honest, perhaps once or twice I’d harbored ill wishes for him, when he had been at his foulest and most threatening. But if I’d had to confront the fact that he’d been murdered, I would have been quite distraught, regardless of my loathing for him.
I did not know how Lady Helmswick truly felt about her husband, but if she was aware of his demise, then she wasn’t aware of the actual cause. Her shock and distress were too genuine. I would have staked my reputation as an investigator on that.
The duchess’s brow furrowed, but she did not object, and her next words seemed to indicate she had accepted my assertion. “Then . . . there will be an inquest?”
“Yes, I imagine Tait is sending for your local procurator fiscal as we speak.”
She closed her eyes and heaved a weary breath, before nearly groaning. “Peter Rodgers. Why Sir Walter appointed that puffed-up buffoon . . .” She huffed, cutting herself off before she could utter any further insults. Her gaze lifted to meet mine, her eyes glittering in determination. “You must investigate. You and your husband.”
I had expected her to say as much, but after undertaking this interview, I wondered if perhaps it was a bad idea. I feared I could not remain impartial, and that the duchess was counting on just that. As much as I liked her, I was not blind to the fact that she was a duchess, and as such, accustomed to getting her own way in all things, except those that contradicted the duke. However, in this, I knew, they would be in accord.
When I hesitated, she slid forward on the chaise, grasping my arm. “Please, Kiera. You’re the only one I trust.”
Her pleading words and the use of my given name might have been her first calculated maneuver to manipulate me, but I realized I was helpless to say no. Especially when my natural curiosity and drive to uncover the truth were already urging me to say yes. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to voice some stipulations.
“If we undertake this, then you, your family, and your staff must cooperate fully,” I stated firmly, pressing a hand to my belly, feeling the baby stir in answer to my agitation and the late hour. “We will undoubtedly ask uncomfortable and impertinent questions, and we expect to hear the truth.” My gaze flicked to Lady Helmswick and then back. “We can be discreet when necessary. So long as something proves not to have bearing on the results of our inquiry.”
“I would not have asked you had I thought otherwise,” the duchess replied, regaining some starch in her spine. “This family has many secrets. For all the gossip spread about us, much of it does not even begin to scratch our closest held confidences. I am trusting you to be gentle with us, and guard them in return.” She nodded in concession. “Unless revealing them becomes absolutely necessary.”
I was not going to argue the precise definition of necessary with her, for our opinions would likely differ. I would simply have to confront it if and when the situation arose. For now, I had bigger problems to address, including an unpleasant postmortem examination. With any luck, I would uncover something that could definitively identify the victim. Or for the Kerr family’s sake, at the very least, rule Lord Helmswick out.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Though there were times when I despised my husband’s high-handedness, there were other times when I was heartily glad of it.
After my interview with the Duchess of Bowmont and her daughter, I dragged my feet back toward the servants’ quarters, deciding it was better to have the postmortem over and done, despite my aching back and exhausted mind. However, Gage would have none of it. Intercepting me at the base of the stairs, he took one look at me and whisked me back upstairs, practically carrying me up the last two flights. He informed me that the corpse had been placed in a small antechamber off the wine cellar, one which was nearly as cold as the crypt below ground. The door had been sealed and locked, with him possessing the sole key. So there was no reason the examination could not take place in the morning.
After only a token resistance, I had to admit he was right. The amount of decomposition that would occur between now and then, after the body had been already decaying for two or more weeks, would be negligible. While part of me