Denton exhaled deeply and leaned back in his chair. Their gazes locked, and her heartbeat accelerated.
“Tell me everything that happened from the minute you arrived at the manor yesterday morning.”
Nodding, she tried to regulate her breathing. “I arrived at the manor early in the morning. Mr. Tibbs let me inside.”
“Inside the manor, or inside Mr. Greenwood’s office?”
“The manor.” She released the coffee cup and entwined her fingers nervously. “The butler informed me that Albert was in his study.”
“Is that when you went there?”
She nodded. “I wanted to talk to him before the wedding because...” Her voice choked up, so she cleared it. “I was in hopes of convincing Albert that marrying me would not make either one of us happy.”
Denton arched an eyebrow. “Did he know of your reluctance to marry him?”
“Yes. Both he and my parents knew.” She released an uneven sigh. “Trying to convince my parents that they were making a bad mistake was like talking to a brick wall.”
“Then what happened?”
“I knocked on his closed door, and it opened immediately because it hadn’t been closed very well. Anyway, when I walked in, I noticed that his chair was tipped over. As I moved closer, I saw him lying on the floor with a pool of blood around his head.” Tears filled her eyes again. “I froze. I didn’t know what to do.”
“Do you remember what you were thinking at that time?”
“Of course, I remember. Fear was rushing through me so fast I nearly passed out, but I knew that his children were going to blame me.”
“Did you see the object that killed him?”
She licked her dry lips. “It was George Washington’s head.”
Denton nodded. “Yes, the marble bust.”
Courtney wiped away the tears sliding down her cheeks. “Denton, I didn’t kill him. Although I didn’t want to marry him, there’s no way I could have killed him.” She took in a shaky breath. “That bust of George Washington was too heavy for me to lift, anyway. How could I have lifted it high enough to whack Albert on the head if I couldn’t even pick it up?”
Denton stared at her without blinking. Slowly, his expression relaxed, and a hint of a smile touched his lips. “Believe it or not, Miss Mills, that’s what I had thought, myself.”
Courtney sighed as a gush of air rushed from her mouth. She reached across the table and clasped his hand. “Indeed? You don’t think I killed him?”
His gaze dropped to her hand before returning to meet her eyes. “It didn’t make sense for you to kill him. If you’d wanted him dead, you would have waited until after the wedding so that you could get his money as his legal wife.”
Tears of relief flooded her eyes again. “Exactly. But if truth be known, I didn’t care about his money, anyway. It was my parents who were marrying me for his money.”
Denton’s attention dropped to her hand again, and this time, he moved his thumb across her knuckles in a soft caress.
“Miss Mills, I know this is difficult, but can you tell me what happened next?”
She inhaled in a steady breath. “Once I realized that Albert’s children would blame me, I knew I couldn’t stay there. I was so afraid that nobody would believe me, so I ran. I quickly left the house and left in my buggy.”
“Did you see anyone else during this time? A servant, or one of his children, perhaps?”
Closing her eyes, she tried to remember if she saw or heard anyone. “I didn’t see anyone, but I heard voices.” She looked at him. “I was too panicked to recognize anyone’s voice. The only thing that was going through my mind was getting out of there. I didn’t want to see the accusing glares from Albert’s children... and Terrance was one of the worst.”
Denton sighed and nodded. “Needless to say, Terrance was very upset. And yes, he did blame you, as well as his sister. I promised them I’d find who really killed their father.”
“Do...” She swallowed hard. “Do you think you can?”
“I hope so.” He released her hand, lifted his coffee cup to his mouth, and sipped. “So now I want you to tell me what you’ve observed during the times you visited with Albert. How did the servants act toward him?”
A small pound began in her forehead, so she rubbed the annoying spot. “I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Albert was always nice to the people who worked for him. In fact, I believe he treated his servants better than his own children.”
