Page 93 of Courting Claudia
“Oh, but I can. And I will. I have a story ready for my newspaper, as well as the hard proof ready to go to Her Majesty.”
“Liar.”
Derrick leaned forward. “Don’t tempt me. I’m trying to save my wife some grief and leave her with some pleasant thoughts about her father. Would you ruin everything for her by making me print this story?”
“I care not a whit what my daughter thinks of me. She has betrayed me.”
“Selfish, stubborn bastard. Well, that is my deal.” He stood. “You have twenty-four hours to consider it and get back to me. If I don’t hear from you, I will turn my evidence over to the queen and print the story. You have my word on that.”
“Prove to me you have the evidence.”
“Do you think I’m a fool that I would show you? That was Richard’s mistake. You’ll just have to trust.”
“Like hell I will. You’re bluffing.”
“When it comes to my wife, be guaranteed that I don’t bluff. Were it not for Claudia, there would be no deal. I would simply turn you over to the authorities. I’m doing this for her, because I don’t want to see her hurt. But the bottom line is, you need to be stopped, and if you won’t cooperate, I won’t hesitate to bring this to the people.”
“You can’t threaten me.”
“I can, and I did. Twenty-four hours. Your decision. The country with a nice quiet life, or life in a tiny, dirty cell in prison. It doesn’t seem like much of a choice to me, but I’ll let you think about it.”
And with that he turned and left.
Chapter 21
“It’s an excellent drawing, Claudia,” Poppy said.
Claudia glanced at the illustration, holding it up so she could inspect each detail. It might well be her best drawing yet. Pride swelled in her chest, and she smiled. A pictorial of her and Derrick. It would debut as the first full-colored illustration in the paper.
They looked happy. Like a happily married couple. She couldn’t wait for Derrick to see it. After his reaction to the first drawing of the two of them, perhaps this one would please him. She looked at the image of herself, and it looked like her, not a caricature of what she thought people saw. Used to think, she corrected.
“Yes, it is, isn’t it? I appreciate you letting me make this quick stop. I realize I could give it to him at home. I am still a paid employee. But this drawing is special, and I want to bring it to him.”
“We don’t have to go today. I’m not really in the mood for shopping anyhow,” Poppy said.
“We are going shopping. It will take your mind off things. I won’t be but a moment.”
“I’ll wait here.”
“Perfect.”
Claudia made her way up to his office and looked around, but Mason was nowhere to be seen, so she knocked on Derrick’s door. No answer. She cracked the door and peeked inside. No Derrick.
She made her way to his desk and decided to leave him the illustration as well as a note, and they could discuss it later tonight, as she wasn’t sure when he’d return.
She glanced around for some parchment and grabbed the quill. She set quill to paper to pen her note, but something caught her eye. Something with her father’s name on it.
She picked it up and began to read. As she read, her world crumbled to her feet.
She sank into Derrick’s chair and stared at the paper until the words blurred into a black smear. Embezzlement. Murder. Suicide. So her father had been the one Derrick had suspected. Two weeks ago she would have been positive her father wasn’t capable of such atrocities, but now she wasn’t so sure.
How could Derrick have written this without speaking to her first? He’d said he didn’t want to accuse anyone until he was positive of his guilt. Surely he was positive, or he wouldn’t have written this piece. But still he’d said nothing. He’d obviously had suspicions about this for a while now. Why hadn’t he come to her first?
She grabbed the article and left his office. She stepped into the carriage and nearly burst into tears at the sight of her friend, but she swallowed hard and faked some courage.
“You look dreadful. What’s the matter?”
Claudia recounted the article and all the details within.