“No, milord.”
Honestly, did William believe the man would just confess right here? Amy used a softer tone than William had. “You served time in prison for murder.”
Mr. Albright gave her a curt nod.
“Why did you disappear after Mr. St. Vincent was killed?” William must have taken a cue from Amy’s tonality and had lowered his voice.
Albright slammed his hands down on the armrests of the chair, his face flushed a bright red. “Of course I disappeared. For the same reason you are questioning me now. Because I spent time in prison for murder, I would be the first person the police would look at.”
William crossed his arms over his chest, standing tall, forcing Mr. Albright to lean back to look into William’s face. “Actually, that is not correct, Mr. Albright. The first person they looked at was Lady Amy, since St. Vincent was her fiancé and he had come to see her.”
“Ex-fiancé.”
Mr. Albright scoffed. “Her ladyship would never kill anyone.”
Amy smiled at his confident words, although that didn’t get them any closer to the actual killer. She leaned forward. “Mr. Albright, although I appreciate your faith in my innocence, we do have a couple of questions. If you were sent to prison for murder, how is it you were let out? I have never heard of anyone convicted of murder leaving prison except in a coffin.”
If her gardener was surprised at her blunt words, he didn’t show it. “Because I wasn’t guilty. The man who murdered the bloke confessed before they got the chance to hang me.” Mr. Albright looked anything but smug when he said those words. He looked like a man who had been accused of all sorts of things he had never done and had managed to suffer through them all.
William continued with the questioning. “We have determined that Mr. St. Vincent was supplying opium to people who are dependent on it. We found an opium pipe in your flat a couple of weeks ago.”
“You’re the nodcock who took it? I thought it was the police.”
“Why were you hiding it in your room?”
Appearing a bit more relaxed since no one had mentioned summoning the police, Mr. Albright leaned back and rested his foot on his knee. “For the same reason I moved on as soon as I found out the jackanapes had turned up dead in the house. Once the police found my opium pipe, then connected it to my short stint for murder, they would be dragging me off to prison. Not going there.” He shook his head. “Never again.”
Lacey arrived in the room pushing a tea cart, and Aunt Margaret directed her to roll it next to her. The next few minutes were taken up with tea being fixed and passed around. William took one sip of the tea and looked over at Mr. Albright.
“Would you prefer a stronger drink?”
Looking quite relieved, the gardener answered, “Don’t mind if I do, your lordship.”
William strode across the room and poured two glasses of brandy. He returned and handed one to Mr. Albright. “Lady Amy learned that Mr. St. Vincent was importing opium. Is he the one from whom you got your drug?”
“Nay. I seen the cove hanging around here a few times when he was cozying up to her ladyship. He ain’t the gent what sells me my dope.”
Amy placed her teacup carefully in the saucer. “Do you know the name of the man who does sell you the opium?”
Mr. Albright shook his head. “In that business, it ain’t smart to ask too many questions.”
“Can you tell us what he looked like?” William asked.
The man thought for a minute. “Hard to say, actually. Nothing special about him. Medium height, dark hair, not fat, but not thin.”
Well, that certainly hadn’t helped. He’d described just about fifty percent of the men in Bath.
Aunt Margaret had remained quiet up until then but smiled warmly at Mr. Albright. “Why did you return here today after being gone for so long?”
He shrugged. “I had a few of my things stored in the shed. Thought things had cooled enough that I could slip in and out.”
“Opium?” William guessed.
“Yeah, a bit of that too.”
Amy had been excited when they caught Mr. Albright, thinking he would possess information that would help them with the investigation. She had even hoped he might confess to the crime and they could put it all behind them.
But after speaking with him for the past several minutes, she had serious doubts that Mr. Albright had killed Mr. St. Vincent. Another thought crossed her mind. “Are you currently employed, Mr. Albright?”