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‘Borrow your fire irons?’ Nicky reached over to the fireplace as he spoke, grabbing the poker, skirted around the struggling men, and thrust the poker into the melee with a high upward fencer’s lunge.
Prue gave a shrill squeak. Aaron recoiled, looking startled. And Hugo was suddenly very still, standing on his tiptoes with the poker’s point jabbed disturbingly deep into the underside of his chin.
‘That,’ Nicky said into the deafening silence, ‘will do. It will do from you, Aaron, so calm down; it will do from you, Ella, so hand Jem the bludgeon before we have a second murder on our hands; and it will do for the rest of your natural life, Morley-Adams, you contemptible specimen. I take Prue’s word over yours a hundredfold, and if you open your mouth I will put this poker right through your soft palate, so help me God.’
Ella turned to Prue. ‘Are you all right?’
Prue nodded slightly. Ella put her arms around her, a little awkwardly. Prue was stiff against her for a second, then she started to shake.
Aaron cleared his throat, jerking his disarranged clothing back into place. ‘I beg your pardon, ladies. Is anyone hurt?’
Hugo made a noise in his throat. Aaron said, ‘Not you,’ with a calm simplicity more devastating than Nicky’s most baroque contempt. ‘Anyone who matters? Good. Well. What are we going to do with him?’
That was the question. He didn’t have to say,Nobody else will believe Prue; that was entirely obvious. Hugo would say she hadn’t fought, and that was that.
‘Prue,’ Nicky said very gently, considering the tension of his posture. ‘I will stand by you—we all will—if you should wish to prosecute. I trust you know that.’
‘My word against his, in a courtroom?’ Prue said. ‘I never wanted to go through a trial, as if there would be justice. I never told anyone it was him, except Toby. And even so, he came in here and threatened me, he said he would ruin my reputation if I spoke about what had happened. He said, if Itold lies. I’ve never lied. How could I when I’ve never spoken? He said he’d make sure I lost my job and nobody else would employ me and I’d lose this cottage. I havenothing, and he wanted to take it away anyway.’ Her voice was trembling, with rage or fear or both. ‘I was never going to speak, and he came to my home and threatened me to keep silent!’
‘That’s my fault,’ Jem said. ‘I’m sorry, Prue. I didn’t mean to drag you into this.’
‘If you want to consider prosecuting—’ Ella began.
‘I want him out of here,’ Prue said. ‘Get him out!’
‘Just a moment,’ Jem said. ‘I’ve something more to say. Nicky, hold Hugo there, won’t you? I’m sorry, Prue, but I need to go over what I think happened. Hugo had done this dreadful thing, and you went to Toby. You thought he could help, that hewouldhelp, and you ended up telling him about the engagement too, among other things. Is that right?’
He could feel everyone’s eyes intent on him. If Prue mentioned Aaron’s activities, they’d have a problem; he prayed he’d judged this right.
‘Yes.’ Prue swallowed hard. ‘I told him everything, I told him…all sorts of things I shouldn’t have, but I was—it was—I thought he’d help me. I thought he’d tell me what to do, and—and all he cared about was Aaron and Ella. He didn’t care about me in the slightest. He told me to have a hot bath and chalk it up to experience.’
‘My God,’ Ella said. ‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’
‘Toby used what you’d said to blackmail Hugo into proposing to Ella.’ Jem moved around Nicky, so he could see Hugo’s face. ‘But she wouldn’t have it. So what happened next, Hugo? When Toby held a charge of rape over your head, and you’d failed to meet his conditions, what did you do?’
Aaron and Ella made simultaneous noises. Nicky inhaled, a sharp hiss.
‘What did you do to silence him?’ Jem repeated. ‘We all know what you’re capable of. Did you go to his room when you dropped in on Summoner’s Gift? Did you decide he needed to be got out of your way, just as you tried to get me out of your way?’
Nicky’s arm had slackened along with his jaw. Hugo wrenched himself free of the poker. ‘I did nothing! This is an absolute—I didn’t kill Toby!’
‘In the last ten minutes you’ve claimed you didn’t attack me, you didn’t steal my notebook, and you didn’t force Prue,’ Jem said. ‘Forgive me if I don’t find this latest denial any more convincing. You might as well admit it. We couldn’t think worse of you.’
‘I didn’t do it!’ Hugo yelped. ‘I swear it! For God’s sake, man, I might have made mistakes?—’
‘Mistakes?’ Jem and Prue shouted together.
‘I have done…things I’m ashamed of,’ Hugo said, forcing the admission through his teeth. ‘Evidently I have fallen short of the, ah, the standards of decency to which I should—’ Nicky raised the poker again, meaningfully. Hugo swallowed. ‘I didn’t kill Toby. I’m not a murderer.’
‘Just an attempted one?’ Jem asked.
Hugo made a brushing gesture, raising his chin. ‘I intended nothing of the sort. Any serious harm would have been an accident.’
‘You have no idea how badly I should like to hurt you,’ Nicky said. ‘Jem, you make a convincing case, but may I ask your intention?’
‘That’s the question,’ Jem said. ‘I don’t know if, at this distance of time, we could persuade a jury of the murder, let alone his crime against Prue. But we could try. We could tell the court and the papers and the world what he did, and make the case that he committed a murder to hide a rape. I don’t know if a court would convict, but oh, the court of public opinion would. The StAnselm murder solved at last. His political career, his grand marriage, his society friends—we could take them all. It wouldn’t make up for what you did, but by God it would be a start.’
Hugo had gone an unpleasant sallow-grey colour. Ella smiled without kindness. ‘Yes, indeed. Oh, yes. Do you think Lady Lucy will stand by you, Hugo? Perhaps exhibit herself in the dock as a character witness?’
