Once they were inside the carriage, he noticed her high color. “What is wrong?”
“It is terribly shameful to have to walk into my home wearing the same clothing I wore when I left yesterday.”
“No one will notice and your servants all believe you were too ill to return home last night.”
“Of course.” She glanced out the window as they drove toward her home. As the carriage stopped, she said, “Please do not get out with me.”
“As you wish.” He took her hand and kissed softly. “Until tonight.”
She nodded and then waited for her footman to open the door for her. “Good day, then.”
“Good day, Tessa.” The carriage rolled off to his next stop. Jack opened the small drawer beneath the seats and pulled out his file. He knew this meeting would not go well but he had to state his case to Fairchild.
An hour later, Jack realized he had significantly underestimated Fairchild’s reaction.
“You bloody fool. You let that witch entrance you until you believe every word that comes out of her lying mouth.” Fairchild paced the small office space. “Where is the evidence, Jack? Stanhope is done waiting and wants an answer in the next week or he’s taking this to Bow Street.”
“Let him, Fairchild. There is no evidence that she had anything to do with her husband’s death.”
“What about the other two? Are you keeping something from me?” Fairchild stopped and stared down at him. “Do you have any evidence that points to her killing them?”
“Nothing positive.”
“Aha! But you know something. Tell me.”
“I know Langley was abusing her. And neither Langley or Dereham wished to give up their mistresses even though Tes...Lady Stanhope is far more beautiful than either mistress.”
Fairchild barked a laugh. “And how do you know that?”
“She is remarked upon as one of the most beautiful women of the ton. Besides, I’ve seen Dereham’s opera singer.”
“What else do you know?” Fairchild’s intense brown eyes bore into him.
Jack closed his eyes. “I know that it was not her mother’s idea to marry a wealthy man. It was her idea after her father died and left them penniless.”
Fairchild laughed loudly. “That is what she told you?”
There was something about his scornful laugh that made Jack worry. “Yes, why?”
He reached down and pulled out a paper then tossed toward Jack. “Because while you were busy fucking the bitch, Richfield discovered this piece of information.”
Jack scanned the document. “She already told me that she was originally from Cornwall.”
“Keep reading.”
The next paragraph made his stomach roil. “Bloody hell.”
“So she didn’t tell you that her dead father is actually rotting in debtor’s prison in Cornwall?”
CHAPTER 16
“I do think you should consider marrying again, Tessa.”
Tessa almost choked on her beef. She reached for her wine to stop the coughing. Perhaps dining with the duke and her family at his home was not the best course of action tonight. “Your Grace, there is a hardly a line of gentlemen at my door wanting my hand in marriage.”
“Still, Theresa, His Grace is right,” her mother added. “You need a man to keep you under control and stop your foolish tendencies.”
Louisa shook her head while staring at her plate.