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“I doubt it. Hardwick has other plans.”
“Oh?”
“Expanding his father’s horse-breeding business or something like that. Do you ride, Miss Fox?” Once again, he was shifting the conversation back to me. He was rather an expert at diversion. Either that or he was just a very good flirt and knew the way to get into someone’s good graces was to ask them about themselves.
Unlike in the hectic moments after the murder, I was able to see Mr. Broadman in his element. He cut a fine figure in a black tailcoat and waistcoat over a crisp white shirt, with his hair parted down the middle. He towered over me, but I never felt dominated by him. I could see why Flossy and the other girls were enamored.
“I don’t know the first thing about horses,” I said.
“You should learn. I could teach you. May I call on you at the Mayfair Hotel?”
Oh Lord, this wasn’t going at all to plan. “Are the rumors untrue?” I asked innocently.
“What rumors?”
“That you are courting someone and she is the reason you and Mr. Rigg-Lyon argued on the steps of the Elms clubhouse?”
Mr. Broadman’s reaction was slight, but I was on the lookout for any change to his pleasing features, so the flare of his nostrils wasn’t lost on me. “You shouldn’t listen to gossip, Miss Fox. It’s almost always untrue when it comes to men like me. That argument was nothing more than a little release of pre-match nerves.”
“You don’t strike me as the nervous type, Mr. Broadman.”
“Outward appearances can be deceptive. For instance, you seem like a charming woman of good breeding, but it turns out you are a meddlesome gossip like all the rest.” He spun on his heel and strode off.
I was left staring at his back, wondering how I could have handled that better.
Beside me, Mr. Liddicoat hurriedly made his excuses to Miss Hessing and went to follow his cousin.
I stepped into his path, blocking him. I’d lost one source of information; I didn’t want to lose another. “I’m afraid I may have upset your cousin by asking him how he’s coping after Saturday’s tragedy.” My sympathetic look wasn’t false. The murder was tragic and my questions were intrusive. If Mr. Broadman was innocent, then I was sorry for him. He may not have been close to Vernon Rigg-Lyon, but they’d been long-time acquaintances, and Mr. Broadman had been accused of his murder. Both were upsetting situations. “He wanted some time alone to reflect.” I took hold of his arm to secure him at my side.
“Yes, of course,” he murmured. “It’s been a very trying few days for Rufus.”
“Have the police continued to hound him?”
He shook his head, his gaze still on Mr. Broadman who’d been waylaid by a group of young ladies that included Flossy. “Thankfully they believed my account about the man wearing the brown coat.”
It seemed like an odd choice of words. “Why wouldn’t they believe you?”
He blinked as he finally focused on me. “It’s a figure of speech. Being the cousin of the man who found the body, they might assume I have a vested interest in providing an alternative suspect.”
“You must have been nearby when you heard Mr. Broadman’s shout. You came quickly.”
“I was taking a walk through the wooded area near the clubhouse while I waited for him. We planned to return to the city together.”
“Were you there for some time?”
“I headed there after the presentation of the winner’s cup. The crowd had become a little overwhelming and I wanted to be alone.”
If he was amongst the trees, how could he have seen the suspect in the brown coat in the vicinity of the stables? The woods were on the opposite side of the clubhouse.
I kept my features smooth. I didn’t want him suspecting that I now doubted his story. I wasn’t finished with my questions. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the opportunity to revisit the argument between his cousin and Mr. Rigg-Lyon, as Mr. Miller joined us.
A somewhat awkward conversation followed before the music resumed. Mr. Liddicoat asked Miss Hessing to dance, and Mr. Miller asked me. I couldn’t get out of it and graciously accepted.
As we parted from the others, he bent to my level. “That fellow was rude to you earlier, the one who walked off. I could tell something he said troubled you.”
“Mr. Broadman? Not at all. I think I said something to upset him, not the other way around.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to call him out? I can challenge him to a duel.”
