by Rebecca King
‘What do we do about the intruders?’ Tabitha asked.
‘We have to stay here for as long as it takes my colleagues to reach us and secure the factory. We must keep an eye on the doors and shoot at anybody else who tries to get in here. I know it is unpleasant spending your evening with a dead body, but it is the safest place for us right now because this room has one entrance, but I doubt the thugs will linger here even if they are still here.’
‘What do you think they are after?’ Tabitha asked. ‘Do you think they are selling the stock upstairs? Or do you think they are after the financial records or something?’
‘I wish I knew,’ Daniel sighed. He slid a look at the trunk they had just finished packing. ‘But I suspect the answer lies within that box.’
CHAPTER TEN
The following morning, Tabitha stood beside Daniel in the Star Elite’s safe house and studied the trunk on the kitchen table before them. The men from the Star Elite were gathered around the table together with Mildred who, after a very long sleepless night, could only be described as annoyed.
‘I will cut his gizzards out if I find out that David Lynchgate hired those thugs who tried to kill you last night,’ she repeated.
Tabitha smiled at her but couldn’t find it within her heart to be annoyed not least because she had a couple of hours last night cuddled up with Daniel. They shared a look that was full of warmth and secrets before Roger’s discrete cough snapped Daniel’s attention back to the task that awaited them all that morning.
‘Let’s see what we have, shall we?’ he announced, lifting the lid of the box.
After placing the papers Tabitha had found on the table, Roger removed several ledgers before lifting a small square box. This, he handed to Tabitha.
Tabitha studied the intricate carving of birds and flowers entwined that covered the entire lid. It was a complex pattern which would have taken a skilled craftsman a long time to carve and cost a fortune to purchase. It hinted that whatever was kept inside it was valuable or had significance to the box’s owner. When she lifted the lid, Tabitha found an old iron key attached to a bright red ribbon.
‘I wonder what this is for?’ she whispered, dangling it from her fingers.
Roger lifted another box out of the trunk and handed that to Tabitha as well. She frowned when she found another key, this one with a blue ribbon attached. Placing the keys side by side, she stepped back and watched Roger dig a little deeper into the trunk.
‘There is one more,’ Roger announced before handing a third box to her.
Tabitha took it off him expecting to find another key inside. What she found instead was an ornate fob watch, a set of cuff links, and a small folded piece of paper upon which was another code.
‘These must be keys to another safe,’ Daniel said reading what was written over her shoulder.
‘It must be at his lodgings,’ Luke suggested. ‘Have we been there yet?’
Roger nodded. ‘The room has already been rented out but the gentleman occupying it now allowed me to go in and search it. The only thing I found was the new occupant’s belongings. Without taking a more careful look beneath the floorboards I don’t really know if there are any secret compartments or hiding places. If they are there, they aren’t obvious. The floorboards didn’t wobble or squeak. The paintwork is intact. There were no secret compartments hidden behind or up the chimney and no, the landlady hasn’t been asked to keep anything of significance by Muldoon prior to his death.’
‘Where have his belongings gone?’ Peregrine asked.
‘The landlady said she sent them to the factory upon the solicitor’s orders. Apparently, the solicitor told her that all of Mr Muldoon’s belongings were Tabitha’s now, and that includes his clothing and personal effects.’
It was disconcerting to find herself the object of everybody’s attention. Tabitha shifted uncomfortably and forced herself to study the contents of the table.
‘I haven’t seen any clothing,’ she replied with a hesitant look at Daniel.
‘I doubt there is much value in the clothing. It is what is in the pockets of the clothing we need to check,’ Hamish announced. ‘We have to find them first.’
‘The housekeeper said she had put everything into a large packing trunk which the factory foreman took away. She assumed he took it to the factory seeing as Mr Muldoon didn’t have any other home or living relatives,’ Roger added.
‘We have to go back to the factory to search it properly,’ Luke suggested.
‘But what are we searching it for?’ Daniel asked. ‘I mean, we have taken what looks to be the most pertinent papers.’
‘Well, we know that the intruders last night got into the building by breaking the lock on the loading doors on the first-floor,’ Roger said.
‘We need to find out who the factory foreman is and who the corpse is.’ Hamish lifted the uppermost papers off the pile and began to flick through them.
‘The whole building needs to be properly secured,’ Daniel warned looking at Tabitha. ‘With your permission, I shall see to it this morning.’
‘Please do,’ Tabitha replied a little breathlessly because she was painfully aware of the way his voice dipped and turned slightly husky whenever he spoke to her. Moreover, there was a searching look in his eyes as he looked deeply into hers that was hidden with secrets and unspoken promises. It made her stomach flutter nervously but in an exciting way that left her anticipating what was going to happen between them next.
‘Ahem.’ Mildred tugged ineffectually on her skirt and gave them a pointed look. ‘Well, with that settled, I should like to know what we should do about Lynchgate. I don’t doubt that the man will be annoyed that we are not at home to receive him this morning. He won’t have any hesitation calling by as many times as he likes. If he does have men with him who are prepared to break into property, I don’t want to be their next victim.’
