The Repentant Rake (18 page)

    'Not
to his younger sister,' Christopher reminded her.

    She
calmed instantly. 'No, that's true. Susan stood by him.'

    'She
took grave risks for his sake.'

    'I
know, Mr Redmayne, and I'm deeply grateful to her. I only hope that I will one
day have the opportunity of thanking her in person.' She lifted her head and
thrust out her chin. 'I should be consulted about the burial of my husband.'

    'You
have a legal and a moral right,' agreed Christopher. 'But, apart from Susan
Cheever, the family are not even aware of your existence.'

    'I know.'

    'Your
marriage was kept secret from them.'

    'And
from my own family,' she confessed, biting her lip. 'That is why I retained my
maiden name. We have only been in Knightrider Street a short while. The few
neighbours we have met think of us as Mr and Mrs Henley.'

    'That
explains why nobody in the street had heard of you,' observed Jonathan.

    'Why
the need for such deception?' asked Christopher.

    She
lowered her gaze. 'That's a private matter.'

    'Your
husband's family will have to be told the truth.'

    'I
accept that.'

    'You
are bound to meet them at the funeral.'

    'Yes,'
she sighed, looking up. 'But nothing would keep me away.'

    The
effort of holding in her grief was telling on Lucy Cheever. Her body was tense,
her cheeks hollow, her eyes whirlpools of anguish. Wanting to ask her so many
questions, Christopher felt that it was not the moment to do so.

    'Perhaps
we should leave now, Mrs Cheever,' he volunteered.

    'Not
yet,' she said.

    'We
have no wish to intrude.'

    'I am
still bearing up,' she said brushing a first tear from her cheek. 'And while I
still can, I would like to help if it is at all possible.'

    'It
is,' he said. 'You knew your husband better than anyone.'

    'I
did Mr Redmayne. I knew about his vices as well as his virtues. But I loved him
nonetheless. Gabriel was everything to me. No woman could have had a kinder or
more tender husband.'

    'Did
he ever talk about his past?'

    'Nothing
was hidden from me, Mr Redmayne. He was very honest.'

    'Did
he mention the names of any enemies?'

    'Not
that I can recall.'

    'So
you know of nobody who might have wanted to kill him?'

    'Gabriel
talked of wild threats made against him by people who lost heavily at cards but
they were words spoken in the heat of the moment. He took no notice of them.'

    'And
he forsook that life completely?'

    'Yes,'
she said firmly. 'That was a condition of our marriage.'

    Lucy
Cheever had none of the sophisticated charms of Celia Hemmings, still less anything
of her social poise and worldliness. Yet she had qualities that the other could
never possess. Lucy had an integrity that shone out of her and a loveliness
that was all the more fetching because she was so unaware of it. She could no
more be Gabriel Cheever's mistress than Celia Hemmings could be his wife. The
two women represented different sides of his character. Christopher understood
the choice he had finally made.

    'You
told us that you had been away,' he said.

    'I
was visiting my mother, Mr Redmayne.'

    'Was
your husband left here alone?'

    'Yes,'
she confirmed. 'Anna came with me. Gabriel encouraged that. He wanted to work
on a play he was writing and felt that he could do it best when he had no
distractions.'

    'I understand
that he wrote poetry as well?'

    A
smile touched her lips. 'Oh, yes. He wrote wonderful poems.'

    'So,'
continued Christopher, 'while you were away, your husband would have spent most
of his time here?'

    'All
of it, probably. Unless he went out to dine.'

    'No
friends were likely to call?'

    Her
voice sharpened. 'He left that world behind him, Mr Redmayne.'

    'Of
course. I'm sorry.'

    'When
you returned here,' said Jonathan, sitting forward, 'did you see any signs of a
struggle having taken place in the house?'

    'None,
Mr Bale,' she said.

    'Everything
was in its place?'

    'Yes.'

    'No
hint of forced entry?'

    'None
at all.' She paused. 'Although…'

    'Yes?'
he prompted.

    'It
was odd' she recalled. 'Very odd. When we got back today, I felt that something
had been stolen from the house. Anna sensed it as well. But we must have been
mistaken,' she said with a shrug. 'We could not find that anything was
missing.'

    Jonathan
looked at Christopher before turning back to her again.

    'How
hard did you search?' he asked.

    The
wrangling went on throughout much of the day. Sir Julius Cheever felt that he
was being torn apart. Stuck with a son-in-law he despised in a house that he
loathed he was forced to acknowledge a son who had betrayed everything for
which he stood. Part of him wanted to turn away from the whole depressing
business but another part of him urged a degree of reconciliation. When all was
said and done, Gabriel was his own flesh and blood. As he struggled to make up
his mind, he was not aided by the comments of his elder daughter.

    'There
is no need for you to go, Father,' Brilliana told him.

    'Somebody
must,' he said.

    'Let
me send Lancelot. He can identify the body.'

    'Me?'
said her husband uneasily. 'Well, yes, my dear. If you wish.'

