Something in the Heir (The Lady Jack Mysteries Book 1) by Jane Hedwig

Author:Jane Hedwig [Hedwig, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beastie Press
Published: 2022-09-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

The next morning Gabriel sent Clive and Seth off to Whitsea Hall to watch the grounds— discreetly, mind you—for any sign of Niall Connor. If Clive’s urchin was so desperate to get to Lady Jack, maybe he’d try again. Gabriel would interview the family later, when they’d all have come downstairs for the day.

In light of recent events, his vow to avoid Penrowan land now seemed immature and self-indulgent.

He found his father in the flower garden. The squire took comfort in tending to the roses, daffodils, and lilacs Gabriel’s mother had loved and would often sit on a bench among the blossoms and talk to her spirit.

“Rosie and the boys have been on my mind,” he told Gabriel. “You know what it’s like to lose your children. I wish you didn’t, but it’s not our place to question heaven.”

Heaven. Gabriel scoffed under his breath. He had an uneasy relationship with the deity, whose judgment was random and cruel. His mother and younger brother Uriel had been taken by scarlet fever when Gabriel was a boy, and a decade ago, his brother Raphael died of malaria while traveling abroad. Rafe’s stone in the churchyard at All Saints was only a marker, his body buried in Maharashtra, India. Sally’s first boy had died after three months of a sickly life. Then last May their second son had succumbed to a wasting disease his tiny body had no strength to fight. Gabriel could find no meaning in those losses; he only hoped his loved ones fared better in the next world.

But God had nothing to do with what happened to Michael.

Michael’s life was stolen by the selfishness and folly of a mere man. It was the difference between tragedy and outrage and the reason Gabriel had become a detective. He could make no sense of heaven, but Lady Whitsea was right. He would insist on justice in this world.

“I shouldn’t have spoken to your sister the way I did.” The squire broke the silence between them.

“What do you mean?” Gabriel’s father hadn’t talked about Athaliah since her disappearance.

“It’s my fault she ran away. I was cruel. When she needed understanding, I told her she’d made a fool of herself with Lord Jack and brought shame on the family.”

“We all have regrets. If I hadn’t gone to Europe with my aunt and uncle, I could have done something. I could have warned her Jack would never marry a woman with no fortune.”

“If only I knew whether she was alive.” The squire gripped the bench seat. He was a vigorous man, but dwelling on all he’d lost—his wife, three sons, a beloved daughter—brought him low.

“It’s the not knowing that’s so hard.” Gabriel hated the powerless feeling. He wished he could do something to ease the man’s sorrow.

“She had a voice,” the squire went on. “You two used to make such harmonies together!”

Gabriel hadn’t sung a note since Michael died, but it would break his father’s heart to know it.

“Who is that?” The squire looked past him.

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