Buckingham Palace Gardens - Anne Perry [153]
“God Almighty!” Narraway breathed out. “He was the carter! He knows about the murder in Cape Town because he was there too! You’re not saying he killed her. Are you?”
Pitt thought for a moment. “What is Quase so afraid of? And he is, he’s terrified. Liliane too, but she doesn’t know of what.”
“He killed the woman, and Forbes knows it?” Narraway shook his head. “You’re wrong, Pitt. He would never allow the man to marry his daughter.”
“It’s not something Quase did.” Pitt was still making his way through the myriad of facts in his mind. “It’s something he knows.”
“Forbes killed them himself?” Narraway struggled with it.
“I don’t know.”
“We can’t prove it…” There was an anger and deep frustration in Narraway’s eyes and in the tight line of his lips. “There’s nothing we can do.”
“I don’t know what he did,” Pitt went on as if Narraway had not spoken. “But he did something, before he killed Kate. And Hamilton Quase knows about it, but Liliane doesn’t.” An idea was forming in his mind, one that Narraway would hate. “At least I think she doesn’t, although like Minnie, she may be working her way toward it. I wonder whom she loves more, her father or her husband.”
“Pitt!”
“Yes?”
“Don’t look at me with that air of innocence, damn it! We can’t prove anything against Forbes. All we have are guesses, and we could be wrong.”
“But we aren’t,” Pitt said it with growing assurance. “I don’t know if it was just to get rid of Dunkeld and take over the project, so he could see it fail, or there were other reasons as well…”
“Such as what?”
“I don’t know.” He didn’t, but he was beginning to guess, though it was not yet a thought he was prepared to share with Narraway. If his plan failed, and it well might, Narraway needed to be able to deny any knowledge of it. Pitt believed that to be fair. It was also the only chance he had of putting it into action. If he knew, Narraway would stop him. He would have to.
Pitt finished his tea. “We had better go back to the Palace. See if there is time to wash and shave before the Prince of Wales makes any formal appointment of Watson Forbes. I’ve got a clean shirt there. Perhaps Tyndale can get something for you.”
Narraway gave him a filthy look, but he did not argue.
At the Palace, Pitt changed hastily into a cleaner and less crumpled shirt, then went straight to the anteroom where they were all waiting to be ushered in for the Prince’s announcement. They looked somber and more than a little nervous. Neither the Prince of Wales nor Watson Forbes was there, but Gracie was. She looked unfamiliarly formal in a black stiff dress. Her white, lace-trimmed cap and apron were crisp and cool as snow. Her face showed intense relief when she saw Pitt, but since everyone else turned to look as he came in, she did not dare approach him.
Narraway was not there yet.
Pitt hesitated a moment, aware of what he was risking: Narraway’s anger; perhaps even the loss of his support, which might mean Pitt’s job. If he were right, the Prince of Wales would not forgive him. Even when he was king, his enmity would last. Above all, Pitt’s disgrace would cost Charlotte any hope she might have of once again being part of Society. All doors would be closed to him, and his children.
And if he did not try, he would deliberately have let go a man who would kill again and again in order to gain what he wanted.
He walked forward to Liliane Quase, who was standing a couple of yards from her husband, who was talking to Simnel with his back to her. But as always she was close, as if guarding him.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Quase,” Pitt said quietly. “This must be a desperate decision for you.”
Her marvelous eyes widened, dark with sudden terror. She started to speak, but the words died in her throat. She moved away from him, a step closer to her husband, her hand out, as if she would touch him.
Pitt made a guess, not certain what he meant. “He was willing to pay any price to earn your love, wasn’t he? Are you willing to let him? Even his life?” He was still