by Rebecca King
She is feisty.
Daniel felt the last of his anger melt away. He wanted to see more of this new side to her; the forceful side because he quite liked it.
‘Do you think you and Mildred could get used to living here?’ he asked conversationally as he followed her into a large rectangular sitting room.
‘I wouldn’t hesitate to move in here,’ Tabitha mused a little breathlessly. She had fallen in love with the place at first sight. ‘Although I cannot say the same for Aunt Mildred. She has lived in Fenley Lodge since she was twenty years of age when she married Uncle Ralph. I doubt she will want to leave it.’
‘But you do.’ It wasn’t really a question. The truth was written on her face.
‘I have to run my own home at some point in my life,’ Tabitha muttered. ‘It isn’t as if I am a twenty year old addle brained chit. I have been helping my aunt run Fenley Lodge for an age. While this house is a mansion, there is no reason why I could not live here. I am sure that a housekeeper could be persuaded to work out here. There was one, although I am not sure what happened to her.’
‘How do you intend to afford this house, though? I mean, it is going to cost a veritable fortune to run,’ Daniel sighed and then said a little sarcastically: ‘I hope Joshua Corlton is rich.’
Tabitha glared at him but decided to annoy him a little more. She began to suspect Daniel was jealous. The very thought of it made her want to smile, but deep inside she secretly dismissed any possibility of Daniel ever caring enough about her. He just didn’t seem the type to be jealous. He was far too self-assured to be that doubtful about anything. He was a man who knew who he was and what he wanted in life, and had no qualms going about getting whatever he felt he needed.
If only he needed me as much as I need him.
Tabitha sighed heavily and contemplated the wisdom of telling him about the rest of her meeting with Mr Rumpton but suspected that if she didn’t tell him he would eventually find out anyway.
‘I can afford it now because Reynold Muldoon left me a fortune.’ Tabitha told him how much she had inherited.
‘Good Lord,’ Daniel whispered in stunned disbelief. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes, I am sure. Mr Rumpton was waiting for me to call at the bank to sign the necessary paperwork. He said the solicitor should have told me to make an appointment to see him, but he didn’t.’
Daniel frowned at that. ‘I don’t think the solicitor is very adept at what he does.’
‘I don’t care. I called at the bank, and Mr Rumpton transferred all of the money from Reynold Muldoon’s account into mine.’
‘So, you are now a very rich woman and have enough funds to not just own this house but live in it.’ Daniel was stunned and didn’t care if Tabitha could see it.
She looked at him a little sadly. ‘Indeed. Needless to say, I am curious to see the house where Reynold Muldoon lived not just because I own it but because in the paperwork Reynold left for me was a note from him. It said that the answers to what happened to him are in this house somewhere. I just have to find them.’
Daniel went still and stared at her. ‘Answers to what? His murder? His problems?’
Tabitha sighed. ‘I won’t know until I look for them. For now, all I can do is go around each room, open the shutters, and let some light into the house. I can’t see much of anything properly in this gloom. Later, once I have had something to eat, I am then going to set about trying to unravel this mystery, which starts in the study apparently.’
‘Muldoon left a note for you at the bank that told you that he had left an explanation in this house?’ Daniel pressed, staring at her in shock.
‘Yes, which is also part of the reason why I am here.’
Lost in his thoughts, Daniel watched her open shutters and remove several dust sheets. He stepped forward to help her fold them before following her into the adjoining room and found himself in another sitting room, this one overlooking the cool glistening waters of the lake. Huge French doors lining one wall of the room led onto a patio adjoining a neatly manicured lawn, box hedges, and rose garden. At the far end of the room was another set of walnut doors, these inlaid with gold. Daniel nudged them open and found a rectangular dining room in the centre of which was a long table surrounded by intricately carved chairs.
Tabitha followed him and gazed around her in awe. Thankfully, not many of the pictures on the walls were portraits. Reynold had instead chosen to put landscapes on his walls, many of which were of the house, its gardens, and surrounding countryside.
‘Well, Reynold Muldoon certainly knew how to furnish a house,’ Daniel murmured when he joined her in the huge conservatory at the back of the house.
