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“There would have been little point in killing the lawyer and stealing Thomas’s will if he had not also…removed his son,” Sterling acknowledged.
As Elizabeth had thought. “It was because you knew of the existence of Thomas’s funds, but not their origin, that madeyou think Thomas might have been involved in your friend’s murder?”
“Yes.”
She released a shaky breath. “In that case, I owe you an apology.”
Sterling looked startled.
Elizabeth gave a firm nod. “What else could you have thought in the circumstances?”
His expression was pained. “I could have given your husband the benefit of the doubt.”
“I believe you did when you decided to go to Cornwall to investigate further rather than jumping to conclusions.” She smiled sadly. “I was the one who overreacted and refused to listen to you.” She turned to Mr. Stanley. “Are there any of those funds remaining?” Thomas had complained to her several times of his father’s ill luck with investments.
The older man grimaced. “Roughly half.”
In the circumstances, it was much more than Elizabeth could ever have hoped for.
She looked at Bristol once again. “Do you think my father-in-law destroyed Thomas’s will?”
“I would have in his position.”
“Ah, but you are not in the least like the calculating and heartless Earl of Whitlow,” she dismissed without hesitation. “He is the sort of man who would enjoy sitting and gloating as he read the contents of Thomas’s will, in the knowledge that I believed myself penniless and so trapped into living with him and withstanding his cruelty to me until Christopher reached his majority and we might both leave his household.”
“I believe you know the man far better than I do,” Sterling conceded.
Yes, she did, and now that she knew more of the facts, she believed Whitlow to be more than capable of killing his own son in order to make himself a wealthy man.
She nodded. “In that case, I believe the will still exists. Whitlow House is the earl’s preferred residence, and if there is a will, then it will be locked in the safe behind the picture on the wall in Whitlow’s study.”
“In that case, we must lose no more time in going to Whitlow House.” Bristol turned to the older man. “Did you impart any or all of the known facts to Melborne and Lincoln?”
The other man nodded. “I thought it best, despite the presence of young Plymouth. I hope I did right in doing so.”
“You did,” he confirmed grimly. “No doubt they will have dismissed Granger and by now have informed the Prince Regent. He, in turn, will have made arrangements to have the earl brought in for questioning,” he approved before looking at Elizabeth once again. “I trust you will excuse us? It is time for Mr. Stanley and I, no doubt with the dukes Melborne and Lincoln and the Prince Regent’s envoy, to pay the Earl of Whitlow a visit.”
“I am coming with you,” Elizabeth said without hesitation.
“No—”
“Yes,” she stated firmly. “After the way I have suffered at that man’s hands, I wish to be present when he is made aware that he will no longer escape punishment for the murder of his own son and Mr. Shaeffer.” Elizabeth was not a vindictive person, but in this matter, she would not be gainsaid.
The Earl of Whitlow must be made to pay for his crimes, and Elizabeth intended to stand as witness to that happening.
She glanced shyly at Sterling. “After—afterward, I would appreciate it if the two of us might…talk together privately for a few moments.”
Sterling looked at her searchingly for several moments before finally nodding. “Of course, if that is your wish.”
“It is.” The least Elizabeth owed Sterling was a heartfelt apology—the one she had already given him had been cursory at best.
Anything else must be decided between the two of them.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“What do you want, Bristol—” The mocking smile disappeared from the lips of the Earl of Whitlow the moment he saw there were six people waiting for him in the sitting room of Whitlow House rather than just the Duke of Bristol, as he had been informed.
“I don’t fink so,” the earl was assured by one of the two men who had come up behind him to take a grip of the older man’s arms and prevent him as he would have turned tail and run. “In ya go.” The two of them manhandled a struggling Whitlow into the room where four dukes, Lady Elizabeth Marshall, and Mr. Stanley, all stood waiting.
