The Devious Duchess Read Online Free PDF

finished, there was a knock at the front door. Deirdre went with Belami to answer it and was appalled to see that not only the coroner had come, but also a constable from Banting.
    “Your groom explained that it might possibly be a case of homicide, Lord Belami, so naturally I called in the law,” Dr. Lethbridge explained. “I’ve also arranged for a postmortem. Tell me, Lord Belami, what made you suspect murder?”
    “Dick, what have you done!” Deirdre gasped. “Auntie will be furious! It’s not murder, gentlemen. My uncle passed away in his sleep.”
    “No, indeed, murder isn’t suspected!” Belami seconded her. “My groom was overly zealous to suggest such a thing.”
    The constable was a tall, burly man with very little hair, heavy jowls, and small blue eyes. He removed his greatcoat to reveal a blue jacket and a waistcoat of a lively red-and-white-flowered pattern. “I might as well just have a look around while I’m here. The remains are still in the bed, are they?”
    Belami cleared his throat and said, “Actually, Lord Dudley died at the table. He’s in the dining room.”
    “At the table, you say? An odd place to sleep,” the constable suggested. His eyes began a tour of the hallway. He stepped forward, shaking the floor with his weight, and espied the serviette Belami had placed on the hall table. “What’s this, then?” he asked, lifting it.
    “Careful! It’s samples of the meal,” Belami said, fearing that the saltcellars he had used to collect specimens would fall and break.
    The constable turned a knowing eye on him. “I see. And murder isn’t suspected at all? Odd you’ve been collecting up samples, milord.” He found this a famous joke. After he stopped laughing, he turned back to Belami. “I had a hunch when I heard Lord Belami was involved that it was no everyday affair. I look forward to working with you, lad. Let’s have a look about before the evidence is tampered with.”
    Belami looked at Deirdre, who stood frozen like a statue. Then he looked at the fast-retreating back of the constable and hurried after him. Deirdre remained behind with the doctor.
    “We might as well become acquainted first as last, milord,” the constable said, standing aside to let Belami precede him into the dining room. “Straus is the name. Gerhard Straus. I’ve a touch of Hun blood in me, as you might guess by the name. Now, let’s see how the old malkin did her brother in. I assume you agree with me that the duchess is our culprit.”
    “Oh, Lord,” Belami said in a dying voice as the awful consequences of those few fateful words with Réal washed over him. He had unwittingly involved the duchess in a murder investigation of which she was the chief suspect. He would require all of his wits to extricate himself from this fiasco.
    Meanwhile Straus hastened to the corpse and looked around. “Looks like arsenic poisoning to me, wouldn’t you agree, Lord Belami? Now the thing to ascertain is whether it came from his tea or this awful mess of potage on his dish. Ah, I see the teacup hasn’t been filled.” He lifted the lid of the pot. “And the pot full to the brim. The stew, then. That’s how she did it.”
    “He’s also had bread and butter,” Belami said, though he knew as well as the man who lifted an unbelieving eye to him that arsenic would be best concealed in the stew and not sprinkled on bread or butter.
    “A horse’s meal. No liquid,” Mr. Straus said next after a careful perusal of the table. “Seems to me Lord Dudley has a reputation as a fair topper. Do you detect a smell of brandy beneath the stench of vomit?”
    “I thought so at first, but there’s no glass,” Belami said. “On the table, I mean. He may have dropped it when he became sick. There’s a decanter on the sideboard, you see."
    In spite of the awful tangle with the duchess that loomed before him, Belami found himself taking some interest in the proceedings. He joined Straus on the floor, peering under