by Rebecca King
“He is in debt. He told me that much,” she reminded him.
“Yes, he told you that, but let me just ask you a few things?” When she nodded he thought for a moment. “How did he find the house here, the hovel? Do you know?”
“I knew nothing about it, but we came here we didn’t go to any agent or anything, so I really have no idea how he learned of the house.”
“Did you go straight to it when you got off the carriage?”
She nodded. “Clarence had the address written down, but who it came from I don’t know.”
“He didn’t meet with a landlord when you moved in?”
“We didn’t meet with anyone.” Poppy frowned and sat upright. “Now that I come to think about it, he knew where to find the key. It was behind a loose brick on the wall just beside the back door.”
“You didn’t go to a tavern or something first?”
“Clarence said we didn’t have any money to pay for luxuries like that. The house was sparse, I can tell you. There was barely any wood for the fires. We had practically no money to buy food. Even when we had the bag full of money, he took out only enough to buy bottles of rum for himself, and gave me the smallest amount to pay for a loaf of bread. There was never much in the way of food. I had to go out and buy whatever I could afford, but only with pennies, you understand. The rest remained untouched.”
“Until the day you packed it up and took it to the park,” Luke finished for her.
“The day after I collected the money from Peter, a note was pushed under the door. Clarence read it and instructed me deliver the money to a man in the park first thing in the morning. I asked why because I thought the money was for debts back in Cumbria. Clarence told me that his concern was to deal with the debts first. We could discuss Cumbria later.”
Luke tugged her back into his arms and tucked her beneath the warm covers. “Can you remember much about the stranger who delivered the note? What did he look like?”
“I didn’t see anybody. The note just appeared one day. Someone pushed it under the door.”
Luke nodded. “So, Clarence then put pressure on you went to make the payment in the park.”
“I didn’t want to. I knew it was foolish to go out without a chaperone but I wanted to get back to Cumbria. I also wanted to see who the creditor was more than anything. In the end, by the time I reached the meeting point I had almost talked myself out of it. Then those pick-pockets appeared. By the time the body turned up, I knew then that I wasn’t going to meet with anyone in a park. I don’t know why the contact didn’t turn up for the money though.”
“I think the person you were supposed to give the money to was the man I chased out of the woods,” Luke said. Now that he came to think about the size of the attacker last night was similar to the man who had hidden in the trees.
“What happened when you left? Did you see anyone?”
Poppy shook her head. “I went straight back to the hovel. I told Clarence I had handed the money over but hid it in the kitchen cupboard. Someone called around, but Clarence didn’t answer the door. He tried to get me to answer it, but I refused.”
“Was he worried, or scared?”
Now that she came to think about it, Clarence had looked worried. “He wasn’t trembling with fear or anything like that. He was just determined not to answer the door. It was like he knew who it was and knew he wouldn’t like what they had to say to him, so he never bothered to answer it.”
“Did you get a good look at them?”
Poppy shook her head. “There was only an outline through the glass but it was distorted. I was more pre-occupied with what I was going to do, and whether Clarence would find out I still had the money.” She paused for a moment and thought carefully. “Do you think he has contacts in London?”
Luke nodded. “It looks like it. I also think that Clarence is an entirely separate entity to the body in the park. That is part of our investigation into Sayers. The issues with Clarence are an enigma in their own right but have nothing to do with the Star Elite’s investigation into the burglaries.”
“I am sorry. I have brought so much trouble to your door.”
Luke grinned at her. “We are used to it.”
“Do you think the man is out to kill Clarence?” She frowned when Luke slowly shook his head.
He didn’t want to frighten her but had to make her understand. “The man, the attacker, whoever he is, is after you. The fact that Clarence, who has ostensibly been living all alone in that hovel in Camden, is alive is a testament that the attacker doesn’t want him.”
“So he could be connected to Clarence.”
“Exactly. Because Clarence accosted you in the street outside of the coaching office, we have to assume that the two, and the woman in the coaching yard, are all linked.”
“My own father would want me dead?” She felt sick at the very notion, but then Clarence had never hidden the fact that he hated her. “He did say that he couldn’t wait to off-load me because I had been a burden to him for too long.”
“I am not saying it is him, but it looks likely,” Luke whispered. When he saw the tears in his eyes he immediately hugged her. “I am sorry, Poppy. It is my investigator’s head talking. I am thinking things through aloud. I don’t mean to upset you. I know this must be difficult because this is your father we are talking about.”
“It is all right,” she assured him. “I know he is my father. Although he has always been cold, I just never thought he would be this ruthless.”
“Where money is involved, people have been known to do incredibly nonsensical acts of violence that have driven them to criminality. The Star Elite investigate matters like this so we can, and will, get to the bottom of what Clarence is up to. Let Toby do his work. Once we have a list of the people Clarence is in contact with we can piece everything together, and will know if the assailant last night has anything to do with your sire.”
Poppy nodded, but couldn’t stem the flow of tears that trickled steadily down her face.
“I am sorry, Poppy,” he murmured huskily.
