Agent Bennett was there, too, and she turned to Gabrielle who still wore her maid’s uniform. “Show me.”
“Everyone else just stay here!” Agent Hoyt ordered when the earl’s heir and daughter started to follow.
Perhaps Agent Bennett was gone for a minute. Perhaps she was gone for an hour. Time meant very little in the dark, cold hall, with the earl possibly growing even colder just a few rooms away.
When she finally reappeared, no one really needed her to speak, but she did anyway.
“I’m afraid the earl has passed away. Even if we could summon an ambulance…” She looked at Lady Georgette. “I’m very sorry, my lady.” Then she looked at Fletcher. “My lord.”
It was the first time anyone had addressed the new Earl of Greymore by his title, and Kat saw him fight the smile that grew at the corner of his lips. A man was dead, after all. And it was the greatest moment of his life.
“Father!” Lady Georgette cried. Her cousin reached for her, but she pushed past him and threw herself against Hale’s broad chest.
“Well, what do we do now?” Fletcher asked.
“About what, Fitzsimmons?” Agent Hoyt asked.
“It’s Greymore now. I’m the earl,” he said.
But Irina made a sound like Uncle Eddie when someone enters his kitchen uninvited. “You weren’t fit to wipe his boots. He was a good man.”
“And now he’s a dead man,” the new earl said. “And his estate will need to be handled immediately. And that egg will have to be found and the insurance—”
“The egg was not a part of the entailed estate!” Irina snapped.
“But his liquid assets were,” the new earl countered. “And that insurance money will be as liquid as—”
“Stop it!” Amelia snapped. And the crowd seemed to remember, not that the earl was dead, but that other people were watching.
“It’s that blasted egg that did it.” Irina sounded like she wanted to choke on the words. “Whoever stole that egg…they killed him. They killed the earl.”
But the heir was practically rolling his eyes. “That’s absurd. My uncle was not a well man. Anyone could see it.”
“They killed him!” Irina shouted, and Kat knew it wasn’t just a con that had brought her there. She honestly cared about the man, and Kat hurt for her. After all, Irina rarely cared for anyone.
“It would be hard to charge the thief with murder, it’s true. But…” Agent Bennett let the thought trail off, as if seriously considering the possibilities.
“Well?” Irina snapped.
“Given the circumstances… If someone dies during the commission of a felony, it is not unheard of to see the culprit charged.”
The new earl seemed almost faint. “Surely you can’t mean that.”
“They stole from a charity that has helped the under-privileged children of this country since the Second World War, destroying its reputation. They broke the heart of an old man—a peer of the realm. When we find whoever is behind this it will not be pretty.”
“But what will this do to the money?” the new earl had to know.
“My father is dead!” Lady Georgette pulled herself away from Hale long enough to slap her cousin across the face.
“Lady Georgette, please!” Agent Bennett said. “I know you must be upset, but we’re all stuck here together, at least until morning.”
“There’s the Range Rover,” Fletcher said. “We could get out in that. I say we load up and head to London. We have to get to the bottom of this. There is a lot of money, and—”
“Shut up, Fletcher!” Lady Georgette snapped.
“It’s Greymore now,” he told her and she actually recoiled. Her cousin was colder than all the ice in Scotland.
“I’m finished,” Lady Georgette said and turned. “I’m finished with…all of you.”
And then she was gone, into the darkness and the shadows of the upper floor without even a candle to guide her through the home that had sheltered the members of her family for hundreds of years.
“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Agent Bennett told Irina who had started to cry. Silent tears. Real tears. Even Gabrielle seemed to feel it.
“Mr. Hale,” Amelia turned to him. “I’m afraid this is not going to help your charity’s reputation.”
Hale nodded, cold and stark. Kat knew that he was feeling everything and choosing to show nothing.
“At least the storm will slow down the story, take the majority of the headlines,” Agent Bennett said. “Perhaps we can minimize the damage.”
Hale turned back to the frosty window. “The damage is already done.”
“Perhaps everyone should try to get some sleep now,” Kat said. She reached for Hale’s arm, knowing they would need it.
*
Kat was aware, faintly, of the opening and closing of doors, of candlelight flickering and growing dimmer as it disappeared down dark halls.
But mostly, Kat noticed the warmth of Hale’s hand in hers, the slight pressure on her waist as he guided her toward the double doors and the coldness of the patio outside.
She shouldn’t have been surprised to see Gabrielle already standing there, one heavy coat around her shoulders and another in her arms.
“You’ll be wanting this,” Gabrielle said and handed it to her. Kat took it, but, mostly, Hale was what kept her warm as he led her through the ankle-deep snow and the darkness.