‘My sort?’ Verity twisted her neck in order to transfer her glower to Salter. ‘You are not in any position to know about the unfair hand I have been dealt, and you are therefore not qualified to hold an opinion or cast aspersions.’
‘Who is Jason?’ Riley asked in an abrupt change of subject designed to catch her off guard.
‘Jason?’ She looked momentarily bewildered. ‘I am not acquainted with anyone by that name.’
‘This is becoming tiresome, Sergeant, and we have somewhere to be this afternoon. I am not in the mood to play games. Lock her up until tomorrow and we will see if her memory has improved by the morning.’
‘Lock me up?’ Verity looked both outraged and terrified. ‘You cannot lock me in a cell. I haven’t broken the law.’
‘I can do whatever I wish,’ Riley replied. ‘And I beg to differ about the legality of your actions.’ He paused. ‘One more opportunity. Who is Jason?’
She puffed out her cheeks and paused, but then started talking, just as Riley had known that she would. ‘He was a friend of my brother’s, and of mine. I liked him. More than liked. I wanted to marry him and was fairly sure that my affections were reciprocated. Then, overnight, his feelings changed. He was distant when he couldn’t avoid being in the same room as me, and I subsequently discovered that my brother had told him that my dowry was worth half as much as it actually was.’
‘Presumably to ensure that he wasn’t interested only in your money,’ Riley said, not without sympathy.
‘Well, of course my money was the attraction!’ she cried, exasperated. ‘I might be plain and easily overlooked, but I am far from stupid. I didn’t care if he married me for my money, just so long as he married me, but Gordon insisted that he was protecting my interests. Ha! I finished up married to Gideon, and you’ve seen for yourself how that has turned out. Even he cannot remain faithful. And so yes, before you ask, I know that Ezra saw me as an opportunity to improve his circumstances, and I was happy to help him.’ She threw up her hands. ‘But he too turned against me in favour of a pretty face, much as Jason had before him. He married a beautiful lady with virtually no money.’ She threw her head back and clucked her tongue against her teeth. ‘Men are such fools!’
‘You took all of your dowry to your marriage, knew that was all you were entitled to and yet you kept on at your brother for more. Now that he is dead, you are contesting his will. Why?’
‘Why?’ She appeared to find the question perplexing. ‘I am not sure what Gordon’s death has to do with Ezra, but I don’t mind you knowing that I am claiming part of his estate because it is no less than I deserve.’
‘And because Nancy actually succeeded where both you and Ida failed, and procured Ezra’s genuine affections?’
An angry hiss slipped past Verity’s lips. ‘She was so high and mighty, that one. Always looking down on me with pity in her eyes.’ She shuddered. ‘I cannot abide being pitied. Oh, she tried to be friendly but I wasn’t deceived. Anyway, I no longer wanted to be anywhere near Clapham, so I only saw them if they felt duty bound to call when they were in town—which ironically is how Nancy met Ezra.’
‘You have been back to Clapham on several occasions.’ Riley made it sound like a statement of fact. ‘Don’t bother to deny it. You have been seen there.’
‘Not on the night that Ezra died.’
Riley nodded at Salter, who stepped forward and slapped the table hard enough to make it judder. Verity cried out, wrapped her arms protectively around her torso and pushed herself away from Salter, looking petrified. And well she might, Riley thought. Salter, when roused, was a force to be reckoned with. Add in his battered, scowling face and even Riley would have been afraid of him.
‘We’ve already told you what will happen if you lie to us,’ Salter said, thrusting his face close to hers.
‘That will do, Sergeant.’ Riley waited until Salter had resumed his previous position, and then spoke again. ‘I can quite see why you felt aggrieved, but why did you drag Sir Philip into your machinations?'
‘Sir Philip?’ Her face turned chalk white and she now looked truly terrified. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘He is the only member of your husband’s family whom you have any time for. You look upon him as a kindred spirit since his wife doesn’t understand the meaning of fidelity any more than your own husband does.’
She tossed her head. ‘It’s true that I respect him, and I cannot understand why he is so tolerant of Ida’s behaviour, but nothing more than that.’
‘You called to see him at his place of work yesterday. Why?’
Her eyes widened. ‘You know about—’
‘We know everything,’ Salter grunted.
‘I…I had a message for him.’
‘What message?’ When she remained silent, Riley lost all patience. ‘He is in the next room to us as we speak.’
‘You dared to bring Sir Philip to…to this place?’
‘We know that he helped you to kill Ezra, and we also know that you were frightened after we last spoke with you, so we anticipated that you would run to your partner in crime. You see, you are quite predictable after all.’ Riley paused to let his words sink in. ‘We know you were in the Plough on the evening that Ezra died, berating him. You thought you would be safe, garbed in black with a veil partially covering your face at a time when the tavern was busy. Unfortunately,’ Riley added, getting creative with the truth, ‘you failed to take into account the fact that the