“It isn’t that. I came close to dying,” she whispered. “That man could have killed me, and I would never have had the chance to experience this – you – me – us.”
Luke couldn’t argue because it was the truth. The knowledge of just how close he had come to losing her just made him more determined to keep her safe. Now that he had started to get her to trust him, they were closer than ever before, and it was wonderful. He had never had this closeness with another human being and, until now, hadn’t been sure he ever wanted it. To share moments like this, where the investigator in him was able to put his boots by the door and focus on the pleasure of the here and now, and the woman in his arms he cared about. It proved just how much Poppy had changed the way he viewed life.
For the first time since he had joined the army many, many moons ago, he felt as though he wanted to stop, rest for a while, and savour the world, preferably with Poppy.
They lay together for a very long time. The silence within the room was broken only by the rhythmic ticking of the clock in the hallway downstairs. Eventually, the slow and steady pace of her breathing and the limpness of her hand as it rested in his warned him that she had fallen asleep. His own eyes started to droop until the clock in the hallway chimed. Tenderly easing a few stray stands of hair away from her face, his eyes roved lovingly over her refined beauty. She really was perfection personified with peach flushed cheeks and a delicate rosebud mouth.
“Poppy?” he whispered, but failed to rouse her.
Easing away from her, he tucked her in and gathered his clothes. It was only when he was on his way out of the room that he realised that for all of his curiosity and questions, he had forgotten to ask her probably the most important question of all: where she wanted to live once this was all over.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“I thought I had finished with this,” Luke growled. He tugged his collar up and hunkered deeper into his
jacket when the morning chill swept down his spine. He followed Barnaby and Jeb into the park and was aware that as he walked that he was instinctively scanning the trees for the watcher.
Although he had left Marcus in charge of the safe house, and Poppy, he would much prefer to be back in bed with her. It irked him to have so many questions he had yet to find answers for, but this was the problem with being an investigator. Everything had to be resolved in time, with a lot of work and effort, and that meant that he couldn’t rest just yet, and savour some time alone with the woman in his life.
He was fairly certain now that he loved her. He just needed to spend some more time with her before he decided what to do next about their relationship. As far as he was concerned, their future together was definite. However, he would feel considerably easier about that once he had her acceptance of his marriage proposal. Unfortunately, he suspected that she still intended to go back to Cumbria as soon as the business with Clarence was all sorted out. He just had to find some way of persuading her not to.
“What?” Jeb asked, his face drawn into his habitual dark scowl.
“Walking around cold parks at the crack of dawn.” He watched his breath fog out in front of him in disgust. He had been heading out to see if he could find Toby when Jeb and Marcus had appeared at the back door with news; news that had brought him back to the park he least wanted to see again.
“It’s through here,” Jeb declared quietly and led them deeper into the woods. They had walked steadily toward the spot where Poppy had found the body on the path, but were nearly on the opposite side of the woods before Jeb drew to a stop and motioned to the ground before them.
The shoes were the first thing Luke saw, followed by the well-cut and very expensive breeches worn by many men of means.
“Thrown in the river again?” Luke asked as he studied the ground beneath the body. It was almost the exact same spot where Joshua Samson’s body had been dumped. He stood and dispassionately studied the now mottled face of Rupert Balgravia. The stench of the rotting flesh made his empty stomach churn, but he quickly shoved his disgust aside and focused on what he was there to do. Apart from a thinning mop of chestnut brown hair liberally smattered at the sides with greyish white strands which bracketed large jowls and rather protruding fish-lips, there was very little in the way of distinguishing features – apart from the mottled damage visible around the throat.
“Strangled. Again.” Luke snorted. “Anything in his pockets?” He watched Jeb shake his head in confusion. “Do you have any idea how long he has been here?” He suspected it had been several days at least. From the look of it, this man had probably been killed the same day he had disappeared.
“Do you think he may have been kidnapped?”
Jeb shook his head. “There has been no ransom demand.”
“Does he have any known debts?” Luke looked at Barnaby who shook his head. “With the wealth this man has, he wouldn’t need to borrow anything from anyone.”
“Do you think he disturbed the burglar?” Jeb asked with a scowl.
Luke thought about what Poppy had said and shook his head. “Poppy is right. Nobody would get into a house the size of his without taking an incredible risk of being seen by numerous staff, especially so early in the evening when everyone is still awake.”
“So he left the house voluntarily with the painting?” Barnaby asked.
“He may have been blackmailed over something” Luke reasoned. He was really thinking aloud but felt as though he was stumbling around in the dark rather than coming up with any credible answers.
“We need to keep an eye on the pawn shops to see if that painting appears,” Luke sighed.
“Already on it. I have Joshua doing the rounds, and he has a network of locals who need gainful employment to help him. If that painting turns up anywhere in this area we will know about it,” Barnaby assured him.
“Good.” Luke had already asked Toby to keep an eye out. It was only a matter of time before someone saw or heard some gossip.
Barnaby studied the bruises around the man’s neck. “Looks like he was killed by rope again.” He withdrew a single strand of rope from the folds of Balgravia’s cravat and laid it carefully on the man’s shirt. “Given Poppy’s attacker had a knife not a rope, it is safe to assume this killer is a different person. I also think it is safe to say that the killer is a man.”
