While the constable stood, arms folded, Dominic took a seat opposite them at the table. He observed the couple, wondering how best to provoke one of them into an admission of guilt. Mrs. Hobbs seemed the best choice. He directed his question to her.
“You are married to Mr. Pike?”
Hilda Hobbs’s shrill assertion trumped Pike’s emphatic denial.
Pike stared coldly ahead. “As if I would marry a laundry maid. My father was a vicar. She is beneath me.”
“Ow!” She turned to him, her hands forming fists. If she hadn’t been shackled, she would have hit him. “We’ve been as man and wife since Hobbs died. I should never have agreed to your demands to keep it secret.”
Pike glared at her. “She’s lying.”
Dominic nodded to Pike. “Why did you meet Mrs. Hobbs in the gardens at Redcliffe Hall?”
Pike’s eyes narrowed. It transformed his face, reminding Dominic of a trapped animal. “Who says I did?”
“My gardener.”
“I don’t know the gardener. So how would he know me? And why would I come to see this woman?”
“You let Pike into the house that night, didn’t you Mrs. Hobbs?” Not waiting for her answer, Dominic’s gaze swiveled to Pike. “And you planned to try again. You struck my footman.”
He shrugged. “Not I.”
“It was him.” Fury darkened Mrs. Hobbs’s eyes. “Forced me to help him. I didn’t want to. Don’t accuse me of nothing else. It’s the truth. I’ll swear on the Bible. I won’t swing at the end of a gallows rope for murder. Not for such as him.”
Pike turned on her. “Be quiet, you fool.”
“Call me a fool, do you? I’ll not go down with you.” Her panicked gaze caught Dominic’s. “Pike killed the old earl. Hit him on the head when he refused to tell him where he’d hidden his money. Pike’s been trying to find it ever since.”
“That’s an outrageous lie!” Pike said. “You’d best shut your mouth.”
Mrs. Hobbs would not be silenced. She gathered herself together, eager to tell all. “Pike found the earl in his bed in the butler’s pantry. He dragged him out and forced him to take him to the hiding place. He told me the old man broke free and ran up the stairs. Pike went after him and struck him down.”
Dominic felt rage rise like gall in his throat. It was all he could do not to lean across the table and seize the smug killer by his collar and throttle him.
Before he gave in to the impulse, he rose and left the room.
He joined Sir Frederick for coffee in the office. “That was nicely done, my lord.”
Dominic put down his cup. The result gave him no pleasure. To think of Alberic suffering the way he had. “Samuels and I will be on our way. I shall be here for the trial if you consider it necessary.”
“With Mrs. Hobbs as a witness, I shouldn’t think so.”
When Dominic arrived back at Redcliffe Hall, he still couldn’t find Olivia. Apart from the vase of delphiniums, her office looked oddly impersonal. Then he realized everything of hers had gone. The desk cleared, the shelves tidied. Uneasy, he searched the house for her. Then, his apprehension increasing, he ventured up to her chamber. In the small room, the wardrobe and drawers were empty. The bed was stripped. There was nothing left. She had gone.
He dropped onto the narrow mattress as distress warred with anger and then became a grim realization. Olivia had always intended to do this. She didn’t trust him to take care of her. She still believed he wanted her as his mistress. He should have forced her to listen. But he thought they had all the time in the world.
When he rushed downstairs intending to ask Samuels if she had told him where she was going, Jack advised him of a visitor.
“Who is it?” he asked abstractedly.
“A Mrs. Turner.”
He scowled. He didn’t know the woman. “What does she want?”
“Said she is applying for the position of housekeeper, milord. Worked for Lord Willowbrook and has excellent references. She would have spoken first to Mr. Williams, but he’s away.”
“Housekeeper? What has brought her here?” Ah. He knew. Of course. Olivia’s plan. He drew in a sharp breath to ease his tight chest. Where was she?