    'I do
wish.'

    'Sir
Julius?'

    'No,'
said the old man contemptuously. 'The last person who should do this is you,
Lancelot. You hardly knew Gabriel. It's a ludicrous suggestion.'

    Brilliana
bridled. 'I was only trying to spare you, Father.'

    'Perhaps
I should go
with
you, Sir Julius,' offered Serle.

    'Out
of the question,' said Sir Julius hastily. 'Whatever else happens, you will not
be involved. This is a family matter.' •

    'Lancelot
is part of the family now,' argued Brilliana.

    'He's
not a Cheever,' said Susan reasonably. 'It's unfair to force this upon him.'

    'I'm
not forcing anything on anybody.'

    'You
are, Brilliana.'

    'Well,
someone has to make a decision,' retorted her sister, taking a more aggressive
stance. 'Nobody else seems capable of doing so.'

    'I
think that we should leave it to Sir Julius, my dear,' said her husband.

    'We'll
be here until Doomsday if we do that.'

    'Brilliana!'
Susan rebuked her.

    'And
I won't hear any criticism from you, Susan,' warned Brilliana. 'All that you've
done is sit there and mope.'

    'For
heaven's sake - our brother is dead!'

    'I'm
well aware of that.'

    'Then
try to show some pity,' urged Susan.

    'I need
no lessons in behaviour from you,' snapped her sister.

    Serle
touched her arm. 'There's no reason to get upset about it, Brilliana.'

    'Leave
me alone.'

    'We
must discuss this calmly, my dear.'

    She
rounded on him. 'Oh, be quiet, Lancelot!'

    'Yes,'
said Sir Julius vehemently. 'That's the one thing Brilliana has said that I
fully endorse. You've no useful comment to make in this debate, Lancelot, so I
beg of you to make none at all.'

    Serle
was wounded. 'If you say so, Sir Julius.'

    'I
do. This bickering is driving me mad. I need peace and quiet.'

    They
were still seated round the table in the dining room. The meal had long since
been over but they stayed in the room, locked in argument and unwilling to
move. Susan Cheever tried to say as little as possible but some of her sister's
comments could not go unchallenged. Anxious to help, Serle only managed to add
further confusion. Sir Julius shuttled between a brooding silence and bursts of
anger. The situation had exposed the deep divisions within the family and that
made him squirm. He was uncomfortably reminded of his wife's more tolerant
attitude towards their son. She had died after Gabriel left home for good but
she usually took his side in his disputes with his father. Sir Julius knew what
she would advise in the circumstances, and her counsel weighed heavily with
him.

    Susan
took the initiative. 'Father should go,' she said, 'and I'll go with him.'

    Brilliana
was scornful. 'You, Susan?'

    'Gabriel
was my brother.'

    'He was
my brother as well, but that does not mean to say I wish to see him laid out on
a slab.' She gave a shiver. 'The very notion is revolting.'

    'Nobody
will subject you to that, my dear,' promised Serle.

    'I
should hope not.'

    'Father
will need company on the journey,' said Susan.

    'Lancelot
can provide it.'

    'He
might prefer me alongside him.'

    'I'd
prefer anyone but Lancelot,' said Sir Julius with asperity. 'But not you,
Susan. You stay here. This is not woman's work. I appreciate your offer but
this is something that falls to me and I'll not shirk it. Besides,' he added
hauling himself to his feet, 'it's not merely a question of identifying
Gabriel. I want to know who killed him and why. Since I have to go into the
city, I'll call on Redmayne.'

    'What
business is this of his?' asked Brilliana.

    'He
put himself out to bring us the news.'

    'That
may be so, Father, but we do not want him poking his nose into our affairs.'

    'Mr
Redmayne has gone to great lengths to help us,' said Susan with a fervour that
took her sister by surprise. 'You heard what he said. He is taking part in the
search for Gabriel's killer. In other words, he is putting himself in danger on
our behalf. If you cannot be grateful to him, at least do not be so critical.'

    Brilliana
was effectively silenced for once. Her father savoured the moment.

    'I've
changed my mind, Susan,' he said at length. 'Perhaps you should come with me,
after all.'

    Henry
Redmayne was so stunned by the news that he flopped back down into a chair.
'Gabriel Cheever had a
wife?
' he said incredulously.

    'An
extremely attractive one, Henry.'

    'This
must be some kind of jest.'

    'It
is not,' said Christopher. 'I can assure you.'

    'Gabriel
married? Never,' insisted Henry. 'I'd sooner believe that the King had taken a
vow of chastity or that our own father shares his bed with two naked women and
a long-tailed monkey. It's completely against his nature.'

    'Perhaps
that is why he kept it so secret.'

    'But
what could have led to such folly?'

    'It
was no folly. He somehow met the young lady who is now his widow. Lucy Cheever
is the kind of person who would inspire any man to change for the better.'

    'Why
bother with a wife when he could have had almost any woman he wanted?'

    Christopher
smiled. 'One day you may learn the answer to that question yourself.'