Apathy and Vigor

by Faye Hall

  She placed her hands on top of his, molding them against her stomach. “I can’t go back to Bastian now anyway. It’s not going to be long before he figures out we’ve been sharing a bed again. I can’t risk that happening.”

  He was confused. “I don’t understand. I would have assumed that would have been part of his plan?”

  “Bastian planned for so many things to happen when he sent me here to your station and back into your life,” she said softly. “The only thing he never planned for was me carrying your child.”

  “What?” he asked, spinning her around to face him.

  “He took our last baby away from us. I can’t risk him doing that again.”

  His hands moved down to Amalie’s stomach. “We’re going to have a baby?”

  She nodded. “That’s why I’ve been so dizzy of late.”

  Holding her to him, he kissed her passionately. Feeling her hands going under his shirt and stroking his skin, he broke their embrace. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he muttered. “But nor do I think I can refuse you.”

  She pushed his shirt to the floor. “I don’t want you to refuse me.”

  Amalie kissed his chest, her tongue licking at the scars there. He wanted to pull her away from them, embarrassed by how his skin now looked, but feeling her caressing him, her fingers pulling at the fastening of his trousers, he couldn’t.

  “Please, Tristen,” she begged, lifting her head to look at him. “If you are gentle with me…”

  Her soft words were his undoing. Pulling her to him, he kissed her hungrily, his hands ripping her clothing from her.

  * * * *

  Lying together afterward, Amalie’s fingers traced over the scars on Tristen’s chest. His hand came up to her, stopping her caressing hand.

  She looked up at him. “They are just scars.”

  His hand squeezed hers. “Yet every time you look at me, that is all you will be able to see.”

  She kissed his chest lightly. “What I see is you,” she explained. “When you hold me, I smell your skin and it intoxicates my senses. You are my everything, Tristen. You always have been.”

  “But the fire..”

  “What of it?” she asked. “I know you didn’t light it.”

  “How can you be so certain?”

  “Despite what everyone told me about what happened, I remember seeing a man with fair hair and wearing a suit running from the back of the cottage the night of the fire.”

  His caressing hand in her hair stilled. “It was you who saw them?” he asked.

  She nodded. “And I’m certain the man had fair hair. Even Carter saw him. He was walking me out to the gardens to meet with you when it all happened.”

  “He was with you?” he asked. “He was with you all evening?”

  “Most of it. Why?”

  “Bastian told me a woman was seen running from the shed that night. He suggested that you had every reason to want me dead after learning of my engagement to Amanda.”

  She was confused. “But that doesn’t make any sense. I told him what I saw and where I was that night. I also told him I had known about Amanda since not long after your engagement was announced.”

  “Was it after the fire that Bastian asked you to marry him?”

  She shook her head. “He came to the station practically every day to see me. Each time he would talk to me about marriage and how he and I would make a profitable couple. It was a week or so after the fire that my father told me I was engaged to Bastian.”

  His hands ran affectionately along her arm. “Helen told me he did a similar thing to Amanda before her death. Apparently he was seen by a servant following Amanda into the cottage the night of the fire.”

  “I just don’t understand why,” she said. “I mean, Amanda was engaged to you and sleeping with my brother. I made it quite clear to him that I had no interest in being his wife either.”

  “But as far as he knew, both of you women had money and properties.”

  “He told me you stole his estates from him. Is that true?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Of a kind. When I heard of your engagement and the reason your father was going along with it, I wanted to reveal him for the lying bastard he was. When he came to see me after the fire, telling me I would be shot if I came to try and see you again, I wanted to show him that despite my injuries, I was still capable of being a far more powerful businessman than he would ever be.”

  “But stealing?”

  “I didn’t steal them,” he said. “I merely bought them when they were being repossessed by the people he’d borrowed money from.”

  “You said you were friends of a kind when you were younger. Maybe this all has something to do with what happened then?” she asked.

  “We merely went to school together. We weren’t friends as such. Our fathers did do some business together that didn’t end well. And then there was…” His words drifted off.

  “Then there was what?”

  “The day of the fire, before I came to meet you, Jacob was helping me unload a dray of hay. Bastian and his father came out to the station. Old Mr. Tanner went inside to see my father, and Bastian came over to us. He mentioned that business mustn’t be good if I was shifting hay instead of one of the workers. A few minutes later, the old man stormed out of the house, calling Bastian to follow. He looked as if whatever happened between he and my father didn’t end well.”

  “Do you think all of this might be because of some bad business deal?”

  “What if it’s because of many bad business deals?” he asked. “What if Bastian blames me for ruining his family?”

  “But you didn’t ruin them, did you?”

  He shook his head. “Bastian’s father had no head for business. He made so many bad deals and he cost most who did business with him a lot of money, including my father. I guess when his father finally lost everything, Bastian thought it was us who caused it and he wanted me to pay dearly for it.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Are you suggesting Bastian was the one who lit the fire that night?”

  “I’m thinking he may have, but he didn’t plan for both myself and Jacob to be caught inside.”

