Distracted, Bess stopped clutching her wrapper and gripped the mug in both hands instead. She stared at the tea

as though she had never seen anything like it before in her life.

"Thank you, ma'am," Bess whispered.

Caroline put a mug in front of Adam and then sat down across from Bess. "Take your time, Bess. There is no need to rush. You say you don't know the identity of Mrs. Toller's lover?"

"No, ma'am." Bess took a tentative sip of tea. It seemed to steady her. "He insisted that she be alone when he came to call. He was very strict about it."

"How did Mrs. Toller know what nights he would call on her?" he asked Bess.

Bess appeared baffled. "I don't know, sir. She just knew." "He didn't send a message to the house alerting her?" Caroline asked.

Bess pressed her lips together very tightly and shook her head. "None that I ever saw."

"But you believe that he was there the night she died and that he was the one who murdered her?" Adam asked.

"All I know for certain is that he was supposed to visit that evening." Bess swallowed more tea. "She was angry with him. I expect they quarreled and he killed her."

Adam leaned forward slightly, watching Bess's face in the flaring lamplight. "How do you know that Mrs. Toller was angry with him?"

"I've worked for her for years. I got to know her ways quite well. Started out as her housekeeper and eventually took on the duties of her assistant. She felt she could trust me, you see."

"You helped her stage the tricks that made her séances look real," Adam stated.

Bess heaved a sigh. "It was a good position. I'm going to miss it. Not likely I'll find another that pays as well, and that's a fact"

Caroline eased her mug aside. "Do you know why Mrs. Toller was angry with her lover?"

Bess snorted. "For the oldest reason in the world." Caroline's brows rose. "She discovered that he was cheating on her?"

"Yes, ma'am." Bess drank more tea. "And with her competition, at that."

Adam set his mug down hard. "Elizabeth Delmont."

"Yes, sir." Bess shook her head sadly. "Made Mrs. Toller cry for days, it did. Then she went all cold and fiercelike. I knew she was planning something, but I reckoned she in-tended to confront her lover and tell him she wouldn't put up with his cheating. I swear it never occurred to me that she meant to do what she did."

Another link in the chain snapped into place. Adam watched Bess's face closely.

"Irene Toller murdered Elizabeth Delmont, didn't she?" he said.

"Yes, sir," Bess said. Her voice was barely above a whisper. She contemplated her unfinished tea. "I never let on that I knew. I didn't dare. I kept my mouth shut and did my work like nothing had ever happened."

"How did you reason it out?" Caroline asked.

"Mrs. Toller sent me away that night, too. At first I assumed that her lover would be paying her a visit. But when I arrived at the house the next morning, I realized that he hadn't been there."

"How did you know that?" Adam asked.

Bess raised one shoulder in a matter-of-fact manner. "A housekeeper sees things that others don't notice. Mrs. Toller

and her friend had been getting together on special evenings for a few months. They had their habits?

"Such as?" Caroline asked.

"Little things. She kept a bottle of his favorite brandy on hand. It was their custom to drink some before they got down to their more personal business. The glasses they used were always left out on the table in the parlor. But there were no glasses the morning after Mrs. Delmont was murdered"

"What else was different?" Adam asked.

"Mrs. Toller was in her dressing gown when I arrived that day but she was acting very strange. I thought perhaps she was suffering from an attack of nerves or the like. And her bed was made up. She never would have made her own bed. I don't think she slept at all that night. But the thing that chilled me to my bones was what I found in her wardrobe?

"What was it?" Caroline asked.

"It wasn't what was there, it was what was missing." Bess looked knowing. "Her new gown was gone. It was her favorite. Very expensive it was, too. He had paid for it. A dress like that just doesn't up and vanish?

Caroline tensed. "What happened to it?"

"I asked her that very question? Bess folded her hands on the table and bowed her head. "Mrs. Toller told me that it had been ruined the previous day when a passing carriage had splashed mud all over it. She told me that she had sent it off to a charity house. But I knew that wasn't the truth. She had never given so much as a penny to any charity as long as I had known her. She said they were all frauds."

"What do you think happened to the dress?" Caroline asked.

"She hid it in one of the secret compartments in the séance room," Bess said tightly. "I found it quite by accident when I was straightening up the chamber for the séance that you two attended. I couldn't understand what it was doing in the secret cupboard. Then I saw all the dried blood on the skirts. I knew right off what Mrs. Toller had done. I was scared to death, I can tell you"

"I don't blame you." Caroline shuddered.

"Yes, ma'am." Bess sighed. "Knew I'd likely have to look for another position."

"What did you do with the dress?" Adam asked.

"Put it straight back into the cupboard and pretended I never saw a thing." Bess shrugged. "Doubt if she had a chance to get rid of it before she was killed. It's probably still there unless the police found it."

They sat for a while, drinking the tea and watching one another in the light of the flaring lamp.

He studied the frightened woman. "You told us that you ran away the morning you found Mrs. Toller's body be-cause you feared both the killer and the police."

"Yes, sir," she said glumly. "I was terrified that the police would think I'd killed Mrs. Toller because we'd argued about my wages. The neighbors heard us. But I was also afraid that her lover might decide that I knew too much about their business and come after me"

Adam gripped the mug more tightly. "Business? Do you refer to the fraudulent investment schemes Mrs. Toller operated?"

"You know about those, do you?" Bess looked more miserable than ever. "Right you are, sir. That's why Mrs. Toller and I quarreled, you see. I figured out that something quite profitable was going on and that she was sharing the income with him. I told her that since I was assisting her, I deserved a portion of the profits. She warned me to keep lent. Threatened to let me go without a reference. I told

her that if she did, I'd expose her tricks. It was a very heated argument and I expect some of the neighbors heard the shouting."

"I have a few more questions for you, Bess," Adam said. "And then I am going to give you enough money to take the train to wherever you wish and stay there until we have found Mrs. Toller's killer and turned him over to the police."

For the first time Bess looked cautiously hopeful. "That's very kind of you, sir. What more do you want to know?"

"Do you have any notion of why Mrs. Toller's lover murdered her?"

Bess hesitated. "I've been thinking about that. I expect it was because he knew that she had murdered Mrs. Delmont and was afraid of what she might do next in her great rage. Perhaps he feared she might expose him and the in-vestment scheme. Like I told you, whoever he is, he's a very secretive sort."

"Would you please tell me exactly what you saw when you found Mrs. Toller's body?" Adam asked.

Bess gave that some close consideration. "There was a lot of blood. He'd bashed in her skull, you see. She was lying on her back. There was a pocket watch on the floor beside

her. The room was in a shambles. I remember thinking

that it was just like the way Mrs. Delmont's death had been described in the papers. That seemed odd because I knew that Mrs. Toller, not her lover, had killed Mrs. Delmont. Couldn't understand why he went to all that trouble to make it look the same."