Shattered Dreams

by King, Rebecca

  He saw her frown and knew she didn’t understand.

  “I haven’t purchased a house before because my work takes me all over the country, and really hasn’t allowed me to put down roots.”

  “It’s a dangerous job,” she said quietly.

  “It comes with its risks, yes,” he replied. There was no point in lying to her. Although he didn’t want to scare her, she couldn’t have her head in the clouds and be blind to the reality of what could happen to him.

  “Will you do it? Will you help me?” He asked bluntly. He would never tell her, but he had no idea whether the place was run down and full of his cousin’s old things, or empty and a pristine palace. It was of little consequence really, as long as he could get her there.

  “I would love to,” she whispered. She had no idea why she agreed so readily, she just knew that it was the right thing to do. In spite of her best efforts, tears began to well. It felt as though a huge weight had suddenly been lifted off her shoulders and she struggled to control the surge of relief that swept through her.

  “Don’t cry,” he murmured when a single tear began to trickle slowly down her face.

  When she sniffed, and her chin began to quiver, he drew her into his arms, and sighed when she immediately nestled against him as naturally as if they had been together for years.

  “I am sorry. It is just -” she hiccupped.

  “I know,” he whispered. Now that he had suggested her accompanying him to Cumbria, he knew that it was the right thing to do. He wouldn’t settle until he knew that she was somewhere safe and warm, where she was fed, clothed, and looked after. She needed security and somewhere where she knew she could stay for as long as she wanted.

  The kiss they had shared the other day had merely confirmed his suspicion that he was in no position to ever say goodbye to her and send her on her way by herself. As a result, he had to work with the emotions she created within him rather than pretend they weren’t there. Decision made, he now had to make her understand their future together was already cast in stone.

  Getting her to agree to go to Cumbria was just the first step in a very long road toward securing their future together.

  “I am sorry,” Tilly whispered several moments later. “Your shirt is all wet.” She brushed the moisture off his shoulder, and threw him a shaky smile.

  “Never felt a thing,” he teased. “I know the house in Cumbria isn’t anything like the grandeur of Attingham House you are used to, but I can promise you that you will have a place there for as long as you need it.”

  “I don’t want you to feel responsible for me,” she warned. “I mean, you are not the one who sent me that letter. You have no need to correct any wrong.”

  “I know, but you deserve more than the cruel hand Fate has dealt you,” he leaned back to look deep into her eyes. “We can help each other out now because I have to be honest with you, I have absolutely no idea how to sort a house out.”

  She smiled at him and knew he was lying. A man like Harry was able to deal with any situation life threw at him, but she appreciated his gesture.

  “Thank you,” she whispered and, when she felt tears being to build again she quickly blinked them away around a wobbly sigh.

  “Zack will come with us,” he assured her. “When we are done here, we can leave Tooting Mallow behind and never set eyes on the place again. For now, try and get some sleep.”

  He took a moment to drop a tender kiss on her startled lips but, thankfully, she didn’t protest.

  “I will say goodnight then,” she whispered.

  “Goodnight, Tilly,” he replied huskily, and carefully released her.

  He poured himself a brandy while she walked to the door.

  Till looked back at him from the doorway. “Did you find out where the Dandridges’ have moved to?”

  Harry nodded slowly but didn’t expand.

  Tilly studied him for a moment but suspected that even if she asked, he wouldn’t tell her. It wasn’t because he wanted to keep secrets; it was just that she was better off not knowing.

  “He is still in the area, sweetheart. So we are going to make sure that all of the doors and windows are locked, and everyone has someone with them at all times. I don’t want anyone going anywhere alone. Now that you don’t need a broadsheet, you have no need to go anywhere by yourself.”

  She nodded, but strangely didn’t feel all that worried about the Dandridges’ anymore. She knew that Harry and his friends were working hard, all hours of the day and night in fact, to protect everyone and keep them safe.

