what is before your very eyes, Venetia?’
‘I do.’ From beneath her cloak she withdrew Rotherham’s journal and held it close. She saw Robert’s eyes drop to it. ‘It is the book that you sent me to look for. The one that Linwood took from Rotherham’s study that night.’ She paused. ‘You did not know it was Rotherham’s journal, did you? Only that it could be used to incriminate Linwood.’
Her brother’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
‘Rotherham wrote of you in it.’
He paled.
‘I knew you liked your pleasures, Robert, but I had not realised just how much your gambling and drinking and...other excesses...had run out of control these past years. And neither had Rotherham. When he returned from Italy to find you living a life of indolent debauchery, deep in River Tick and with your creditors threatening foreclosure, he was more than a little angry.’
‘As if he were some paragon of virtue,’ Robert muttered.
‘He thought you were trading on his name. Bringing it into disrepute.’
‘I did nothing more than he had spent a lifetime doing.’
‘You were indiscreet.’
‘We all make mistakes from time to time.’
‘Rotherham paid off your debts...as you expected.’
‘And I am supposed to have killed him for that, am I?’
‘No. You killed him because he intended to change his will.’ She waited for him to deny it, wished so much to hear those words. But the silence was deafening and she could see the truth written all over his face, see it in the weakness of his jaw and the anger and self-pity in his eyes.
Robert glanced away. And when he looked at her again his eyes were like blue marble—cold and hard and filled with loathing.
‘He was going to cut me out completely. His own son. And leave it all to you. He wanted to teach me a lesson, the vindictive old bastard.’
‘So you killed him.’
‘It was an accident.’ He glanced away, a faraway look in his eyes, his brow pinched, his mouth tight and twisted as if he were remembering that night. ‘We argued. He said that rot must be dealt with or else it would spread. He said it was for my own good. That it would be the making of me. The making of me? Our argument became heated. For God’s sake, Venetia, he was throwing me out of my own house!’ His eyes met hers. ‘The pistol was there newly cleaned and loaded and mounted on the wall, so I took it down and threatened him. And do you know what he did? He laughed at me. Said I would not have the guts. So I showed him that I did.’
She felt sick to hear the words. Robert had always been spoiled and indulged, but she had not thought him capable of murder. ‘Why Linwood?’
‘Wrong place, wrong time,’ Robert gave a shrug. ‘I was going to make it look like the old man had shot himself, but then I heard someone coming. There was not time to leave so I hid. And there was Linwood, who I have never liked. Let us face it, he would not exactly win any prizes in the popularity stakes. Everyone knows both he and his father are touched with something of the night.’
‘You would have let him hang!’
‘I would have been doing the world a favour. He is not a good man, Venetia. Anyone will tell you that. And he did burn our father’s house, although that little gem was an unexpected bonus. I was keeping the pistol so carefully only to discover that I did not need to plant it after all.’ He glanced at Linwood. ‘She is quite something, isn’t she? What red-blooded man could resist?
‘I do not understand.’ Venetia looked at Linwood. ‘What does he mean?’
‘Your part in this was never really to glean information. As far as Clandon knew, there was no confession to be had. It was always his intention to publically establish you as my mistress.’
‘Bravo, Linwood.’ Robert gave a mocking applause.
‘No,’ she whispered and stared at him. ‘Why would you do such a thing when you knew how I felt about such arrangements?’
‘I needed a credible witness. And who better than his mistress? The woman who shared his bed. But then you had to go and spoil it all.’
‘It was you behind the fire at my house?’
‘I never meant for you to be there when they did it. You were supposed to have left for the theatre.’
‘You made me believe it was Linwood!’
‘You were softening towards him. And I could not have that now, could