Mistress - Amanda Quick [13]
“Of course,” Marcus murmured. “It was essential that you remain a mystery to the Polite World.”
“Extremely essential, sir. One question would soon lead to another and I might have been unmasked before I had accomplished my goal. At the very least the blackmailer might have realized that I was not your mistress.”
“I see.”
“Society believes Zoe and I to be friends, but nothing more. That explanation provides an excuse for us to be seen together rather frequently.”
Marcus mentally ran through a list of the people who moved in his world. His memory was excellent. He was quite certain he had never met Zoe, Lady Guthrie. “I seem to recall that a certain Lord Guthrie belonged to one or two of my clubs. I believe he died a year ago.”
“Aunt Zoe is Guthrie’s widow.”
“I do not believe that I have had the pleasure of meeting her.”
“No. That is the curious thing about all this,” Iphiginia said quickly. “Aunt Zoe told me that the two of you had never been introduced. She has seen you from a distance at parties and balls and Guthrie had mentioned your name in a casual way, but that was all.”
“Yet your blackmailer claimed that we were both on his list of victims?”
“Yes. Rather odd, don’t you think?”
“I find this entire situation rather odd.”
“My lord, I swear to you, this is not a joke or a game. There really is a blackmailer out there somewhere and he is threatening my aunt. I concluded that there must be some connection between your circle of acquaintances and that of my aunt’s.”
“You’re forgetting one thing here, Mrs. Bright,” Marcus said calmly. “I am not being blackmailed.”
She scowled. “You’re quite certain of that, my lord?”
“It is not the sort thing that would slip one’s mind.”
Iphiginia’s soft mouth firmed. “No, I suppose not. But why would the blackmailer make reference to you when he threatened my aunt?”
Marcus glanced out into the busy night streets. “The reference, if it was made, was obviously a ruse designed to terrify your aunt and convince her to pay the extortion money.”
“The reference was indeed made, sir,” Iphiginia insisted.
“Tell me, just how far did you get in your investigation?”
“Well, as to that, I was making considerable progress,” she said eagerly. “I have already succeeded in searching Mr. Darrow’s and Lord Judson’s studies.”
“You what?”
She tilted her head and gave him a quizzical glance. “I said I have had opportunities to search Darrow’s and Judson’s studies. I took advantage of invitations that I received to soirees that were held in their homes. I managed to slip into their studies in the course of the evening and search their desks.”
She was serious, he realized. “Damnation, woman, are you mad? I don’t believe this. Why would you want to search their studies in the first place? What did you hope to discover?”
“Black wax and a seal engraved with a phoenix,” she said succinctly. “Both were used to seal the blackmail notes that Aunt Zoe received.”
“Bloody hell.” Marcus was too stunned by her audacity to think clearly for a few seconds. He finally collected his thoughts. “Black sealing wax is not uncommon. I use it myself.”
“I know, but you are unusual in that you use it for your routine correspondence, my lord. Most people employ black wax only for mourning. And you must admit that a phoenix seal is uncommon. In fact, the use of a seal, any sort of seal, is, in itself, distinctive. One would think that the average blackmailer would use a simple wafer to seal his letters.”
“Is there such a thing as an average blackmailer?”
“I am serious, sir. Black wax and a seal engraved with a phoenix would constitute strong evidence against the blackmailer.”
“So you went looking for both?” It was simply too outrageous to be believed. The lady was surely lying, which he had suspected from the start. That was the only explanation, Marcus concluded.
And he had thought he was an inventor of some talent, he thought wryly. Iphiginia Bright could give him lessons.
“Unfortunately, I have not yet had a chance to search the studies or libraries