which he lowered it made it obvious that although the bludgeon was smaller than the other maces, it nonetheless still packed a great deal of heft.
He turned so that Lord Edward and I could watch as he examined it, studying the metal for any signs of blood or other gore. “If it is the murder weapon, it’s been washed clean.”
“You didn’t expect otherwise, did you?” I responded. Only an idiot would return the mace to the guardroom with evidence still clinging to it. If this was, in fact, the murder weapon. I glanced around me, looking for any other bludgeons or empty spaces along the walls where a weapon should hang.
“No,” he admitted. “But there’s always a chance. People do panic in such situations.”
Lord Edward, who had remained quiet through this exchange, stepped forward then, never removing his gaze from the mace. “Can I see it?”
Gage studied his grim expression before carefully passing it to him.
“Here they are! Thank heavens,” a voice exclaimed behind me, and I turned to see my sister and her husband disappear behind the wall from the landing above that spanned the northern length of the guardroom to descend the grand staircase. A few moments later they emerged past the suits of armor, hastening toward us.
“Jenny and Barnes said the two of you found a dead body,” Alana said, rattling off the names of their maid and valet. As always, the servants were always the first to know. “Is it true?”
“I’m afraid so,” I murmured as her gaze slid past me to the mace Lord Edward was cradling.
Her eyes widened. “Is that . . . ?” she began, but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to finish the question.
“Possibly,” Gage answered for me.
My brother-in-law, Philip, moved a step closer to Lord Edward to stare down at the bludgeon in rapt fascination. “That would not be a pretty way to go.” And then, as if recalling the reason we were examining such an implement, his gaze flicked up toward me as he grimaced in apology.
I smiled tightly, but decided there was no reason to respond when the answer was obvious.
Alana pulled the woolen black shawl draped over her shoulders tighter around her against either the chill of the room or the subject of our discussion. “Who was the victim?” Her words were hushed, almost as if she was afraid to speak them louder.
“We don’t know. But . . .” I glanced at Gage and then Lord Edward. “There’s a possibility he’s Lord Helmswick.”
This shocked both Alana and Philip into stunned silence.
“Then . . .” Alana murmured, finding her voice first. A dozen thoughts flitted behind her lapis-lazuli eyes as she seemed to grasp all the implications. She pressed her fingertips to her mouth. “Oh, my.”
Philip’s brow furrowed. “I thought Helmswick was in Paris.”
“That’s where he’s supposed to be,” Gage admitted. “And there’s every possibility he might still be there, beyond immediate contact. But as of yet we haven’t been able to rule him out as the victim, or identify an alternative individual.”
“Then you’re dispatching missives to his presumed whereabouts and the British Embassy in Paris?”
Gage exhaled a taut breath and nodded. “As well as his solicitor. Though if you could frank them for me, that might hasten their delivery.” His gaze darted to Lord Edward and back. “I would ask the duke to do it, but I have a suspicion his seal might actually make Helmswick more hesitant to open it.”
It was telling that the duke’s son did not dispute this.
“Anderley is also readying himself as we speak to travel to Helmswick’s estate at Haddington to discover if anyone there has been in contact with him.”
Philip’s head lifted as his back straightened even taller. “Haddington, you say?” Evidently, he’d heard the same reports we had about the spread of cholera there.
Gage nodded. “I’ve informed him to take every precaution.”
“I could send one of Bowmont’s grooms with him,” Lord Edward offered. “One who knows all the routes in and out of Haddington.”
I could see Gage weighing his options. Accepting his offer might mean that Anderley would reach Lord Helmswick’s estate more quickly and safely, avoiding the areas where the cholera had been reported to be the most prevalent, but it also meant saddling his valet with a potential spy working for the duchess’s family. The groom could very well be ordered to report back on Anderley’s movements. Much as I wanted to trust the duchess, I couldn’t. She and her family were too close to this. At the