The Deeds of the Disturber - Elizabeth Peters [159]
‘Wilson decided to kill two birds with one stone – silence the Earl before he became a danger, and provide the police with the murderer for whom they were searching. He forced Ayesha to lead me into a trap; unlike the other hieroglyphic inscriptions we had seen, this message was so clumsy and inept it would have been taken for the product of someone relatively ignorant of the language. Wilson intended to use me in the ceremony we interrupted this evening. He planned to dismiss all the witnesses and dispatch both me and Liverpool, in such a way as to leave no doubt that the Earl had killed me and then himself – or, perhaps, that we had killed one another. I can think of a number of ways in which it could have been arranged –’
‘I am sure you could, ma’am,’ said the Inspector respectfully. ‘But it was Miss Minton, not you –’
I waved my hand negligently. ‘A minor change in the cast of the play, Inspector. Miss Minton’s role in all this was a very curious one. I fancy Wilson planned to marry her. To say he loved her would be a perversion of that noble word, but that is how he probably would have described it. Yet he resented her casual, contemptuous treatment of him, and when he learned she was penniless, he found it hard to conceal his outrage and disbelief. The insane egotism that had prompted his delusion (for I hardly need say that a lady like Miss Minton would never have consented to become his wife) now persuaded him that she had deceived and betrayed him, and made him determine to gain revenge. He discovered that same evening that she was here in this house. She had to be; otherwise I could not have ascertained so quickly that she was unharmed. I erred – I frankly admit it – by telling him, but I tried to protect the girl by insisting she remain here until morning. I had no idea she would dare disobey ME. In fact, she was in such a state of anger and chagrin that she determined to leave the house at once; and Wilson, who had been waiting outside in the hope of finding a means of communicating with her, had no difficulty in persuading her to accompany him. No doubt she expected him to escort her to her lodging, but once in the hansom cab she was at his mercy. It is not without reason that young ladies are warned against those dangerous vehicles!’
I had proceeded thus far without interruption from Emerson or Ramses, and all at once it struck me that this was so unusual as to merit inquiry. Emerson was smirking in a manner that made me want to shake him, and Ramses . . .
‘That child is intoxicated,’ I exclaimed. ‘Emerson, how could you!’
Emerson was just in time to prevent Ramses from sliding quietly off his chair onto the floor. The boy’s eyes were closed, and he did not stir when his father lifted him into his arms.
‘He isn’t drunk, Amelia, he is tired,’ said Emerson indignantly. ‘The little lad has had a busy night.’
‘Busy night, indeed. Busy week would be more like it. I don’t suppose he has been in his bed more than . . . Take him up and tuck him in, Bob. And pray don’t forget to take off those ghastly garments, and wash him, and –’
Emerson gave Ramses into the waiting arms of the footman, remarking, ‘Be gentle, Bob.’
‘Yes, sir. I will, sir.’
‘Now, then,’ I said, when Bob and his sleeping charge had departed, ‘it is getting late and we should all think of retiring. But first, Inspector, you owe me an explanation. I hope you aren’t going to claim you followed the same train of deductive reasoning that led me to the solution of the crime?’
‘Oh, no, ma’am,’ said the Inspector, blinking. ‘Such a train of reasoning would be quite beyond me. No; I am sorry to admit it