"There was an understanding," Vale said.
"Was there a signature?" Croft asked mildly.
Vale's eyes flicked to Lucien, then away. "Not for every instrument."
Lady Harriet's fan tapped once against her palm. "So you used a dead man's habits and a living man's negligence to put a ducal crest on private ruin."
"Lady Voss," Vale began.
"You will address the solicitor," Harriet said. "I am only here to ensure my niece is not spoken to as if she were a nuisance."
Lucien walked to the window. For a moment he looked young enough to be Peregrine's age, and Isolde hated the comparison even as she made it. Then he turned back, and the duke was present again—not the smirking dealer, but a man who had found a fracture in his own house and could not pretend it was decoration.
"Mr. Vale will open every private ledger touching assurances, guarantees, and crest-marked notes from the last seven years," Lucien said. "Mr. Croft will have copies. Miss Fenwick will have a written account of how her brother's note came to exist, who pressed for payment, and what communications were sent to clubs, tradesmen, or relations. If the practice extends beyond the Fenwick paper, those names will also be listed. Quietly. I will not wash my house in the street for spectacle, but I will not scrub it in the dark for comfort either."
Vale's face had gone the color of old parchment. "Your Grace, such a disclosure—"
"Is overdue," Lucien said. "You are dismissed from confidential work as of this hour. You will remain available to answer questions. If you leave London, I will assume you have something worth chasing, and I will chase it through every court that will have me."
The silence after that was different from last night's silence. Last night had been shock. This was the sound of a machine stopping.
Croft inclined his head. "Sensible. I will require the original seal matrix used for these notes, if it is distinct from the formal ducal seal."
Lucien looked sharply at Vale. "Is it?"
Vale swallowed. "There is a secondary matrix. For convenience. Kept in my office."