The men exchanged glances, and Darcy spoke. “Fitzwilliam has recovered Mr Wickham.”
“Oh!” She frowned pensively. “Has he spoken anything useful?”
“Useful!” guffawed Richard. “The most useful thing I should like to hear from him is ‘farewell,’ but I doubt we shall be so fortunate.”
“I intend,” put in Darcy with a sideways glance at his cousin, “to interview him once more before he is taken to London, but for now all we have are suspicions. I must ask for your discretion where my sister and Mrs Wickham are concerned.”
She nodded slowly. “Yes, I agree. I would fear for my own sister’s peace of mind, if she were to learn that he was here on the estate. I will speak to her, if you find it necessary, but it would not be my preference.”
“Just so. Might I impose upon you to look over some business matters after breakfast? I am hoping that your observations might help us to find anything amiss.”
She agreed, and the three fell quiet as first Mrs Wickham, then Georgiana joined them for the morning repast. A quarter of an hour had passed in relative peace when Mr Hodges appeared at the door.
“Sir!” he appeared to be holding his breath, “there is an urgent matter that requires your personal attention.”
Darcy looked quickly to his cousin, but Richard was already on his feet. They made their excuses to the ladies and followed the butler out of the room. “Yes, Hodges?” Darcy asked.
“It is the study, sir. One of the maids was walking by and she heard a noise.” Hodges’ eyes rolled back and he drew breath to compose himself. “Perhaps it is best if you see for yourself, sir. I have permitted none to enter the room.” He led them to the study and held back the door, standing aside and looking rather pale. Darcy spared him a curious glance, then entered.
“By heaven!” Richard breathed.
Darcy could not speak even so much as that. The fire in the study still blazed hot with what remained of several thick account books, but charred bits of paper already floated about the room. Dominating the centre, however, was a sight that made even Richard turn away, with his hand over his mouth.
The desk was strewn with random papers, and dangling just in front of it, suspended from a ceiling beam, was Jefferson. Darcy’s first instinct was to rush forward and cut the man down, but his face was purple, the life already gone out of his flesh. Darcy closed his eyes and spun away, shaking. “Have him taken down!” he ordered, then rushed from the room before he could become sick.
Chapter fifty-three
“Well,Isupposethatnow we know where Wickham was getting his money.” Richard fell into a chair in the library and yanked at his cravat. “But Jefferson! I’ll be buggared if I suspected him during all this nonsense. Has he not been your steward since old Wickham died?”
“About a year before my father’s death,” agreed Darcy in a weak voice. “He was entrusted with all manner of sensitive information.”
“Who could have got to him? It is not as though you do not pay your men well, Darcy. What advantage was he intending to gain by betraying you?”
“Not all my accounts are public knowledge. My father and grandfather made some quiet investments during their lifetimes, and the interest has appreciated rather rapidly, as I have not touched them. I never discovered anything questionable, but I preferred to let them remain private, simply because I do not wish everyone to know all my financial interests. Jefferson, however, knew all about them.”
“But even if he knew of them, he could not access them without your permission.”
“Or that of my heir.” Darcy braced himself against the window frame and gazed out. “So, the question remains; who was in a position to profit by my disappearance? Georgiana is now nearly seventeen and was left the sole heiress, so it seems plausible that someone may have intended to control the estate through marriage to her.”
“Aunt Catherine had a future earl planned for her, and my father pushed hard for me to marry her myself. You cannot think that either of them—”
“I cannot eliminate that possibility. In the former case, Georgiana would have been taken to her new husband’s estate, leaving Pemberley to be managed by the steward in her absence. In the latter, your father would simply have ruled you, and done as he liked.”
“Your confidence in me is inspiring. What of Vasconcelos? I hardly think either my father or our aunt could have found him, but someone did.”
“Or Vasconcelos found them. From what I could tell, the man has his resources.” Darcy turned from the window and could not help but notice his cousin’s fingers digging into the arm of his chair. He raised a curious brow. “Have you something against the man yourself?”
Richard clenched his hands, then flexed them in feigned nonchalance. “Personal distaste, that is all. Darcy.” He quickly changed the subject. “Did not the magistrate hear the case regarding the attack on the ladies?”
“From Mr Jefferson, yes, and we now know him to have been a biased source. Perhaps there is something more to be learned from Duncan, but I believe we ought to look to Mr Wickham now. With Jefferson dead, I need what information can be gained more than ever.”
“And how, precisely, do you intend to make him speak? I have no intention of promising to save his worthless neck. What other inducement do you have?”
Darcy smiled. “What motivates every man—a woman.”
“No!”LydiaWickhamcrossedher arms over her bulging middle and stuck out her chin. “I will have nothing to do with the beast, and you can let him hang for all I care! At least I will be well rid of him.”
“Mrs Wickham,” Richard tried his most charming voice, “his information could help us discover the persons behind the plot on Mr Darcy, as well as Miss Darcy! Certainly, you wish, as we do, to protect Georgiana. Mr Wickham is our best source of information.”