‘There is a fully stocked library on the other side of the house, Daniel,’ Tabitha whispered.
‘There must be a study around here somewhere,’ Daniel replied. ‘Let’s see if we can find it. The evidence Reynold Muldoon left you is in there, did you say?’
Together, they crossed the room to another set of doors. Tabitha opened both to find a gentleman’s study with wall to ceiling shelving interrupted by a huge fireplace in front of which was a large desk. The scent of leather greeted her and beckoned her inside.
‘How wonderful,’ she breathed when she looked out of the French doors across the garden, to a huge folly.
‘Now this is a study,’ Daniel murmured appreciatively, tipping his head back to look at the upper rows of books lining the walls.
Tabitha edged around the desk and made her way over to a single door tucked in the corner of the room. She left Daniel to gaze at the scenery and nudged the door open only to slam to a stop.
‘So, you found me at last,’ a rich masculine voice drawled rather lazily from a darkened corner of a small garden room.
Tabitha’s heart raced as she stared at the large newspaper that shielded the man from view. Her gaze ran down the long length of him, but the lower half of his body didn’t give her any clue as to who this man was. Deep inside, though, she knew.
Slowly, the newspaper lowered, and she found herself staring into the emerald eyes of Reynold Muldoon. Tabitha watched him smile but couldn’t work past her shock to return it. All she could do was stare dumbly at him while she felt the whole new, tantalising world she had so willingly believed was hers, disappear like a dream.
‘Reynold Muldoon,’ she whispered eventually, unsure if she was angry, upset, or relieved.
‘Tabitha Lynchgate.’ There was not even a hint of doubt in his eyes. He knew who she was.
Tabitha felt rather than saw Daniel move to stand behind her.
‘Ah, you have company I see,’ Muldoon murmured, pushing to his feet and dropping the newspaper he had been reading onto the chair behind him. He stepped toward Daniel and bowed. ‘Now, let me think, you must be one of the Star Elite investigators.’
He slid a look from Daniel to Tabitha and back to Daniel. His eyes were full of secrets but also curiosity. Tabitha knew that he had overheard their conversation earlier. Her cheeks flooded with colour, but she made no apology for being in the house alone with Daniel. Theirs was a relationship that was difficult to explain to anybody.
‘I – we – thought you were dead.’ Tabitha wished her voice didn’t tremble so much.
‘Yes, I am sorry about that.’ He waved them to the chairs in the room. ‘Please, take a seat.’
Daniel caught her hand in his. Tabitha clung to his solid reassurance and threw him a worried look. Daniel kept his face impassive as he studied the man even he had believed was dead.
‘I hope you have good reason for the ruse,’ Daniel murmured. ‘Or you have wasted the Star Elite’s time and will face justice for fraud.’
‘I have an excellent reason for pretending to be dead,’ Reynold assured him. He didn’t resume his seat. Instead, he poured himself and Daniel large goblets of brandy. Daniel accepted his with a nod of thanks. Reynold looked questioningly at Tabitha before pouring her a goblet of something. ‘I am afraid that the only thing I hav
e that might satisfy a lady’s taste is mead.’
Tabitha nodded her thanks when he held a goblet of the fragrant liquid out to her.
‘Care to tell us what this is all about?’ Daniel prompted when Muldoon took his time settling himself into a winged chair beside the chaise they sat on.
‘Someone wanted me dead,’ Muldoon began.
‘We were told they had succeeded.’
‘You were misinformed.’ Muldoon slid a look at Tabitha that was apologetic. ‘I have been hoping that you wouldn’t take too long to get here. I had instructed Mr Rumpton at the bank to send a note to you by the end of the week if you didn’t arrive to accept the fortune that I left for you by then.’
‘Why? Why would you do such a thing?’ Tabitha whispered. ‘It would serve you right if I didn’t give it all back to you and kept it for the distress you have caused me.’
Reynold pursed his lips. ‘But I don’t want it back, my dear. That money is yours to keep and use as you wish. It is compensation, say, for all the distress you have been subjected to. Four thousand pounds is nothing to a man as wealthy as I am. In my defence, there is a very credible reason why I chose you to give it to, together with the factory and this house.’