  “Goodnight, Harry,” she murmured gently.

  “Goodnight darling,” he whispered and watched the door close behind her.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Harry lifted the window, and was relieved that the rumbling noise it made was barely audible. He hefted Joseph in first and then quickly slid into the room himself before he quietly closed it behind him.

  They took a moment to study what appeared to be a sitting room within the huge mansion. In its heyday it would have been opulent. Now though, it was quite clear that nobody had cleaned it for some time. A thick layer of dust lay over all of the surfaces, including the floor, and hung in the very air they breathed. It had an air of neglect about it that assured them both that they were in a room that was barely used.

  Joseph motioned to the door across the room, and they each skirted around the assorted old furniture as they made their way toward it. At the rear of the house they could hear the low murmur of voices, and stopped in the doorway to listen.

  “It’s got to be soon, I tell you. We are going to miss the drop-off if we wait around here much longer. We have been here too long already,” Charles Dandridge growled.

  “I told you from the very beginning that bringing that girl here was a mistake. I told her too, but she didn’t listen to me either. If we had just left her with him, or made sure she got out of town, then none of this would have happened.”

  “You stupid woman, we need her here. Mavis has chosen her,” Charles snapped in disgust.

  “It’s planned for next week. If we move them now then we will have to keep them for several days, and I am no babysitter,” Roberta Dandridge replied with a derisive snort.

  “You will damned well do as you are told, and shut up about it,” Charles Dandridge sneered unpleasantly.

  “Don’t you speak to me like that,” Robert replied loudly.

  “Oh, shut up woman. I will speak to you any way I damned well please.”

  “One of these days I am going to give you exactly what you deserve. I have seen you with that floozy; visiting her as often as you please and thinking that I don’t know about it. Everyone sees you in there all the time,” Roberta raged. “Now you are turning your attentions to her. You really think that someone like her would look twice at a man like you.”

  “Shut up, I tell you. I will have whoever I want, whenever I want, and there is damned all you can do about it.”

  The loud scrape of a chair being shoved across the floor broke the brief moment of silence before the argument resumed.

  “You push me, and you will regret it,” Roberta challenged in a voice that was cold and hard.

  “Do your worst you damned witch, or pipe down. I will have her, or my name is not Charles Dandridge.”

  Harry shared a look with Joseph. To his consternation, the crunch of gravel out front heralded the arrival of someone new. With nowhere else to hide, they remained frozen in place while they waited to see who it was.

  “Are you two arguing again?” A woman demanded as she slammed into the house. “Good Lord, I have no idea why you two stay together. If you hate each other so much, go and find someone else, both of you.”

  Harry peered through the narrow gap between the door and the door jamb, and studied the new arrival. He knew with just one glance that it was the woman who had recommended the non-existent job to Tilly. Although the hair was red as opposed to dark brown, the stocky build, and the age, matched Till
y’s description. Undoubtedly, the new arrival was the woman who had introduced herself to Tilly as Mrs Bolsworthy.

  “They are bickering again about when we should move,” Cruickshank growled.

  “We move when I am ready, and not before,” the woman declared firmly. Her announcement was followed by a rapid clip of heels that disappeared into the room opposite. To Harry’s disgust, everyone followed her into what appeared to be the study and, for a moment, he lost the gist of their conversation.

  He had no choice if he wanted to hear what they were discussing now, so crept slowly out into the hallway and stood directly outside the door. He knew that if anyone came out of the room they would practically run into him, but there was little he could do. Overhearing their conversation was of paramount importance right now, because he rather suspected that the group were, somewhat unwittingly, on the cusp of answering several of his questions.

  “Look, I can’t get in now. We know they are still there but I just can’t get to them. I know that place like the back of my hand, and I am telling you that nobody can get inside without being caught. The damned magistrate has that building locked up tighter than the Vicar’s purse strings,” Cruickshank snapped. “The place is run by jailers from Battlington now, and I don’t know any of them. None of us do.”

