him. ‘Wait a moment. You already gave notice at the papers? Before you had even talked to me? You just knew for sure I’d agree to do this?’
Jake grinned at her. ‘I figured you’d enjoy some country air. After all, last time we went into the countryside, you shared all these idyllic plans with me to go paint by a brook and see excavation sites and… It didn’t quite turn out that way then, but hey, here is another chance, to do better.’
Alkmene made a slapping motion at him. ‘Cut it out, or I am not coming at all.’
Jake leaned over, his dark eyes sparkling. ‘Oh, you are coming, my lady. If it is murder, wild horses could not keep you away.’
Alkmene glanced down her all black outfit and sighed. ‘I do feel a little like I am preying on their grief, you know, and this outfit only makes it worse. It turns me into a crow or raven, such a horrendous scavenger.’
Jake laughed softly. ‘Ravens are very intelligent creatures. You should feel flattered by the likeness, not insulted.’
Alkmene released a breath. ‘I am just wondering if it is at all acceptable. Faking a sudden interest in family members you have ignored for decades, just because you have a morbid fascination for murder.’
‘Just because you want to save an innocent man from the gallows.’ Jake kept his gaze on the road ahead, his expression suddenly solemn and tight.
Large oaks hung over the road from both sides, their branches meeting in the middle so they rode through a natural arched gateway leading up to Lord Winters’ estate. The thick foliage blocked the sunshine, and it was dim underneath and damp, the atmosphere even invading their car.
Alkmene shivered a moment. ‘I will keep that in mind, to soothe my conscience.’
Jake glanced at her. ‘I would not have asked you to do this, if I had not been fairly certain Mac is innocent and the killer still at large.’
‘Right. At large in the very house where I will be staying. Fabulous.’
‘We can assume that the killer had a clear motive for wanting to dispose of Lord Winters. He will not suddenly come after you.’
‘Or she,’ Alkmene said. ‘Killers can be female, you know.’
‘Then they use poison,’ Jake said decidedly. ‘They do not bash somebody’s head in with a polo trophy.’
Alkmene exhaled. ‘Perhaps it was a crime committed in anger. Nothing premeditated.’
Jake shrugged. ‘What difference does it make? We need to know who did it, to clear my friend’s name.’
Alkmene nodded. ‘After all of it is over and his name is cleared, I do want to meet him and be treated to all the stories of the robberies he did manage to pull off.’
Jake grunted. ‘I doubt he will want to go public.’
‘I thought he had already gone public.’
‘The police have not released his name, just said that a burglar was apprehended on the scene. As long as we can keep his real name out of it…’
‘His real name?’
‘The police have him under an alias.’ Jake glanced at her. ‘You do not think he is using his real name, right? He has a fake passport and everything. If he manages to get out of this scrape in one piece, he can assume another identity and hit the Riviera again, or some other place.’
‘You condone theft?’
‘No, but I can understand the appeal of the particular thing he steals. Special gems, stones with a story attached.’
Jake caught her eye in the rear-view mirror. ‘Don’t you?’
Alkmene exhaled. ‘Yes, I guess so. There was some story about Lord Winters and some special stones Father told me once. It is years ago and… I have no idea why he suddenly mentioned it to me. He never was in touch much with those relatives.’
Jake glanced at her. ‘You said that Lady Winters was your mother’s half-sister?’
‘Yes.’ Alkmene realized there was no evading this for ever, so she decided to get it over with now. ‘My mother was the daughter of an earl. After the earl’s death her mother fell in love with an army captain. Her family had wanted a much better match for her, but she insisted she loved him. She wasn’t a sixteen-year-old any more that her parents could force into an alliance, so she did what she wanted and they married. They had three more children, one of whom was the woman who eventually married Lord Winters in India. My mother’s half-sister.’
‘In India?’ Jake asked. ‘Not here?’
Alkmene shook her head. ‘As far as I understand it, the captain was engaged in India for most of his career. No active duty on the battlefield, but being an aide, doing correspondence. The more diplomatic end of things, so to speak. His children were all raised there and married there as well. I think Father mentioned in passing that Lord Winters was quite a good catch.’
No doubt he had only emphasized it to goad her into bringing home a titled man as well. So far the closest she had come to being at ease with a man was with the Honourable Frederick Saltry, Freddie to his friends who were about as manifold as his debts.
Father would hardly think him suitable considering his reputation, and beyond that Alkmene didn’t want to look or think. Being married would mean losing freedom, and one thing she craved was freedom.
Just to take off like she had now and do whatever she wanted to do.
Including pulling Jake into this scrape with her. She did feel better that he would be on the premises, even if he would not exactly be on her level.
She grinned to herself. ‘I can already see you sitting around the kitchen table with the other servants, gossiping about me.’
‘Gossiping?’ Jake echoed.
‘Oh, yes, you have to complain about me, my eccentric ways… That will surely make the others feel sympathy for you. They will share their bit about their masters, providing you with exactly the kind of information you need.’
‘Your eccentric ways?’ Jake asked.
Alkmene shrugged. ‘You can make something up. Be resourceful.’
‘That will be the only part I’ll enjoy,’ Jake groused.
Alkmene stared ahead, folding her hands in her lap. ‘You know how staff know everything that goes on in a house. Who doesn’t like whom, what quarrels there were shortly before the master died. What ways he had, how he kept the stones. Who went to bed early that night or stayed up, scurrying about claiming to have a sleepless night. You know how servants are. They peek and listen and get into cabinets where they are not supposed to go. If caught out, they act like they are contrite about it, but in fact they are gloating and can’t wait to tell their fellows about it. I bet if you would just dump your pride and sit with them in the kitchen at night, you’d scoop up your worthwhile tidbits by the dozens…’
‘Enough,’ Jake said tightly. ‘You are laying it on too thick.’
Alkmene bit her lip, hoping she had not really overdone it. She knew someone fiercely proud and independent like Jake would rather eat his hat than pose as a servant, but it was true that very valuable information could only be gleaned that way. The servants would never confide in her: a titled woman who had never shown her face at the estate before. They would gossip about her, all right, but they would never tell her a thing.
Jake sighed. ‘I am only doing this because I have to, remember. For Mac’s sake.’
‘Of course. Good. I will call you Parker. I have always wanted a valet called Parker.’
Jake rolled his eyes. ‘Don’t push me.’