Page 95 of In Want of a Suspect

“You took advantage of her, sir!” Lizzie accused.

“Of course I did, Miss Bennet. We are at war.”

Lizzie bit her tongue. She supposed she couldn’t argue that, although she felt in her heart that it was still wrong. Unbidden, Lady Catherine came to mind. What was it that she had said once? A lady’s only choice is in her refusal. Well, Leticia hadn’t even had that, if refusing Graves meant, at best, being deported and, at worst, being implicated as a French spy.

“Does Josette know?” Darcy asked.

“No,” he said. “That was Leticia’s choice. When Hughes discovered that she didn’t have nearly as much money as he assumed and he broke things off with her, Leticia realized he could slither away, and she’d have no influence over him. She encouraged Josette to consider him, so she could keep an eye on him and discover where he was funneling goods. She gave us the Mullins brothers. She did very good work. She didn’t deserve what she got.”

He cleared his throat, and Lizzie caught a flash of emotion that Graves was trying to bury. Lizzie sighed. “And the day of the fire? What was she doing there?”

“That was just supposed to be a reconnaissance mission,” Graves said. “But... I regret letting her go. I had just told her we didn’t have enough evidence yet, and she needed to keep looking.She was growing desperate. She and Josette were drawing near to the end of their mourning period, and Hughes was pushing for the marriage. She didn’t want to compromise her position, but she didn’t want her cousin to marry a traitor to the Crown.”

And so she had gone looking for proof and gotten caught. Lizzie could imagine the scene that Jack had described, but now from Leticia’s perspective. Backed in the corner, running out of time, furiously flinging bottles of brandy as she looked for escape.

And now she was dead.

“You must tell Josette,” Darcy insisted. “She thinks that her cousin betrayed her. She deserves to know the truth.”

“I can’t do that,” Graves said, shaking his head. “Official Crown business—”

“She deserves to know that her cousin didn’t betray her,” Lizzie insisted. “It’s the least you owe Josette, considering your meddling cost Leticia her life.”

Graves narrowed his eyes. It appeared he did not appreciate Lizzie reducing his clandestine operations to meddling, but he at least considered it.

“Tell her the truth or I will,” Darcy threatened.

“If you do, I will have to arrest you.” Graves delivered this threat in a matter-of-fact tone.

“How dare—”

Lizzie rested her hand on Darcy’s shoulder and stood. “And if you arrest him, you’ll be seeing me in court. I’m told I can be quite vexing.”

“It would not be a fight you could win,” he told her.

“But even so, wouldn’t it be better if we settled this matter here? Amongst ourselves? It would save us all a bit of trouble, and after all the trouble we went through in the last week, it’s only fair.” Lizzie sweetened her words with a smile and watched with pleasure as Graves sighed. She had him.

“Fine. I’ll tell her just enough so she understands that her cousin was loyal to her. But if whispers of our conversation make their way back to me, you’ll both be hearing from me. And then court cases will be the least of your troubles, understand?”

“Perfectly,” Lizzie told him with a genuine smile.

“Very well,” Graves said, looking beyond them to the entrance of the church. “I’ll go speak with Miss Beaufort now, and then I’ll take my leave. I trust we shan’t see any more of each other.”

“Wait!” Lizzie said. “Lady Catherine.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Bennet—she’s hidden herself very well. I’m not concealing her location from you.”

That was what she had feared. “You didn’t tell us that you hadn’t caught her. But you didn’t believe that she would simply leave me alone, did you?”

Graves smiled enigmatically. “We’ve been watching, Miss Bennet. We have eyes everywhere.”

“But you think she’s a threat to Lizzie?” Darcy said, anger making his words come out clipped. “You think that there’s a chance she’ll come after her again?”

“More than a chance, I’m afraid,” Graves said. “In fact, I think you can count on it.”

Twenty-Two

In Which Darcy Details a Rather Embarrassing Proposal