“Has Wickham accumulated more debt?” Edward hissed. He was aware of how often Darcy had bailed out the hapless punter.

Worth rejoined the tale. “Of some quantity, if my colleague is to be believed.”

Edward’s protest came immediately,“Darcy, you cannot think—

Uncomfortable with the rest of the men knowing the extent of his past involvement with Wickham, Darcy interrupted his cousin’s admonishment. “Mr. Wickham has placed his financial security beyond those from his family who might come to his aid.” Quietly, he added, “In addition to his pecuniary problems, it appears that the gentleman sometimes lifts a hand to his wife—especially when Mrs. Wickham displays her more boisterous nature, which we all know she possesses.” The other men understood the depth of Darcy’s hatred for his former school chum, a man for whom Darcy’s own father had tried to provide a living but who led a life of idleness and dissipation. “If Mr. O’Malley chooses to pursue this case, I will make no move to save Mrs.Wickham’s husband, despite the shame it may reflect upon Mrs. Darcy or this estate.”

“Is there anything else, Sir Phillip? Or may we inspect another room?”Worth inquired.

“Indeed,” the gentleman replied. “Let us press on.”

Worth exited, pausing briefly in the hallway to wait for the others. “Who is next? Mrs.Williams or Mrs.Wickham?”

They all waited for Sir Phillip’s direction. “The admiral’s widow,” he commanded. The baronet turned toward the room at the top of the stairs. “I do not need to remind each of you of the importance of documenting what we find in this room.” Gravely, he turned the handle to open the door.

They spread out across the room, each of them taking the responsibility of thoroughly searching a portion of the space. No one spoke, each man intent on performing his duties.

Edward opened each of the jars on the dresser. “The lady has nearly ten jars of cosmetics; yet, Mrs. Williams wore only a bit of rogue when I saw her today. I wonder whether today was an aberration.” He showed them a small jar containing a blackened powder. “And what in God’s name is this?”

“Belladonna. For the eyes,” Stafford informed him. “The latest thing on the Continent. Gives the lady’s lids a smoky quality in the dim lighting of a soiree or a dinner party.”

“We should have known you would be an expert on a lady’s beauty regime,” Darcy smirked.

Adam made a courtly bow.“It is my lot in life—what I do best. Just ask my father, the earl. He will gladly extol my expertise in the area.”

Edward examined the table. “I see nothing such as what we found in my aunt’s quarters.”

“Maybe Mrs.Williams did not use the poison in the same way,” Sir Phillip remarked.

“I assume you mean that the lady did not consume the product; she used ointments and creams, probably because her face and skin have weathered from traveling with the admiral. But even if she did have the item, she could have disposed of the powder after Mrs. Jenkinson’s passing,” Stafford observed.

“I am sorry I did not think to search the bedrooms before now,” Darcy said, offering an apology to the entire room.

“It is of no consequence, Mr. Darcy.Your search would not have solved your mystery.” Sir Phillip gave his own form of absolution. “The lady is not your phantom, although I strongly suspect her of causing your cousin’s companion to meet an untimely death.”

Worth joined Darcy and the baronet. “There is nothing to directly connect the widow to Harwood,” he whispered. “How will we prove her guilt?”

“I am not ready to abandon our search,” the magistrate asserted. “There is something here; I feel it in my bones. Let us look closer. Does the lady have items in the bed chest? Take out the drawers of the desk. Look behind them.The same with the dressing table.”

The five men plus Darcy’s two footmen started to take things apart. Moving furniture and looking behind and under the room’s fixtures, they studied the minutest corners with a renewed interest.

“Nothing in the chest,” Worth announced as he let the lid to the storage at the foot of Mrs.Williams’s bed slam shut.

“I found nothing beneath the bed either, sir.” Jatson St. Denis scooted out from under the bed.

Darcy mused aloud, “If not under the bed, maybe in the bed. Possibly the lady literally slept with her secrets.”

Instantly, Darcy and Sir Phillip attacked the bed simultaneously, pulling back the coverings and flipping over the pillows. Reaching for the bottom brocade pillow, Darcy’s fingers brushed against something hard. “I have something.” He pulled the drawstring pouch from the folds of the pillow’s silken covering. “What have we here?” He loosened the golden string and dumped the contents of the bag upon the bed.

