“And you believe him?”
“Yes.”
Sir William sounded so certain that I asked, “What does he look like?”
“Like any other midlevel civil servant.”
“Does he have green eyes? Does he walk quickly? Does he have weathered skin?”
“He has pale skin and walks with a limp. He has a withered leg, so he’s never been an outdoorsman. Uses a cane to get around.” Sir William thought for a moment. “His eyes are pale. I don’t remember the color.”
A chill ran down my arms. “Definitely not the same man.”
“Then who is he?” Sir William asked.
That was the question. He knew my real name, and he was out there somewhere following our investigation. Had he sent the threatening letters? I wished I’d sought a physical description of Denby earlier and not worried so much about his job and his associates.
The sound of a door opening and footsteps made me turn back to the painting. Sir William said, “I’d better get Nobles or he’ll drag everyone around to look at every plant. He’s fascinated by gardens.”
“He was beyond me as soon as he said something other than ‘rose’ or ‘daisy.’” Sir Henry came forward and nodded to us. Sir William returned the nod and retraced Sir Henry’s steps.
I said, “I’d like to speak to you, Sir Henry.”
“About Clara’s death? Or other matters?”
“Yes.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s go into the library. We won’t be interrupted there.”
We walked down the hall, Sir Henry certain of our destination. After we entered, he closed the door and stood there, waiting for me to speak.
Sir Henry expected me to be meek as befitting a traditionally raised widow. That was far from my background, but I’d found it was better to conform to the other person’s image of me if I wanted the answers to the questions I asked. I recited Be meek in my mind a few times before I looked at the Oriental carpet and said, “What do you want me to do?”
“Search Lady Peters’s room.”
My gaze flew to his face. “Why?”
“She has something of mine that I want.”
“What is this thing?”
“A letter from me to a member of the Admiralty upper echelon, requesting a chance to bid on the new warship. In the same letter, I mentioned that his nephew had expressed an interest in a management position in the shipyard and I would be making my choice soon. I considered them to be two separate issues, but Lady Peters said the letter is open to interpretation.”
I agreed with Lady Peters. Although Sir Henry would deny it, my interpretation would be bribery. “How did she get the letter?”
“She was being squired about town by Lord Hastings at the time I wrote the letter. She must have stolen it from him,” Sir Henry grumbled.
Lord Hastings was in the highest levels of the Admiralty. Having heard its contents, I wanted to get the letter. Once I had it, I didn’t plan to hand the letter over to Sir Henry. “What does this letter look like?”
“Two pages, good paper, embossed with my company’s name. Go upstairs and do it now while the ladies are out taking the waters.”
“Why do you think the letter is in her room? Why wouldn’t she have left it in London?”
“She brought it along this week to exchange for Gattenger’s blueprints.”
I struggled to keep my voice calm. “You have the blueprints Clara was killed over? I thought you loved her.”
“Oh, I did. Unlike Gattenger, I valued Clara. I adored her. I would never allow her to be harmed.”
“But she was killed by the person who stole the blueprints. Did you hire the thief?”
He grabbed my arms, but not hard like he had before. “I didn’t hire him. I believed Gattenger burned the drawings until you told me he was certain the ship was what he’d promised. That’s when I went looking for the thief.”
“You found him?” That was news. Blackford and I had had no luck speaking to him.
“Yes. It wasn’t easy, but I caught up to him here, in Cheltenham Spa. I offered him a great deal of money, I begged, but none of it did any good. He said he’d made a deal and if he wanted to live, he’d carry it out. And he said he had the blueprints hidden well.”
I tried to put awe in my voice. “That was very brave of you, meeting Clara’s killer.”
“I had no choice. Lady Peters won’t return my letter without the blueprints. Since I can’t buy them or steal them, I need you to retrieve my letter.”
“Did he say who this dangerous man is who hired him?”
He made a face and dropped his hold on my arms. “No. It doesn’t matter. What matters is for you to go upstairs now while the ladies are still gone and get my letter.”
“Why did you think Ken Gattenger would burn his warship design and kill Clara? You knew them. Ken told me his ship will sail and perform as expected. He’s never been wrong before. Why didn’t you trust him this time?”
“I overheard one of the clerks in the records room talking to another man. Those clerks know all about the mathematics of ship design. He found the design so flawed he was surprised the ship would float. That’s when I asked Gattenger.”
“The day the ship blueprints were stolen and Clara was killed?”
He nodded.
The clerk could be the one on the German payroll that Jacob was trying to identify. In that case, the conversation could have been set up to start questions specifically to get Gattenger to take a set of the blueprints home with him.
“Ken said you threatened him with ruin over a flaw in the design.” Threatening someone with ruin seemed to be Sir Henry’s usual method of operation.
“Gattenger is a genius, but since he married Clara, it’s been hard to get him to focus. He looked panicked when I asked him. Why would he panic if there wasn’t a problem? I decided I needed to force him to give me a straight answer as quickly as possible. The bids are due, and I couldn’t risk spending money on something that wouldn’t work.”
One thing stood out in my mind. “Your shipyard is in trouble financially?”
“My shipyard has nothing to do with this. We all need to know how seaworthy this warship is for the good of Britain.”
I pressed on the point I wanted him to admit. “Your shipyard is in jeopardy.”
“Not in jeopardy,” he hissed out between his teeth.
“On the edge of bankruptcy?”
“No. Not on the edge. Not really. The improvements I’ve made to the efficiency of the yard just haven’t paid off yet. It’s been touch-and-go. If I build his ship, I’ll do it faster and better than anyone, but it has to work. If it sinks, my boatyard sinks with it.”
His financial troubles gave him a strong motive to make Gattenger recalculate his equations rather than steal the plans.
Before I could ask another question, he had my arm and was walking me toward the door. “Get up there and get the letter.”
“All right. You wait down here. Her maid may be up there and we don’t want her to get suspicious. Why does Lady Peters want warship blueprints?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
I stopped him before he opened the door. “One more thing. How often did Lady Bennett call on Clara? Were they friends?”
“No. Never. Clara didn’t like her. Lark Bennett stole Ken Gattenger away from her once.”
I’d heard about Lady Bennett’s romance with Gattenger. But Sir Henry was right. Clara was unlikely to have gone calling with the woman who’d ended her engagement at one time. “They went out together in Lady Bennett’s carriage for an hour or two the day Clara died.”
He paused, his hand on the door handle. “You’re certain of this?”
“Yes.” What did he know?
“I saw Lady Bennett’s carriage at Lady Peters’s that day. I had thought to call on that lady, to ask for my letter back, but when I saw Lady Bennett’s carriage waiting, I decided not to go in.”