“You are quite right, my love.” Lord Walter touched his wife’s shoulder gently, and she subsided, though she still scowled at Jack, who to his credit did look contrite. “The officer will come through the servants’ door, and you shall do your best to keep things proceeding smoothly. All of London will find out tomorrow, but tonight we can maintain the fiction that nothing terrible has happened.” He turned to Lily. “I am sure Mrs. Adler will assist you.”
“I am sure Mrs. Adler will do no such thing.” Serena looked thunderous. “For heaven’s sake, she stumbled on a dead body not half an hour ago. How can you expect her to go dance a cotillion as if nothing happened?”
“I would hardly be dancing,” Lily pointed out, but her friend was right. Despite her efforts to keep herself under control, the shock of her discovery was beginning to set it. She clasped her hands together to try to keep them from shaking, but by the sympathetic looks directed her way, she knew she hadn’t succeeded.
“Besides which, you told Miss Harper that you twisted your ankle. You can hardly wander about after that,” Serena pointed out. “No, you need a strong cup of tea and a good night’s sleep. We all do, but the rest of us will have to wait a little longer.”
“You are right once more, my love.” Lord Walter bent to kiss the top of Serena’s head. “I will see everything arranged as discreetly as possible. I do not like to wait any longer in case someone should get around Jeremy and find the unfortunate young man.”
“I would be happy to escort Mrs. Adler home,” Jack volunteered after Lord Walter had left, but Serena was already shaking her head.
“Lily will stay here tonight.” She scowled as Lily tried to protest. “Think how dreadful you will feel if this is the first night you spend in your new home. No, I’ll have someone fetch your maid and your clothes. We’ve plenty of rooms, and this way you shan’t feel so alone.”
“Well, I certainly am not going anywhere yet,” Lily said, her voice sharp. Even though she knew Serena was right, she did not like having someone else making decisions for her. Her annoyance, at least, made her feel less overwhelmed. “None of us are, until the gentleman from Bow Street arrives.”
“I am.” Serena rose. “People will talk if I stay away any longer.” She frowned at Jack, clearly still annoyed with him for scoffing. “You will stay with Lily?”
“Of course, ma’am.”
Serena left the room as dramatically as she had entered, leaving Lily as close to smiling as she had been all evening. There were few London hostesses who would react to news of a dead body with such equanimity. Or, she thought fondly, such concern for their friends.
Jack, still standing near the door, cleared his throat. “Would they take it amiss if we rang for something to eat?” He looked embarrassed. “It seems dreadful under such circumstances, but I’m famished.”
Lily wanted to laugh, but the sound caught in her throat. She hoped she wasn’t becoming hysterical; the last thing she wanted was for Jack to gallantly insist that she take herself off to bed. “Well, if you are dreadful, then so am I.” She nodded in the direction of the bell. “We may be waiting for a while, so see if you can persuade someone to bring us some sandwiches.”
* * *
In the end, they were both glad they had sent for food. It took the officer from Bow Street nearly an hour to arrive, and after that, Serena reported indignantly, he insisted on being taken to the gardens right away, “even though there were guests on the terrace! Fortunately, we were able to let his men in the back gate so they could take away the body without anyone noticing.” She shuddered. “The whole thing is dreadful. I am amazed I’ve not succumbed to hysterics.”
As she swept back out of the small parlor to return to her duties as hostess, Jack stared after her. “She doesn’t seem the sort who would succumb to much of anything.”
“She’s not,” Lily murmured absently, her thoughts still with the poor young man, his body fetched from the gardens like a sack of potatoes. Jack noticed her shudder and moved to sit with her, and though she knew she should have protested his being so close, she was grateful.
It was another half an hour before Lord Walter showed the Bow Street constable, introduced as Mr. Simon Page, into the parlor. By that point it was nearly two o’clock in the morning and Lily was beginning to droop with fatigue. As soon as the constable was shown in, though, she sat up straighter, determined to be of use.
“Mr. Page has looked over the gardens, and his men have removed the …” Lord Walter cleared his throat, too much of a gentleman to mention a dead body in the presence of a lady, even if the lady had been the one to find it. “Everything seems to be well in hand, but he wanted to ask both of you a question or two. If you are feeling up to it, of course, Mrs. Adler.”
“Certainly.” Lily smoothed down her dress, which had grown rumpled from restless pacing. “It seems to me that hardly anything is in hand, unless Mr. Page has somehow managed to apprehend the killer already.”
“No need to be worried; I’ll only be asking a few questions to sort through the facts of the evening.” Mr. Page was a very middling sort of man: about middle height, with middling brown hair that was beginning to show a middling amount of gray, and eyes of a middling brown color. But he spoke with an air of confidence that belied his average appearance, and his gaze was sharp as he looked them over. “I’m sure this is all very distressing for you, Mrs. Adler, so I won’t trouble you for much longer. But let me know if you remember anything as we speak.”
Lord Walter excused himself, claiming a need to return to his guests, and instructed Mr. Page to ring the bell if he needed anything else. Looking gratified at such cooperative treatment, the constable turned to Jack. “I understand you found the body, Captain Hartley?”
Jack nodded. “Along with Mrs. Adler.”
The constable made several notes. “So the two of you were walking in the garden. And then you stumbled on the body of the young man?”
“No.” Lily sat up straighter. “We did not stumble onto anything. I was walking in the gardens alone when I overheard two gentlemen arguing. It was obviously a private matter, so I started to return to the house. But when I heard the gunshot, I ran to find help—”
Mr. Page had stopped writing, and his brows rose as she spoke. “Mrs. Adler, I wonder if the shock of such a terrible discovery has upset you greatly.”
His tone made Lily wary. “It was of course upsetting. Nonetheless, I remember the circumstances very clearly.”
“Of course.” Mr. Page nodded. “We’ll return to all that in a moment, but first I’d like to ask Captain Hartley more about finding the body.”
“Mrs. Adler was the one who led me there.” Jack’s stiff tone might have made Lily smile if she hadn’t been so annoyed. Clearly, he did not like the constable’s way of questioning either.
“And being a military man, I assume you checked the body to make sure the fellow was indeed dead?” Jack nodded stiffly, and Mr. Page made another note. Lily tried not to tap her foot impatiently. “And did you see anyone else about, or anything unusual?”