Luke nodded. “The killer of this man has to be big, solid and strong. No weakling could carry a sodden dead man from the river to here, and Joshua Samson was no lightweight. This man is even heavier.” Everyone studied the dead man’s ample girth. “Do you think he was killed here?”
“Nope,” Jeb replied, pointing to scuff marks across the forest floor. “He was left here.”
“The same spot he left Joshua Samson in,” Luke sighed. “Hidden from view for now but eventually discovered when the body begins to smell.”
“Do you think he is sending us a message?” Barnaby asked.
“He knows Samson’s body has been found because it has been all over the broadsheets. He also knows Balgravia has been reported missing, and people are looking for him,” Luke reasoned.
Barnaby nodded. “He wants the body to be found – eventually.”
“He is toying with us.” Luke sighed and shook his head.
Disgusted, Barnaby shook his head. “So, we have an unknown knifer and a strangler on our hands, a missing drunkard desperate for money, and a woman clutching a veritable fortune donated by a relation she barely knows.”
Jeb coughed and smothered a laugh. “Don’t forget the pick-pockets.”
“The gang of thugs, the missing paintings, the jewellery thefts,” Luke growled. He dug out his pocket watch and cursed again. If he didn’t run he would miss the meeting with Toby, and he had to pick up the promised food along the way.
“I’ll come with you,” Jeb offered. He nodded toward the corpse and looked at Barnaby with raised brows.
Barnaby sighed. “Alright. I will deal with him while you two see Toby. When you are done we will meet at the safe house and decide what we are going to do next. I cannot help thinking we are not done with the dead bodies yet so time is of the essence.”
An hour later, Luke frowned as Toby slipped into the alleyway alone. “Where’s Lucy?”
Toby shifted uncomfortably and looked a little sad for a moment. “She isn’t well,” was all he said.
Luke studied the boy and knew there was more the lad wasn’t telling him. He squatted down so he could look up into the boy’s eyes. “Did the boss hit her?”
Toby nodded.
“Badly?”
“A bit,” Toby muttered. “She didn’t bring enough back.”
“Too busy working for us, eh?”
“She has a family and gave her mam the pennies to help feed them. The boss weren’t happy ‘cos she didn’t take enough back for him.”
Luke kept his face impassive but his fists clenched painfully with raw anger toward thugs who employed impoverished children to commit their crimes for them.
“Give me the name of the man you work for, Toby,” Luke growled. “Tell me where to find him.”
Toby looked wary. “Why? What are you going to do?”
“I am not going to do anything just yet. I have had another body turn up this morning and I need to work on finding out what’s going on.”
Toby’s eyes rounded. “Who are you?”
“A friend.” He handed Toby another penny.
“His name is Fred Bartlett, but we all call him Freddie.”
Luke nodded. “The pick-pockets?”
Toby nodded.
“Where is your base? Where do you meet with this Freddie?”
“At the back of the old warehouse, in the old dock worker’s houses.”
“What number?”
Toby shifted. “It is the one with the green door, but Freddie can get nasty. Please don’t tell him I am talking to you.”
The fear in Toby’s eyes fuelled
Luke’s anger, and he quickly hastened to reassure him.
“I can tell you that another body was found in the park this morning. He was a nabob. A very valuable painting disappeared at the same time as he did. Now, more importantly, did you see any sign of the thin man who followed me and Poppy the other night?”
Toby nodded. “I saw him in Covent Garden. I avoided him but he kept popping up. In the end I left, but he asked Billy about me.”
“Billy?”
“My mate. One of the gang. Billy didn’t tell ‘im nawt but said the man weren’t nice,” Toby looked scared for a moment. “What does he want with me? Did he kill the man in the park?”
Luke wanted to say no, but then couldn’t with any degree of certainty. “Have you seen him since?”
Toby shook his head. “I have been lying low and working around The Tower. Its far enough out of the way and them’s richer pickings.”
“Good. Stay out of the way, Toby. This man wants Poppy, not you, but for safety don’t go anywhere with him. If he tries to accost you then scream and then come straight to me.”
“Whatcha gonna do ‘bout ‘im?” Toby asked with a frown.
Luke wanted to tell him that as soon as he had gathered enough evidence he was going to get Freddie behind bars, but knew the lad would probably stop talking to him so remained quiet. Instead, he kept the conversation focused on Poppy’s assailant.
“Did you get a good look at any of his features?”
“He has dark hair and is odd.”
“In what way?” Luke scowled. He thought of the almost childlike way the man had behaved when he had been captured last night.
“He mumbles to himself as he walks. The others find ‘im funny.” Toby touched the side of his head. “Like he ain’t right, if you know what I mean?”
Luke nodded. If he was honest he had already started to think the same thing.
Luke knew there was more Toby wasn’t telling him and dug around in his pocket for several more pennies. “Do you know who his boss is?”
Toby shook his head. “He aint’ one of anyone’s gang that one. I don’t know where he came from.”