A Most Fashionable Murder (A Lady Thea Mystery Book 3) by Jessica Baker

Author:Jessica Baker [Baker, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-11T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

On the way to Claridge’s, Thea had stopped briefly at her house to leave Mercury in Bridget’s care, as well as to drop off Ilene’s birthday present. She didn’t want to risk losing it, not when the gift felt so perfect. With barely a step inside, she was back in the cab, and shortly thereafter, she and Wilhelmina arrived at Claridge’s to meet James and Leslie, who had gone there directly in order to secure a table.

They didn’t start any real conversation until after the waiter left. Thea assumed they didn’t want to be overheard, so it was surprising that they would be talking in public about it.

Three sets of eyes looked at her expectantly. She sighed. “So, you know we went to Mr. Turner’s house—”

“You did what?” James asked. She ignored him.

“—and we found his ledger of blackmail.”

James leaned forward, his eyes filled with anger. “Who was ‘we’?” Thea glanced at Wilhelmina for half a moment, but it was half a moment too much. James followed the movement. “I see.”

She was amazed how much disappointment he packed into the two words, and even more amazed how much he sounded like her mother.

“We were careful.”

Wilhelmina glared at Thea. They had most certainly not been careful, but she didn’t want James or Leslie to worry. They were as careful as they could be.

“Perhaps you should tell us why you went there.”

Thea glanced down at the silverware, flipping the fork over. She took a breath. “I thought I might find something. I thought that perhaps whoever had attacked Molly killed Mr. Turner.” Perhaps they weren’t connected, though. Maybe she was thinking about this all wrong. When she first got home, Molly said that the accountant for Fletcher’s had just died. The ledgers were in code, there had been pages missing…

Leslie touched her hand, his fingers barely brushing hers. “What is it?”

“Daniel hadn’t been very involved in the finances before,” she told the other three. “But when Molly found out she was expecting, he decided he would focus more on Fletcher’s and step away completely from his father’s firm. Which was his plan all along, but whoever did this didn’t know that.” She closed her eyes for a second.

Why had they been downstairs? Had Mr. Turner been searching for something? Or perhaps the killer had been searching and Mr. Turner walked in on him or her? But what would be hidden in the storeroom?

“The accountant, Mr. Bexley, was the only one beside Daniel who knew the code to read the ledger.”

“I looked into Mr. Bexley’s death.” Leslie pulled a file from his coat pocket and set it on the table. “It was declared from natural causes, but there’s enough ways that someone could kill a person and make it look natural. Poisons and such. I don’t think that person was working with Mrs. Stanton Fletcher, however. Mr. Talbot’s murder seemed to be something of a happy accident for the person who might have killed Mr. Bexley. Assuming, of course, that he was killed and it wasn’t just a matter of coincidence.

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