AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘In case,’ Hugo said, with a twist to his mouth. ‘He puts aside those that need to be reported to the police—the more specific death threats, or anything that suggests the writer is observing me—and keeps the rest in case of a pattern developing. My most faithful correspondent has been writing intermittently for six years.’
‘God.’
‘That’s why I don’t look at them. You are welcome to consult Grey, if you’d care to do so.’
Jem nodded. ‘Thank you. But those are all to you. What I really wanted to ask was whether anyone else received one recently. Your fiancée, or your father, I uh…’ Who would a Liberal Member of Parliament be answerable to? ‘Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman?’
Hugo’s brows drew together. ‘Why do you ask that?’
‘Mine was sent to my place of work. I’ve been in the same lodgings for three years; I cannot see that I’d be easier to find at work than at home. It was malice, and of more than the usual kind. Someone wanted not just to accuse me but to cause trouble for me.’
‘And you came here?—’
‘Because I wanted to know if it was just me, or if anyone else had the same.’
‘And if we did?’ Hugo asked.
Jem hadn’t thought that far ahead. He wasn’t sure he’d thought at all, driven as he had been by anger and unfamiliar energy. ‘I don’t know. I’d like to know who wrote it.’
‘There’s probably no chance of finding that. I have enquired into the possibility more than once, especially with the death threats. There is very little to be done, except when the writer includes a return address, which has happened, believe it or not.’ He flashed Jem a grin and, for a moment, the years fell away. ‘When was your letter received?’
‘Wednesday morning.’
‘Wednesday morning,’ Hugo repeated. ‘I see.’
‘Is there something?’
Hugo hesitated, then his shoulders dropped. ‘I can’t see a reason not to tell you. My fiancée, Lady Lucy, received a letter of this sort on Tuesday. She was extremely distressed. It didn’t occur to me that even the kind of lunatic who writes these abominations would consider sending my fiancée such a thing. That a complete stranger would endeavour to distress a gently bred lady, or try to break my engagement?—’
‘Or lose me my job,’ Jem said.
Hugo paused. ‘Yes. That is a coincidence.’
‘Did you see the letter Lady Lucy had?’
‘It was the first one I’ve touched in a while.’ Hugo looked down at his hands. ‘I had forgotten what they were like. Seeing it in black and white again was more of a shock than I’d expected. Of course Lucy was distraught, and that was uppermost in my mind, but…it was a shock.’
‘What did it say?’
‘Hugo Morley-Adams is a murderer,’ Hugo said, voice precise. ‘He killed Toby Feynsham. Ask him why.’
Jem stared at him. Hugo’s gaze snapped back from wherever it had been—Tuesday, or ten years ago—to focus on Jem. ‘Is that similar?’
‘Word for word. Except the name.’
‘Damnation,’ Hugo said. ‘And—you said the others?’
‘I don’t know. I came here first. I’m going to ask them all.’
Hugo nodded. ‘This does seem to me rather odder than the usual run of things. The same letter, written to someone who would be less likely to ignore or throw it away.’ He drummed his fingers. ‘At the very least it seems a particularly cruelly calculated bit of malice. Will you tell me what you find? I think I’d like to know.’
‘If you like, certainly.’ Jem clasped his hands together. ‘Hugo?’
‘Yes?’
‘Who killed Toby?’
‘How the devil should I know?’
