A Stroke of Malice (Lady Darby Mystery #8) - Anna Lee Huber Page 0,21

seemed to retain a yellow cast, but given the poor lighting and Gage’s hasty movements, I couldn’t be certain of it. In any case, his clothing yielded nothing of use, nor did he wear jewelry of any kind. “That’s odd,” Gage declared, wiping his hands on his handkerchief. “Did the killer take them, or did he possess nothing portable to begin with?”

“Given the fact he’s dressed in the clothing of a gentleman, I find it difficult to believe it’s the latter.” I scowled. “Wouldn’t Helmswick have at least worn a signet ring?” He was an earl after all.

Lord Edward scoffed. “Helmswick would have worn a great deal more than that. Jeweled stickpins, pearl-inlaid pocketwatch cases, gold quizzing glasses—Helmswick embraced the sartorial trappings of a nobleman.”

I glanced down at the man. “Then if this is the earl, someone must have taken them.” Either because their aim all along had been to steal from him, or to obscure his identity. But which was it?

The horror of the situation suddenly seemed to seize me. Not only did we not know who this unfortunate man was; we had no apparent way of identifying him. His clothing would have to be checked for markings, but unless those yielded some result, we would have to wait until contact could either be made with Lord Helmswick in Paris or not. And while we had identified what appeared to be the cause of death, there was a wide window of possibilities for the time it may have occurred. Perhaps one of the surgeons from London or Edinburgh who had recently begun to focus on the relatively new field of medical jurisprudence might be able to more accurately tell when death had occurred, but I was at a loss.

What was worse was the realization that this man’s death—be it Helmswick or someone else—and the stashing of his body in this crypt, pointed to someone in the duke’s castle as being the culprit. And if the body did, in fact, belong to Helmswick, then the field narrowed even further. I didn’t want to believe that someone in the duchess’s family could be capable of such a thing, but who else had been here in the month leading up to the Twelfth Night Ball?

Lord Edward’s jaw hardened as if he were contemplating the same blunt fact.

“What of that small chip in his tooth?” I queried softly in one final feeble attempt at identification.

“I . . . I don’t recall one.” His shoulders slumped as he turned to me, voicing what he knew I was already thinking. “But of course, it could have occurred during the struggle.”

His gaze held mine and I could see the wariness swimming in the dark depths of his eyes. Already he was wondering what information he should share and what he should withhold, whether I could be trusted.

“Whoever he is, his body needs to be transported back to the castle,” Gage stated, seemingly oblivious to the undercurrents swimming between me and Lord Edward. However, I knew my husband well enough to suspect he was not so insensible. He was choosing to ignore it. He nodded toward the torch affixed on the wall beyond Lord Edward. “Can that be lighted?”

“Let’s find out,” Lord Edward replied, reaching up to remove the wooden staff.

“It might not keep the rats at bay entirely,” Gage remarked as the duchess’s son attempted to light the cloth wrapped around the top of the torch with the lantern he held. “But the light should act as some deterrent until we can fetch a board of some kind to carry the body on.”

It took several attempts, but the torch finally caught fire, and was secured in the sconce on the wall. Meanwhile, Gage had tied the canvas sack around the remains as best he could. I stood back, breathing measured breaths through my teeth as I watched them, knowing what was to come would be much worse.

The hour was now long past midnight, and I could feel fatigue dragging at my bones. With the combined stress of carrying a child and discovering a dead body , it was no surprise I was longing for the comfort of a soft, warm bed. There I might pull the covers over my head and at least attempt to forget the horror of the last quarter hour.

But there was too much to be done. The duke and duchess would have to be informed, the body secured somewhere safe from human tampering and further scavengers, and a servant would need to