Beatrice (27 page)

“Thank
heavens,” she whispered when she opened the door to find Isaac on
the doorstep. However, although she was relieved to see him, the
gravity on his face filled her with dread, and she stepped back to
wave him inside in nervous anticipation.

Rather
than lead him into the sitting room, she showed him toward the
front parlour and took a moment to close the door behind
them.

“Well?
Did you find him?”

Isaac
licked his lips, and shifted uncomfortably from one foot to
another. Determined not to be protected from the truth, Beatrice
pierced him with a no-nonsense glare.

“Sigmund
Hargraves?” She felt slightly sick at the look in Isaac’s eye, and
knew before he spoke what the Detective was going to say.
“How?”

“He had
been killed,” was all Isaac said. He could see no reason to tell
her that Hargraves’ throat had been cut from ear to ear.

In all
of his years of service with the police, Isaac had never seen
anything as disturbing as the bloodied mess that had been the man’s
house. “Where have Mark and Ben gone?”

Beatrice
told him about Caroline Smethwick’s appearance, and saw him nod in
understanding that she had been removed to the station.

“Do you
think she is the killer?” Beatrice asked desperately. “She has been
following us,” she added hopefully.

A small
voice warned her that Caroline Smethwick wouldn’t know about the
people on the list she had found, and wasn’t likely to be the
person responsible for the deaths. However, desperation made her
hope that evidence pointed to the woman being the killer because at
least now the murderer was behind bars and unable to hurt anyone
else.

“I don’t
know,” Isaac replied doubtfully. He chose his words carefully so as
not to scare her, but he couldn’t fill her with false hope and
leave her vulnerable. “I think it is odd that two of the four
people on that list are now dead. Richard Browning is not
available, Bernard Murray has vanished too, and the man who has
been pestering for the plant is now dead. All of them are linked to
the plant, we just don’t know how yet.” He sighed and gave her a
careful look. “Would you take a word of advice, Beatrice?” He
waited until she nodded. “Once the ladies have gone home, keep Ben
with you. Right now, you shouldn’t be alone. Do not, under any
circumstances, go out at night. I am not saying that anything is
going to happen to you, but you need to take extra precautions.
While we have no reason to believe that the killer is interested in
you, or even knows of your existence, you need to be alert and
aware of the potential dangers. Having Ben here may be enough of a
deterrent to stop anyone attempting to get in.”

Beatrice
nodded. “Thank you for being so frank with me. I am going to speak
to Maud, and make sure that if she keeps the doors and windows
locked and bolted.”

“Until
this is over Beatrice, I don’t think that Maud should be alone here
either. Stay together and don’t go anywhere without
Ben.”

She
nodded. If she was honest she had no intention of going anywhere
without Ben from this moment onward. He had been such an integral
part of her life over the last few days that she really had no idea
what she was going to do when the danger had passed and he had to
return home.

The
thought of living in the house all alone, and only being able to
see Ben occasionally, filled her with dread.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The next
hour passed slowly for Beatrice. Although Isaac remained in the
front parlour, she was painfully aware that he was in there. Dusk
fell upon them and the candles were lit, but rather than fill the
room with a rosy glow that warmed them all, they seemed to make the
shadows even darker, and the atmosphere within the house grow
heavy.

The once
amiable ladies grew watchful and silent. They all knew that
something was amiss, but Beatrice didn’t see the need to tell them
about Sigmund Hargraves’ death for fear of frightening them
unnecessarily.

The
sound of several loud knocks on the front door was a welcome relief
to everyone, and Beatrice almost wept when Isaac assured them that
he would answer the door because it was ‘only’ Mark and
Ben.

It was
so incredibly difficult to sit still when she heard the familiar
sound of Ben’s voice. She wanted to rush toward him and give him a
hug so that she could see for herself that he really was alright.
However, she didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the ladies,
and so remained where she was. Well, she tried to. When he appeared
in the doorway and smiled at her, she just couldn’t help it and
hurried over to him.

“Are you
alright?” She knew from the almost haunted look in his eye that he
had heard about Sigmund Hargraves’ demise. Their eyes met and held
for several long moments while a wealth of unspoken emotion swept
between them. There was nothing they could do though, not with so
many people pretending they were part of the furniture just a few
feet away.

After a
few whispered words out in the hallway, Mark moved into the sitting
room doorway and looked at everyone present.

“Now
ladies, Isaac and I are going to escort everyone home tonight. We
are all going to go together and will drop Mrs Dalrymple and
Constance off first, then go around to Tuppence’s house, then
Eloisa’s. Then I am going to take Harriett, Babette, and mother;
you are staying with us tonight.”

Hetty
opened her mouth to speak only to close it again with a
snap.

“If
everyone is ready?” Mark prompted once the bags were packed, and
everyone had their coats on.

“We
won’t all fit in one coach, surely?” Harriett asked. “Why don’t we
stay here until you have taken some of the ladies? Then you can
come back to take us home.”

“Because
we have another carriage outside,” Mark assured his wife. “I have
borrowed David’s carriage for an hour so I can get you all
home.”

There
was little anyone could say to that, so the ladies said their
goodbyes in rather more sombre tones than they had when they had
arrived, and quietly left.

“Are you
alright?” Ben asked when the carriages had turned out of the
driveway and the door was closed and bolted.

“I am
off to bed now,” Maud sighed wearily. “I will clear the pots away
in the morning. Good night, both of you.”

“Night,”
Beatrice and Ben called as they walked into the sitting
room.

“I am
horrified that Sigmund Hargraves is dead,” Beatrice whispered with
a shiver.

