Page 77 of Mesmerized

“I don’t know how! That is what I’m trying to find out. Why was Pamela killed, clutching the Martyrs’ treasure? Was she stealing it? Or was your mother? Or you? Which one of you killed her?”

“Stephen!” Lady St. Leger exclaimed, shocked. “You cannot mean—”

“I can. I do. Miss Valenskaya, I don’t know where your mother went, but it seems obvious that she disappeared because she knew Pamela was dead. The likely reason is that she herself killed her.”

“No!” Irina took an involuntary step backward. “Mother would never—” She licked her lips nervously and cast an imploring look at Lady St. Leger. “Please, my lady, tell him...”

“Enough!” Stephen roared. “I am done with these charades. I will turn you over to the constable when he gets here—and your mother, too, whenever we find her. Perhaps a night in gaol will help you to realize—”

“All right!” Irina cried, trembling all over. “I will tell you! I never hurt Lady Pamela! I barely even spoke to her!” She brought her hands up to her face. “I never—she talked to my mother. I don’t know how they met, but she came to us. She was angry about how little money she had. She said that the St. Legers had cheated her, that after all she had done, she had been left penniless.”

“Penniless!” Lady St. Leger looked indignant. “Why, Roderick left her a very generous amount of money, everything that was not entailed. He could have done no more!”

“She said she was being punished because she had not borne any children. And she kept on about this box.”

“The Martyrs’ treasure?”

Irina nodded. “Mother was content with doing the usual sort of thing, the rappings and harps hanging in the air and all that, getting gifts from Lady St. Leger. She was quite happy to be invited to stay here and enjoy the earl’s generosity, of course. But Pamela wanted that treasure. She could talk of nothing else—how her husband had kept it from her, how he had refused to let her have any of the jewelry. She said he had kept it hidden from her and wouldn’t even tell her how to get into the place where he kept it. She came up with this scheme to pry the box away from you. She was sure that even if Stephen didn’t want to give it to us, he would eventually do it because he wouldn’t want Lady St. Leger to be unhappy. She said that even if you would not give the box up, with all the talk about the jewels, you would be bound to at least go there to look at them. She had never been able to catch the first Lord St. Leger going to where they were stored and taking them out. She thought she could keep an eye on you and—”

“And catch me opening the secret room!” Stephen exclaimed, and his eyes flew to Olivia. “That must be what she did. The day that you and I went in there, she must have been watching, and we didn’t notice.”

“I should have known she was up to something!” Irina exclaimed, bitterness tingeing her voice. “There was this smug look to her the last few days. She must have found it and didn’t even tell us. She was going to take it all for herself.”

“Until someone stopped her,” Olivia said quietly.

Irina looked alarmed. “It wasn’t me, my lady! I never knew she’d found the box, let alone that she was planning to steal it.”

“I suppose not,” Stephen agreed. “I rather think it was your mother.”

“Mama? No!” Irina wrung her hands together. “You don’t understand. It couldn’t have been. Mother would never—” She stopped, looking around her uncertainly. Then she straightened, lifting her chin, her hands clenching into fists at her side. “I don’t believe you!” she cried defiantly. “Mama has not killed anyone. Something terrible has happened to her, I just know it!”

She burst into tears after that, and, covering her face with her hands, she ran from the room.

Stephen watched her go, then turned toward Lady St. Leger. “Mother, I am so sorry.”

Lady St. Leger’s eyes swam with tears. “I have been a fool, haven’t I?”

“No, not a fool,” Olivia assured her, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders. “Many people have been deceived by people such as Madame Valenskaya and her daughter.”

“I thought Roddy was talking to me.” The older woman’s mouth trembled. “I wanted it so much, I made myself believe it.” She looked up at her son. “You tried to tell me, and I wouldn’t listen. Both of you did. And now Pamela’s dead, and all because I brought those people here.”

“It is not your fault that Pamela died,” Stephen said firmly. “Pamela died through her own greed. I don’t know who killed her, but I am sure that it stemmed from the fact that she was stealing the Martyrs’ treasure.”

Lady St. Leger sighed. “Nevertheless, I cannot help but wish that I had never invited Madame Valenskaya here.” She rose slowly. “I think I will go to my room now.”

“Let me help you,” Olivia offered, walking with her toward the door.

Lady St. Leger smiled at her. “Thank you, my dear. You are very sweet. It is no wonder that Stephen is head over heels about you. We must go see to Belinda. No doubt she will be quite distressed.”

She curled her hand around the crook of Olivia’s arm and walked from the room, her pace slow but her head held high.

* * *

IRINA GAINED THE sanctuary of her room and closed the door after her, turning the key in the door. She relaxed, and her face changed, losing its distress and turning cooler, harder. She wiped the tears from her cheeks with her hands and began to pace the room.

“Where the devil are you, Mother?” she muttered to herself.

It had been a shock when Lord St. Leger told her that Lady Pamela was dead, but she was certain that her mother had not killed the woman. She had, she thought, managed to convey her own loyalty to her mother yet evidence that little touch of doubt at the same time. She needed, after all, someone else to take the blame if St. Leger and his constable should decide that it was Irina herself who had taken Pamela’s life. Irina didn’t know how Pamela had died, but she thought that it served her right for trying to steal the treasure right out from under their eyes.