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Cassia nodded. “Precisely. Lady Castlemaine has been desperate of late to amass as much wealth and property as she can. Though the national coffers grow sparse, her jewel boxes, it seems, continue to grow heavier, far exceeding our own queen’s.

King Charles just gives in to her requests for property, but each time, her petitions are stopped at the seal.

She has tried to disguise her requests, seeking to keep Lord Clarendon from realizing they are hers.

Lord Clarendon is a busy man, far too busy to waste his time examining every petition to assure it is not one of Lady Castlemaine’s in disguise.

So, Lord Clarendon charged my father with the specific duty of singling out her petitions, regardless of which name they held, and bringing them to his attention, or should I say, keeping them buried from the same. ”

Rolfe nodded. “Only Lord Clarendon could hold such an unenviable position to such success. Anyone else would be banished from court for such an effrontery to Lady Castlemaine. But Lord Clarendon is the one person who has even more influence with the king than she does. He was King Charles’s tutor when he was a boy.

It was Clarendon who helped him to escape to France when the Roundheads were calling for his head.

Clarendon followed Charles into exile onto the Continent, managed his affairs and his policies, he even counseled him on his restoration to the throne.

Charles would never think of punishing Clarendon for refusing the seal.

It would be like punishing his own father.

Faith, I believe the king thinks of Lord Clarendon as a father figure now, especially since his natural one was taken from him when Charles was at such a young and impressionable age. ”

Cassia agreed. “The king does seek out Lord Clarendon’s advice and often.

He listens to whatever he tells him. That is the primary reason why Lord Clarendon is so disliked at court.

It is also why Lady Castlemaine detests him as she does.

He is the only one who the king listens to more than he does her. ”

“And she would not risk an attempt on the life of so public an official as Lord Clarendon, but with your father, a lesser known thorn in her side, the very one whose duty it was to single out her petitions in particular, gone and out of the way, the chances of her petitions passing the seal improve.”

“Precisely.”

Rolfe sat back. “The intricacies of it all are exhausting, but I must admit they are also fascinating, once one finally manages to figure them out. It certainly would seem to put Lady Castlemaine near the top of the list of suspects, though I doubt she would be so foolish as to leave any hint of evidence that could be traced back to her.”

Cassia nodded. “And it very well could not have been her. One must remember never to lay false blame.”

“You are right. It could have been any number of people. It could even have been your cousin, Geoffrey. In fact, excepting you, and now Lady Castlemaine, he would be the obvious frontrunner.”

Cassia frowned. “I must admit that since his visit here earlier today, the thought has crossed my mind, especially after his reaction to my father’s petition, though he did not know of the existence of the petition before our meeting with Mr. Finchley.”

“Which is even more reason to suspect him. If not for your father’s petition, Geoffrey thought he would be inheriting everything except whatever allowance you were to be allotted.

Only now it is the reverse of that. At the risk of sounding presumptuous, Lady Cassia, I have done some checking since your meeting with Mr. Finchley and I have learned that your cousin, Geoffrey, has landed himself into quite a financial quandary.

To a sum of nearly thirty thousand pounds.

Unless you can think of anyone else who might have similar motive for killing your father, I would think Geoffrey the most likely suspect. ”

Cassia sat in silence for a moment, thinking, clearly at odds.

“I have considered an entirely different list of possibilities as well,” Rolfe said. “Something even you may not have thought of.” He paused for a moment. “Do you have any enemies, Lady Cassia?”

From the reaction on her face, this was something she’d obviously not considered. “Why would that be of any consequence? I was not killed. My father was.”

“Yes, but let us not forget that excepting us, in the eyes of everyone else in this city, you are the prime suspect. Should someone wish to damage your standing at court, or perhaps had someone been seeking revenge against you, this could be the way to do it. And we mustn’t forget the near-miss you had with that carriage in front of the Horse Guards at Whitehall.

I cannot be entirely certain that carriage was not intending to run you down. ”

Cassia looked down at her hands, suddenly looking very vulnerable. “So what am I to do? Run off to the country and hide for the rest of my life, leaving everyone to believe I really am a murderess?”

Rolfe shook his head. “You are not to do anything, Lady Cassia. We are going to solve this thing—together. You see, you have won me over to your side on one issue. I see now that a sojourn to the country would not be at all beneficial to your proving your innocence. It could be that someone wanted you out of the city for some reason, perhaps even to find this mysterious document your father wrote to you about. In the country, we could never find out who that someone is.”

“So what should I do?”

“You will need to remain here in London in order to ensnare the true culprit, and in order to do that, you will need to remain visible. But since our list of suspects seems to be growing and since I have been away from court for quite some time, I will need your assistance in reacquainting myself with some of Whitehall’s more prominent personalities so that I might begin paring down our list. And with that thought in mind .

..” He looked at her. “There is a costume ball being held at the palace the evening after next. It would appear that most, if not all, of our suspects will be in attendance there. I propose that we attend this ball and start ferreting out our man—or woman—whoever it may be.”