Chapter 19

“You said you had more information for me,” Arthur said, sitting across from Taylor in his study. “Tell me what you know.”

“You’re not going to like it very much, I’m afraid,” Taylor said. He was far from his usual jovial self today, Arthur noticed. He seemed as if something serious was weighing on his mind.

“Is that because you have no information for me?” Arthur asked. “If that was the case, I wish you would have sent me a letter so that I wouldn’t have had to come all the way over here.” He had grown used to these meetings in which Taylor seemed able to tell him nothing new about his search for his parents’ killer, but today was the first time he found himself regretting the fact that he had come to meet with his friend at all. He thought of the connection he had shared with Isabella—both last night and over breakfast this morning. What a waste of a day if there was nothing to discuss. He could have spent it with her.

But Taylor shook his head. “We have a great deal to discuss,” he said. “I have a new source, and I’ve learned some new things about the circumstances surrounding your parents’ deaths…at least, I’ve learned some things that might have played a role. But the information I have won’t be fun to hear. It will be painful, I think, and you might regret having asked me to find it out. I want to give you one more chance to walk away from this. You can still turn down the chance to find out what I learned, and you can go on as if you had never asked the question in the first place.”

“Is that what you would do?” Arthur asked his friend. “Would you walk away right now if you were in my shoes?”

“I don’t think I’m clever enough to walk away,” Taylor admitted. “My curiosity would get the best of me, and I imagine yours will too.”

Arthur nodded. “I’ve been looking into this for far too long,” he said. “Whatever it is you’ve discovered, I have to know. My parents were killed right before my eyes when I was a child, and I’ve never been able to put that behind me. I never will. Not unless I can find some sort of answers. I have to know why this terrible thing was done to my family, even if it’s a hard truth to hear.”

“Very well,” Taylor said. “Have you ever heard of a lady by the name of Miriam Cropper?”

“I can’t say that I have.”

“The Countess of Reeves?”

“No, I know nothing of her. Nor have I heard of her husband.”

“That makes sense,” Taylor said. “The Earl died years ago, so they say. And as for the Countess…well, I suppose you wouldn’t have interacted with her because you rarely attend parties. Even if you had, she tends to spend her time with…a certain type of gentleman.”

“What do you mean? What type of gentleman?”

“Married gentlemen,” Taylor said frankly. “She wouldn’t have paid you any mind in the past because you weren’t married. Your father, on the other hand…” he trailed off.

Arthur made the connection. “Do you mean to say that my father had some sort of improper affair with this lady?”

“According to my source, yes, it seems he did.”

“But then…I don’t understand.” Arthur felt as if he was running to catch up with what he was being told. His instinct was to protest fiercely that his father would never have done such a thing. But if there was even a chance that it wasn’t true, he knew Taylor wouldn’t have brought it to him. Taylor would have waited to be sure.

“I’m sorry I have to tell you this,” Taylor said. “This is the thing I had a feeling you weren’t going to like. I thought it might tarnish your memories of your father, but you’ve asked me to find out the truth for you.”

“My father had an affair with a lady who specifically targeted married gentlemen?”

“For him, it would likely have been a matter of simple attraction,” Taylor said. “Whatever else she is, she’s very beautiful. But for Lady Reeves, it was more complicated. My sources have informed me that she sought out married gentlemen specifically for affairs because of anger and resentment she felt toward the men in her own life—her father and her husband. They were both cruel and abusive toward her, or so people say.”

“And so…” Arthur shook his head, trying to make sense of the story. “You think this is why my father died? Because of this affair?”

“I don’t know exactly what happened,” Taylor replied. “I don’t know how this information connects with anything else we’re trying to find out. But I think it must be relevant that your father had this scandalous secret. It’s the first thing I’ve learned about him that I can imagine someone killing him for. I think I’m finally on the right track.”

“Even if it’s true,” Arthur said, “why would it lead to anyone killing my mother? Surely, she had no part in all this.”

“I don’t know,” Taylor admitted. “You’re right that that part doesn’t make much sense. I struggle to see what her involvement could have been. All I know is that I think we’re on the right track.”

Arthur sighed heavily.

Taylor watched him. “Was it a mistake to tell you?” he asked. “I did wonder whether maybe I ought to keep the whole thing a secret from you.”

“I asked you to tell me if you were able to discover anything about what might have happened to my family,” Arthur said. “And that’s what you did.”

“I know, but I can’t help wondering if you would be happier not knowing.”

