William Monk 09 - A Breach of Promise

enough to understand.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “She was obviously a person of—at its kindest—a disturbed mind andunnatural disposition. She realized the great wrong she had done both to Zillah”—he smiled at her and put his hand on her arm—“and to Isaac Wolff. To avoid further dishonor, she killed herself. What further explanation can be needed?”
    “A great deal,” Lambert answered with a sharpness that surprised Monk, and from the look in his face, Sacheverall also. Only Zillah seemed happy with her father’s words.
    Delphine looked merely annoyed. “Leave the wretched creature in peace.” She shook her head. “As Mr. Sacheverall so wisely says, she was only too obviously disturbed. Pursuing her reasons for taking her life can only distress you, my dear, and perhaps cause you to blame yourself where there is no justification. I have told you over and over that no fault lies with you. You believed what she told you, as did we all.” She placed her hand lightly on his arm. “It is not fair to hold yourself responsible in any way. I hate to see you suffer for this. Please … let us all put it behind us. No good can come of knowing any more, even if it were possible.” She regarded him very earnestly. “And truly, Barton, can we say that her inner turmoil is any of our business? Can we not allow her, at least in death, a little privacy?”
    For the first time Lambert hesitated. He glanced at Monk, then back at Delphine.
    “What things?” Zillah asked.
    Lambert did not answer.
    She looked beyond him to Monk. “What things need to be answered, Mr. Monk? Why do you care what happened? Please answer me truthfully. I am very tired of evasions and euphemisms told to protect me.”
    “You don’t need to know, my dear….” Sacheverall said, reaching toward her with his hand.
    She moved a step away from him. “I wish to know,” she said, still looking at Monk. “Did she kill herself over what we did to her? Was it because of what everyone said about Mr. Wolff?”
    Delphine winced.
    “We can’t blame ourselves for that!” Sacheverall said quickly, a flush of anger marking his cheeks.
    Zillah appeared not even to have heard him. She remained looking at Monk.
    “I don’t know what it was, Miss Lambert,” he answered. “If that was the cause, I don’t understand why she did not tell the truth. It would have ruined her professional reputation in this country, but there are other countries, and she had lived and studied in some of them. Surely that would have been better than death? The only crime she was accused of was so easily explained.”
    “Easily!” Sacheverall said with amazement. “Perhaps in your circles, Monk, but hardly in the society in which he—she moved, and among the people who would be her patrons. I think you forget she practiced her profession among the very cream of society, not the sort of person who might regard that kind of … perversion … as acceptable.”
    Zillah swung around to glare at him. “It was not a perversion!” she defended hotly. “She did nothing wrong or not … normal. She only dressed as a man; she didn’t behave as one in—in a personal sense.” The color was hot in her cheeks also, but for the embarrassment of having to seek words for something she was uncertain of and which it was indelicate to discuss. “You are trying to say that she was in some way mad, and that’s not true.”
    “My dear Zillah, you have no idea what she may have done … in private!” Sacheverall expostulated.
    “Neither have you!” she said instantly. “You are suggesting something ugly, but you don’t know.”
    “We know she killed herself,” he said gently. “That is unarguable. Young people in good health, with sufficient funds and a stable character, do not take their own lives. It is a crime against God, as well as against the state.” He looked calm and satisfied with that answer.
    Zillah looked back at Monk. “Is that true?”
    “It is part of the truth,” he agreed.
    “And the rest of it?”
    “Zillah …” Delphine said warningly.
    “The rest of it?” Her eyes did not deviate from Monk’s.
    “The rest of it is that I wonder if she did kill herself, or if someone else did in order to bring the case to a conclusion before I investigated any further and uncovered something unpleasant,” he replied.
    She looked completely confused, as if she could see no sense in what he had said.
    Sacheverall let out a guffaw of