  “What about Amanda?” she asked. “She lost her life that night too.”

  “You said Carter was with you most of the night and saw the man running from the cottage. I wonder if he also knew Bastian was following Amanda, trying to corner her?”

  “I was going to go into town in the morning to see if he had any more information for me. I can ask him if you’d like?”

  “What I’d like is to go with you and speak to Carter myself.”

  Chapter 16

  The next morning, Tristen and Amalie stepped out of the carriage in front of Carter’s house.

  “Are you sure about this?” she asked.

  Tristen nodded. “This visit is long overdue.”

  They walked up to the door and rang the bell. A few moments later, Carter opened the door, an uneasy look on his face.

  “I was told you never leave your station house, Tristen. I suppose I should feel honored.”

  “I was wondering what you can tell me about Bastian Tanner?” Tristen asked.

  Carter looked confused. “You have come here after almost a year just to ask me about the son of our fathers’ old business partner?”

  Amalie reached out to Carter, her hand resting on his arm. “We think Bastian might be the one you and I saw running from the back of the cottage that night. Please, can we come in? We will explain everything.”

  Though he hesitated a moment, Carter finally leaned back against the door and gestured for them to come inside.

  “Let me get this straight. You think it was Bastian who lit the fire?”

  “I am many things, but I am not a murderer. Despite my lack of interest in your sister and our engagement, I certainly didn’t wish the woman dead.” Tristen’s hand went to the scars on his face. “I tried to carry her and Jacob out of the cottage, but the glass started explodin
g around me, and then the smoke…” He stopped, shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath to reorganize his thoughts. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked straight at Carter. “I was told Bastian was following your sister around the night of the fire. That she ended up escaping outside to be free of him. A servant saw him follow her inside the cottage.”

  Carter went to the drinks tray on the nearby sideboard and poured himself a drink, gulping it down. “She told me about Bastian, but I told her she was overreacting. I thought she was just irritated by his attentions because it hindered her from going outside to meet Jacob.” He poured another drink and sculled it. “How can you be so sure Bastian was the one who lit the fire though?”

  “We think Jacob’s death was a mistake. The fire was meant for Tristen,” Amalie explained. “Amanda was trapped in the cottage as bait. Bastian wouldn’t have realized at the time that she was more bait for my brother.”

  “But why?” Carter asked.

  “The Tanners did business with both our fathers, right?” Tristen waited until Carter nodded before continuing. “My father got involved with some bad deals with Bastian’s dad. It cost our family a lot of money.”

  “Mine too,” Carter admitted. “Father quickly cut all ties to them and warned anyone else of ever becoming involved with them.”

  “My father did the same thing,” Tristen revealed. “Then the day of the fire, Bastian and his father came out to my station. A few minutes later the old man stormed off.”

  “He needed money,” Carter said. “He came here too. Told my father that he was about to be declared bankrupt and everything he owned repossessed to cover the money he owed. He begged Father to loan him some money for old times’ sake. Even handed him a piece of paper to sign, some contract for some deal he reckoned would make him thousands. Father refused and had Bastian and his father escorted from the estate.”

  “It all makes sense now,” Tristen muttered in barely more than a whisper. “He must have thought with enough people dead, he would be able to just walk in and reclaim what he believed was rightfully his.”

  “But why kill my sister?” Carter asked. “We don’t have his deed papers.”

  “Bastian must have found out before the party that his family was about to lose everything. I dare say he thought if he could convince Amanda to marry him, he would have enough money from her dowry to stop from falling into poverty.”

  “Amanda would never have entertained the idea,” Carter said. “Even if she hadn’t already been in a relationship with Jacob, I remember her telling me that Bastian’s desperate attempts made her skin crawl.”

  “It was the same with me,” Amalie added. “It still is too.”

  Carter’s gaze narrowed. “You’re still associated with Bastian?” he asked. “Even after what he did to you that day?”

  She nodded slowly. “He’s been blackmailing me, threatening to go to the police if I didn’t help him.”

  “That’s why she’s at my station,” Tristen explained. “He sent her to me to steal back some property papers.”

  “Why would he think you had them?” Carter asked.

  “Because I do,” Tristen admitted. “I bought them after I learned he’d become engaged to Amalie. Everything he owned was repossessed by the molly house to cover the huge debts he owed them. I bought them fair and square.”

  “Does Bastian know you have them?”

  Tristen nodded.

  “Then I would be very careful if I was you,” Carter warned. “If you are right and Bastian is the one responsible for all this horror, he will stop at nothing to get those papers from you. He may even want to finish what he started the night of the fire and kill you both.”

  Silence fell between the three of them. Tristen felt Amalie grab hold of his arm, her hand going to his, their fingers lacing.

  “What if we give Bastian back the papers he’s so desperate for?” she asked, fear noticeable in her tone. “If we give him back what he wants, then maybe he will be happy to just go his own way.”

  Tristen studied her. “What if I’m right? What if Bastian is the one who killed Jacob and Amanda?”