‘I think you had better explain what in the Hell has been going on, Muldoon. The Star Elite take a very dim view of having their time wasted,’ Daniel growled.
‘But your time hasn’t been wasted,’ Reynold argued in tones that were smooth and calming.
‘But we have been investigating a murder of a man who is very much alive,’ Daniel argued, waving a hand at him.
‘You are investigating a man who has received death threats, blackmail notes, and who has been targeted by thieves. Further, I have nearly been murdered by a person or persons unknown.’
Daniel took a sip of his rather fine brandy and slid Tabitha closer. He knew she was shaken at learning that her inheritance wasn’t likely to be hers after all, but rather than feel sorry about it he was relieved. As far as he was concerned, it was up to him to provide for her when they were married, and he intended to do exactly that.
‘I think you had better explain from the beginning what happened. Start from the day that your life was interrupted.’ The cold order in Daniel’s voice was unmistakable but Reynold looked relieved by it rather than annoyed at being ordered about in his own house.
‘I was running my business as usual. Everything was improving and going well. Then, one day, I received a note informing me that a regular customer of mine wasn’t going to be requiring his usual order. That was nothing we couldn’t survive so I barely gave it a second thought. The following day, there was another customer who cancelled their order as well. This customer had been with me from the day I started the business. It was odd because the man was a good friend as well and hadn’t given me any clue that he was unhappy, so I went to see him. He behaved as if he was afraid of me and seemed nervous to even be in my company. That was the first hint that something was wrong, only my friend didn’t seem inclined to want to tell me what worried him. I assured him that the business was sound and that his custom would always be welcome, but he didn’t seem able to get me out of his premises fast enough. Nevertheless, that lost order we could survive as well because the business was in a good financial position. However, I did start to suspect something was going on and so began to re-arrange my financial situation. I moved a lot of the business’s spare money into a private account and began to whittle down the personal funds I kept in an account I used for everyday expenses. I moved most of my fortune to a completely different bank which was unrelated to the business or me personally.’
‘You hid your fortune,’ Daniel murmured. ‘You must have been very suspicious.’
‘I started to pay a little closer attention to what was going on in the factory because of it. When I asked to see the ledgers to my own business, my foreman seemed reluctant to hand them over. Curious to know why, I took a tour of the premises and noticed the stock we had and what orders we were working on. Everything looked perfectly fine and normal, until I went over the ledgers and noticed that some of the figures weren’t accurate.’
‘How?’ Daniel demanded when Reynold paused to take a sip of his brandy.
‘I checked some of the entries of the stock that left the factory against the invoices. We had three skeins dispatched to one customer but only two were ordered and put into the ledger as sold. The third should have been on the factory floor but it wasn’t there. It had been stolen. I suspected my factory foreman but had no proof to confirm it. I tried to keep an eye on the stock after that but couldn’t detect anything wrong and couldn’t pay too much attention without making the culprit suspect I was on to them. So I got a member of staff I could rely on to do daily stock checks for me when the foreman wasn’t around. I chose a worker who didn’t like the foreman very much either. My suspicions were proven right. Before I could challenge the foreman about what he was doing, I was visited by David Lynchgate. He appeared without an appointment and said that he had a very interesting proposition for me, and that I would be a fool to ignore him. I asked him who he was and why he wanted to meet with me. He told me that we had a mutual acquaintance. We had a mutual acquaintance all right. It was my old friend who didn’t want to be a friend anymore.’
‘So you agreed to meet with Lynchgate,’ Tabitha prompted when Reynold stared absently into space as if reliving that first meeting.
‘Lynchgate had the audacity to tell me that he wanted to invest in business in the area and had heard that I had recently lost several large orders. I told him that my business was stable without their custom. Something in that meeting changed, although for the life of me I have never been able to decide what it was. Lynchgate wasn’t sinister. He was straight and direct, just as one would expect in a forthright, confident businessman. I told him that I didn’t need any business partners and wasn’t interested in selling him my business either. Besides, my business was exactly that, my business. He left me his card and told me that when – not if – things got worse I was to send for him. I told him that I would never be in that position. I wasn’t going to discuss my financial affairs with a stranger. He left. It wasn’t until he had gone that I realised he had said ‘when’ things get worse. That played on my mind.’
