Page 3 of Honor Unbound

I didn’t see what she was pointing at. It wasn’t until I squatted by the victim’s hand and lowered the candle that I saw the triangle edge of a letter poking out from between the man’s thumb and forefinger.

I frowned, annoyed that I’d missed that. But Marie’s eyes had a couple decade’s advantage over mine, and in my haste to follow Jane earlier, I’d left my spectacles on my bedside table.

I uncurled the dead man’s fingers, ignoring the chill that skittered down my spine at the touch of his cooling flesh, and tugged the missive from his hand.

It had been crumpled in his tight grip. It was thin, not more than a folded page, and soggy from blood. I carefully unfolded it. The paper was almost all red, the ink scratched onto it succumbing to the man’s blood.

All that was visible on the unmarred patch of white were the initials of the person to whom it was addressed:

L. M.

Chapter Two

Lady Mary

“Don’t you worry,Lady Mary.” The magistrate all but leant over and patted my knee. “No one suspects you of any wrongdoing.”

We were in my morning sitting room, the sun having breached the horizon a couple of hours past. Jane, Marie, and I had been there since the constable had shooed us from my front porch. Been there when I’d directed Stavers to follow the blood trail to see where it led, eaten a light breakfast as the sun rose, and sat there still while the constable had sent for a magistrate.

Fortunately, the magistrate wasn’t the one whom I’d previously met. This one seemed sharper, aside from his patronizing words.

I sniffed. “I could be involved in wrongdoing if I wanted. No need to be insulting.”

Jane kicked my leg.

Sir Patrick Kelsey scratched his dark-brown hair. “Er, quite. I only meant to say me and my boys will find out what happened in a timely manner. You have nothing to concern yourself over.”

“I don’t suppose the Runner Mr. Rollins is available to assist?” I’d worked with the Bow Street agent during an unfortunate event that had occurred at my club last year. He was a skilled investigator, one with whom I’d worked well.

“Mr. Rollins is enjoying the Lake District, I believe, on his wedding tour.” Sir Kelsey relaxed into my wingback chair. His jacket and waistcoat were a shade too tight, and his buttonsstrained. “But don’t you worry. All my Runners are most competent. Now, as you’ve had a few more hours to reflect, do you still maintain you don’t know the dead man?”

“I do.” I leaned over to the low table before the settee I sat upon and poured myself another cup of coffee. It wasn’t my favored beverage, but for times like these when I needed to think clearly, I found it the most effective. I added three lumps of sugar to make it palatable. “I never met the man before.”

“He has no association with your club?” He raised a thin eyebrow, managing to look both disapproving and encouraging at the same time. A neat trick, to be sure.

I frowned. “He does not. You must be aware that The Minerva Club’s members are women only, and he isn’t one of my workers, nor any vendor that I can recall.” After seeing the men in my life enjoying their gentlemen’s clubs, I’d decided a few years back to create such a refuge for London’s other half. I’d known the venture would cause a stir, but frankly, I hadn’t cared.

I still didn’t.

“Perhaps the husband of one of your members?” Sir Kelsey pursed his lips. “It is a large club, isn’t it? Many members? Plenty of space for large gatherings?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Yes, we have a lot of space. And if the dead man was a husband of one of my members, I never met him.”

“That doesn’t mean he didn’t know you,” Sir Kelsey said. “We’ve received some complaints about that club of yours. Mr. Talbot was especially vehement that we investigate the goings-on after his mother lost an eyebrow in that fireplace mishap at your club.”

I kept my expression even. If Mrs. Talbot had told her son she had burned off her eyebrow leaning too close to a fireplace, who was I to contradict her? Personally, I thought the truthmade a much better story. “You’ve never come by to speak to me about any complaints.”

The magistrate stretched out his legs. “I find nothing wrong with the fairer sex seeking harmless ways to alleviate theirennui.”

“How broad-minded of you,” I said, my voice dry.

Sir Kelsey didn’t grasp my sarcasm. “Yes, after all, once the children are raised, the days must stretch on for women.”

Jane kicked my leg again, giving me a warning look.

I frowned at her. Her pointed toe wasn’t needed. After finding a body on my doorstep, I had no desire to school the magistrate on the inner lives of women, regardless of how foolish his conception of it was.

He cleared his throat. “Do you ever rent out rooms in your club? For special events and such?”