A Dangerous Fortune(8)

“Sixteen.”

She studied him. He was outrageously good-looking, with his curly dark-brown hair and smooth skin, although there was already a hint of decadence in the heavy-lidded eyes and full lips. He reminded her somewhat of the earl of Strang, with his poise and good looks…. She pushed that thought aside with a guilty pang. “Peter Middleton was not in difficulties when you arrived at the pool,” she said. “He was swimming around quite happily.”

“What makes you say this?” he said coolly.

He was scared, she sensed, but he maintained his composure. He was really quite remarkably mature. She found herself unwillingly showing more of her hand. “You’re forgetting that Hugh Pilaster was there,” she said. “He is my nephew. His father took his own life last week, as you probably heard, and that is why he isn’t here. But he has spoken to his mother, who is my sister-in-law.”

“What did he say?”

Augusta frowned. “He said that Edward threw Peter’s clothes into the water,” she said reluctantly. She did not really understand why Teddy would do such a thing.

“And then?”

Augusta smiled. This boy was taking control of the conversation. She was supposed to be questioning him, but instead he was interrogating her. “Just tell me what really happened,” she said.

He nodded. “Very well.”

When he said that, Augusta was relieved, but worried as well. She wanted to know the truth, but she feared what it might be. Poor Teddy—he had almost died, as a baby, because there had been something wrong with Augusta’s breast milk, and he nearly wasted away before the doctors discovered the nature of the problem and proposed a wet nurse. Ever since then he had been vulnerable, needing her special protection. Had she had her way he would not have gone to boarding school, but his father had been intransigent about that…. She returned her attention to Micky.

“Edward didn’t mean any harm,” Micky began. “He was just ragging. He threw the other boys’ clothes into the water as a joke.”

Augusta nodded. That sounded normal to her: boys teasing one another. Poor Teddy must have suffered that sort of thing himself.

“Then Hugh pushed Edward in.”

“That little Hugh has always been a troublemaker,” Augusta said. “He’s just like his wretched father was.” And like his father he would probably come to a bad end, she thought to herself.

“The other boys all laughed, and Edward pushed Peter’s head under, to teach him a lesson. Hugh ran off. Then Tonio threw a stone at Edward.”

Augusta was horrified. “But he might have been knocked unconscious, and drowned!”

“However, he wasn’t, and he went chasing after Tonio. I was watching them: no one was looking at Peter Middleton. Tonio got away from Edward eventually. That was when we noticed that Peter had gone quiet. We don’t really know what happened to him: perhaps Edward’s ducking exhausted him, so that he was too tired or too breathless to get out of the pool. Anyway, he was floating facedown. We got him out of the water right away, but he was dead.”

It was hardly Edward’s fault, Augusta thought. Boys were always rough with one another. All the same she was deeply grateful that this story had not come out at the inquest. Micky had covered up for Edward, thank heavens. “What about the other boys?” she said. “They must know what happened.”

“It was lucky that Hugh left the school that very day.”

“And the other one—did you call him Tony?”

“Antonio Silva. Tonio for short. Don’t worry about him. He’s from my country. He’ll do as I tell him.”

“How can you be sure?”

“He knows that if he gets me into trouble, his family will suffer back home.”

There was something chilling in the boy’s voice as he said this, and Augusta shivered.

“May I fetch you a shawl?” Micky said attentively.

Augusta shook her head. “No other boys saw what happened?”

Micky frowned. “There was another boy swimming in the pool when we got there.”

“Who?”

He shook his head. “I couldn’t see his face, and I didn’t know it was going to be important.”

“Did he see what happened?”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure at what point he left.”

“But he had gone by the time you got the body out of the water.”

“Yes.”

“I wish we knew who it was,” Augusta said anxiously.

“He may not even have been a schoolboy,” Micky pointed out. “He could be from the town. Anyway, for whatever reason, he hasn’t come forward as a witness, so I suppose he’s no danger to us.”

No danger to us. It struck Augusta that she was involved with this boy in something dishonest, possibly illegal. She did not like the situation. She had got into it without realizing, and now she was trapped. She looked hard at him and said: “What do you want?”

She caught him off guard for the first time. Looking bewildered, he said: “What do you mean?”

“You covered up for my son. You committed perjury today.” He was unbalanced by her directness, she saw. That pleased her: she was in control again. “I don’t believe you took such a risk out of the goodness of your heart. I think you want something in return. Why don’t you just tell me what it is?”