‘They got worse,’ Daniel murmured.
‘Quite quickly, I am afraid. The day after Lynchgate’s visit, a major customer of ours cancelled their order. I knew then that Lynchgate had done his homework and found out who our clients were.’
‘To do that he had to have a contact inside your factory who was giving him information about your customers,’ Daniel mused.
‘Exactly. I immediately suspected the foreman but again had to get proof. I couldn’t trust anybody. I had no doubt that Lynchgate was worrying the customers into cancelling their orders. What I didn’t know was what he was telling them about me.’ Reynold ran a weary hand down his face. ‘I did the only thing I could think of doing and took Lynchgate up on his offer. He was trying to damage me financially, so I pretended that I had no choice but to turn to him for his supposed help, just to see what he was really after. He couldn’t be stupid enough to want to invest in a business he was determined to damage.’
‘He was waiting for you to contact him,’ Tabitha said. ‘And intended to keep damaging your business until you did.’
‘I had no idea which customer was going to cancel his order next. Anyway, I took the bull by the horns as it were and went to see one or two of our remaining clients. I forewarned them about Lynchgate, and the damage he was doing to me. They promised me that they would not cancel. Curious to know why Lynchgate had chosen to target my business, I began to make enquiries about him. A few locals in town said that the only Lynchgate they had heard of was a Tabitha Lynchgate who lived in Fenley Lodge. Discrete enquiries left me in no doubt that you had lived in the village for nigh on a decade, had rarely left, and had no connection to your father. Moreover, some said that your aunt h
ad made it clear that you didn’t like him. I was curious to know why but nobody seemed to have any idea. What I did know was that I couldn’t let the man destroy my business. Having secured the customers I could, I then tried to find a way to catch the traitors in our midst. It was then that I started to get death threats, and blackmail letters. At first, I dismissed them as scaremongering I wasn’t prepared to pay attention to. I left some of them in the paperwork for someone to find when they went through the contents of my office.’
‘We found them, but they were rather vague,’ Tabitha confirmed.
‘The contents were not all that threatening, but their appearance and frequency were.’
‘And they began to get more sinister. We found several notes but didn’t find any death threats,’ Daniel said.
Reynold stood and went over to the bookshelf closest to him. Selecting one of the books, he opened it and removed two folded pieces of paper before he slid the book back onto the shelf.
‘That is a very clever hiding place. One would be here for hours searching for a piece of paper hidden in that lot,’ Daniel mused.
‘One has to know which title to look for,’ Reynold murmured handing the notes to Daniel. ‘Read on then.’
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Daniel read the notes. Some were quite explicit and detailed what would happen to Reynold in the coming weeks. Concerned by the gruesomeness of the content, Daniel contemplated whether to hand them to Tabitha, but she took them off him before he could stop her. Tabitha gasped in horror at what she read.
‘How sick,’ she gulped, dropping them onto a side table as if tainted by the poisonous content.
‘They were meant to scare you,’ Daniel assured Reynold.
‘But then I was physically attacked. About two weeks after Lynchgate had visited me I received the second note. The first had forewarned of the damage and made it clear it would continue. The second made it clear that I had to decide whether to turn to Lynchgate for help. I did neither. I think that prompted things to get worse. I received the first of those notes a week before I was attacked. One day, I had worked late and was on my way back to my lodgings when I realised that I was being followed. Initially, it was the sound of footsteps behind me that alerted me to the fact that I wasn’t alone, but I couldn’t see anybody. I tried not to get unnerved, but the contents of the notes had worried me. I was focusing on the noises behind me and didn’t see the man who stepped into my path. Naturally, we fought. Through the grace of God, I was able to break free and ran for my life. It made me realise that the killer wasn’t just trying to scare me. He meant to do what he had written.’ Reynold pointed to the graphic notes. ‘But I still didn’t know if Lynchgate was behind this or someone linked to the foreman. Angry, when I knew the foreman was at work, I went to see his wife and asked where her husband had been. She, and a neighbour, both confirmed the man had been at home and hadn’t left the house.’