From Governess to Countess (Matches Made in Scandal #1)(49)

It took him a moment to realise what she was implying. ‘The murder could not have been committed on impulse or in a fit of rage.’

‘Only if one had already obtained the means.’

He could no longer contain himself, jumping to his feet, clutching at his hair and cursing under his breath. ‘I cannot believe that my brother would do such a thing! I simply cannot. If he discovered his wife’s affaire, he would be furious beyond words, and deeply hurt too. I can just about make myself believe that he might lose control and lash out, perhaps throttle her or take a knife to her. But to act in cold blood, to actually plan to kill her—no.’

‘Aleksei...’ He flung up his hand to quiet her, but she ignored him. ‘Aleksei,’ Allison said determinedly, ‘I agree.’

‘You do?’ He sat back down abruptly. ‘Why?’

‘We have no evidence that Michael knew about the affaire. Remember, from what Anna Orlova told us, that it was Elizaveta who was at her wits’ end, Elizaveta whose behaviour was completely out of character. Her absence had been noted by Anna. She took the extraordinary step of effectively banishing her, threatening her family—if Michael already knew, what would have been the point?’

‘By the stars, you are right. You think then, that Elizaveta murdered Michael?’ Aleksei shook his head, as if that would clear the tangle of thoughts careering around it, like a whirling cloud of starlings. ‘But then why kill him? If she had banished the Orlova woman, there was no need to worry that she would be discovered.’

‘Perhaps that wasn’t the motive. What if she planned to kill Michael in order to be free to marry her lover?’

‘Completely out of the question,’ Aleksei said firmly. ‘Elizaveta was Her Serene Highness, Duchess Derevenko. She was born and raised to the position. She and Michael were betrothed as children. She dedicated her life to keeping herself and her family at the pinnacle of St Petersburg society. It is inconceivable that she would throw that away for any man, no matter how in thrall to him she may have been.’

‘Whoever the man was, he must have held her in thrall for her even to risk an affaire, considering the risks she was taking,’ Allison said drily. ‘If Michael had found out, Aleksei, what do you think he would have done—assuming, as we have, that he would not kill Elizaveta, the mother of his children.’

‘He’d have taken steps to ensure the scandal never saw the light of day. So the obvious step would be to silence the only other person who knew.’ He clutched her hand. ‘So what Elizaveta would be concerned about if he found out would not be her own safety...’

‘But that of her lover!’

‘Precisely. And what’s more, it wasn’t only Michael who would do anything to protect the Derevenko name. What was it Grigory said to me? Something about Elizaveta taking the moral high ground, and being careful to ensure that she remained there.’

‘Isn’t that more or less what Anna Orlova said, that the Duchess would do almost anything to protect her reputation?’

‘Including go to the length of killing her husband? Is that really what we are saying?’

Allison spread her hands. ‘It explains Elizaveta’s insistence that a fish intolerance was the cause of her own illness. She must have realised she’d poisoned herself by mistake. She would have been desperate to prevent the doctor from making any sort of link between her illness and Michael’s death because she would have been absolutely determined that no one would know what she had done. Even in the throes of death, she did all she could to avoid a scandal.’

‘If she’d been so concerned about scandal, she should have refrained from taking a lover,’ Aleksei exclaimed furiously. ‘Can we really discount the possibility that the lover was responsible? What if he murdered them both to protect himself?’

Allison shook her head. ‘That isn’t likely. The poison had to be administered in situ. We have no evidence of anyone else being here at the palace on the morning Michael died. And really, Aleksei, would Elizaveta’s lover consider murder the best way to protect himself? The consequences would be an unspeakable death, if his act was discovered—and it would be likely that he would be discovered if he was so foolhardy and reckless to come anywhere near the palace. Don’t you think silence on his part would be the safest route?’

‘So it was almost certainly Elizaveta,’ Aleksei said grimly. ‘Her hand may well have been forced when the Orlova woman discovered her absence, but the fact remains, she had the poison already prepared. She was planning to kill my brother, one way or another.’

‘I’m so sorry.’

He shrugged away her comforting hand. ‘As to her unnamed lover, whether he was embroiled or not, he must have his suspicions, given the circumstances. When the deaths were proclaimed, he would have been terrified, knowing that he would be deemed guilty by association if his affaire was discovered. But no one knows of it, save us, of that I am sure, for there has not been even a whisper at court—nor even from the greatest of all gossips, Grigory Fyodorovski,’ Aleksei said bitterly.

He sat back heavily in his chair, rubbing his temples. His head ached. Michael was murdered by his wife. Elizaveta was a murderess. Was it really credible? That sick feeling in his gut told him it was. ‘Whether Elizaveta’s lover was guilty of plotting a murder, or guilty only of cuckolding my brother, we will never know. The dead cannot speak, and he has the most compelling of reasons to remain anonymous. So it seems we have an impasse. The truth, but not all of it.’