Vanessa cleared her throat and said, “Lord Blackburn was not the person who killed John Ridgeway. The woman who killed him duped Blackburn into protecting her name. Lady Jennette Selby did the deed. She is the one who should be scorned.”
Matthew and Ancroft raced to the stage to stop her.
“Lady Jennette killed Mr. Ridgeway because she was in love with Lord Blackburn,” Vanessa announced just before Matthew reached her.
Chapter 23
“Oh my God!” Jennette exclaimed as the curious gazes of the ton landed on her. Shock wrapped its fingers around her, holding her motionless. She wanted to move, leave the room, but her feet remained in their position.
“Get her out of here,” Avis said to Elizabeth. “Take her to your house.”
“Of course.”
Jennette felt as if she were in a dream. Elizabeth led her out the side door and the numbing cold hit her in the face. Not even the wind and driving rain could awaken Jennette from her stupor.
Everyone knew the truth.
She would never be able to show her face in Society again. Her name was ruined, as well as her family’s.
“Who was that woman?” she finally asked, once safely ensconced in Elizabeth’s carriage.
Elizabeth looked at her gown. “I heard a man say the name Vanessa as we passed by him. I don’t know a Vanessa, do you?”
“No,” she mumbled, unable to tell Elizabeth the truth. Matthew, the man who insisted she tell no one, had told his mistress. The woman he paid to have sexual congress with for the past year or two.
“Jennette,” Elizabeth started slowly, “is it…true?”
There was no point in lying to her friend about it any longer. The truth had been freed from its cage.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“John asked Matthew to protect my name. I couldn’t tell anyone.” She looked out the window, gazing at the passing homes. “I never even told my family.”
Elizabeth reached over and grasped her hand. “I understand.”
But Jennette didn’t understand. Matthew had impressed upon her the importance of keeping what happened secret. He’d told her no one could know or they risked the possibility of another inquest.
Another inquest.
She lied during the first investigation by agreeing that Matthew had killed John. If another inquest was called for, she might hang for lying to them. No one would believe her now.
Why?
Why would that woman have made her announcement now?
Jennette clutched her stomach as the nausea returned. She could only think of one reason for Vanessa’s actions. Matthew had asked her. He’d been acting peculiar all evening. He didn’t know how to tell Jennette that he couldn’t marry her. If he believed Banning’s remarks about her grandmother’s will, he would not marry her. Vanessa’s announcement cleared his name. Now he had the freedom to marry any woman in the ton.
Any woman, save her.
Now she was officially ruined.
And even worse, no one would believe that John’s death was accidental. Vanessa had made certain when she told everyone that Jennette loved Matthew.
Sadness and remorse slowly turned to a burning rage. Matthew had ruined her. The man she thought she loved and would spend the rest of her life with destroyed her. The idea of living without money appeared more important than creating a life together with love. Even if Banning had found a way to take away her money, she and Matthew could have survived. She could have sold her paintings or taken up portraits to make money.
Only none of that mattered now.