“She asked Wrexham first, right?” Peter pointed out. “She only asked Rumford when Wrexham wouldn’t cough up.”
“But why ask Wrexham at all?”
Harmony sat up a little straighter. “Perhaps the blackmailer had proof of her relationship with Wrexham but not Rumford, and threatened to expose it. Even if their relationship ended some time ago, it would be humiliating if it became public.”
It was an excellent theory and I told her so. Harmony sat back, satisfied with herself.
We finished our tea and went our separate ways. Since all four of them had the day off, I was the only one who returned to the hotel. I arrived there at the same time Flossy alighted from a hotel carriage. One of the porters rushed forward to help with her parcels. There were several, proving that she had been shopping, after all, although she still could have met with someone before or after. She’d not taken a maid to act as her chaperone.
“You’re back very late,” Flossy said as we headed for the lift. “You can’t possibly have been at the museumallday.”
“I met some friends for tea afterwards.”
She gasped and stopped me with a hand to my arm. “You have friends here in London? Are they down from Cambridge?”
My heart sank at my error. I couldn’t tell her about meeting the staff. She would be shocked and ask me not to do it again. I didn’t want to start an argument with heralthough I felt awful for not standing up for my friends, if I could call them that when I hardly knew them. “They’re already heading home again.”
“Next time invite them here for afternoon tea. I’m sure they’d love the Mayfair’s sponge cake.”
I smiled and nodded. I was such a coward.
As much asI was dreading confronting Lord and Lady Wrexham, I was looking forward to finally getting some answers. I felt certain I would today. My tactic couldn’t fail.
Thomas Adams, the footman, answered my knock. His face fell upon seeing me. “Bloody hell. Not you again. What’re you doing here?”
I straightened my shoulders. I didn’t have to answer to him. “Are Lord and Lady Wrexham at home?”
He pressed his lips together, huffed out a breath that smelled of cigarettes, and said, “He is, she isn’t, but he won’t see you. Go away.”
“I’m not leaving until he agrees to see me.” I folded my arms.
The butler appeared by Mr. Adams’s side. I’d met him on my first visit when I’d left him a hotel calling card with my name scrawled on it. “Is there a problem, Thomas?”
“Er. No, sir.”
I gave up on Mr. Adams. It was the butler I had to get past. He looked rather more formidable, however. Mr. Adams might be younger and more physically intimidating, but the butler had an air of command about him. I imagined entire armies would quake in their boots if he looked at them down his nose like he looked at me. I felt like something he’d stepped in and wanted removed from his shoe.
“I’d like to see Lord Wrexham, please. Be so kind as to tell him I’m here.”
“He’s not in.”
“He is, and I’d like to see him.”
The butler’s censorial gaze slid to Mr. Adams. “He’s too busy to see visitors at this moment. Would you like to leave your card again, Miss Fox?”
“He didn’t contact me after I left it last time so I expect this time will be no different. So no, I don’t wish to leave my card. I want to see him.”
The butler’s gloved hand curled into a fist at his side. “And as I said—"
“He’ll want to see me. I have something to tell him about Pearl Westwood. Something that the police would be interested in if they found out.”
The butler remained unmoved except for a flicker of interest in his eyes. Beside him, Mr. Adams crossed his arms, an observer rather than a potential obstacle.
Still, my tactic of mentioning the police did not get results as I had hoped. Time to change course again. “What I have to say is something of a scandalous nature that journalists would delight in reporting.”
The butler’s fingers uncurled and he released a breath. “Thomas, see if his lordship will receive Miss Fox.”
The footman disappeared. The butler blocked my entry until Mr. Adams returned. “He’ll see you in his study, Miss Fox. I’ll show you the way.”