  Silence settled within the room. Harry looked at Joseph, who shrugged. He tried to peer round the door, but winced when the floor board beneath his boot flexed a little beneath his weight. Although it didn’t squeak, it was too dangerous to risk making a noise, and alerting anyone to their presence. Together, they slowly crept backward, into the room directly opposite. Although the conversation in the study was now muted, it was thankfully, still audible.

  “Right, so let’s forget them,” the woman announced in a tone that warned everyone her decision was final. “We still have the other three.”

  The small hairs on the back of Harry’s neck stood on end, and he shared a look with Joseph. They both knew that ‘other three’ the woman referred to; Tilly, Zack and Suzanna.

  To Harry’s disgust, the woman didn’t mention what she wanted the ‘other three’ for.

  “You want us to get them?” Charles Dandridge asked dully.

  “Of course I bloody well want you to get them. They are no good to us where they are,” the woman snapped.

  “That man is strange,” Mrs Dandridge grumbled.

  Harry lifted his brows and wondered if she was talking about him.

  “You are strange,” Bolsworthy replied tartly. “Now, if you think you can get them without bundling this job too then please do so.”

  Harry wished he knew what the hell her real name was because he was fairly certain that it wasn’t Bolsworthy. He was also confident, given her decidedly West Country accent, that she was not aristocracy either. What connection she had to Lady Attingham, or how she happened to come into contact with the three people she had ‘selected’, heaven only knew.

  He cursed silently when silence fell over the room again. Were they planning when to strike? Frustrated that he now couldn’t hear what was being said, Harry was on the verge of creeping back out into the hallway to get closer, when Joseph suddenly leaned forward until his lips almost touched Harry’s ear.

  “We need to go upstairs and take a look around while they are busy,” he breathed.

  “I want to check the servant’s quarters to see if the Dandridges’ are actually living here,” Harry replied with a sigh. “We need to hear what they are planning though.”

  They crept closer to the study door again. The conversation within the room suddenly resumed, and became heated when Dandridge began to demand payment for something. Cruickshank entered the argument, as did Roberta Dandridge and, together, they created a din within the room that was a heady cacophony from which nothing of any use could be heard.

  While everybody was bickering, Harry and Joseph hurried off to gather as much information as they could. Unfortunately, they were both busy searching their allotted rooms, and didn’t see Dandridge and Cruickshank slip quietly out of the front door, and disappear down the driveway.

  Barnaby stood in the shadows and yawned widely as boredom began to take hold. He looked at his fob again, and watched a middle-aged woman, who matched the description Tilly had given them of Mrs Bolsworthy, walk through the front door but, other than that, this had to be the most boring watch he had ever undertaken.

  Suddenly, the front door opened, and Dandridge and Cruickshank left the house. Barnaby watched them walk down the driveway, and disappear toward town.

  He glanced at the house for a moment and contemplated what to do. He didn’t want to leave his colleagues unsupported, just in case there was a problem. However, he suspected that the ex-butler, and the ex-warden, were up to something, and knew that if the Star Elite lost them now, anything could happen.

  He threw the house one last measured look, and made his way through the trees after them.

  Tilly sighed and pegged the shirt onto the line high above her. She had to reach up on tip-toe and really stretch, and suddenly wished that Harry was around to help.

  Unfortunately, he had gone out just before dawn and she had no idea when he would be back. It felt strangely domesticated to think about him coming ‘home’, and it made her happy just to think about it.

  She sighed as she thought of him, and couldn’t prevent the small smile that softened her features as the memory of last week came flooding back. It had been simply wonderful, and completely different to her first week in Tooting Mallow.

  To think that she was now embroiled in a government investigation was a little unnerving but, at no point during her time at the Rectory had she ever felt threatened, or in danger. Quite the opposite was true in fact. She now had food whenever she wanted it, within a house that was amiable and welcoming, and there was always someone nearby to help if there was a problem.

