AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are the figs still around?” I ask. “If so, perhaps they can be tested…” I cast a questioning glance at Gray.
“Yes,” Gray says. “Isla knows methods for detecting poison in food.”
“The figs are gone,” Annis says.
“Eaten?” I say.
When I get another look from Annis, Gray says, “Please consider Mallory’s questions to be for Hugh. She has excellent instincts for detective work.”
“Originating from her experience on the wrong side of it?” Annis says sharply. “I know my sister’s practices. Bringing convicted criminals into our family home.”
“I was never convicted,” I say. “Owing to my aptitude for detective work.”
Sarah laughs. “Careful with this one, Annis. She is not one of the simpering lassesyouhire.”
“I do not hire them. Gordon did, and simpering is exactly how he liked them.”
I clear my throat. “You may not want to refer to your husband in the past tense just yet.”
I expect her to snap at me, maybe tell Gray to call me to heel. Instead, I get a very different look. Appraising. Considering. Then she nods and says, to my surprise, “Fair point. All right then, Detective Mallory. When I say the figs are gone, I select my words with care. At first, Lord Leslie refused to produce the box. I presume there was some love note scrawledon the inside. Then, when Sarah convinced him that it was important, he went to produce the box and it was gone. That is when he began accusing me—”
“Lady Leslie,” a sharp voice calls from down the hallway. “Your husband is on his deathbed, and you are entertaining guests?”
I peer down the semi-dark hall to see a slight-statured woman with gray-streaked hair and a cane, which she waggles at Annis.
“Come,” she says. “Now. He has been calling for you.”
The woman turns and stalks off.
“He only wants me in there so she can harangue me,” Annis mutters. “Same as that damnable sister of his.”
“Language, dearest,” Sarah murmurs. “You are a woman of quality.”
Annis mutters more under her breath, but she does pick up her pace. Gray matches it as he walks alongside her. I hang back with Sarah.
“I presume that was Lord Leslie’s sister?” I whisper.
“Yes,” Sarah says. “The Honorable Helen Bannerman.”
“She is not fond of Lady Leslie?” I whisper.
Sarah gives me a look, complete with a small smile. “No one is fond of Annis, my dear. Except those she is fond of, and they are exceedingly fond of her in return, though I’ve never been certain whether that is because it’s deserved or because we are flattered.”
When I don’t respond, she leans in and say, “I am teasing, of course. Annis is not the woman she appears.” She purses her lips. “Well, she is, and she is also not, if that makes sense.”
“She is exactly as she appears, but to those who know her well, she is more.”
Sarah taps my arm with a gloved hand. “Precisely. As for Helen, she is next in line to the title as Annis has no children.”
Gray looks back and says to me, “If a peerage has no male heirs, the title may pass to the eldest female to avoid extinction.”
Sarah nods. “Helen will inherit the title and the house.”
A woman can inherit? Is that because Scotland doesn’t practice coverture? If so, how does that explain what happened in Gray’s family, the house and business and assets passing from Lachlan to Gray, despite Annis being the oldest and Gray being the youngest?
“Annis does not begrudge Helen the house,” Sarah continues. “It is a greedy, devouring monster. What Helenwon’tinherit is the money thatkeeps it fed. That is Annis’s… unless she is sent to the gallows for murder.”
“Ah.”