The other men now circled about.Worth expelled a low whistle when the gold coins tumbled from the black velvet bag. “Solid gold.”Worth turned one of the coins over in the palm of his hand. “A small fortune.”

“Where would a woman of Mrs.Williams’s station get so many gold coins?” Edward questioned as he ran his fingers through them and let them plunge to the mattress.

“A man’s ring,” Darcy said as he cupped a jeweled band in his outstretched hand.

Sir Phillip picked up the velvet bag and turned it inside out. A folded piece of paper drifted to the floor. Carefully, the magistrate retrieved it.“Let us see what the lady conceals.” Slowly, he unfolded the item, smoothing the edges as he spread it upon the bed. The men all craned their necks to understand the marriage document. Sir Phillip read the words aloud,“Robert Lewis Harwood to Evangeline Ruth Whitmore.”

“Evangeline? I thought Mrs.Williams’s Christian name was Evelyn,” Worth thought aloud.

“Well, apparently if her name was Whitmore and not Williams, the lady might purposely call herself Evelyn instead of Evangeline,” Stafford summarized.

“You are both missing the most obvious connection.” Edward took the marriage certificate from where it lay on the bed. “Angel Harwood, as the lieutenant identified his wife, is really Evangeline Whitmore. The lieutenant called the lady Angel, short for Evangeline.”

“If what we suspect is true,” Sir Phillip started to place the items back in the bag, “the lady is an angel—an angel of death.”

Chapter 20

“Elizabeth,” Georgiana pulled her sister into the music room, “might we talk?”

Elizabeth anticipated the nature of the ‘talk,’ but she readily agreed. “I am all ears, Georgiana,” she responded as they took up residence before the fireplace.

Then a nervous silence followed. Elizabeth watched with amusement as Darcy’s sister fidgeted.“Why do you not just tell me what is on your mind, Georgiana? I will not judge you.”

The girl swallowed hard and flushed. “Could-Could you,” she stammered, “could you t-tell me when you knew you loved my brother?”

Elizabeth smiled kindly. “I suspected as much.” She rolled her eyes upward, trying to visualize the moment. “It would be prudent to say from the first moment he walked into the Meryton Assembly Hall, but Fitzwilliam managed to insult me with his refusal to ask me to dance, and I set myself against anything he could offer. So, from the beginning we verbally tussled for supremacy, but I suppose, in many way that was love. I hated that Fitzwilliam might find me wanting—that he might think poorly of me—might think I was lacking in some essential. Therefore, I pretended, even to myself, to despise him. I once told Jane that I knew I loved him when I realized how many depended upon him for their existence, and I realized he needed someone upon whom he could depend. I cannot say the exact moment; we were connected from the beginning. Your brother brought sunlight to my heart.” Elizabeth nudged Georgiana’s foot with her own.“Is there someone you affect, Georgiana?”

“Would it disappoint Fitzwilliam if I did not want a Season?” The girl blushed thoroughly.“I would be so out of place in a room full of strangers.”

“Do you not wish to meet a young lord? Once you became familiar with Viscount Stafford, there was no awkwardness.”

Georgiana looked off to the side. “Then Fitzwilliam would object? I thought as much.” Her gaze fell to her hands resting in her lap. “I had simply hoped—.”

“Hoped for someone more familiar?” Elizabeth understood perfectly. “Perhaps with my encroaching confinement, we should seek entertainment in Derbyshire—give you time to build a rapport with some of the local young people—give you a chance to meet someone new.”

Georgiana looked devastated, but she said, “Yes, maybe that is what I need.”

Elizabeth knew better—knew what stirred Georgiana’s heart—what the girl truly wanted. She would see how things developed before she spoke to her husband in that regard. “Lydia loves a social gathering,” she began. “Why do we not show her some of Derbyshire? Bakewell’s celebration is next week. What do you say, Georgiana? Might I send for Lydia, and we can plan an excursion?”

“Why not?” Georgiana’s lack of enthusiasm rang clear to her sister.


Silence filled the room as the men froze in a horrified tableau. “Can it be?” Darcy breathed the question.

Sir Phillip turned slowly toward Pemberley’s master, a grim frown furrowing his forehead.“I fear we must speak to the lady immediately.” He returned the coins and ring to the bag and refolded the paper. “Colonel, might you and Lord Stafford take Mr. Darcy’s men and examine Mrs.Wickham’s room?”

The colonel nodded.