Mistress - Amanda Quick [54]
“What am I going to do?” Zoe wailed. “I could handle the first payment and I suppose that I can handle a second. This blackmailer seems to be shrewd enough to keep his demands within reason. But I cannot continue to pay blackmail for the rest of my life. Sooner or later he will surely bleed me dry.”
“We’ll find the bastard,” Otis vowed. “And when we do, I’ll personally wring his neck.”
Zoe lifted one hand to touch Otis’s fingers in a grateful gesture. She looked at Iphiginia. “Have you discovered anything at all?”
Iphiginia sank down slowly onto a claw-footed chair. “I believe I have eliminated three of the men who played cards regularly with Guthrie eighteen years ago and who also move in Masters’s circle.”
“Which ones?” Otis demanded.
“Lartmore, Judson, and Darrow. I have managed to get into all of their studies or libraries and examine their wax jacks and seals. None of them appear to use black wax. Nor did I discover any seals engraved with a phoenix.”
“They may have hidden both the seals and the wax,” Amelia pointed out.
“Yes, I know,” Iphiginia said. “Masters remarked upon that possibility also. But I searched their desks very carefully. In any event, we have no choice but to continue along this line of inquiry. The black wax and the phoenix seal are the only clues that we have.”
“They have got us nowhere thus far.” Zoe slumped back against the curve of the sofa and heaved a theatrical sigh. “I am lost. What are we going to do?”
“There, there, do not take on so, m’dear.” Otis patted her shoulder. “We’ll find a way out of this.”
Iphiginia refolded the note and contemplated the seal. “I wonder if Masters’s friend has also received a second blackmail note.”
Amelia frowned. “An excellent question.”
“I know nothing of the demands his acquaintance may have received,” Zoe muttered. “But I can tell you that I must act immediately. The note said that the money is to be delivered to the appointed place at precisely midnight tonight.”
“A cemetery at midnight,” Iphiginia mused. “How very melodramatic. It would seem our blackmailer has been reading some of Mrs. Radcliffe’s gothic novels.”
“Either that or he enjoys amusing himself in this strange manner,” Zoe muttered.
“Yes.” Iphiginia made her decision. “I shall deliver the money this time.”
Zoe, Amelia, and Otis stared at her in amazement.
“Absolutely not,” Zoe said. “Otis will handle it, just as he did last time.”
“You cannot possibly undertake such a dangerous task, Iphiginia,” Amelia said.
“Quite right,” Otis announced. “I’ll deal with it.”
Iphiginia raised a hand for silence. “The note specifically instructs Zoe to bring the money. That means the villain will no doubt be watching from the shadows to see that his orders are carried out. He will expect to see a woman. If he does not, he may very well ask for ten thousand pounds next time.”
“Ten thousand pounds” Zoe looked as though she were about to faint.
Otis produced her vinaigrette. “Here, m’dear.”
“Thank you.” Zoe took a gentle whiff of the smelling salts.
Otis scowled at Iphiginia. “You cannot make the delivery. Someone is bound to recognize that little white carriage of yours and wonder what you are about visiting a cemetery at midnight.”
“Do not concern yourself. I shall be perfectly safe.” Iphiginia frowned in thought. “I’ll use a hackney coach and I shall pay the coachman to wait for me. I shall dress anonymously and wear a cloak with a hood that will conceal my features. If the villain sees me, he will assume it is Zoe.”
“But Iphiginia”—Zoe looked horrified—“it’s a cemetery, for goodness’ sake. At midnight, no less.”
“After a year traipsing about the ruins of Italy, I am quite accustomed to sepulchral ruins.”
“This is hardly the same thing as a visit to Pompeii,” Amelia muttered. “Zoe is right. It is much too dangerous.”
“Cannot allow it,” Otis said authoritatively.
“Nonsense,” Iphiginia said. “There is no danger. The blackmailer is hardly likely to murder the person who leaves the money. That would