Ben
sighed and followed her over to the sofa. He didn’t say as much to
Beatrice, but he had already stored his carriage away in the
lean-to at the side of the garden, and left his horse in the field
next door for the night because he had absolutely no intention of
going anywhere for the time being.

Gossips
could go to Hell in a hand basket; he would risk their censure to
make sure that the killer didn’t claim either Beatrice, or Maud, as
their next victim.

“We
don’t know if the killer is Richard Browning, darling. Although he
didn’t answer the door to us, and pretended to be Archibald
Harrington, we have no proof that he has committed any one of the
murders. You cannot lose sight of the fact that Bernard Murray
lurks somewhere in all of this.”

That was
enough to make Beatrice groan. She glanced at him with eyes that
were haunted. “I really hate this, Ben. The ladies from the Circle
shouldn’t have to have a police escort to get home, it is not
right. How much longer can this go on for? I cannot live under
house arrest, and simply wait here for the killer to call upon me
next.” She didn’t add that her fears were more for his safety than
hers. Just the thought that Ben could be hurt in all of this made
her want to sob helplessly. Instead, she settled against him with a
sigh and slid her arm around him to hold him just that little bit
tighter.

“We
aren’t going to, darling. Mark has several men now investigating
this. Tipton Hollow is swarming with police. Anyone who has killed
three times is most probably well away from the area by now, so
don’t worry yourself. I am right here, and I am not going to go
anywhere until this is all over.”

She
turned to stare at him. “The gossips will have a field day if
anyone hears about you staying over.”

“I don’t
care what anyone thinks,” Ben declared flatly. “We are going to get
married, just as soon as the danger has passed and you are ready.
If the gossips get wind of the fact that I have been staying here,
they will also learn about Caroline Smethwick’s attempt on your
life. As far as anyone knows, I have been here trying to protect
two single women from being alone and vulnerable because there
isn’t a neighbour close enough to hear you if there is a problem.
If the gossips don’t like it, well they can just get on with it. I
am sure that they will have Mark to answer to. However, I do think
that once they learn about Caroline Smethwick’s activities, their
attention will be suitably diverted by the resulting court
case.”

Beatrice
studied him and had to admit that he was right. The same thing had
happened with the fraudulent clairvoyants. People were avidly
following the newspaper accounts of the court case, and gossip
about it could be heard practically in every shop you went
into.

While
she was glad that he was going to stay, and was more than a little
relieved and thrilled at his determination to protect her, she was
a little disappointed that he had still not made any deep
declaration of his feelings toward her.

Although
they had been vague acquaintances for several years now, they had
only really known each other properly for about a week, yet were
already far closer than most couples were. It was still a little
surprising that he was talking about marriage this early on in
their relationship but, given the circumstances they had been faced
with over the last several days, she could understand his desire
not to waste time on etiquette. It was safe to say that the one
thing they had both learned over the past week was that life was
precious; and could be snuffed out at any moment by circumstances
far beyond anyone’s control. But was that enough to base a marriage
on? After all, marriage was a lifetime commitment; something one
usually ever did once in their lifetime. Could she stand being
married to Ben knowing that he didn’t love her as much as she loved
him?

Unfortunately, he broke into her thoughts before she could
find an answer.

“I want
to know why your uncle made that list of names in the first
place.”

Beatrice
sighed and turned her attention back to his comment. “Do you think
that he knew that they were up to something, and made a list of the
people he suspected?”

“Given
the cultivation notes were with the list of names, I think he knew
exactly what they were up to. Whether or not he was involved is an
entirely different matter. I take it your uncle died of natural
causes?”

“Maud
found him dead in his bed. It appeared that he died in his sleep.
He was seventy six, and had been frail for some time, but refused
to give in,” Beatrice announced sadly.

“I think
that we have to rule out anything suspicious about Matthew’s death.
He died several months ago now anyway. The plant had probably not
even been cultivated then.”

“I think
a plant like that would take several weeks to grow; certainly not
months. It may have been around when he was still alive, I just
don’t know.”

“I do
firmly believe that the answers we need lie in Matthew’s study,
only they haven’t been found because you have yet to move any of
the papers. That room is full of all sorts of things; all sorts of
secrets could be lurking within its depths.”

Beatrice
sighed and wanted bury her head in her hands. “If we cannot find
the answer until we look through it all then we are never going to
get to the bottom of this mystery.”

“I know
darling.” Ben yawned and kissed the top of her head.

Beatrice
immediately felt the atmosphere between them shift. What was once
casual and relaxed suddenly became electrified with heightened
awareness. She knew that he was looking at her when the warmth of
his breath brushed gently across her cheek. As though drawn to the
magnetic pull of his masculinity, she turned to face
him.

His lips
immediately captured hers in a drugging kiss that left them both
gasping for breath, and unable to break away from the sensual web
of desire that had woven around them.

She
leaned back to look up at him and shivered at the molten desire in
his eyes. She clung to him and moaned as delicious warmth began to
unfurl deep in her belly when he began to slowly ease her back
against the sofa.

He
didn’t give her the time to stop and think before his head dipped
once more. His fingers teased the long strands of her hair out of
the tight bun at the nape of her neck, and combed through the
riotous tumble of curls until they lay in a silken mass around her
shoulders as he deepened the kiss.

She was
his; the woman he was meant to spend his life with. Now all he had
to do was prove it to her. He physically shook with the need that
raged through him. It was a fierce battle between the need not to
scare her, and the desire to plunder and take, seduce and consume,
until she too was carried away by the depth of passion that surged
between them.