Mark drew Harriett to one side and they watched as Madame Humphries and Miss Hepplethwaite were led out of the room.
“Take them to the cells. I will question them in the morning.”
“You cannot do this,” Miss Hepplethwaite snarled. Her usual nervousness had been replaced with a fierce belligerence that was nothing like with the aged spinster she had presented to the world in recent weeks. “You have nothing you can prove.”
“Oh, I beg to differ,” Mark sighed and turned his attention Madame Humphries. “I just needed to be able to prove your tricks were fraudulent and, thanks to the help of the audience this evening, I have the evidence that will stand up in court. I also suspect that you are the same clairvoyants who are wanted by Scotland Yard. If you are, then you will face trial for several counts of theft and fraud in Charing Cross, Islington, Westminster, Tipton Hollow and Great Tipton.”
“I haven’t stolen anything,” Madame Humphries gasped. “I am not a thief.”
“You are not speaking to the dearly departed either,” Mark retorted. “Accepting money from anyone with false claims that you are doing something you know you are not is fraud. You will have to account for your actions in court. Until then, I suggest you get yourself a good solicitor.”
“Did they steal Harriett’s brooch?” Babette asked with a sigh. She felt strangely tainted by the events of the evening. It was as though something that should have been sacred had been defiled in some debased way.
“I think they might have done. We got a description of the woman who traded it and it matches Miss Hepplethwaite, although the pawn broker was a bit vague who he purchased it from and couldn’t be altogether sure that it wasn’t a man. We will search their homes now and see what else we can find.”
Henrietta didn’t know what to make of the entire evening. She had looked forward to being able to join a circle or group of some sort in order to get out and start to socialise more. As it was, it seemed highly unlikely now that there would be another meeting of the Tipton Hollow Psychic Circle, especially given that the only one who professed to be able to talk to the spirits was now behind bars.
“I think that we should call it a night.” Mark suggested and, being ever a gentleman, offered Harriett his elbow.
“Unless you have any objections, I should like to hurry off. I would like to see my friend, Theresa, before I call it a night.” Babette glanced ruefully at Harriett. “I only came to see Madame Humphries at work, so to speak. Now it all seems rather sad, if more than a little annoying. Now that I have the time, I am going to go and have a cup of tea with her.” She didn’t wait for anyone’s objection and hurried out of the door after a brief goodbye.
“My, she is in a hurry, isn’t she?” Henrietta sighed.
“We will drop you off at home, mother, and then I will take Harriett home.” He already had a strong suspicion that he knew where Babette was going in a hurry and, from the look on Harriett’s face, she had a good idea too. Earlier in the evening, she had looked incredibly sad, and he couldn’t help but wonder if she suspected that Babette was having an affair.
An hour later, he instructed the coachman to pull up on the outskirts of the village and glanced at Harriett. “I hope you don’t mind, but I think I would like to walk the rest of the way.”
“What about your journey home? It’s a long walk back to Tipton Hollow,” Harriett replied as she slid across the seat and let Mark hand her down.
“I don’t mind. It isn’t raining and besides, I can borrow David Wood’s curricle. I can bring it back to him in the morning before he leaves for work. I have to take you to work, so it works out fine.”
Harriett knew then that he had done it more than once before and she realised just how much of a burden she was on him.
“I am sorry for the inconvenience. It must disrupt your day something horrible to have to come over here and protect me like this,” she sighed and tried to keep the despondency out of her voice. She didn’t know what was wrong with her this evening. She was hardly ever as down in the dumps as she was at that moment. She quickly blanked out the small voice that warned her that two deaths, the theft of her most treasured possession, the upheaval to her personal life from her growing affection for the man beside her and, what she now considered were Babette’s secret assignations, were more than enough for any sane person to contend with in the space of two short weeks.
“I must admit to having more than a personal interest in what is happening in Tipton Hollow at the moment.”
“Oh?” Harriett felt a flutter of nerves and couldn’t help but ask him. “Did you know Hugo or Minerva then?”
“No, I was referring to having had my attention ensnared in a way that I cannot break free from.”
“Oh?”