  She squeezed his hand tightly. “I’m scared of what will happen if Bastian finds us.”

  His other arm went around her, pulling her close to him. “I won’t let him hurt you.”

  “What was Bastian blackmailing you with, Amalie?” Carter asked.

  Letting go of Tristen, she turned to face him. “He saw me running from Albert Heather’s house the night he was murdered. When he went inside, he saw Albert lying beside the bed with a letter opener in his gut. He threatened to go straight to the police should I not help him with his vendetta against Tristen.”

  Carter looked like he was deep in thought. “Did you never wonder what Bastian was doing out near the Heather’s estate?” he finally asked.

  “What are you saying?” Tristen asked.

  Carter pursed his lips. “Albert used to do business with Bastian after old man Tanner died. From what I was told, Albert pulled out of the deal before any money could be exchanged. Bastian was furious and vowed he would get his revenge against the old man.”

  “But it was me who hit Albert across the head with a vase,” she explained.

  “And what of the bottle of digitalis that was found near his body?”

  “Bottle of what?” she asked.

  Tristen’s hands rested on her shoulders. “There was a bottle of digitalis found in the room Albert’s body was in. The police think whoever murdered him intended to poison him but there must have been a struggle.”

  “I’ve never poisoned anyone,” she said. “I wouldn’t even know how to.”

  “And what about the letter opener?” Carter asked.

  She shrugged. “Bastian told me he must have fallen on it when he rolled off the bed.”

  “And the letter opener was balancing on the floor perfectly so as to stab straight into the old man’s gut?”

  Amalie glanced back at Tristen. “What is he saying?”

  Tristen’s hands sat against her tummy, holding her against him. “What he’s saying is you didn’t murder anyone. Bastian set you up to make you think you were guilty. You were too scared to think otherwise.”

  He felt her body trembling and the slight sobs coming from her. “He used me,” she cried. “And what for? Just for some property papers?”

  “People like Bastian care little for who they need to use to get what they want,” Carter explained.

  Her hand went to her head. “I want to go home. I don’t feel well.”

  Receiving Carter’s confused stare, Tristen felt he needed some explanation. “She’s with child.”

  Carter’s eyes widened, a smile spreading across his face as he stepped toward them, reaching out to shake Tristen’s hand. Leaning into Amalie, he kissed her cheek.

  “You best take her home so she can rest. All this stress can’t be good for her or the baby.”

  As Tristen turned to walk Amalie toward the door, Carter reached out, grabbing his arm.

  “You need to protect her at all cost,” Carter whispered close to Tristen’s ear. “Bastian took one child from her. I don’t think she could survive that happening again, and that bastard will show no mercy until he has what he wants from you.”

  Nodding in understanding, Tristen led Amalie out to the carriage. Helping her inside, he ordered the driver to take them home immediately.

  Arriving back at the station, Tristen and Amalie stepped out of the carriage at the front of the house. As he helped her toward the door, he stopped and looked around.

  “Something’s not right,” he muttered. “Where’s the police officer that was left here?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe he got called back to the station.”

  Opening the door, they stepped inside. “I’ll make sure you are comfortable in your room before I send word for my lawyer to get out here as fast as he can. He needs to know about what happened the night of Albert’s death, and Bastian’s connecti
on to him. If anyone can help us, it will be Douglas.”

  They walked through the house and up the stairs. Amalie stopped at the top of the stairs. “What happens if your lawyer can’t help me?”

  Before he could answer her, there was a shuffling noise coming from down the hallway toward his study.

  “Sshh,” he whispered, his finger going to his lips, motioning her silence. Holding her hand in his, he stepped quietly down the hallway, stopping near the open door of the study. Signaling for Amalie to wait where she was, he stepped into the room, his gaze immediately going to the male figure rummaging through the papers on the floor. “You son of a bitch!”

  The man on the floor looked up, startled that he had been discovered.

  “Bastian?” Amalie asked, coming to stop beside Tristen.

  “Where are they, you bastard?” Bastian yelled. “I want my family’s deed papers, and I want them now!”

  Tristen reached for Amalie and pulled her safely behind him. “The properties were repossessed. I stole nothing. All I did was buy up property that was for sale. Had you wanted them back, all you ever had to do was buy them back from me.”

  Bastian laughed. “You must really think I am a fool if you assume I would give you money for something that was rightfully mine.”

  “You are something if you felt it easier to kill people just to get your hands on their properties.”

  Bastian’s laughter faded. “I’m smarter than you think. Smart enough to make sure it was you who took the blame for the deaths of those people.”

  “If you killed Jacob and my father for my family’s properties, why then turn around and help me?” she asked.

  “You stupid bint. I only kept you hidden so no one would realize I was near the house of the very man I needed dead.”

  “Carter was right. You were going to see Albert that night.”

  “He owed me, and he was going to pay up if you hadn’t interfered and struck him. When I walked in and found him bleeding from the gash on his head, I had no choice but to finish him off. Had he lived, he would have told everyone I sent you there to kill him in revenge for him terminating our business matters. I couldn’t let that happen.”