His praise made her blush. “You are too kind, sir. But let us not forget that Mr. Elton, murderer though he is, still has his standards. He wouldnevermurder a lady.”
George snorted. “The man truly is deranged, so I cannot begin to fathom his thought processes.”
“Poor Mrs. Elton. She must have known before the end that her husband viewed her with contempt.”
And that fact, she couldn’t help thinking, was very sad indeed.
“Yes, it’s quite awful.” George gently brushed a stray lock of hair back from her cheek. “Emma, I hope that, in time, you will be able to forget this day. It wouldn’t do to let it weigh on your thoughts.”
“I’m afraid there’s no forgetting this day, George. Although we must take consolation in the knowledge that Mr. Elton can never hurt anyone again.”
“Highbury’s nightmare is finally behind us.”
Not the scandal, though. That was just beginning, and it would no doubt provide fodder for gossip for months to come. She imagined there were very few villages in England that could lay claim to having a murderous vicar.
For a few minutes, they sat in blessed silence, George’s uninjured arm resting gently around her shoulders as they stared into the dying fire.
Her husband finally stirred. “I have been wondering about one thing.”
“Just one?” she ironically replied.
“For now.”
“And that is?”
He tilted his head to gaze at her. “Despite the shock of encountering your husband facing the business end of a pistol, you didn’t seem shocked that it was our vicar holding the other end.”
“Of course I was shocked, George,” she exclaimed. “Mr. Elton had just shot you.”
“But you weren’t shocked that it washim, were you?”
“Not really,” she admitted.
“How did you know?”
“You must understand that I wasn’t entirely sure until I saw him pointing that pistol at you. I was simply planning to speak with you about, well, a feeling I had about him.”
“It must have been quite a strong feeling,” he replied. “According to Mrs. Hodges, you were in quite a fluster when you arrived at Donwell.”
“Something I heard at Randalls this afternoon raised my suspicions. Mr. Elton had stopped by Hartfield to visit with Father, so I took the opportunity to pop over to Randalls for a visit.” She grimaced. “I feel terrible now, knowing that I left Father alone with the man who tried to kill him. It’stoohideous, George.”
He gave her a gentle squeeze. “Try not to think about it. Just tell me what you heard at Randalls that gave you pause.”
“We were discussing Mrs. Elton’s apparent threat to expose Mr. Suckling, regardless of the consequences. Both Jane and Frank were adamant that she would never treat her sister in so shabby a fashion. According to Jane, Mrs. Elton was truly devoted to Mrs. Suckling and would never hurt her. Frank also made the very cogent point that it made little sense for Mrs. Elton to ruin Mr. Suckling in so spectacular a fashion. Because if she did, she would lose any chance of recouping her lost funds.”
“How clever of Frank to note that,” George sardonically replied.
Emma poked him in the thigh. “Even you must admit that Frank had the right of it.”
“I will concede the point, and I will also concede that I am annoyed he thought of it first.”
“It’s very lowering, isn’t it? It had never really occurred to me, either. But once the point was made, I was forced to reorder my thinking about motives. If Mrs. Elton was not threatening to expose Mr. Suckling, why bother killing her?”
“So then the question became, who truly stood to lose the most from the destruction of Mrs. Elton’s fortune?”
“Mr. Elton.”
He nodded. “I also concede that point, but the case against Sucklingwasstrong. The necklace and the fact that he refused to even speak to anyone but his solicitor or his wife. The evidence clearly seemed to indicate his guilt.”