“I don’t think so,” Arthur said. “This news doesn’t make me happy to learn, of course, but I was already unhappy, so I don’t suppose it makes any difference that I’ve had to learn one more thing that makes me unhappy. I hate that this was done to my parents. To learn that my father may have been complicit in this way…well, whatever he may have done, he didn’t deserve to die for it. That’s not a crime that deserves a penalty of death.”

“What will you do with this information?” Taylor asked him.

“I don’t know. I suppose I’ll try to learn more about the Countess of Reeves, whoever she is. Maybe if I can speak to her, she can answer some of my burning questions.”

“You would just ask her directly?”

“I don’t have any reason not to ask her outright. I’m not afraid of her.”

“No, I suppose you’re not,” Taylor said slowly. “But do remember that there’s something in the secret you’re trying to learn that got your father killed. I don’t know whether Lady Reeves herself would have had anything to do with that, but…you should be cautious.”

“I’ll be cautious,” Arthur agreed absently, but caution was the furthest thing from his mind. He felt suddenly alight with excitement. This was the secret he had wanted to learn as long as he could remember. This was the answer. He was closer to it than he had ever been, and maybe soon, he would actually know why his parents had been killed. If he could find that out, he would be able to set down a burden he had carried for his entire life. He would finally be able to move on.

Taylor was watching him. “Don’t forget,” he said, “whatever this is, it’s the thing that destroyed your family. The thing that left you alone in the world.”

“As though I could ever forget about that.”

“No, perhaps you couldn’t. But what you might not be thinking about is the fact that you have a wife of your own now,” Taylor said. “What do you suppose happens to her if you get yourself killed in search of these answers?”

“She would be provided for,” Arthur replied.

“And don’t you think she would be hurt the way you were hurt all those years ago? Could you do that to her?”

Arthur opened his mouth to say that it wasn’t the same, that Isabella wouldn’t be hurt like that because she simply didn’t have her heart on the line the way he had, but then he stopped.

Was that the truth? Or was it only what he would have liked to believe?

He wasn’t sure. And if he was being honest with himself, he didn’t even really want to believe that she would be undamaged by his death if something were to happen to him.

Because if something happens to her, it’ll destroy me.

That thought came to him unbidden. But the moment it passed through his head, he knew it was the truth. He would be crushed if anything were to happen to Isabella. He had never meant for it to happen, but he was beginning to have real feelings for her. After the night he’d visited her in her bedroom, he had suspected it, and the night she had come upon him in the library had confirmed it.

In spite of his best efforts, he was falling in love with his wife.

That was not a part of the plan.

Taylor was watching him closely now. “Have you thought about how all this affects her?”

“I’m thinking about it now,” Arthur said.

“You didn’t imagine you were going to care about someone else’s feelings in all this, did you?” Taylor asked.

“It’s complicated.”

“I’m sure it is. You should let me meet her,” Taylor suggested. “It seems she’s becoming rather an important part of your life.”

“I don’t know,” Arthur said. “These might be two areas of my life—you and Isabella—that I would prefer to keep separate from one another.”

Taylor laughed. “Well, I can’t say I blame you for not wanting to introduce me to a lady,” he admitted. “I imagine you’re worried I would cause all sorts of embarrassment merely by being myself—is that it?”

“Something like that,” Arthur agreed, permitting himself a small smile. “Perhaps I will allow you to meet her, but…I think I would like to at least try to finish off this business with my parents’ murder before we move forward in that direction. I’d like resolution. I can’t focus on introducing you to Isabella while I know that you and I are still working on something I’m not able to speak to her about.”

“Then she doesn’t know? About any of it?”

“No, I could hardly tell her these things,” Arthur explained. “Even if I thought she could understand, she shouldn’t have to. It’s too dark and disturbing. And if she knew that I was on the trail of a murderer, she would have to live in fear that I might actually cross paths with the fiend. I don’t want her to have to worry about that.”

“I see what you mean,” Taylor replied. “Perhaps it is for the best that you keep her separated from such things, at least for now.”

Arthur nodded. “But Taylor, truly, thank you for all your help, as always,” he said. “I know you weren’t sure whether it would be the right choice, telling me about all this, but I’m here to tell you that it was. I would rather know—even if the thing I have to know is something dreadful like this—than to spend the rest of my life searching for answers I’ll never find. Thank you.”

Taylor nodded. “I’ll continue to try to get information about all this,” he said. “And I’ll see what I’m able to tell you as time goes on. Maybe we’ll learn what we want to know without you having to confront Lady Reeves at all.”

“Well, I hope so,” Arthur agreed. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you. Thank you again.”