  Her musings were interrupted by the sound of Zack, who was inside rolling marbles along the kitchen floor. He really was such a sweet boy, and so willing to help out around the house that he had endeared himself to all of them. Even Harry and his friends had put themselves out to make him feel a part of their ‘group’, and took turns teasing him mercilessly whenever they were on watch.

  The young boy took it all in his stride and had blossomed at the attention. It wasn’t just the darkness that had faded from his young eyes; but the way he had filled out and lost his near skeletal look, assured everyone that he would suffer little long-term effects from his time in the poor house.

  Tilly was pleased for him, and turned her attention back to the washing with a soft sigh. She reached down into the basket to pick up another shirt only to stare in confusion at the now empty space. Her mouth opened when she noticed that it was now further down the line, beneath washing she had already pegged out. She stared at it for several long minutes before she headed toward it.

  Was Harry playing a trick on her? She shook her head and reached down to pick up a shirt.

  “There is someone at the door,” Zack called.

  She turned and peered through the kitchen door, and watched Marcus disappear into the hallway. Satisfied that she was alright to keep pegging the washing out, she turned back to reach for her tin of pegs only to gasp in horror when she looked straight into the cold eyes of Charles Dandridge mere inches away.

  “Wha-”

  Her scream was immediately smothered by the large hand he smacked ruthlessly over her mouth. Before she could blink, she was swept off her feet, and half-carried, half-dragged across the garden, toward the trees at the edge of the property. She stared in horror at the thick trunks of the huge oak trees that stood like waiting arms, held out in readiness to swallow her up. The sight was sinister enough for panic to take hold, and she began to struggle in a desperate attempt not to let him take her in there.

  She kicked out. She kicked backwards. She dug her boots into the soft ground at the same time that she clawed desperately at the hard palm across her mou
th. When it didn’t move, she opened her mouth enough so that she could sink her teeth into the soft flesh of her captor’s palm, and sucked in a deep lungful of air when he immediately cursed and removed his hand so he could look down at his bruised flesh.

  “You damned bitch,” he snarled.

  Tilly wasn’t listening. She sucked in a huge breath and screamed as loudly as she could. Her desperate gaze was locked on the sanctuary of the house behind her, and thankfully saw Suzanna appear briefly in the kitchen doorway with a look of horror on her face.

  To Tilly, it felt as if she was looking at everything in a dream. She watched a second man, Cruickshank; appear at the side of the house. He ran around the building so quickly that Suzanna never knew what hit her. Tilly wanted to cry out to warn her friend, but the cruel hand Dandridge had repositioned over mouth prevented everything but a muffled murmur.

  Determined that Dandridge wasn’t going to get his own way, Tilly stomped down hard on his foot and was immediately rewarded by his yowl of pain. She yanked her head to one side and drew in a deep breath.

  “Get off me you bastard,” Tilly snarled, and turned her attention to trying to get him to release his hold around her waist.

  “Shut up. You are coming with me.”

  Tilly looked up and saw Cruickshank running toward them with Suzanna’s limp body draped over his beefy shoulder. Unsure where Zack was, and unable to gain her freedom, she opened her mouth and screamed again.

  Marcus suddenly raced around the side of the house toward them with his gun drawn in readiness.

  Relieved that help was on its way, Tilly began to fight harder. Unfortunately, her weight was no match for Dandridge’s bulk, and she couldn’t stop him, but she continued to squirm and wriggle anyway.

  “Pack it in,” Dandridge growled.

  Tilly didn’t hear him though. She was lost in a desperate battle for freedom. Fear threatened to suck her under but, she knew that for her sake, and Suzanna’s, she couldn’t let panic take hold. If she did, they would both be doomed to whatever fate Dandridge and his cohort had in store for them. With her thoughts locked firmly upon Harry, she gritted her teeth and continued to struggle.