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“Very good, Sir,” Constable Mills said. Their eyes locked, and Charles could tell—this was not at all what they were expecting. They had truly believed the murderer to be him.
“Lean on me, Your Grace,” Charles said. There was no time for anything else. The Duke was bleeding heavily.
* * *
Arabella was still sitting in the kitchen when there was a knock at the door. She followed Mr. Blankley as he rose to get the door. Constable Mills had arrived, his hat in hand.
“It was as you said, My Lady,” he replied. “Your father has been taken by Mr. Charles Conolly to the physician.”
“Is Father all right?” she asked.
“He was stabbed, by the murderer, in the abdomen,” Constable Mills said. “However, it was not a fatal blow. It appears that Mr. Conolly arrived in time to prevent it.”
“Is Mr. Conolly all right?” Arabella asked.
Why was he there?
“He’s well. He’s with your father. Evidently, he was sent a letter by the murderer. Fearing for your father, he went out to Madam Christina’s, where he followed the both of them down an alley. We arrived not long after.”
“Is the murderer caught?” Arabella wondered.
“She has been, yes,” Constable Mills confirmed.
“She?” There was a twist that she hadn’t expected. Despite the fine, spidery writing, she had still believed it to be a man.
“She. We’re trying to get a statement from her,” Constable Mills said. “Until such time as she divulges her tale, we will let you know. We just wanted to bring word of your father.”
“Thank you, Constable,” she said. The man left, and Mr. Blankley closed the door after him.
“My Lady?” Mr. Blankley asked. He was pale. Lurid news of her father’s near brush with death had upset him.
“I have to go and tell my mother,” she said, feeling remarkably steady. She had been worried that they would be too late. “Please bring a tray up. I presume she’ll need a bit of brandy after she hears this.”
Arabella climbed the stairs. She felt a wave of relief. It was over. Somehow, Charles had made it in time. Because she had gotten that sense, the Constables had arrived in time, too.
She knocked on her mother’s door, steeling herself for the upset that she was about to cause. Her mother would need to hear where her father had been. That wasn’t something that should be kept from any lady.
