Page 43 of In the Midnight Hour

“But why would he steal the other items besides the illustrated manuscripts?” Hypatia picked up her cat and nuzzled his head.

Northwood rubbed his hands together briefly. “That part of your theory holds true—he killed Sir Radnor with the walking stick then took it with him. He also stole the snuffbox and necklace because if he only pilfered the manuscripts and the murder weapon, it would be easier to determine that he committed the murder. Perhaps one of Sir Radnor’s servants saw Killingsworth that night.”

“Wouldn’t they have already said so?”

“Perhaps not.” Northwood shrugged. “Shall we go, or would you rather postpone this visit until the morning before the funeral service?” He eyed Quill, who was quite content to be held at the moment. Though, that could change at any time.

“Let’s go now,” she said.

Quill understood, for he jumped from her arms to a chair where he sat down to give himself a bath. Hypatia felt much better after the brief interlude. “There’s nothing more calming than the purr of a cat. It sounds like a warm blanket.”

“What a wonderful description. Perhaps I should have a cat.”

“Don’t try to steal mine,” Hypatia warned. “I’ll be right back.”

She hastened up the stairs to fetch her pelisse. It wasn’t an appropriate time to make a call, but this wasn’t a social call. They were conducting an investigation, and she was running out of time to prove her innocence.

Chapter 10

North went to the chair and held his hand out for Quill to give him a good long sniff. “You cats like to sniff everything and everyone.”

Quill did a thorough job, then bumped his head into North’s hand. Smiling, North stroked the cat between his ears. “Your mistress is upset, which I’m sure you can sense.” The cat’s green eyes slitted. “How I wish you could talk. Then you could tell me if she’s hiding something—and what,” he murmured.

A few moments later, Hypatia returned. She’d donned a dark gray pelisse trimmed with silver buttons and a velvet collar as well as a hat and gloves. “I’m ready.”

North moved away from the chair, and Quill jumped down. He stretched his back legs as he took his first few steps, then walked to the entrance hall. “He knows we’re leaving?”

“He recognizes when I don a hat that I’m going out,” Hypatia replied. “Shall we?”

“Smart cat,” North mused as he followed Hypatia to the front door, which a young footman dashed to open.

“Thank you, Benjamin,” she said with a brief smile before departing. Quill moved ahead of her down the steps.

After securing the gate, North walked beside her toward number twenty-four. They moved slowly as they spoke. “Our goal is to gather evidence to support your theory about the Clavertons. We need to determine how they gained access to the house and how they obtained the walking stick, though I suppose it was close at hand if they used it to kill him.”

“This all assumes they knew or at least suspected they wouldn’t be included in the will, which they claim not to have known. Without knowing that, what would have been their motive to steal these items from Sir Radnor?” Hypatia asked.

“The Clavertons called on their great-uncle often,” North said. “Hopefully, someone in his household can tell us about their behavior—anything that might indicate they knew they were cut from Sir Radnor’s will or suspected they might be.”

Hypatia nodded. “I do hope the servants are able to take time to speak with us. They will be busy preparing for tomorrow’s funeral. We must prepare ourselves for the smell.”

North hadn’t thought of that. Sir Radnor had been laid out in the house since Saturday morning—going on five days. The servants were likely doing all they could to keep the rot at bay—or at least the consequences of it—but the stench was bound to be pervasive.

“He’s in the morning room on the ground floor. I know this because they’ve been keeping the door and window open to that room, which means the back garden has a bit of a miasma.” Hypatia wrinkled her nose. “If the wind blows the right direction, we catch a whiff of it in my garden.”

“How awful,” North said as they arrived at the gate. “I’m glad he’ll be put to rest tomorrow.”

Maberly answered the door and seemed genuinely surprised to see them. Was it because of the hour of their arrival or the fact that they were calling together? Perhaps both.

“Pardon us for intruding, Maberly,” Hypatia said warmly. “Lord Northwood and I are committed to discovering how Sir Radnor truly died and who was responsible. To that end, we’d like to ask you and some of the other servants some questions.”

The butler slid a glance toward North. “Is that because your brother’s the coroner? Are you helping him?”

“Yes, that’s right.” North hadn’t meant to mislead anyone, but this explanation seemed easiest. He wanted the butler’s full cooperation. Indeed, it was absolutely required.

“Come in.” Maberly opened the door wide for them to move into the entrance hall, then closed it hurriedly. “We are in a bit of turmoil as we prepare for the funeral. At last,” he added with some relief.

“We’ll move through our questions quickly, then,” North said with a smile. “Do you mind if we speak with you first, or are you in the middle of something?”