‘They make unlikely allies, it’s true, but both had compelling reasons to resent Ezra. Arrange for Albert’s story to be checked out in the morning, just to be sure that he’s telling the truth.’
‘I’ll do that, sir.’
‘We put the fear of God into those two and I think we finally got truthful answers out of them.’
‘Do you think they will keep what you asked them about Verity to themselves though? I’m surprised you mentioned her name. They will know that we suspect her now.’
‘It was a calculated risk. They were both telling the truth when they said that they disliked and resented her, so I’m satisfied that neither one of them is her accomplice. But, like we said just now, Gregg could be, and if word of our suspicions does slip out he might be jolted into doing something to reveal his guilt.’
Salter grunted. ‘Anything’s possible, I suppose.’
Their conversation stalled when Ida entered the room in a cloud of perfume that made Riley sneeze.
‘Riley, how lovely to see you again. I wish it could have been under different circumstances. Good afternoon, Sergeant.'
‘Good afternoon, ma’am.’
‘How are you, Ida?’ Riley asked, looking at her as she took a seat. Her face was pale and drawn, her eyes red-rimmed from crying. Riley didn’t approve of her lifestyle, but it wasn’t his place to judge. She’d had her reasons for straying from the confines of her marriage, and was now paying a heavy price for her involvement with a rogue with whom she had made the mistake of falling in love. She would never make that admission, but it was evident to Riley from her fragile demeanour and the manner in which she was holding herself together by sheer force of will that her heart was a heavy burden. There was no disguising genuine grief. Riley saw it far too often in his line of work to mistake the signs.
‘I am bearing up, Riley.’ She sighed expansively. ‘This entire business is just so horrible. Are you any closer to catching the perpetrator?’
‘We are making progress.’ Riley cleared his throat. ‘I hesitate to add to your misery, Ida, but were you aware that Ezra had plans to marry?’
‘Marry?’ She looked momentarily confused and then shook her head decisively. ‘You have been misled. Ezra was most definitely not the marrying type. He didn’t like being tied down and insisted upon having the freedom to go wherever the fancy took him. No one could own Ezra, or even understand what motivated him. His was a liberated lifestyle—and I’ll confess, that was part of the attraction. How many of us sometimes wish for the courage to shrug off our responsibilities and live as free spirits?’
‘He was tied down here insofar as he was in service, albeit unconventionally.’ Ida tilted her head and gave a half-smile in acknowledgement of Riley’s statement of fact. ‘But he also intended to go into business with you as a silent partner.’
‘Naturally, and when he did so, I knew he would have to leave my employ. One does not attempt to cage a wild bird if one wishes to retain its affection.’
‘I’m afraid it’s true,’ Riley said. ‘About Ezra deciding to marry, I mean. We have spoken to the lady in question and there can be no doubt about the matter.’
‘How do you feel about him having been intimate with her and you simultaneously?’ Salter asked, surprising Riley by speaking in what was for him a mildly sympathetic tone.
‘I am frankly astonished—but then I suppose in a way, I’m also not.’ Ida appeared resigned and managed a wan smile. ‘It seems I have finally been beaten at my own game, which some will say is less than I deserve.’ She sighed. ‘Do I know the woman?’
‘I believe the two of you are acquainted.’ Riley paused. ‘She is Mrs Nancy Wendall.’
Finally Ida showed a reaction. Her jaw fell open and her eyes widened in total astonishment. ‘Verity’s sister-in-law?’
‘The very same.’
Ida appeared momentarily incapable of speech. ‘Can I have something to drink?’ she eventually asked. ‘I feel quite peculiar.’
Riley moved to the sideboard and poured a small measure of brandy from the decanter situated on it. He returned to Ida’s side and pressed the glass into her hands. She drank its contents quickly and a little colour returned to her face, but her eyes remained wide with shock and, Riley suspected, a little humiliation.
‘I have met her a few times. She is very lovely and much closer to Ezra’s age than I am,’ she admitted with a wry smile. ‘Just the type of woman who would arouse Ezra’s protective instincts, one imagines. Verity hates her, of course, but then Verity hates pretty much everybody, especially me.’ She paused. ‘Was Verity aware of…well, of Ezra’s affair with her sister-in-law?’
‘She didn’t mention it to you?’ Riley asked, watching her closely as he awaited her response.
‘No, she did not, which makes me think that she can’t have known.’ There was no hesitation and Riley was inclined to believe her. ‘Verity wouldn’t have passed up an opportunity to flaunt such knowledge in front of me.’
‘Verity was acquainted with Ezra before you,’ Riley remarked into the ensuing silence.
‘My goodness, this is a day for shocks. How did they know one another?’
‘Ezra rescued Verity in the street one day when she stumbled and almost sprained her ankle. It was a chance meeting.’
‘Unlike Ezra’s and mine.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Oh, come on, Riley, I am sure you know perfectly well. It didn’t take me long to realise that Ezra rescuing me from highway robbery was a deliberate ploy to get my attention. And it worked too. I never spoke about it to Ezra, and I allowed him to think that I had been fooled by his gallantry, but nothing could be further from the truth.’ She
