The Bachelor Bargain (Secrets, Scandals, and Spies) by Michaels, Maddison (short books to read TXT) 📕

the girl to not only have fled into the night after Alice’s death, stealing some of Alice’s jewels in the process, but was now also resorting to blackmail. Although, without a job, people did do desperate things to survive, though why the girl fled in the first place was a question Livie knew needed answering.

“I was under the impression the maid couldn’t read or write,” Lady Chilton continued. “However, that is obviously not so, as her demands are very plain.” She pulled out the letter from its envelope and handed it to Livie.

Glancing at the page, Livie felt the first glimmer of excitement, instantly recognizing the scrawl as the very same that was used on the note purporting to be from Sebastian. She began to scan its contents and her excitement changed to dread, her heart starting to thud painfully upon reading the words. Slowly, she glanced back over to Lady Chilton. “Alice was with child?”

The truth was mirrored in Lady Chilton’s deeply troubled expression as she nodded heavily and glanced beyond Livie, out the window to the canopy of trees beyond. “She was. It was a fact I thought no one but myself and Alice knew of.” Without warning, Lady Chilton stood and strode over to the window.

The woman was holding herself rigidly in front of the glass pane, her hands fisted by her side, anger radiating from her. “I told Alice not to tell anyone nor write about it in her journal,” Lady Chilton continued. “But you, more than anyone, knew what my sister was like, foolhardy and reckless at the best of times. Clearly, she did not listen to me and wrote of the matter in her journal, which her maid stole along with the jewels before she fled. And now it would appear that this Mary Applewaite has decided to use the knowledge of Alice’s shame to try to extort money out of me to buy back the journal from her. Such an affront to decency I have never seen before. It is an outrage!”

“Have you been to see the police about this?” Livie asked.

“Good gracious no!” Lady Chilton turned back to face her. “They would happily sell such information to the papers and then the whole of Society would know the true shame that befell my sister and why she jumped from the ledge that rainy night. Though I know you believe she was pushed.” She took a steadying breath. “I cannot let knowledge of this come to light. Alice’s memory must not be tainted any more than it already is. I have tasked some Bow Street Runners with trying to find the girl, putting out the word that she stole the jewels and offering a reward for her capture, though of course I made no mention of the journal. Unfortunately, they have come up empty-handed thus far, which is why I agreed to speak with you again.”

Lady Chilton walked over and sat down next to Livie. She picked up Livie’s hand. “That is where I’m hoping you may be able to assist. You are still seeking vengeance against the man who ruined my sister, and you say you have an acquaintance with the resources to find out his identity, do you not?”

“I do.”

“Good. Then perhaps you might request your acquaintance to use some of those resources to finding Mary. Needless to say, I do not intend for you to try to apprehend her. In fact, I would have you promise me that if you did find her location you would get word to me immediately so I may notify the Runners of her whereabouts and they can arrest her. What do you say? Will you assist me to try to keep intact what little remains of Alice’s reputation?”

There was such distress in the woman’s plea that Livie could see how desperate she was to find the maid and stop information of Alice’s pregnancy from becoming known at large. Livie would do all she could to stop such a thing from occurring, too. “Of course I shall.”

Now, more than ever, it made better sense why Alice was pushed from the ledge that night. She’d written in her letter to Livie that the man responsible for ruining her and then refusing to marry her had agreed to give her funds so she could start that new life in America. But what if he’d agreed to meet her only to get rid of her?

The three men Lady Chilton had placed asterisks next to were all ambitious men, vying for more power in Parliament. A scandal involving seducing and then getting a countess’s sister pregnant and then refusing to marry her would ruin any man and his political aspirations.

It seemed she’d found the true motive for Alice’s murder.

Oh, Alice, why didn’t you come and tell me? Livie thought, not for the first time.

“I will do my best to find where Mary is hiding,” Livie continued. “But tell me this, what do you intend to do with the demand that the blackmail be paid on Thursday night?” She’d noticed that in the note, and the fact that Lady Chilton was to leave a bag with the money in front of the angel headstone in the Bethnal Green Cemetery.

Lady Chilton shook her head, complete bewilderment in her gaze. “I haven’t a clue, actually. The very idea of attending a cemetery alone at midnight tomorrow quite chills me to the bone. But if I don’t, then my family faces further scandal.”

Livie could well understand, as she felt the same apprehension. But the cemetery was in the heart of Sebastian’s territory. She wondered if he knew anything of the blackmail attempt. It was rumored there wasn’t a thing that went on in the Rookeries that he didn’t know of. She would have to ask him.

“Have you told Lord Chilton about the note?”

“Good gracious, no.” The woman raised a hand up to her heart. “My husband is already greatly perturbed over the scandal my sister brought to the family with her ruination. I