Page 83 of A Scandal at Stonecliffe

“Just one thing odd about it?” Nathan raised an eyebrow.

She smiled a little. “No, the whole thing is peculiar from beginning to end. First, why was there no ransom note? Why did Tolliver kidnap Malcolm and not ask for ransom?”

“I presume he abducted him just to get him out of the way so Tolliver could impersonate Malcolm. It would have been awkward if the real Malcolm had suddenly shown up.”

“But why not try to get both blackmail and a ransom? It’s not as if he would have had any moral qualms about it.”

“True. And the Douglases would have been much richer marks. Why didn’t he choose to blackmail them instead? He wouldn’t have even had to put on a charade for them, just threaten to tell everyone what they’d done.” Nathan sat forward, his eyes alight. Verity knew that he felt the same compulsion she did to unravel this whole tangled web. “I cannot believe that this Tolliver chap just happened to run into Malcolm at an inn and decided to kidnap him and impersonate him in order to fool me into believing he was my father’s legitimate heir.”

Verity nodded. “Exactly. It had to be planned out. He would have had to know about Malcolm’s background. Even if Malcolm had had a great deal to drink, it’s hard to picture him letting out a lifelong family secret to some stranger he happened to meet on the road.”

“Yes, it would make more sense if Will Tolliver already knew Malcolm,” Nathan agreed. “But why would Malcolm lie and say the man was a stranger?”

“Maybe Tolliver was a stranger. We don’t know for sure the man at the inn had anything to do with the kidnapping or the impersonation. It’s very possible that Tolliver was not the same man we met. All we really know is that he had drinks with Malcolm and had the same coloring as the imposter.”

“And even if Tolliver was the man we met with, he may have just been hired, as Shoemaker and Hill were,” Nathan offered. “He could have just met Malcolm in order to study his speech and mannerisms.”

Verity nodded, pleased that Nathan was thinking along the same lines she was. “I think the real culprit was someone who knew the Douglases better than that. Malcolm said he’d never told anyone, that it couldn’t be someone close to him. But I think he’s being naive.”

“He wouldn’t want to believe that someone he knew would do such a thing,” Nathan agreed. “I wouldn’t, either. But it makes more sense.” The carriage had pulled to a stop in front of Verity’s house, but neither of them made any move to leave.

“It wouldn’t have to be a close friend,” Verity went on. “That sort of knowledge gets out, no matter how much one tries to keep it a secret. A maid has intimate knowledge of the women she tends to. All of their servants and acquaintances knew that Margaret and her mother went on a trip for several months and came back with a baby. There were bound to be people who were suspicious about the tale. Flora was childless from Margaret’s birth and then suddenly, late in life, she had a baby?”

“A number of people could have dug into the matter and found out the same things we did—I wish we’d asked the people in Gairmore if anyone else had made inquiries.”

“Will Tolliver is the only one who can answer these questions,” Verity said.

“But he’s taken to his heels,” Nathan pointed out.

“That doesn’t mean he left the city. A Londoner could just as easily hide here in the city. I think we need to speak to our attackers again.”

“Hill and Shoemaker? Shall we look for them tomorrow?”

Verity nodded. “They’re the only ones who can tell us who they were actually working for.” She wondered guiltily if she was only making excuses to be with Nathan again.

“And you hate that they escaped us twice.” Nathan’s eyes twinkled.

“Yes, I do.” She scowled at the memory. “I’d really like to have another go at them.” Verity looked at him. “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t.”

Nathan grinned a little wolfishly. “You’re right. I would.”

That look. That smile. In that moment, Verity ached to kiss him. Instead, she opened the door and slipped out of the carriage. Nathan followed, but she was at her front door in a flash and already unlocking it when he came up behind her.

Verity opened the door but twisted back to face him, as if barring the door. Her pulse leapt in her throat, and she wasn’t sure whom she was thwarting, Nathan or herself. Still, she stood fast. “Good night, Nathan.”

“Verity.” He gave her a little formal nod.

She tried to read his face, but for once she could not. Was that disappointment in his eyes? And how wicked of her to wish that it was.

“Tomorrow then,” he said and turned to leave.

“Tomorrow,” Verity murmured as she watched him walk away.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

VERITY SLEPT LITTLE, just as she had the night before. Am I never going to be able to sleep again without Nathan beside me? It was a ridiculous thought. She’d slept fine alone for all her life, but now she found her bed cold without his warm body pressed against her. Worse, she couldn’t seem to control either her mind, which circled endlessly over all the reasons she had to leave Nathan, or her heart, which ached to be with him.

Long before Nathan arrived, Verity was up and ready to leave, the little breakfast she’d managed to force down sitting like a lump of lead in her stomach. She was not going to do this anymore, she told herself. Today would be the last time. If they didn’t find their two attackers, she would give up. She’d come home and pack, even if she did get tears in her eyes every time she started to do so.