“It’s the blackmailer again,” Henry said tightly. “They’re obviously unhappy about the engagement.”
“Well?” William prompted. “What does it say?”
Henry handed it to him silently.
William read it twice and tossed the note onto the desk with a look of disgust. “Bloody hell. No name. No signature,” he said. “Same handwriting, I take it?”
Henry gave a short nod. “Definitely the same hurried scrawl.”
William folded his arms. “They must have slipped it under while we were still at breakfast.”
Henry sank into the chair behind his desk, rubbing at his forehead. “So they were there. In the room. Watching.”
“Or heard about it shortly after. We can’t be sure they were in the room at the moment the announcement was made.”
Henry swore under his breath. “But the timing…. It had to have been soon after. Too soon to be a coincidence.”
William made a sound of agreement. “So let’s think. Who was there? Who reacted? Did anyone leave during the meal?”
Henry stared at the far wall, mentally replaying the scene. “Lady Wilmington was near my mother. She looked as though she’d bitten into a lemon.”
“Her daughter is one of the hopefuls, isn’t she?”
“Yes. And Miss Crawford left the table abruptly after the announcement. I think I heard her say she’d forgotten something.”
William tapped a finger against his arm. “And her mother looked rather smug, although doesn’t she always?”
Henry’s jaw tightened. “I can’t believe we’re actually considering this. That someone might ruin lives over ambition.”
William raised a brow. “Have you met our peers?”
Henry let out a humorless laugh. “A fair point indeed.”
They fell silent for a moment, the note sitting between them on the polished wood like a loaded weapon.
“We can’t discount the servants either,” William said eventually. “Any number of them might’ve overheard something over the past week. Or maybe someone bribed one to watch and report.”
Henry tilted his head. “And if a servant told someone else, the note could have come from someone far removed from the actual eavesdropper.”
“We’ll need to watch everyone,” William said. “Not just the obvious suspects.”
Henry rested his elbows on the desk, briefly closing his eyes. He felt a headache coming on. “This is going to make me even more wary.”
“Good. You need to have your wits about you because someone in this house wants to destroy you.”
Henry looked down at the note, then back up at William. “Then let’s make a list,” he said, reaching for a pencil. “We can start with who was at breakfast, who overheard the announcement, who left early, who might benefit.”
William nodded. “Let’s get to work.”
But half an hour later, they had little but a list of guests and servants that amounted to more or less every person in the house. If simple jealousy or advancement was the motive, it could be any one of the duke’s guests.
Henry sighed. He would have to make time to speak with his mother and persuade her to be more forthright with him if they were to have any hope of uncovering the truth.
“I know you don’t want to hear this—” William began cautiously.
Henry interrupted him, knowing what he was about to say. “You’re going to ask me to call the betrothal off.” It wasn’t as though he wasn’t thinking about it himself. Charlotte was in direct danger now.
“Not permanently. You’ll break her heart,” William said quickly. “And besides, I’ve gotten used to the idea of having you as a brother. But perhaps at least while Charlotte is here with this troublemaker in the house. I don’t want her to be targeted.”
