Read Online A Body in Berkeley Square by Ashley Gardner - Free Book Online Page B

to know that my husband has been betraying
me?"
    "Ready to believe his guilt, then. Perhaps I
used the wrong word. But it seems as though everyone wants him to
be guilty, including Brandon himself."
    The muscles of Louisa's delicate neck were
tense, as though she strained to hold up her head. "You are kind to
try to give me hope."
    "And I do wish that both you and your husband
would stop trying to assign me motives," I said in irritation. "I
am looking into this problem because it distresses you and because
I do not believe Brandon killed Turner. I believe he could have killed him, but I will be quite glad to find evidence to prove
otherwise."
    Louisa sank to the sofa. "Perhaps I simply
want it to be over. I do not want to wait and wonder and hope that
you find something. I want it to be over, even if it means that I
lose him forever."
    "Have you so little faith in me?"
    "I know you, Gabriel. You believe a thing is
so, therefore it must be so. You stubbornly burrow through things
to prove yourself right, no matter who you hurt."
    I stilled. "And I've hurt you?"
    "No." She smiled a little. "But you are so
impetuous, and you will run afoul of the wrong people. It would
hurt me so to lose you. I never would have survived all these years
without you."
    We looked at each other. I knew as well that
my life would have been much harsher without Louisa Brandon in
it.
    I could have said something then that might
have changed everything between us. I think she wanted me to say
it, waited for me to say it. Perhaps I was foolish to keep my
silence. But I kept it.
    "Louisa, I will do everything in my power to
help your husband. And you. I swear this."
    A light went out of her eyes. Louisa looked
away from me, and then she nodded. "Ask Aloysius's valet for the
key to his desk. Tell him he has my permission to give it to
you."
    "Thank you," I said quietly.
    Louisa looked up at me again, but her eyes
held no hope. I bowed to her briefly and left her.
     
    *** *** ***
    I found Robbins, the harried valet, and
requested Brandon's key. He went off to find it, seeming relieved
to escape Lady Aline's strident demands. Louisa was always gentle
with her servants; Lady Aline must seem like an unexpected
hurricane.
    "Lacey, my boy, I do wish you luck," Aline
said as she passed me on her way back to Louisa's sitting room. "If
you can find an answer to this murder, I will bow before you."
    The thought of Lady Aline bowing her tall
bulk amused me somewhat. I told her I could only do my best, took
the key that Robbins brought running back, and let myself into
Brandon's private study.
    I'd been in this room only a few times
before, because Brandon rarely invited me into it. He put up with
me in his dining room and drawing room at Louisa's request, but he
disliked me in the more private rooms of the house.
    A screen of gold-leaf and ivory that he'd
obtained in Spain decorated one corner. I'd always wondered where
Brandon had found the screen, and if it had in fact been looted.
Wellington had declared looting to be a hanging offense. The
English army had gone to liberate the Spanish from French rule, not
to rob from them, he'd said. Brandon had claimed that he'd
purchased it, but his belligerence whenever he spoke of it always
aroused my suspicion.
    The desk, a secretary with a closed bookcase,
stood near the screen. I sat down in the desk chair, put the key in
the lock, and pulled down the sloping cover that formed the base of
the desk. Two pieces of wood slid out of slots to support the
desk's top.
    Inside I found neat ledgers and folded papers
and small drawers full of letters. None of the letters were from
Imogene Harper.
    I searched the drawers and the ledgers, then
unfolded all the letters to see if another had been tucked between
their pages. I found nothing. I hadn't thought I would.
    I remembered Grenville showing me a secretary
he'd purchased in France, a beautiful piece of golden satinwood
with rosewood inlay. Grenville's delight in it, however, was