Pride and Premeditation (Jane Austen Murder Mystery #1)(73)

Mr. Bennet studied the document. “If I had been tasked to write a fraudulent insurance document, I might have done it exactly so.”

“What a thing to say!” Mrs. Bennet exclaimed.

“I would have done it just like this, flowery language and all. Such words, as you both know,” Mr. Bennet said, looking to Darcy and Lizzie, “are generally meaningless, but it flusters most men because they believe it’s the language of importance. If I were this criminal, I’d want to fluster the reader into not looking too closely.”

Which gave Lizzie a thought. “Then I wonder . . . who wrote it?”

Darcy and Mr. Bennet exchanged glances and then looked to Lizzie. “That’s a very good question,” Darcy murmured.

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

“Miss Bennet, if I’m surprised at anything you say, it’s because I’m amazed at the quickness of your mind, not because I doubt your abilities. I was so caught up in the document’s purpose that I hadn’t even given a second’s thought to who might have drafted it.”

He seemed genuine, but Lizzie ignored his compliment in favor of thinking through this trail of thought. “Do you think it was Wickham?”

“This was never Wickham’s style,” Darcy said. “Nor is it his handwriting. Trust me, I would know.”

“This Lady Catherine character could have paid any solicitor to do it,” Mr. Bennet pointed out. “There’s no shortage of men who would trade a little dishonesty for money, even in our profession.”

“But it had to be someone she trusted,” Lizzie argued. “She couldn’t hire just anyone, because whoever wrote it would know what she was up to, or at least suspect. Piracy is a serious crime, with a capital punishment.”

“He would be well paid,” Mr. Bennet said.

“Or she has some sort of sway over him,” Darcy added.

“Lizzie, are you talking of the Lady Catherine you were asking about the other day?” Mrs. Bennet interrupted.

“Yes, Mama,” Lizzie said, her mind still on that very peculiar carriage ride. “I suspect . . .”

“What do you suspect, my dear?” Mr. Bennet asked.

She hesitated. This entire case had been built on Lizzie’s suspicions, and look where it had led her. But with everyone in the room looking to her, including Charlotte and Mrs. Bennet, she knew she couldn’t leave her thoughts unvoiced.

“I don’t think she wrote it herself,” Lizzie said. “If she had the ability to pen convincing contracts, then she wouldn’t have tried to convince me to work for her. She said she had opportunities that no man would give me. And last night Wickham insisted with his dying breath that he didn’t kill Hurst, and I don’t think he was lying. He said Lady Catherine was the mastermind, that she had spies. And before he was shot, Lady Catherine said that he had done a poor job of cleaning up this mess.”

“You suspect that whoever actually killed Hurst is the same person that penned this document?” her father asked. Lizzie hesitated, reviewing her memories, but her logic was sound.

“There’s no way I can know that for sure,” Lizzie conceded finally. “But it would draw us closer to the center of this whole affair. I wonder if Lady Catherine doesn’t collect people, recruit them to her cause. She didn’t just want to hire me—she wanted me to see things her way.”

“Lizzie, is this Lady Catherine related to Sir Lewis de Bourgh, or not?” Mrs. Bennet cut in.

“I don’t know, Mama!” Lizzie snapped, letting her frustration get the better of her. “If I did, I would have said.”

“Sir Lewis was only a knight,” Mrs. Bennet added. “So I suppose it’s possible.”

“You are probably correct,” Mr. Bennet said to Lizzie, which brought a flood of relief and delight—until he added, “But we don’t have time for a wild-goose chase—the hearing is today.”

Lizzie knew he was right. Time had run out. If only she had known Lady Catherine was involved from the start! Lizzie could have pretended to take her up on her offer and tried to get more information out of her. But it was too late now. “What’s our strategy?” she asked, forcing herself to abandon the hollow feeling that she had missed something.

Darcy explained his proposed defense to Mr. Bennet in three parts: First, he must establish the facts of the crime, paying special attention to the circumstantial nature of the evidence. Second, introduce Hurst’s disreputable alliances and bring forward the witnesses that could corroborate his debt and failure to pay. Third, they must emphasize Bingley’s outstanding reputation in business and his refusal to pay illegal protection fees.

“But if we introduce this,” Darcy said, tapping the insurance policy, “you see the risks.”

“The judge may take it as motive,” Lizzie said.

“Exactly.”

Mr. Bennet sighed heavily. “You must make a choice, then, as Mr. Bingley’s solicitor and as his friend. If we include it, it’s a gamble. But we will be bringing the case before the judge in full honesty. If we exclude it, we may have a better chance at winning, but we won’t be completely transparent about your discovery process.”

“The problem is that he’s innocent,” Darcy said. “I just know it.”