Page 76 of Mesmerized

He looked at her, and his face softened for a moment, “Mother, I—I am sorry to upset you, but I can no longer stand by and allow you to continue this nonsense. Someone is dead now, and—”

“Dead!” Lady St. Leger stared at him, her face paling, and Olivia moved quickly to her side. “You can’t—who? Madame Valenskaya?”

“No, it was not Madame Valenskaya.” He looked at Irina as he said, “It is Pamela.”

Olivia quickly took Lady St. Leger’s arm as she let out a gasp and swayed. Olivia tugged her down into the chair she had just recently vacated.

“But how—what happened to her?” Lady St. Leger asked faintly.

“I’m not sure. There wasn’t a mark on her. But I think it is safe to say that someone killed her.”

Stephen turned to Irina, his face implacable. She stared back at him, openmouthed, unable to move.

“I have said nothing about the absurd show you and your mother have been putting on—” he began.

“We have not—”

“Don’t bother!” Stephen snapped. “I haven’t time or patience for your games anymore. Pamela is dead now, and I will find out what happened. How did you come to latch on to my mother as the victim of your schemes?”

“I—I—” Irina opened and closed her mouth several times, looking at Stephen like a rabbit found in the open.

“Mother?” He swung around to Lady St. Leger. “How did you first meet Madame Valenskaya?”

Tears glittered in her eyes. “Stephen, how can you talk about such things at a time like this? Pamela is dead!”

Olivia took her ladyship’s hand in hers and squeezed it comfortingly. “I know it seems very hard, my lady, but Stephen is only trying to find out who hurt Pamela and why. He must.”

“But what does it have to do with Madame Valenskaya?”

“Surely you can see that it has everything to do with her,” Stephen told her. “Pamela was found with that treasure your medium kept harping about. I don’t think it was coincidence. Who introduced you to Madame Valenskaya?”

Tears flowed down Lady St. Leger’s cheeks, and she sniffled, wiping at them with her handkerchief. “I met her at Lady Entwhistle’s. It was just a small dinner party.”

“Why did this Entwhistle woman invite you?”

“I—I don’t understand. She just sent me an invitation. I was a little surprised. I only know her slightly. I wasn’t inclined to go.”

“Why did you, then?”

“Pamela was terribly bored. And she persuaded me that it would do us both good to get out, and since it was such a small party, it would be perfectly all right, even though it had not been an entire year. So we went. Madame Valenskaya was there, and she was persuaded to hold a séance. It was so illuminating. I had never realized it was possible to speak to someone one had lost. She spoke straight to me. She said that I had lost someone dear to me. And the raps sounded out Roddy’s name.”

“Pamela.” Stephen’s jaw tightened. “That scarcely sounds like Pamela, to be interested in something like that.”

“Yes, I was a little surprised, too, I confess,” Lady St. Leger said. “But I think it was more that Pamela wanted to get out, you see.” She sighed waterily. “Poor girl. She was overbalanced by Roderick’s death. I had never thought she cared overmuch for him, frankly. She was a cold sort of woman. I shouldn’t say that about the dead, I know, but it is the truth. But after he died, she cried and cried for days.”

“I suspect it was more losing the status and fortune of being Roderick’s wife than losing Roderick himself,” Stephen told her bluntly.

“Stephen! What a thing to say!” Lady St. Leger cried.

“It is the truth, and we both know it. But I have no intention of letting whoever killed her get away with it. Whatever her faults, Pamela did not deserve to die.” He swung back to Irina, barking, “Was Pamela in on your scheme? Did she help you lure Lady St. Leger into your trap?”

Irina shrank back from him. “No! I—”

“Stephen! What are you saying?” Lady St. Leger cried.

“I think Miss Valenskaya knows,” Stephen said grimly. “Did you know Pamela before you met my mother?”

“Lady Pamela!” Irina squeaked out, her hands writhing in her skirts. “How could I?”