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“Did you come to blows?”

“No. I never touched the man.”

Gideon seemed to weigh the next question, casting one look at Electra, and then asking, “Did you threaten Mr. Pennington?”

Kit lowered his head a moment. “I did, yes.”

“What was the nature of the threat?”

“I threatened to expose his predilections. I had heard rumors about his assignations with women paid for such purposes.” Kit winced and side-eyed Electra.

No doubt, he thought such discussion shocking to her ears or an unladylike topic, but Electra was only intrigued by his revelations.

“And how did he react when you threatened to expose those rumors?”

“He laughed in my face,” Kit said plainly. “I left feeling certain that he would not heed my demands, and I was right.”

“When did you learn in the last two weeks that he was still attempting to contact Lady Redmayne?”

“She told me straight away that she’d received a message, passed via our back door to a housemaid.”

“How did you react?”

Kit scoffed and offered Gideon a tight smile. “As you might expect, Inspector. I was livid.”

“Did you contact him again?”

“No. I merely insisted that Cordelia destroy any communication and ignore him.”

“Are you aware that she met him on the day of his death?”

The room grew so silent that a carriage rattling through the square, hoofbeats and the jangle of the horses’ traces, could be heard muffled through the thick window glass.

Kit turned his attention toward the sound but nodded.

“Yes,” he admitted. “He waited outside her friend’s home.” When he turned his attention toward Gideon again, a sheen made his eyes glitter. “What sort of a man does that to a lady who has made her disinterest clear? And I was not there to protect her.”

Gideon watched Kit with an expression that Electra thought looked a great deal like understanding.

“Miss Poole mentioned that you and Lady Redmayne were to take dinner here but that you were detained. Where were you between the hours of five and half six last evening?”

“I was in the House, which sat from two in the afternoon until a bit after seven.”

Gideon bent to note those details. “Were there any votes taken?”

The proof of that would be easily confirmed by the parliamentary register.

“Yes, a banking bill and an education bill.” Kit nodded. “You can confirm my presence there by speaking to other members or seeking my voting record.”

“Did you return here last evening or go to your other lodgings?”

“I dined with two other members and then returned to the House. The second session ran until late into the evening, but I returned here.”

Kit turned a look Electra’s way. “The ladies were still awake and conversing in the drawing room, and I joined them.”

“And then you were out early and returned again this morning,” Electra added, wanting to make the sequence of events clear to Gideon.

He gave her a look. Gratitude perhaps. Then he bent and added details to his notebook.