taken in women, especially in those of a high class. Before long they will be denouncing the superiority of men entirely. It will be advantageous to show society what becomes of a woman when she deviates and the inevitable depths to which she will sink when her mind is so affected. Now this evidence includes murder.’
‘A lady,’ Thea heard Mrs Phibbs mutter behind her.
‘And so you choose to arrest me for a murder that I did not commit, based on no evidence, so that you can all feel better that you have done the morally right thing and ridded the world of Sapphic acts for which you equally have no evidence?’ asked Thea. Martha blanched, but it was worth it for the looks on Fletcher and Herbert’s faces.
‘So you admit it?’ asked Doctor Herbert.
‘I admit nothing,’ snarled Thea. ‘Take me if you wish. I expect nothing of a fair hearing but at least I have my integrity.’ She shot a look at Fletcher, who looked away. Doctor Herbertnodded to the constable who began to remove his irons from his belt, but Frankie stepped forward.
‘Stop,’ she said.
‘Stop?’ said the Doctor. ‘Who on earth are you, the gardener?’
Frankie ignored him and looked at the constable. ‘I am the gardener. And I killed the duke. You can take me for it, but Her Grace had no part in it.’
The constable stared at her, and so did Thea.
‘You did what?’ she asked, incredulous.
‘She did not do it.’ It was Martha who stepped forward now. ‘I did.’ Frankie stared at her, along with Thea.
‘You did?’ she asked, not gathering what was going on.
‘I poisoned him,’ said Frankie and Martha, almost at the same time.
‘Impossible,’ said Mrs Phibbs, starting forward. ‘I killed him. I put more laudanum than usual in his nighttime drink. Thought to keep him quiet, you see, as he was in a rage and complaining of the pain. Did it again after he woke a bit. I must’ve put in too much I suppose. I said nothing when it was thought that he died of the smoke but now I have to tell you that it was me because it was neither Lady Foxmore nor Frankie who are plainly just trying to protect the duchess. Who it wasn’t neither.’
The constable stared at them open mouthed, and even Doctor Herbert looked uncomfortable.
‘It wasn’t her,’ said Mrs Jenkins, stepping around Thea. ‘I did the same with the laudanum after hitting him with that shovel. Put more in his drink than he should’ve had. Didn’t want him getting up and going into the duchess in the night. Not after he’d been such a bastard in the evening. He might have done anything – you know how men are when they’re in that state. She could’ve been dead or worse.’ Thea raised her eyebrows but didn’t argue.
‘I did the same,’ said Harriet, not getting up. ‘Thought while I was here, I could help my friend. Found the laudanum on his bedside table, put just enough in his drink to keep him quiet.’
‘Anyone else?’ asked the constable, looking round the room. He looked at Joan who looked horrified, and only shook her head. There was a pause, before Miss Bellegarde stepped forward.
‘I put some in his water each night too. When he was in a rage sometimes he would be too violent with me and I wasn’t having it, so sometimes I gave him a bit more to quieten him down. That night, with the fire and all, I gave him double.’
Thea stared around her, disbelieving. Martha’s gaze was much more shrewd, she noticed, ticking around all the occupants of the room.
‘So that is a dose of opiates at least six times the recommended amount, constable,’ she said matter-of-factly. ‘That is in addition to any that the duke had taken earlier that day, any administered by Doctor Cope, of which I assume there was plenty as that is all he ever does administer.’ She met the gaze of Doctor Herbert. ‘I assume that would be consistent with the type of poisoning you suggest was his demise and with him slipping in and out of consciousness, if the dosing happened repeatedly, but entirely by accident? Were they, perhaps, the irregularities you referenced at the outset?’ Doctor Herbert confirmed it by looking away.
Martha now chipped in. ‘We must also consider the profuse amount of alcohol consumed which we know exacerbates the effects of the laudanum itself.’
Frankie crossed her arms, looking triumphant. ‘It is a wonder it took him four days to die. I am almost impressed.’
The constable was now gasping like a fish out of water, and so Thea took her chance. ‘Please do not take my ill-informed word for it, constable, and do feel free to check these factswith a doctor. All of us will comply. If there has been any foul play, we of course need to hear about it and would freely apply the consequences to any concerned. That said, the ladies of this house are, indeed, particularly competent as you can see, had ample opportunity to administer the laudanum in any concentration they chose and I would suggest that had any of us wished the duke to be dead, he would not have lasted for four days.’ She gave him a pleasant smile.
‘I can see that, my lady,’ he said quietly, and she knew she had the upper hand.
