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“It’s all right. I’m just glad you came when you did or I’m not sure what Lord Vance would have done.”
“We better contact everyone about what happened. Tabitha, where are Mother and Father?” Phillip asked.
“They went out for the night, but we’d better have everything cleared up or Mother will take to her bed for the next month.”
“I’ll be as quick as possible.” Phillip left to get Sir Darnley while Andrew and Tabitha waited. Andrew filled Tabitha in on the rest of the events, including Herr's murder.
“So now you need to find Miranda to get the rest of the answers,” Tabitha said.
Andrew shook his head. “I hope no harm has befallen her. If Lord Vance thought she would betray him, no telling what he would do. Perhaps that’s why she fled.”
Within the hour, Sir Darnley arrived and they escorted Lord Vance out, as he was still unconscious. Tabitha and Phillip cleared up any messes left before their parents returned home. Andrew went with Lord Vance but promised to keep them up to date. Phillip stayed at home since it appeared the threat of arrest was gone with Vance in custody.
CHAPTER32
Aweek later, the Crestwood siblings received an invitation to dine with Andrew. Tabitha had not seen or spoken to Andrew during that time since he was busy with the search for Miranda. Plus, he had returned to his estate in Essex to clear up matters there as well.
Phillip, in the meantime, had been with Sir Darnley and the ministry, questioning Lord Vance and getting to the bottom of his treachery. Phillip told Tabitha that Lord Vance had a wide network of spies, both in France and England. He had been selling information to the French. Lord Vance admitted the documents incriminating Phillip were false. The papers were confiscated and destroyed.
The trio sat around the dinner table while Andrew told what he had discovered since they had last spoken.
“We found Miranda. Apparently, she had told a servant she was going to a friend’s home up north. When I spoke to her parents about finding Miranda as it pertained to William’s death, they questioned the servants. I brought Miranda back yesterday, and she had quite a story to tell. She and Herr had been having an affair for about a year when they came up with the plan to poison William. At first, they only wanted to keep him ill so they could take charge of the money and the estate, but when Miranda found out she was pregnant with Herr’s child, they knew William would divorce her, so they plotted to kill him, claim the baby as William’s heir to keep the money and the title.”
“But she didn’t plan on William disowning her,” Tabitha said.
Andrew nodded. “The shock caused the miscarriage, so she did the only thing she could and tried to seduce me in hopes of getting married to her husband’s brother. She seemed to have gone a little mad when she returned, her father said. She wasn’t quite herself.”
“Which was evident with her outburst at the ball that night,” Tabitha said.
“That was when Lord Vance took interest in Miranda, after seeing that display. He sought her out, and she told Vance the entire story about Herr and William’s death. Vance, being a man of opportunity, wrote the letter to the magistrate after getting the details. He never met Herr, but had one of his men pay him for his information.”
Phillip picked up the rest of the story, since he had heard it from Lord Vance.
“It seems Herr was getting greedy. He asked for more money or threatened to go to the authorities. That was when Vance ordered Herr to be killed. Apparently, Miranda had also visited Herr while in London. She knew he was here the whole time.”
“What did Miranda have to say? Was she sorry?” Tabitha asked.
“She is troubled, and I think she is a little mad from this entire experience, so it has been decided not to press charges against her. She will retire to her parent’s country home.”
“It’s for the best,” Tabitha said.
“To save his own skin, Vance has given up his informants both here and in France, and in return he is being sent to Australia,” Phillip said.
“I’m just glad it’s all over,” Tabitha said. “But I still can’t stop feeling guilty that all of this is my fault. If I hadn’t spurned Vance two years ago...”
“You can’t think like that,” Phillip said. “Besides, it wouldn’t have stopped everything from happening. It wouldn’t have stopped Andrew’s brother from being murdered, and Vance would have kept up with his treachery. In a roundabout way, it all helped to capture Vance.”
Tabitha hadn’t thought about it that way. Then again, Phillip had always been the more level-headed one, between the two of them. She put her hand over his. “Thank you.”
“Well, I must be going. I have an early start tomorrow.” Phillip stood up from the table.
“Where are you going?”
“France. There is an informant there who I am to meet.”
Tabitha hugged him. “Be careful.”
“I will. I’ll see you tomorrow before I leave.”
