Pippa and the Prince of Secrets by Grace Callaway

34

Grabbing Ellis by the collar, Cull slammed him into the wall of the bedchamber.

“Easy there, big fellow!” Ellis yelped. “I like it rough, but there are limits, you know.”

“Tell us about Mary Brown,” Cull demanded.

Ellis’s gaze grew wide. “W-what? How do you know Mary?”

Pippa said, “Tell us about her, or my friend here will make you.”

“Friend?” Cull quirked an eyebrow at her. Is that what she called the man who’d made her come in front of an audience? Watching Pippa let go of her inhibitions had made him hotter than hell, and he meant to get his due as soon as they were done here.

She cast her gaze heavenward. “Figure of speech.”

Mollified, Cull tightened his grip on Ellis’s neck. “Tell us about the scheme you, Mary Brown, and Lady Julianna Hastings concocted.”

Gasping, Ellis said, “What? I wasn’t part of any scheme. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Cull squeezed harder.

“All r-right. I’ll t-tell you whatever you want to know about my sister.”

“Sister?” Pippa demanded.

Cull released Ellis with a shove.

The bastard bent over, wheezing. “Mary’s my sister...well, half-sister. We have the same mother. Her real name is Mary Ann O’Connell, but she went by Mary Brown.”

“Where is Mary now?” Pippa asked.

“I don’t know.” He glanced at Cull, holding his hands up. “It’s the truth. The last time I saw her was nearly three weeks ago. She came to see me while I was working.”

“At The Enchanted Rose,” Pippa stated.

Ellis looked surprised. “How did you know?”

“We’re asking the questions,” Cull growled.

“Right-o, no need to get nasty.” Warily, Ellis went on, “When I saw Mary that night, she was acting rather strange.”

“Explain,” Cull said.

“First of all, it’s not exactly the done thing to hunt one’s brother down at an establishment like The Enchanted Rose,” Ellis said wryly. “But Mary’s always been bull-headed. Not her fault, though.” Affection crept into his voice. “She wouldn’t have survived an upbringing like ours otherwise. That night, she was agitated and said she needed a favor. She knew I had a set of pocket pistols, and she wanted one of them. When I asked her why, she said she needed it for protection. So I gave it to her.

“The truth is, I’ve been worried about Mary. It’s been nearly three weeks since I’ve heard from her…and I think she was mixed up in some shady business.”

Cull exchanged a grim look with Pippa. The timing of Mary’s disappearance coincided with the death of Julianna Hastings. What were the two women mixed up in together?

“Why do you say that?” Pippa asked.

“In the last year, Mary was always flush in the pocket. My sister’s a talented actress, but she wasn’t making that blunt treading the boards. I assumed she’d found a rich protector.” Ellis shrugged. “When I asked her about it, she laughed and said, ‘Better than that. I’ve found myself a rich husband.’”

Pippa’s shoulders stiffened, and Cull knew they shared similar thoughts. Had Julianna Hastings hired Mary Brown to take her place so that she could escape the husband she loathed? And then, when she was ready to leave her marriage permanently, had she used Mary Brown to do it?

“I assumed she was joking. Mary had an odd sense of humor.” Ellis glanced at Pippa, then Cull, his expression growing suspicious. “You don’t mean Mary harm, do you?”

“No,” Pippa assured him. “We are investigators. We’re trying to discover what happened to one of our clients, who may have involved Mary in a dangerous scheme.”

Paling, Ellis said, “You don’t think something…happened to my sister, do you?”

“Does Mary have any birthmarks or distinguishing physical characteristics that could be used to identify her?” Cull asked.

Ellis shook his head. “Something has happened to her, then?”

“We don’t know for certain.” Pippa gentled her voice. “But there is a chance, yes.”

A spasm crossed Ellis’s features, and Cull knew then that the man had been telling the truth. Because he knew that look of pain. It stemmed from the knowledge that one had failed one’s sibling, and it was too late to right the wrong.