‘I don’t see why we should be in hiding while he is doing what he wants,’ Tabitha replied. ‘He is the one who should have his activities stopped.’
‘We will stop him,’ Roger assured her. ‘But first we have to find out what he has been up to. We have no proof that he has anything to do with Muldoon’s death, or the intruders who were there last night. There is no proof that the intruders weren’t just criminals looking for loot they could steal and tried to burgle the factory because they know it is empty.’
‘We will go about finding all of that out. For the time being we will work through these papers and look for anything that might help us understand if Muldoon or Lynchgate, or anyone else for that matter, has been involved in any criminal activity in or around that factory,’ Daniel suggested.
‘There might be a blackmail note or financial records of debts or something we don’t know about in here,’ Peregrine said, thumbing through some of the papers.
‘If you are not going to feel too vulnerable, we will return you home. I can see no reason why you should not go about your business if you are careful about going out alone. We are going to put one man in your house with you, though, just in case Lynchgate does get violent, or tries to threaten you.’
Tabitha’s gaze immediately turned to Daniel. She couldn’t object to having him in her home because she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.
‘I am going to try to identify the corpse. Then I will search it with the others for Muldoon’s personal belongings and anything that might fit these keys. I will, of course, also take up watch with the men, but we work in rotation. Someone will be in your house all the time with you, Tabitha. It just cannot be me all the time because I have my work with the Star Elite to do,’ Daniel informed her softly.
‘Don’t you think it might be best if you just stayed with us? I mean, people will be less inclined to talk about your presence if we tell them you are a relative who is visiting us for a while,’ Mildred argued.
‘But Lynchgate already knows Daniel is no relative. It doesn’t really matter if the locals are watching.
They will be more inclined to notice any sinister strangers lurking in the bushes, or watching the house, won’t they?’ Luke said.
As disappointed as she was, Tabitha had to concede that the men had a point. While they began to divide up the work they had to do, Tabitha studied the keys on the table. She really couldn’t understand what they were all about but suspected that the Star Elite did. They just weren’t telling her. Was that because they didn’t want her involved in their investigation any more than she already was, or because they weren’t being honest about what they were doing?
But they don’t need to tell us everything because they are the Star Elite. They do this kind of thing every day of their lives. They don’t need our involvement.
‘I want to take these boxes and the keys with me, and some of the paperwork,’ Tabitha announced. ‘You cannot expect us to simply sit at home and twiddle our thumbs while we wait. While you go about finding out who the body is, and searching the factory, lodgings and the like, Mildred and I can go through all these papers and ledgers, can’t we? We can look for blackmail notes, or entries in the ledgers that appear to have been altered or removed or something, can’t we? This is my factory. Your investigation involves me because Muldoon has made it my business,’ Tabitha argued, her voice ringing stringently around the room.
‘If you are sure, but you must remember that if Lynchgate is after something in that factory, and realises that you have taken some goods from the factory back to your home, he isn’t averse to breaking in to get his hands on it. Wouldn’t it be best if you stayed with us and searched through the paperwork here, where we can keep it safe?’ Daniel asked.
‘But on the other hand, we aren’t going to be here to keep an eye on them and their home as well. If their house does get broken into, we know they are being watched. We are being watched, and consequently will have to go undercover to conclude our business here,’ Roger argued.
Ronan nodded. ‘We have to keep one man in the house just in case Lynchgate does break in.’
‘Are you volunteering to take first watch?’ Daniel asked. ‘Because I really need to get back to that factory to secure it and take another look at that corpse.’
Ronan shrugged and grinned mischievously at the ladies. ‘I don’t mind if they don’t.’
‘I would be delighted,’ Mildred assured him giving him a motherly pat on his arm.
Tabitha was still sad about having to leave Daniel when she arrived back at her house later that day, and her day was made worse by the presence of Lynchgate who was standing on their doorstep. He looked to have been there for some time given the dark scowl on his face.
‘Let me deal with him,’ Mildred growled before marching militarily up to her front door.
Tabitha’s dislike was evident on her face when she walked toward the front door.
‘What do you want, Lynchgate?’ Mildred demanded without preamble, as if they didn’t already know.
Ronan, who had just handed the ladies down, carefully closed the carriage door when he saw that Lynchgate was trying to look inside the vehicle. Rather than follow the women into the house he positioned himself in front of the door and folded his arms as he stared challengingly at the women’s unwanted guest. It wasn’t lost on him that the thug sitting on the bench of Lynchgate’s carriage had looked at his boss as if silently asking for orders. Lynchgate’s almost imperceptible shake of his head wasn’t any comfort and so Ronan didn’t relax as the women went to challenge him.
Lynchgate raked Mildred with an insulting look. ‘I am here to see my daughter.’
‘Well she doesn’t want to speak to you,’ Mildred snapped.
Lynchgate stepped into the middle of the path before promptly turning his back to Mildred, effectively dismissing her objection. He focused on Tabitha who was walking steadily toward him. ‘We still have time,’ he began without preamble.
‘For what?’ Tabitha demanded.
‘Going to the factory,’ Lynchgate announced.
