“Dreadful man.”
“Agreed.” The carriage turned from Royal Avenue onto Marlborough Lane. William knocked on the ceiling to alert the driver to stop. “This is a good spot to walk. I will have my man return for us in about an hour.”
Amy gathered her things and took William’s hand after he stepped out of the carriage. He spoke with the driver, and once the man was on his way, William took her arm in his and they began their walk.
It was truly a pleasant day. The newly awakened spring flowers and rare bright sunlight raised her spirits considerably. She took in a deep breath and smiled, her confidence rising. They would solve this and go back to their normal lives.
“I believe you were going to tell me about Miss Hemphill.” William directed them toward a pathway on the left.
“Yes. A most interesting and very strange thing occurred. I attended Lady Ambrose’s sewing circle Tuesday last, since I had learned that Miss Hemphill was a member of the group, and I had hoped to speak with her.”
“I believe that is the woman who had been courted by St. Vincent and then disappeared to London?”
“Yes. And she returned shortly before he was killed.”
His nod encouraged her to continue.
“The very strange thing that happened was her reaction to me. You see, I arrived at Lady Ambrose’s house before Miss Hemphill. I was sitting in the room when she entered behind the butler. She took one look at me and fainted dead away on the floor.”
His head whipped around to stare at her. “You don’t say? How very odd.”
“That is precisely what I thought. But she quickly recovered herself and continued to cast hateful and alarming glances in my direction the entire time I was there.”
William chuckled. “I hope you didn’t think she would be full of kind thoughts about you. From what you told me before, she was expecting to become engaged to Mr. St. Vincent and then returned from her trip to find you had snagged him while she was gone.”
Amy huffed. “I hardly snagged him. He and Papa worked everything out, and I was coerced into the betrothal.”
“With Miss Hemphill absent when this all took place, I can imagine what she thought when she returned. But in any case, a collapse at the sight of your mere presence does seem a bit over the top.”
“That’s what I thought. She avoided me for the rest of the time I was there, and finally, realizing I would never get any information from her, I left.”
“So she remains on your suspect list?”
“Definitely. One other thing. Every time our eyes met while we were both there, the amount of hatred I saw there actually frightened me. I believe Miss Hemphill is someone who could harm another person if provoked.”
“Interesting. Well, she is on the list. I think it would be a good idea to get as much information about her as we can. For example, why did she disappear to London?”
“And, remember, Mr. St. Vincent also took a trip to London during that time period. That was when he met with my father.”
William walked alongside her for a few minutes, staring at the ground, obviously pondering what she’d just told him. Then he looked over at her. “What is it your aunt had to say about our investigation?”
“Thank you, I had almost forgotten about that. One thing we have not considered up to this point is the distribution of the drugs St. Vincent was importing.” She stopped and bent to pick a flower that had been trampled by careless strollers. She sniffed the bloom and held on to it. “Although St. Vincent owns a shipping company, there would still have to be someone who accepted the drugs and then repackaged them for sale to individuals.”
“Of course. I doubt he would dirty his hands with such doings. So there is a middleman who might have a reason to see Mr. St. Vincent dead. That does make a lot of sense. I have no idea how we would uncover this person, but that is definitely something we should add to our list.”
“Agreed.”
Their walk took them to a bench, where they sat and simply enjoyed the lovely spring air. After a few minutes, William said, “There is something I need to share with you about Mr. St. Vincent.”
“What is that?”
William leaned forward, placing his forearms on his thighs and turned his head to look at her. “According to Mr. Harding, when St. Vincent approached your father with the offer of marriage, his business was on the verge of bankruptcy.”
CHAPTER 13
“Bankruptcy?” Amy couldn’t have been more surprised if William had told her St. Vincent had survived the knife attack and this entire murder was a figment of her imagination.
“That is correct. Also, he had borrowed significantly on his personal holdings to keep the business propped up. It seems he’d suffered a loss when one of his ships went down. However, my man said although that was an unfortunate event, it should not have put him in the precarious situation he was in when he died.” He shrugged and sat up, placing his arm across the back of the bench. “Shipping is a risky business. While I know you are indeed a prize catch on the marriage mart, I believe Mr. St. Vincent was more interested in your dowry than suddenly enamored with you.”