In Ellis’s case, it was almost a certainty.

Cull’s chest knotted. For him, it wasn’t quite too late. Not yet.

“Could you give us your sister’s address?” Pippa asked.

Nodding, Ellis drew a slow breath. “If you…if you find out anything about my sister, will you let me know?”

“We will,” Pippa promised.

The next morning, Pippa woke up alone in her bed. She wasn’t surprised; Cull had stayed the night but told her he had to leave early. Rolling over, she buried her face in his pillow, inhaling his delicious scent as memories of last night assailed her.

A part of her couldn’t believe what she’d done with Cull in a room full of strangers. At the time, it had felt right…arousing. Yet on the journey home, Cull had been brooding and taciturn, and her thoughts had grown increasingly anxious.

How could you have made such an exhibition of yourself? What were you thinking? Can you blame Cull for being disgusted with your shameful behavior?

Her tension had mounted until she couldn’t stop herself from blurting out an apology. She’d hated how small she sounded. At the same time, she couldn’t deny that she had been reckless. Had Cull not played his part so brilliantly, the outcome could have been disastrous. She realized that, in her efforts to assert her independence, she might have gone a bit too far.

In her marriage, she’d always been the follower, never the leader. Her relationship with Cull was an intricate dance that went back and forth; she loved having him for a partner, but she felt as if she were just learning the steps. Sometimes she stumbled; sometimes she stepped on his toes. Yet she trusted him not to let her fall…and wasn’t that the most important thing?

All of this had come out in a confused babble. Halfway through, Cull had silenced her…with his mouth. Then with his hands and cock. His possession had been savage, his vigorous plowing thumping her back against the carriage wall. She’d climaxed repeatedly. After her fourth or fifth time—she’d lost count—he’d pulled out with a roar, jerking himself to a hot finish upon her bared breasts.

Afterward, he gathered her close, saying quietly, “Don’t ever apologize for your desires, Pippa. I’m not your dead husband. To me, you’ll always be perfect as you are.”

She’d been too relieved and sated to quibble over her so-called perfection.

Now Cull was gone, and she already missed him. He’d told her he would be busy today, but he planned to meet her tomorrow night. At her parents’ house.Sending up a silent prayer, she decided to cross that bridge when she got there. That is, if the family affair did not cause her to throw herself over said bridge.

There’s no use fretting about it now,she told herself. You’ve work to do.

Getting out of bed, she rang for Suzette to help her get ready.

When she arrived at Charlie’s, all the Angels were present in the drawing room…save one.

“Fi’s stuck with the Brambletons again.” Glory’s expression was rueful. “She is not happy about it.”

“Poor Fiona,” Pippa murmured.

“Pippa, please fill us in on the de Tremblay affair,” Charlie said briskly.

Trying not to blush, Pippa described the pertinent facts, glossing over the intimate details.

Livy canted her head, her looped braids swinging against her cheek. “And you believe Ellis’s story about Mary?”

“Both Cull and I thought he was genuinely worried about his sister,” Pippa replied. “The details he gave us match what we know thus far and help us to establish a theory of the crime. According to Ellis, Mary’s financial situation improved around a year ago. That coincides with the date of the playbill found in Lady Hastings’s possession. She could have met Mary at the New Cytherea and hired Mary to impersonate her.”

“A rather diabolical plan on Lady Hastings’s part.” Glory pursed her lips. “Did she do it to get away from her husband?”

“Ellis mentioned that Mary said she’d found a ‘rich husband,’ which meant she was probably fulfilling some, ahem, unwanted duties for Lady Hastings.” Pippa grimaced. “And Lady Hastings had another reason to get away.”

“Howard Morton,” Livy said with her usual acuity. “Any news on him?”

Pippa shook her head. “According to Cull’s larks, Morton goes to work and comes home. No extracurricular activities of any kind.”

