He arched an eyebrow at my use of his given name but didn’t correct me. “Nothing except he was going to make me pay. And that shooting his gun in Miss Smith’s direction was an accident.” He rested his forearm on the mantel, examining his fingers. “I don’t know that I believed him.”
“He obviously didn’t kill Perrin.” Katherine paced across the room. At their continued silence, she paused. “Right?”
I hesitated. “I believe you are correct. I think there is only one killer but that Mr. Taylor could well have been up to mischief of his own. But why kill him? As Perrin’s secretary, could he have known something, the same something that got Perrin killed?”
Henry grimaced. “As his attorney and someone reading through all the earl’s paperwork, I suppose I must be on guard now, too.”
Katherine twisted her hands together. “I followed Lord Havenstone,” she blurted out. “When he left the sitting room this afternoon, I followed him.”
Henry narrowed his eyes. “Why?”
I nodded approvingly. “What did you learn?”
She went to the fire and held her palms out to the flame. “I thought he might go to Perrin’s rooms to search for something, but he went downstairs instead of up.”
My chest tightened. Why hadn’t I thought of searching Perrin’s rooms? It should have been one of the first acts I’d taken.
“I saw him turn the corner into the hallway to the kitchen, but when I got down the stairs, he’d disappeared.” Katherine lifted her shoulders. “The assistant cook and a few maids were in the kitchen, but the storage rooms were empty. He might have gone out the door from the store room, or he could have gone up the stairs at the other end of the hall. I’d thought he might have gone down to get something from the medicine pantry, that he might have been looking for another poison. But perhaps he went to get a knife?”
I tapped my chin. “What time was this?”
“Perhaps twenty minutes before I found Mr. Taylor’s body.”
That didn’t leave much time for Havenstone to find Mr. Taylor and kill him. I thought it more likely someone had taken a knife from the dinner table on a previous night. Which would mean Mr. Taylor’s murder had been premeditated. “Why was Taylor out on the terrace? It wasn’t for a garden stroll.”
“That section of terrace seemed to be a favorite of Taylor’s when he wanted a private conversation.” Henry looked down at Katherine, his nostrils flaring.
She held up her hands. “He wasn’t meeting me.”
“I didn’t say that he was.”
I sagged back into the chair. “It all depends on timing. When was Taylor killed? If it was after lunch, was there anyone missing from the sitting room who could have done it?” My mouth twisted. “Besides me.” I hoped the constable didn’t think a woman of my…mature age could have the strength to stab a virile young man. I might have, if I took the secretary by surprise, but I still hoped no one else would believe it. Being a suspect in a murder investigation was most bothersome.
Henry ran his hand up the back of his head. “I think everyone was in the sitting room after lunch until Lord Havenstone and Miss Smith left, but someone else could have slipped out, Isuppose. I can only say with certainty that Mr. Smith never left the room.”
“Of course my father didn’t do this.” Katherine crossed her arms.
“I think Taylor was killed before lunch.” I shot Katherine an apologetic look. “Sorry, my dear, but that keeps your father as a suspect. There are many people unaccounted for from when we all left the shooting field until we all showed for our midday meal. It makes more sense he was killed then.”
“And his body was outside, mere feet away, the whole time we conversed and laughed in the sitting room?” Katherine paled. “That is a horrible thought.”
Horrible or not, I suspected it was the truth. But it wasn’t the idea that a body had lain so nearby as the guests had relaxed by a warm fire that bothered me most.
It was the idea that the killer had relaxed by that fire with a smile on his or her face, knowing Taylor’s body grew cold just outside.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lady Mary
Iwaited untilthe constable left the next morning before sneaking into Perrin’s chambers. Although I knew Adams was eager to receive assistance on this case, I didn’t think that included mine.
“Will you hurry up?” Jane whisper-shouted at me. She stood near the cracked door, one faded blue eye peering out into the hallway. She shook her head, her iron-grey curls jiggling beneath her cap. “The things we do,” she muttered.
“We’ve only just entered.” I refrained from pointing out that I hadn’t asked her to accompany me on this venture. She had decided all on her own that ‘someone needed to watch out for me.’
I went directly to the small desk near the window. I pulled the curtain to the side to give me more light. I probably should have ordered the servants to hang black crepe in the windows, but Perrin had quite a lot of windows and there were no neighbors close enough to see the effort.
Some books lay scattered on the surface of the desk but no letters or even writing implements of any kind. Perrin must have written all his correspondence in his study. A pocket watch with a broken chain was coiled on the small table next to his bed.
