Cruel Shame (Knights of Templar Academy #3) - Sofia Daniel Page 0,61
a longer study that would last two weeks. Maxwell set up an easel to make an oil painting, and I chose watercolor paper, so I could leave early with minimal cleanup.
Thoughts of Mr. Burgh, Father Neapolitan, and the archbishop raced through my mind. Would they remove the suspension or make him wait weeks for them to investigate Elizabeth’s lies? What did the archbishop think of his wife and daughter’s machinations? Would Father Neapolitan try to approach me or continue to deny that he and I were related? My heart ached and pounded a mix of fury and worry.
Maxwell turned away from his easel and frowned. “Are you alright?”
“I’ve got to get out of here.”
He shook his head. “Don’t give them a reason to suspend you. Hang on for another ten minutes until the period ends. Leave your things and I’ll pack them up.”
Maxwell was right. I swirled my brush in the container of water, washing all the pigment from its bristles and blew on my unfinished underpainting.
As soon as the bell rang, I bolted out of the classroom, ran down the stairs and across the hallway. A pair of servers stood in the boardroom, clearing up a mountain of cups and plates. My heart flip-flopped. Where was Mr. Burgh?
I ran into the dark evening and down the driveway to the headmaster’s quarters. The downstairs windows glowed with dim light, indicating that the living room fire was blazing. My steps faltered. This had to be good news, right?
Mr. Burgh sat on the sofa, staring into the flames, with a glass of whiskey in both hands that glinted in the firelight. Warm light from the flames reflected on his face, making his features more angular.
I hovered in the doorway, clasping my hands over a stomach fluttering with nerves. “How did it go?”
His gaze rose to meet mine, and he shuffled across the sofa in a silent invitation for me to take the center seat next to him. “I brought a defamation lawyer, a criminal lawyer, a lawyer who specialized in private education, and their senior partner. Each of them brought paralegals to gather information.”
I crept toward the sofa and winced. “That sounds expensive. Can you afford it?”
“There’s no cost a man can put on his reputation.” He took a sip of the whiskey, pursed his lips, and stared into the fire.
Mr. Burgh told me how the senior partner said it would be a conflict of interest for Lady Liddell to chair the Board of Governors’ meeting in light of her allegations, and the archbishop agreed she should leave. After that, the lawyers took over, saying that their people were already downloading terabytes of information to get to the truth of what was really happening in the academy.
He chuckled. “The governors were delighted, but His Grace baulked at my legal team getting to the truth.”
My brows furrowed. “Shouldn’t the police have seized that information for their inquiries?”
Mr. Burgh pulled back his lips in a grimace. “When I reported Elizabeth on Saturday morning, they said they would bring an officer round to take a statement. Everything got shoved to the side with the shooting.”
I clapped a hand to my forehead. “That scheming old cow.”
He snorted. “Lady Liddell was too busy causing chaos to protect Elizabeth, that she hadn’t thought to order a wipe of all footage from around the academy. The legal team are sorting through hours of activity that will prove that nothing untoward happened between Miss Liddell and me. It will also prove her involvement in the cocaine dealing and corroborate the statements of Miss Highmore and the two scholarship students who sold her curry.”
I whistled through my teeth. “What will happen to them?”
“They’re still her accomplices, but some of the punishment and blame may fall to where it belongs.”
I placed a hand on his forearm. “Why do you look so miserable?”
“It’s never easy to realize someone I considered a friend and mentor could sit back and allow his family to pick my family and me apart like vultures.”
I leaned against Mr. Burgh’s side and wrapped an arm around his middle. “Sorry you had to go through so much betrayal.”
“That’s not the end of it.”
I drew back and stared into his profile. “What else happened?”
“The archbishop and the governors reinstated me at the academy, and ordered Lady Liddell and Elizabeth to retract their statements.”
“Would that get you out of trouble?”
“The police never pressed charges,” he muttered. “After everything they’ve put us through, we’re back how we started.”