Greydon lifted his brother’s stiff arm and asked, “Were there any defensive wounds?”
“None,” Sir David said. “I doubt that he even saw the attack coming.”
As his eyes roamed over the hand, he saw something that was becoming all too familiar in his line of work. “Did you note the whitish lines in the fingernails?” he asked.
“I did not.” Sir David walked to the other side of the body and removed spectacles from his jacket pocket. He picked up the hand and examined it. “I daresay I wasn’t even looking for signs of arsenic poisoning, considering the nature of his death.”
“What of his mouth?” Greydon asked, placing his brother’s arm down.
Sir David opened Phineas’ mouth and leaned closer. “There are white spots on the inside of the cheek, as well.”
Greydon took a step back from the table and said, “Someone was poisoning my brother in small doses.”
“Most likely, Lady Eugenie was poisoning him and she grew tired of waiting for him to die,” Sir David responded, unconcerned.
“Perhaps,” Greydon muttered. He wasn’t fully convinced. Why go through the trouble of slowly administering poison if Lady Eugenie didn’t intend to see it through?
“Regardless, this changes nothing,” Sir David said as he removed his spectacles. “Lady Eugenie killed Lord Rushcliffe by plunging a dirk dagger into his heart.”
“What if Lady Eugenie had an accomplice?”
Sir David slipped his spectacles back into his jacket pocket. “There was no indication that she had one, and I don’t have time for a witch hunt.”
“What if I interviewed Lady Eugenie?” Greydon asked.
Sir David shook his head. “Absolutely not!” he replied. “Consider what I shared as a professional courtesy but that is where your involvement ends. I do not want you to jeopardize this case for me. It is too important for my career.”
Greydon wanted to continue arguing but he knew it would get him nowhere. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t investigate it on his own.
“I understand, and I thank you for your time,” he said with a tip of his head. “I shall be looking forward to the verdict from the inquest.”
“As will I.” Sir David walked towards the door and opened it. “Will there be anything else, my lord?”
With a final glance at his brother, Greydon knew he couldn’t just leave well enough alone. He needed answers, and he had to discover for himself if Lady Eugenie had been poisoning Phineas. Or did she have an accomplice?
Knowing Sir David was still waiting for a response, he said, “Not at this time.”
Enid had just stepped into her family’s townhouse when her father’s booming voice came from the opposite side of the entry hall.
“Where have you been, young lady?” he demanded as he approached her with a purposeful stride.
Enid didn’t dare admit that she had just been at the public house visiting Lady Eugenie so she decided to keep her response vague. “I was running an errand.”
“An errand?” her father asked, skeptically. “You, a disgraced woman, going about Town as if you have a right to be there.”
“You need not remind me of that every time we speak,” Enid said as she removed her gloves. She was tired of having the same conversation with her father.
“Did I not ask you to remain at our townhouse?”
“If I recall correctly, you forbade me from leaving,” she remarked dryly.
Her father glowered at her, not bothering to hide the disdain that was written on his face. “Yet you still defied me.”
“I did, because I had to see to something.”
He folded his arms over his chest. “What errand could be so important as to risk your reputation even further?”
“It hardly matters now,” Enid said, placing her gloves down on the table. “I am home and no harm was done.”