“Maybe he knows he’s being watched,” Glory put in. “Your visit probably put the fear of God in him. If Julianna Hastings is still alive, he’s likely involved in some way. By faking her own death, she would guarantee his inheritance—”

“Then they could be together and have her father’s money. To her mind, that might seem like a fitting ending. A part of me understands her desperation,” Pippa admitted. “Yet nothing would justify her killing Mary Brown and hurting Ollie.”

“Or killing her husband…if she was indeed the one behind Hastings’s murder.” Livy tapped a finger against her chin. “I wonder why she didn’t just kill him in the first place. It would have achieved her goal with half the trouble.”

“Perhaps she was afraid she would get caught?” Glory suggested. “As it stands, no one can accuse a dead woman of murdering her husband.”

“Splendid reasoning, Angels.” Approval gleamed in Charlie’s grey eyes. “Your deductive skills have improved tremendously. But there are still loose ends.”

“Louis Wood,” Livy said promptly. “Is he somehow involved?”

“According to Cull’s surveillance, Wood was let go from his position last week when Hastings’s distant relation took over the townhouse,” Pippa said. “Wood has taken up rooms in a lodging house in Chelsea. At night, the larks have trailed him to various gin palaces and theatres, but he’s done nothing incriminating.”

“Wood is a former criminal,” Livy pointed out. “What if he is in cahoots with Lady Hastings? He gains a fortune out of this, after all.”

“Wood’s involvement makes sense,” Pippa agreed. “While Lady Hastings might have been able to fool her indifferent husband with a double, Wood has known her since she was a girl. He would have noticed something amiss…unless he had a reason to turn a blind eye.”

“Wood is shaping up to be a prime suspect,” Charlie said with a nod. “In the meantime, let’s have a look at Mary Brown’s residence.”

They waited until dark to go to Mary Brown’s flat, located above a butcher shop in Cheapside. Livy and Glory kept watch while Charlie and Pippa took the back stairs up to the flat. Using a pair of hairpins, Pippa unlocked the door. The sweep of their lamps showed that the modest two-room flat was unoccupied.

Charlie swiped a finger along a table, leaving a trail in the dust. “It appears no one has been here in a while.”

“I’ll take a closer look at the bedchamber,” Pippa said.

The room had an eerie quality. A collection of wigs hung on hooks, looking like a creepy wall of scalps. When Pippa opened the scratched wardrobe, its colorful innards burst out. The array of costumes included that of an Egyptian queen and a faerie’s wispy dress.

“You were good at disguising yourself, weren’t you, Mary?” Pippa murmured.

Pippa sat in the wobbly chair in front of the dressing table, which was cluttered with assorted jars and containers. She uncapped one of the perfume bottles; Lady Hastings’s signature scent wafted out. The table had three drawers, two filled with grooming implements. Opening the third, Pippa found a collection of handwritten notes…recipes for cosmetics. For everything from rouge to lip stain to hair tonics.

She leafed through the recipes, stopping at one.

1. 1 pint common wine
2. 2 drams common salt
3. 2 drams green copperas
4. 2 drams oxide of copper
5. 4 drams bark of walnut

Boil no.’s 1, 2, and 3. Add 4, boil 2 minutes. Take from fire, add 5.Rub into the hair using a warmed cloth. Rinse with water. Repeat weekly.

Heart pounding, Pippa fumbled to open the drawer with the grooming implements. She took them out one by one until she found what she was looking for.

“Heavens,” she breathed.

“Did you find something?” Charlie’s voice came from behind her.

Pippa spun in her chair, holding a hairbrush.

“Mary Brown was a blonde,” she blurted. “At The Enchanted Rose, she was a brunette, and I just assumed that was her natural hair color. Her brother, Ellis, also has dark hair. But I found a recipe for hair dye containing green copperas and walnut bark, both used to create dark pigments in paint, and I realized…”

She held up the pale-blonde strands she’d plucked from the hairbrush.

“Excellent work, Pippa. We now have a means of distinguishing the two women. Which means—”

“We have a grave to dig up,” Pippa said resolutely.