there!” her brother-in-law accused, jabbing his finger toward her. William’s features were purple with rage, his thinning ashen hair stuck out in disarray. He wasn’t a large man, but he was tall, imposing. And not for the first time, Pru wanted to shrink away from him.
How did Honoria stand him?
“I was trying to stop the bleeding.” She turned to Morley, beseeching him. “I know it was silly, I don’t know why I thought I could. But I had to try, didn’t I? He was dying. And finally, he dislodged the knife and blood sprayed…” She held out her arms to show him. “And he was gone.”
“That’s not what it looked like when I came in,” William hissed through his disorganized teeth. “She was pushing the knife into his struggling body. He was thrashing about and she was sliding it into his neck.”
“I never!”
“If the Earl took the knife out of his own neck, how did you come to be holding it?” The Chief Inspector held his hand up against further comment from William while he assessed her from deep set narrowed eyes.
His suspicion lancing through her like a spear thrown by an Olympian.
Don’t you remember me? she wanted to ask him. In the middle of this lake of blood. All she wanted was to go to him. He had to understand why—
“Honoria told me you hated him,” William continued after an embarrassingly wet sniff. Was he crying? Of course he was, his best friend had just been killed.
Shouldn’t she be crying? She felt tears somewhere, a threat to her distant future when she wasn’t so numb. So cold and confused.
William continued his relentless assault. “She told me that you wept yourself to sleep last night at the thought of being his wife.”
Yes, she’d wept plenty over the past few months. Perhaps she was empty now. Honoria had been right, but why had she told her husband? Why did it seem like her sister continuously betrayed her?
Prudence shook her head again, fearing she looked like a lunatic. “I don’t know. I must have taken it from him. But, I didn’t do this. I didn’t kill him. I needed him! If I had the will or the stomach for murder, I would have poisoned him. I would have been clever. I certainly wouldn’t have waited for my wedding day. I wouldn’t have gotten all this blood on my dress…”
“Your dress is the least of your problems, you conniving bitch!” William lunged forward and Morley caught him.
“That’s enough out of you.” Morley’s voice was hard as he flattened his forearm against William’s neck and shoved him against the wall. He jabbed his finger within a breath of William’s eye. “You leave this room and walk one door over to the right. There, you will sit and wait for me, do I make myself clear?”
William nodded, his anger turning to fear in the face of such authority.
That dealt with, Morley turned to her father. “Sir, I understand this is delicate, that the suspect is your daughter, but you’re aware you’ll have to be excused from this room, as you cannot be an impartial part of this inquest or this arrest.”
Arrest? He was going to arrest her?
Her father ran a trembling hand through his shock of white hair. “I’m going for our solicitor.”
Morley nodded. “I think that’s best.”
Her father’s shaking hand followed the length of his beard to his sternum. “For the sake of our department, Morley. Our reputation. If you take her to the Yard, I want it done quietly, do you hear me? I will not be humiliated more than needs be. Her innocence will be proven quickly enough.”
Tears finally pricked her eyes. Her father. Her stern, distant, self-aggrandizing father believed her at least. Believed in her.
Morley glared over at her, but this time his gaze lifted no further than the blood on her pearlescent gown. “That remains to be seen.”
Pru wanted to bury her head in her hands and cry. She almost did. But remembered the blood in time. She might have lost what was left of her wits if she’d smeared it on her face.
Morley stepped to her father and put a hand on his elbow. “She’ll be taken quietly. You have my word. You should inform the guests of the death, but not the murder… none of the details need be made public. And I think you’ll need to control your son-in-law.”
“Honoria will see to that,” her father stated with absolute faith.