“Do you also think now that I may be his accomplice? Do I look like one to you?”
“I would have said not. However, I do not put much trust in my judgment now.”
“Why not? What has changed?”
“Damn it, you know why not. As for what has changed...” He walked over to the table used for breakfast. He reached into his coat and removed something that he placed on the table’s surface. “You did not search his apartment much, did you?”
“Not well at all.” The letters had distracted her.
“Of course, I interrupted you. Had I not, you may have found this, as perhaps he intended.”
“What is it?”
“Money. A good deal of money.”
She eyed that stack, wondering what size notes it contained.
“I am surprised someone in authority did not find it. I assumed they searched,” she said.
“Perhaps not, having found the counterfeit money so fast. If they went farther, they missed this.” He slid a note out of the stack and took it to a lamp. He examined it. “It is good. All of it is, I expect.” He threw a ten-pound note on top of the packet.
She walked over to the table and lifted the little bundle wrapped in paper. “How much is here?”
“A little over two hundred.”
A small fortune. She tore off the wrapping.
“These notes were hidden in books. Schoolbooks.Yourschoolbooks.”
She hoped she did not flush. “He kept those old books?” She filled her hands with the banknotes. She fanned them out.
“There were twelve of them. I found money in ten. Two others had already been searched, so I think you did find some of it, Padua.”
She had no intention of confirming his theory. She much preferred being distracted by the money to looking at the severe lord hovering at her side. Maybe he thought Papa had discovered an easy way to tell his accomplice daughter where to find his ill-gotten gains.
“You did find some of the money, correct?” His voice, crisp and demanding, flowed into her ear. “Before I interrupted.”
“What makes you think so?”
“Because you kept crinkling. I should have searched you after all, it seems.”
She turned her head. He stood right beside her. “I do not understand why you are so angry. This is a wonderful discovery that you have made. There are funds now to pay the lawyer fees, and to tide me over until I find another situation. What is it you suspect me of doing?”
“Of not wanting me, of all men, to see the fruits of your father’s crimes.”
“I am sure this money is not that.” She would probably not be allowed to keep it if that were the conclusion. The evidence of payment would only hasten her father’s conviction too.
“It is a lot of money,” he said. “More than most menhave on hand. If not payment from his accomplices, how did he get so much?”
She made a thick stack with the notes, so she could hold them tightly. “He does not use much money. You saw how he lives. Over time he probably just squirreled away the extra.”
“Really, Padua.” He reached for the notes.
She turned so he could not touch them. She wished she had searched all of those little red books, before he did. She should have returned and done so yesterday, instead of playing lady of the manor in a duke’s house.
“The legacy. That is what this must be. Payment on the legacy, or from it. It probably pays out only once or twice a year, and he hides the money, then lives off it, bit by bit.”
Despite her desperation, it sounded logical. He thought so too. He did not try to take the notes from her again.
