Page 30 of In the Midnight Hour

“What’s wrong?”

“When he told me about this, I found it amusing. Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about Sir Radnor anymore. I keep wondering why he made me his beneficiary and didn’t tell me.”

“It seems he wanted to marry you,” North said.

“I didn’t know that either,” she replied with a touch of heat. “I don’t know how I missed his intentions. He kept them well masked—for weeks—and that makes me ill at ease.”

North wanted to make sure he understood what she was saying. “Why?”

She shrugged, but the consternation didn’t leave her features. “It just feels disingenuous. I thought we were friends. Now I find myself in an extremely awkward—and suspicious—position because of what he did. And I had no inkling.”

“That would be upsetting,” he said softly. “It almost feels like a betrayal, I imagine.”

Her eyes lit. “Yes, that’s it precisely.”

He was glad she shared that with him. It also confirmed his suspicions about Sir Radnor’s troubling behavior toward her. “Do we have a partnership then? To find Sir Radnor’s killer?”

“We needn’t establish anything formal, but yes.” She shifted in her chair, straightening her spine. “If we think the murderer is whoever stole the items, then I must suggest the Clavertons as suspects. I have a theory that they somehow learned about their disinheritance and decided to take some things they felt were owed to them. Sir Radnor caught them stealing, and Mr. Claverton struck him with the walking stick. Perhaps they didn’t even mean to kill him.”

“That’s a good theory.” North settled back in his chair. “It also works with what you said earlier—that the killer made it look as though Sir Radnor had fallen and hit his head.”

“Precisely.” She frowned slightly. “What I can’t work out is why the Clavertons would choose to steal the items in the middle of the night.”

“Perhaps they’re aware of their great-uncle’s habits,” North suggested. “He regularly overimbibes, and he doesn’t allow anyone to disturb him in his chamber at night.”

She blinked at him. “That’s very well-reasoned.”

He inclined his head. “Thank you. We simply have to prove it.”

“They could have entered the house at that hour through the back door. It wasn’t bolted because that’s how I left. I’m not sure it was bolted as a matter of course either.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “My cook has made mention of that. When she or the scullery maid has gone to Sir Radnor’s to borrow something, they’ve always found the back door unsecured.”

“The Clavertons had a motive, means, and an opportunity then.” He smiled. “I’ll inform my brother.”

“This is all circumstantial,” she said. “We need proof. No one reported hearing anyone entering the house or seeing the Clavertons Friday night.”

“It’s possible the Clavertons were very successful at being covert,” North said. “I’d believe that, given they were frequent visitors. We could interview Usher again. He has to have heard something—he was asleep in the dressing chamber.”

“I’m not sure we should rely on Usher’s recollection of anything,” Lady Cartwright said with an edge of disappointment. “Sir Radnor said on more than one occasion that the poor man was in declining health and ought to have retired. However, whenever Sir Radnor raised the topic with him, Usher insisted he was fine and there was nowhere he’d rather be than in service to him. He was quite adamant, and in the end, Sir Radnor preferred not to go against the man’s wishes.”

“Even though it meant having a valet who can’t fulfill all his duties?” North found that surprising. “Sir Radnor could have kept the man on in some capacity and hired a competent valet.”

“The easiest way to prove the Clavertons stole the items is to find them in their possession,” Lady Cartwright said with a determined gleam in her eye. “We should call on them.”

“And do what, search their house as Drummond and the constables did here today?” North cocked his head. “I suspect they also had a warrant to search the Clavertons’ house. I could ask Harry to confirm that, but he doesn’t particularly appreciate my interest in this case. I think he’d be even less likely to share information with me if he knew I was helping you.”

She gave him a sardonic look that made her eyes gleam like aquamarine jewels. “Then you’d best not tell him.”

For the barest moment, North wished he hadn’t told her that, but in the end, it had been worth it to see her almost flirt with him. “Do we know when the items disappeared from Sir Radnor’s? That wasn’t revealed at the inquest yesterday.”

“Mr. Wadham gave me a list of the inventory on Monday and informed me the manuscripts were missing. He did not, however, tell me about the other items.”

“Probably because they’d been designated for other beneficiaries,” North said.

“That is my thought as well,” she replied with a nod. “I saw the two manuscripts in Sir Radnor’s library on Friday evening. He kept them in places of prominence in his largest glass-fronted cabinet—on stands and open to show the magnificence of the illuminations.”

He heard the appreciation in her tone. “Are you disappointed they’re missing? You sound as though you admired them.”

“They’re beautiful and historic. To own something that has survived time and represents the work of an artisan is a privilege. I do hope they’ll be found. In truth, they’re the two things I might have selected if Sir Radnor had offered me a choice of what he would gift me.”