No, Gabriel had spoken to her, told her of the police’s suspicions for a reason. And she could not believe that reason was Dragan’s guilt.
***
After a disturbed night and dreams full of vague, unspecific threats, Griz forced herself to rise and speak to Horace before he went out.
Vicky accompanied her downstairs, galloping ahead as though to persuade her to an early walk. Griz decided to take the dog to Nick for his walk, and Vicky seemed to cooperate, hurtling past the dining room and bolting down the next flight of stairs. There was an explosion of laughter as the dog collided with Nick, and then Nick’s footsteps speeding upstairs in the wake of Vicky, who must have noticed Griz hadn’t followed her.
On sudden impulse, Griz walked to the dining room door and opened it, walking inside just as Vicky bolted across the landing. From the table, Horace scowled over his newspaper.
“Nick, is that you?” Griz called into the hall. “Come and take Vicky for me.”
Since Vicky had bounded onto a chair with the table clearly her next objective, Griz grabbed her and waited for Nick to hurtle into the room, which he did, grinning.
“Sorry, m’lady,” he said cheerfully. “She’s just playing,”
“I know, but Lord Horace likes his breakfast in peace, don’t you Horace?”
Horace lowered the newspaper, glaring at the boy. “Who the devil’s this?”
“Nick. He looks after the kitchen fire and helps me with Vicky.”
Nick, still grinning, made not a bad bow before taking the dog from her. Horace grunted and returned to his paper.
As Nick and Vicky left, Griz turned to the sideboard, blindly filling her plate. She felt horribly, traitorously disloyal, but the relief that Nick and Horace did not recognize each other made her knees tremble.
“Horace,” she said, sitting down opposite him. “How far do you trust Mr. Gabriel?”
Horace’s mouth dropped. “Implicitly.”
“That’s what I thought. You and he had to work instead of coming to the opera the night Nancy died. When did you leave the office?”
“About nine,” Horace replied, then blinked as though surprised he had answered. “At least, that’s when I got to my club. Griz—”
“Did Mr. Gabriel go with you?”
“Of course not, he’s not a member,” Horace said with quite unconscious snobbery. “He left earlier to call on Miss Derryn, as he had promised.”
“Ah.” She ate, thoughtfully aware of her brother’s bewildered gaze upon her.
“Griz, what is going on in your head?”
“I’m not sure yet. You can go back to your paper now.”
It took him almost half a minute, but he did eventually return to the newspaper. He was still reading it when Griz bade him a cheerful goodbye and left the room.
Chapter Seventeen
She came upon Dragan walking down Caroline Place with the ladies of the Cordell family. He saw Griz at once, and with a mere tip of his hat, left his companions and strode across the road to leap into the carriage. There was no time to do anything but wave through the window. And take in Anne Cordell’s glower of displeasure.
He seemed to see at once that something was wrong, but he didn’t speak, merely looked at her and waited.
“I had some other ideas,” she blurted. “Last night, Mr. Gabriel told me the police still suspect you, that you could have killed Nancy and escaped via the carpentry shop in the lane, then run around to find the body after I did.”
“Why would I do that?” he asked with a frown, then, “Do you believe him?” His eyes were steady, unreadable, though his posture had tensed.
Waiting to be hurt, perhaps.
Perhaps.
She dragged her gaze free. “That it’s possible? It’s easy enough to check. That you did it, no. What really troubles me is why he wants to convince me. Why does he care? He has no professional interest in crimes of this nature and no expertise.”
“Did you reach any conclusions.”
She nodded. “That he would like to blame you without tarnishing my family or me by association.”
“He seems to be very protective of you all,” Dragan said neutrally.
“Horace raised him from a much lowlier position. I think he would do anything for Horace.”
“Including murdering Nancy? Why would your brother want Nancy dead?”
“Emmie—one of the maids who was Nancy’s friend—said the other servants teased her because of her devotion to Horace. Emmie denied there was any impropriety. But…but what if there was? What if her child was—”
“With respect, a man in Lord Horace’s position is unlikely to care two hoots for any scandal of that nature. He could easily pay to