Tabitha squinted at him. ‘Oh, but I thought you had already been.’ She watched him carefully but could detect nothing in his demeanour that gave any hint as to whether he was connected to the intruders.
‘Of course I have been there,’ Lynchgate snapped. ‘I did know Muldoon.’
The words ‘you didn’t’ hung in the air. Tabitha carefully ignored them.
‘I should like the keys, please,’ Lynchgate said, holding his hands out and waggling his fingers.
Tabitha’s mouth fell open at the audacity of the man. He clearly expected her to meekly do as she was told and hand over the keys. Tabitha knew that if she did that Lynchgate would take possession of the factory and she would undoubtedly be unable to get rid of him again.
‘No,’ she replied boldly. ‘I am not sixteen years of age anymore. You have no authority to come here and demand anything. Now go away.’
She stepped around him and made her way to the front door only for Lynchgate to grab her arm. Ronan immediately stepped forward at the same time that Lynchgate’s driver jumped down from his carriage. Together the men eyed each other warily while surreptitiously watching the father-daughter altercation being played out in the garden.
‘Everybody knows that women don’t run businesses,’ Lynchgate sneered. ‘What do you expect to do with it, eh?’ He pompously puffed his chest out. ‘Now stop being a silly girl. Don’t you think it is time you grew up, that this little display of defiance is something you should stop indulging in? Why, I have never witnessed such foolish behaviour. I don’t know what your aunt thought she was doing indulging you to such a level that you should consider yourself capable of running a place like Muldoon’s. Might I remind you that people are going without income and therefore starving because they can’t work at that factory? The factory you keep ignoring by the way, and all the while you are swanning around the countryside without a thought for them or a care in the world for your moral duty.’
‘Oh, that is a bit rich coming from you, isn’t it? Who are you to lecture me about moral duty? You have never done your moral duty ever. Your only moral duty is to your coin purse and your egotism,’ Tabitha sneered. She knew her barbs had struck home by the fury that contorted Lynchgate’s face. ‘Do you know something? We have been through all of this before. I am not prepared to go through this same argument with you again. Go away and stop wasting my time.’
‘Just give me the damned keys,’ Lynchgate demanded.
‘To a business that has nothing to do with you?’ Tabitha raked him with a sneering look that was, eerily, an exact copy of his.
‘Everything all right?’ Ronan asked casually as he approached them.
‘Who in the Devil are you?’
‘You have no right to ask such things,’ Mildred protested, causing Lynchgate to throw her an angry look over his shoulder.
‘I can do what I damned well like,’ he snapped.
‘I beg to differ,’ Tabitha retorted. ‘Everyone has to stay within the law.’
‘Well?’ Lynchgate demanded of Ronan.
‘A family friend,’ Ronan replied, raking Lynchgate with a look that told him he wasn’t going to get anymore of an explanation than that. Turning to Tabitha, he waved a hand toward the house. ‘Shall we?’
Tabitha smiled at him, relieved that he was there. Accepting his hand, she stepped delicately over the flower strewn border of the front lawn and entered the cool peace of the hallway.
‘I won’t be a moment,’ Ronan informed her before promptly closing the door. He did so in such a way that he physically blocked Lynchgate from following her into the property.
Ronan returned to the carriage with the sound of Lynchgate hammering on the front door ringing in his ears. He wished he had taken a moment to warn the ladies not to open the door to him, but it was too late now. Rather than try to carry the box of the factory’s papers into the house, Ronan climbed onto the carriage’s driver’s seat and flicked the reins, taking the carriage around the back of the property, to the outbuild
ing used as stables and a carriage store. Thankfully, the ladies hadn’t used the space for anything else and it was empty still so Ronan was able to pull the carriage to a stop outside it and quickly remove the box. By the time he reached the back door, Mildred had it open for him. Ronan slid his burden onto the table before returning to the carriage. He was unharnessing the horse when he realised that Lynchgate had followed him around to the back of the property.
‘I don’t know who you are or how you came to know them, or what silly game you think you are playing, but don’t think I am going to allow you or that wastrel friend of yours to charm your way into their lives so you can fleece them. I don’t doubt that Tabitha is a very lucrative attraction for someone like you, but I warn you now that I am not going to allow you into the family either.’
Ronan lifted his brows. ‘I didn’t realise that you had a family, Lynchgate. From what I hear your wife left you because she couldn’t stand you and your daughter has refused to live with you for years. It is quite clear to me that Mildred doesn’t like you either and there is nobody else, unless you are intimately associated with your thugs that is.’ He heard the man’s indrawn breath and mentally smiled, although outwardly kept his gaze impassive. He could understand now why Tabitha truly didn’t like the man and felt sorry for Daniel for having such a bombastic future father-in-law.
While nothing had been discussed, both he and the rest of the men in the Star Elite had no doubt that Daniel was deeply enamoured of the delightfully pretty Miss Tabitha Lynchgate. There was a lot of unspoken feelings between Daniel and his love; it was palpable whenever they were together, and that had been before they had spent several hours alone together in an empty factory. While nobody believed that Daniel had done anything to ruin her, there was a growing intimacy between the couple now which hadn’t been evident yesterday.