with him, then I could trust him with the truth. He was my brother-in-law, after all. A thought that still stunned me.
“Yes. We’re fairly certain that’s who the victim is.”
“Then there’s something you should know about John’s meeting with him.” His mouth pressed into a thin line, as if still reluctant to part with the information. “John was absolutely furious afterward. I’ve never seen him so angry. He kept raving about what a lying blackguard Renton was, and then he would curse Helmswick for a deceitful scoundrel.” He shook his head in bewilderment. “He’d told us about Helmswick’s mistress and the blackmail, but I couldn’t understand why John was so enraged. We all knew Helmswick was a faithless cad. That was nothing new. The part about the baby was horrid, but John seemed less concerned about that than the mistress herself.”
Evidently hearing how frantic his voice had become, Henry inhaled a deep breath before continuing. “You have to understand, John has always been protective of our sister. More so than the rest of us. He’s the next eldest, and in some ways, he always seemed like an old soul, even from a young age. So perhaps that accounts for it. But whatever the case, he has always looked after Nell.” He huffed a humorless laugh. “When Marsdale did whatever he did to end their understanding, he nearly challenged him to a duel. It took Nell’s interference to stop him. So it’s understandable he would be upset by Helmswick’s behavior . . .” He trailed off so that I had to finish for him.
“But not to that degree.”
His eyes when he looked up at me were stark with dread. “He’s not been himself the past few weeks. Not since he returned from Edinburgh.”
I frowned, for I’d not known that Lord John had taken a trip in the past month. It had likely been notated in the ledger, but I had been interested not in who was absent, but who was in residence. “When was that?”
Henry tilted his head in thought. “A day or two after he met with Renton, actually. I don’t think it was planned. At least, I knew nothing about it beforehand.”
I considered everything he’d told me, trying to slot it into the pieces we already knew. The trouble was, it all seemed to hinge on whatever Renton had truly been here to blackmail Helmswick for. What had infuriated Lord John so? And how had he lured Renton into the tunnel, if that was in fact what happened?
I glanced toward the windows to find Bree standing guard. From time to time she would cast a glance over her shoulder at us, but otherwise she allowed us our privacy. However, her presence reminded me of one question we’d not yet answered.
“Do you and your brothers ever don monk’s robes?”
Henry’s head turned in surprise. “Yes, actually. Well, we used to, in any case. It was a rather boyish lark. To spook the maids. I don’t think any of us have done it in some time. Though the robes are still hidden away in an old chest in the gun room.”
“Would you show me where?”
If he found this request odd, he didn’t show it, perhaps already guessing why I was interested. “Of course.”
He helped me to my feet, and then led me out into the corridor where Bree waited. I nodded at her to follow us, and we set off the short distance to the gun room. The servants who bustled past us eyed us with interest but did not speak. Once we’d reached the door, Henry excused himself for a moment to slip into the storeroom adjacent, where I presumed he’d fetched the key when he emerged with it from its place of concealment. He slid it into the lock for the gun room door, and pushed it open.
I’d seldom seen so many armaments in one place. Muskets, blunderbusses, musketoons, carbines, and pistols of all stripes—dueling, pepperbox, flintlock, and percussion—lined the walls in cases with their various accoutrements. The chest Henry had spoken off sat beside the door. He reached down to open it, revealing a pool of muddy brown wool—the shade so often associated with monk’s frocks.
“Are they all accounted for?” I asked.
“Let’s see,” he ruminated as he began to pull them out. “There used to be four.” He draped each over his arm, counting to three, but there wasn’t a fourth. He lifted aside a dark blanket at the bottom of the trunk and then turned to survey the