LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter Three

      Lorene played the pianoforte for at least two hours before returning to her bedchamber. She slept fitfully and awoke before dawn. By then it was no use trying to go back to sleep. She sat on the window seat and waited until it was a decent time to ring for her maid, who was even more grim than usual. Lorene could not tell if it was because the woman was grieving or because she’d been roused earlier than usual.

      After Lorene finished dressing and was making her way down the stairs, she heard voices in the hall. Several voices.

      If this was the magistrate, surely it was too early an hour for him to call! She rushed to the landing and leaned over the bannister for a view of the hall.

      Her sisters had come! Tess and Genna were here with their husbands.

      She quickened her step.

      Her sister Genna saw her first and ran up the stairs to give her a hug. Tess soon caught up.

      ‘Oh, Lorene!’ Genna cried.

      Tess put her arms around both of them. ‘How do you fare, Lorene? Are you all right?’

      ‘Yes. Yes,’ Lorene replied, her tears flowing again at the sight of them. ‘But you shouldn’t have come, Tess. Shouldn’t you be resting?’

      ‘I’m not ill,’ Tess countered. ‘I am merely going to have a baby.’

      Tess’s Christmas present to all of them was this happy announcement, but now it seemed long ago that Tess told them this news, even though it had only been the previous day.

      The sisters descended the rest of the staircase, arm in arm.

      ‘Lorene,’ Genna’s husband, the Marquess of Rossdale, strode over to her and kissed her on the cheek. ‘We are at your beck and call. Whatever you need, you must tell us.’

      Just for them to be here was more than enough.

      Tess’s husband, Marc Glenville, also approached her. ‘Our condolences, Lorene.’

      Condolences was not the right word, though.

      ‘Where is Dell?’ Rossdale asked. He and Dell had been close friends since they were boys.

      Lorene shook her head. ‘I do not know.’ She turned to Dixon. ‘Where is the Earl, Dixon?’

      ‘In the east wing.’ The butler’s words were clipped.

      The lesser guest rooms.

      ‘Send for him, man,’ Rossdale ordered. ‘Tell him we are here.’

      ‘Where shall you await the Earl?’ Dixon asked haughtily.

      Lorene answered him. ‘In the morning room.’ She turned to her sisters. ‘Did you eat?’

      ‘Eat?’ cried Genna. ‘As if we could eat after hearing what happened.’

      Lorene turned back to Dixon. ‘Alert Cook, then, Dixon. We have guests for breakfast.’

      Dixon bowed.

      ‘Tell us what happened,’ Tess said as they walked to the morning room.

      ‘I did not see,’ Lorene answered. ‘Tinmore fell down the stone steps there where you came in.’

      ‘On those steps?’ Genna broke in. ‘What was he doing outside?’

      ‘He was angry.’ Lorene’s head was pounding with the memory. ‘Dell tried to speak to him, but there was no reasoning with him.’

      ‘I’ll bet he was angry that you came to see us yesterday,’ Genna said. ‘I can just see him in high dudgeon over that. His wife defied him. Imagine that.’

      ‘He was angry over that,’ Lorene snapped. ‘My defiance possibly killed him, if you must know.’

      Genna touched her arm. ‘Forgive me, Lorene. My tongue ran away with me again.’

      They entered the morning room, brightly lit with the morning sun. The many windows of the room revealed clear blue skies dotted with puffy white clouds. The bright sun glistened on the snow-covered ground.

      Lorene spoke to the footman attending the room. ‘We have more guests for breakfast, Travers. Would you please bring us tea and coffee?’

      The footman bowed and left the room. Rossdale and Glenville pulled up additional chairs and helped the ladies to sit.

      When they were settled, Rossdale asked, ‘Dell’s coachman told us the magistrate would be sent for. For what reason?’

      ‘Dixon—the butler who was in the hall—believes Dell pushed Tinmore, but Dell didn’t.’ Dell was too honourable to do such a thing, Lorene was certain.

      Rossdale frowned and exchanged a look with Glenville. ‘It is good we came.’

      What could they do, though, if the magistrate believed Dixon and not Dell?

      ‘What’s more, we are not leaving you alone here,’ Genna added.

      During Lorene’s marriage, Genna had been with her the longest and knew best what it was like to live at Tinmore Hall, where they were always treated as intruders.

      Lorene’s gaze travelled from one to the other and her eyes stung with tears. She’d not realised how alone she felt here. ‘I—I know I must do something, but I do not know what to do.’

      Tess leaned over and touched her hand. ‘We will help you figure it out.’

      Rossdale spoke. ‘Tinmore’s solicitors must be informed and the will read. And, of course, someone must notify Tinmore’s heir. Do you know who that is?’

      Lorene shook her head. ‘Some grand-nephew, I believe. Mr Filkins probably knows.’

      ‘Mr Filkins?’ Glenville asked.

      ‘Lord Tinmore’s secretary,’ Genna answered. ‘He sometimes comes for breakfast.’

      The footman returned with coffee and tea and enough cups to serve them all. Lorene hoped they knew to guard their tongues around the servants.

      ‘Where is Dell?’ Rossdale asked. ‘How long should it take to inform him we are here?’

      ‘You would be surprised,’ Genna responded sarcastically.

      Lorene turned to the footman again. ‘Travers,

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