saying, I found his hesitation to claim a relationship with Lady Helmswick most interesting of all. In the past, Marsdale had never been shy about declaring his assignations with women, be they young or old, married or otherwise. In fact, I would have termed his eagerness in confessing them as vulgar. But Lady Helmswick was evidently different. And I didn’t think his reluctance to share stemmed from the fact her husband might lie dead in the wine cellar below. Or at least, not solely.
When he finally lifted his gaze to meet mine, it was to state but a single fact. “Lady Eleanor is an exceptional woman.”
I didn’t fail to note how he’d not referred to her by her husband’s title.
“How long have you been lovers?” Gage moderated his voice out of deference to the weight Marsdale seemed to give this subject.
A furrow formed between his brows and he reached down to pick at a piece of lint or hair clinging to his trousers. “That is a difficult question to answer.” His tone adopted a harder edge. “And frankly none of your business.”
“I would agree,” Gage responded rationally. “But for the fact that you arrived at Sunlaws Castle on December ninth, two days after Lord Helmswick allegedly departed, and we discovered a corpse in the abbey’s crypt last night which bears a suspicious resemblance to him.”
“But you don’t know for a fact it is him?” he countered.
Gage’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Not yet.”
The two men stared at each other as if testing each other’s resolve.
“Yes, I arrived on the ninth,” Marsdale confirmed. “I’d been invited to spend the holidays here. Surely that is nothing extraordinary? As for Helmswick . . .” He reached up to adjust his neckcloth for the second time in nearly as many minutes. “I haven’t the foggiest idea whether that could be him. He departed before I arrived, and I haven’t seen him since. That is all I can tell you,” he declared, rising suddenly to his feet. “If you have further questions about Helmswick, I suggest you contact his solicitor,” he said over his shoulder as he strode toward the door. “Or even one of his mistresses. Has one in London and Paris. Probably Haddington, too. They’ll know where he is better than any of the rest of us.”
But this was plainly a lie, just as his statement that he hadn’t any idea whether the body could be Helmswick’s had been. And I told Gage so as Marsdale shut the door firmly behind him. “He knows something.”
His expression was as grim as I felt. “Undoubtedly. The question is whether he’s shielding himself or someone else.”
I worried my lower lip, fearing it might be both.
CHAPTER TWELVE
True to Gage’s expectations, we arrived in the antechamber on the servants’ level positioned between the gun room, one of the storerooms, and the staircase that would take us down into the doom, to find not only Trevor, but also Lord Edward, Lord Henry, and Lord John waiting for us. However, there was an unforeseen addition to their party—a burly man with a thick curly red beard. From the smell of fermentation and hops wafting from his rough clothing, I had already deduced his occupation when Lord Henry stepped forward to introduce him.
“This is Mr. Henderson, our brewmaster. He has some information you should hear.”
“I dinna ken if it’ll help ye any,” the ruddy man demurred. “But I’ve a young apprentice who disappeared aboot three weeks ago.”
Gage tilted his head in interest. “What do you mean by ‘disappeared’?”
“Didna show up for his shift one morn, and his mam hasna seen hide nor hair o’ him since.” He scratched at his chin, his nails rasping against the wiry hair of his beard. “I wouldna call Colum Brunton the most responsible o’ lads, but I wouldna expect him to skip oot on his mam like that neither. No’ for three weeks. No’ when she relies on him so.”
Gage and I shared a speaking glance.
“Does he have any friends at the brewery or elsewhere he might have confided in?” he asked.
Mr. Henderson shrugged. “They all say they dinna ken where he is.”
Perhaps. But it was just as likely they were lying to their master, fearful that their having any knowledge of the matter could get them in trouble as well.
Gage asked Mr. Henderson a few more questions about the direction of Colum Brunton’s mother, and the names of his mates, before thanking him and sending him on his way.
“Do you think that’s who the body belongs