An Unexpected Pleasure (The Mad Morelands #4)(85)

Theo’s mouth twitched in irritation. “All right, yes, I am not adept at lying. I admit it. Dennis did not die the way that we said. But why the devil would you make the leap from that to saying that I killed him?”

“Because Julian saw you!”

Theo’s jaw dropped.

“Ah, you didn’t realize that, did you?” Barchester went on triumphantly. “While you were struggling with Dennis, you did not see Julian come into the cave. He saw you stab Dennis, and he hid, afraid of what you would do to him if you knew that he had witnessed the whole thing.”

“Coffey told you I killed Dennis?” Theo asked carefully. “He told you that he saw me murder him?”

“Yes. I questioned him about the story you had told me, because it didn’t ring true. At first he tried to back up your version, but when I told him that I knew you were lying, he admitted what really happened. He thought you must have been delirious from a fever, that you mistook Dennis for an enemy or something.”

“I see.” Theo contemplated the other man for a moment, then said, “Interesting that neither of you did anything about this murder you think I committed.”

Barchester shot him a scornful look. “As if our word would have meant anything against that of a marquess!”

“You didn’t even confront me about it.”

“What good would it have done?” Barchester asked him, bitterness tainting his voice. “I asked you what happened, and you lied to me. Why would that have changed if I told you I knew the truth? You would tell any official I might go to the same lie. And we had no proof to back it up.”

“You could have given me the chance, instead of believing I was guilty!” Theo shot back.

Barchester’s mouth twisted. “I had thought you were different, that you weren’t the kind of aristocrat’s son that I had gone to school with. But then you lied, and I realized that whatever egalitarian facade you put up, it was only skin deep. Scratch, and the aristocrat came out soon enough.”

“I had thought you were different, too,” Theo retorted coldly. “I thought you judged a man on who he was, how he acted with you, not on the arbitrary matter of his birth. Scratch you, and your prejudices come out clearly enough.”

“You expect me to believe that Julian lied about it? Why would he do that?”

“You tell me. I will point out one thing, though, that you might think about with your intellect instead of your prejudice. You saw me when Coffey and I came back into camp. You saw how weak my illness had left me. I wasn’t even completely over my fever. How the devil do you think I was able to overcome a fellow like Dennis in my condition? Eh? And why did Coffey hide and watch instead of coming to Dennis’s aid? Two men against one feverish one? I would think they could have brought me down.”

Barchester’s eyes shifted away from Theo. “Madness can give people inhuman strength. Delirium would be the same.”

“No doubt you would like to believe that,” Theo responded tightly. He turned toward Megan. “I think it is time for us to leave.”

Megan nodded. She gave Barchester one last long look, then swept from the room, Theo right behind her. They said nothing until they were out of the house.

Megan looked up at Theo. “Do you think he’s telling the truth? That Coffey is the one who lied about you?”

Theo shrugged. “It’s anybody’s guess. He seems convinced of what he says.”

“Yes, he does.” Megan frowned. “But why did he tell us without reservation that you did it? As if he had actually witnessed Dennis’s death? Why did he not say that he heard it from another?”

Theo shook his head. “I don’t know.” He handed her up into the carriage. Then he spoke quietly to the coachman and swung up onto the seat across from her.

The carriage pulled out into the street, went smartly down the road and turned left, then left again, coming up on the other side of the small park that lay across from Barchester’s house. The carriage pulled to a stop.

Megan, who was still ruminating on Barchester’s words, looked over at Theo questioningly. “Why are we stopping?”

“I think a little walk in the park would be of benefit to me right now.” He nodded toward the strip of greenery and trees that separated them from the street in front of Barchester’s house.

“We are going to spy on him?” Megan asked eagerly.

“I would suggest that I do it myself and send you back safely to the house, but I have a good idea what you would say to that.”

Megan grinned. “You are a smart man.”

She scrambled out of the carriage after him and took his arm to stroll into the park as if they were simply out enjoying the afternoon. They walked across the width of the park until they could see the front door of Barchester’s house.

“Let us hope that he has not left the house yet,” Theo said as he turned and began to walk parallel to the iron fence that separated the trees of the park from the street.

“Are you sure he is going to leave it?” Megan asked.

“No. But I think it is a strong possibility,” he replied. “If he was telling the truth—that Coffey is the one who lied about my having killed Dennis—then I would think he would go to question Coffey about it. It is certainly what I would do.”