The Sans Pareil Mystery (The Detective Lavender Mysteries Book 2) by Karen Charlton Read Free Book Online Page B

was a suitable companion for Magdalena, but he couldn’t deny they had plenty in common. Nor would he deny the mutual attraction that seemed to have sprung up between the two women. He shrugged and made his decision. Magdalena was an intelligent woman who would make up her own mind. ‘Both families disowned the couple and cut them off without a penny,’ he said. ‘They eloped to the continent, where I believe she made a living from her art. I suspect they supported themselves through Lady Caroline’s painting.’
    ‘She must have loved her husband a lot’ – Magdalena’s dark eyes shone with emotion – ‘if she was prepared to give up everything for him – and work to provide the food on their table.’
    ‘She’s a remarkable woman,’ Lavender said. ‘However, their happiness was short-lived. They were involved in a coaching accident in northern France and Victor was killed. She was badly injured and, as you can see, has never fully regained her health, or her mobility, since then.’
    ‘What happened next?’
    ‘Her father brought her back to Kirkleven and arranged a new marriage for her to an elderly neighbour. She once told me that she was too ill and distraught to protest. I don’t think Baron Clare was particularly wealthy or left her much income. She now supports her lifestyle in London through her portrait commissions. It is quite the fashionable thing to do, I understand, to have a portrait painted by the notorious Lady Caroline Clare.’
    ‘Did they have children?’
    ‘There are a couple of stepchildren, I believe, from the baron’s first marriage.’
    ‘They may have been some comfort to her.’ He could see in Magdalena’s eyes that she was thinking of Sebastián, her ten-year-old son, who was away at boarding school. The romanticism of Caroline Clare’s history clearly fascinated her.
    ‘I suppose the scandal of her elopement with Rothschild affected her chances of a making a more suitable second marriage.’ Magdalena’s tone was thoughtful, her words matter-of-fact.
    ‘Yes, it was a great scandal, at the time,’ he said.
    Finally, she asked the question he was most concerned about. ‘How do you know her so well, Stephen?’
    ‘She required my services in a professional capacity a few years ago,’ he said slowly.
    ‘Oh?’
    ‘She was being blackmailed by a young lover.’
    Magdalena spluttered, threw back her head and burst into peals of laughter. Her whole body heaved in the most charming way. Several people turned in their direction, their eyes resting on the beautiful, laughing woman beside him. ‘I never expected that,’ she said.
    ‘There are some who claim that Lady Caroline Clare is not a respectable woman.’
    ‘I don’t want to know,’ she said. ‘I shall be the judge of Lady Caroline’s character – upon better acquaintance.’
    Suddenly, her smile vanished. Her attention had been caught by a group of people across the foyer. Lavender glanced up. He realised at once from their dark complexions and alien clothing that they were foreign. Black lace covered the heads of the two frowning women, held in place by high combs. A tall, sour-faced man of about twenty-five with the shoulders of his black coat enhanced with the embroidered decorative pads in the style of a Spanish matador, glared back at Magdalena. There was no mop of foppish curls for him; his sleek black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. He had a long nose and prominent cheekbones beneath a swarthy face.
    Magdalena smiled and bowed her head at the group but they turned their backs towards her and began to converse amongst themselves. He heard Magdalena gasp at the snub and felt her quiver with anger.
    ‘Do you know those people?’
    ‘Yes, that is Felipe Menendez and his sisters, Juana and Olaya. They were my neighbours back in Oviedo,’ she said. ‘I had no idea that they had also fled from Spain; I assume that they’re now émigrés like me.’
    ‘Your neighbours?’ He was startled. ‘Why