Mark drew her to a halt and there, beneath the gentle glow of the gas lamp, lowered his head. The soft, sweeping caress of his lips against hers made her sigh. The cool draught of air slithered up her back and made her shiver. She instinctively edged closer to his warmth and was immediately encased in his warm embrace. Her senses reeled. There was little she could do but clutch at the lapels of his jacket as he drew her ever closer. She could feel the warm press of his palm on the small of her back even through the bones in her corset. All she could do was accept his kisses and melt against him.
He swallowed her sigh and groaned at the feel of her softness against him. A small voice reminded him that they were in the middle of the village under the glare of a gas lamp, and could be seen by anyone who happened to wander by, but he couldn’t bring himself to ease away from her. His body responded to her nearness and he continued to plunder her lips while his mind raced to find somewhere they could go where they would not be disturbed. While he dallied with thoughts any upstanding gentleman should never have about a respectable woman, he sipped and savoured, devoured and plundered until she slid her hands up to the back of his neck.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
It took several moments before the clip clop of hooves registered on his senses. He broke away with a curse and buried his face in the warmth of her neck to savour the scent of honeysuckle that teased his nostrils. She was a feminine bundle of curiosity that he knew would be the undoing of him, but he couldn’t bring himself to care one bit. He wanted her with a fierceness that he knew would never be entirely satisfied. In that moment, he knew that if he spent the next hundred years with her it would never be enough.
Harriett gasped and looked up at him. She wasn’t sure what to say; what to do. Someone was approaching but she couldn’t seem to find the strength to break free of his hold, or the gentle fire in his eyes. She knew that he wanted to push for more, but was grateful that he wasn’t going to for now.
He eased Harriett deeper into the shadows, but made no attempt to loosen his hold and put some decorous distance between them. Instead, he continued to push her back until she rested against the brick wall of the greengrocers. Together they waited. He caught Harriett’s gasp and shushed her as a huge black horse pulled a large, nondescript, equally black carriage straight past them. He held her tighter when Harriett, shifted uncomfortably against him.
“Stand still for a minute.”
They were hidden deep in the shadows, on the right side of the street light and were close enough to the Coal Merchants to see the entrance to the yard the carriage disappeared into.
“Who is it?” Harriett whispered.
“Watch.” Mark felt the shiver that swept through her and knew that it didn’t have anything to do with the coolness of the night air. “Don’t worry, darling, you are perfectly safe.”
Harriett glanced at him. From the steady, almost expectant way he studied the doors to the coal merchant’s he knew who was going to emerge.
“You know who it is.” It wasn’t a question and Mark didn’t bother to answer it, merely tipped her chin toward the doors. Together they watched the doors close and the small, thin, darkly garbed figure appear. He, or she, was dressed from head to foot in black and fum
bled with the lock on the door for several moments before they turned and scurried off in the opposite direction. Within seconds they were swallowed by the night.
“Who lives in that direction?” Mark asked in a soft whisper. “Don’t worry, they won’t harm you.”
Harriett almost scoffed at that and wondered if she had to remind him of her near miss with that same carriage not so very long ago. Her thoughts snapped back toward him. He was waiting for her to answer. Her mind scanned the village and she thought carefully.
“The hardware store is opposite and there are just a few houses.”
“Who lives on the outskirts of town, Harriet?” Mark nodded in the direction the figure had scurried off to. “Who lives that way and is a small, bird-like person?”
“Miss Smethwick.” Harriett stared at him. Her thoughts immediately turned toward Miss Haversham’s remarks in the tea shop that Miss Smethwick seemed different; younger somehow.
“It isn’t Miss Smethwick, is it? It is someone living in her house, pretending to be her.” Harriett stared at him, and knew from the steady look he gave her that she was right. “Who is it then?”
“I don’t know, but now that I have Madame Humphries and Miss Hepplethwaite out of the way, Miss Smethwick is next on the list. Tomorrow, I am going to pay the woman another visit, and I am afraid that she is going to have some very difficult questions to answer.”
Harriett nodded and was more than a little shaken. “Do you think it was that woman who attended the psychic circles and pretended to be Miss Smethwick?”
“I think it is entirely plausible, don’t you? Remember what Miss Haversham said?” The calm acceptance in his voice told her that he knew with certainty that the woman was not the original Miss Smethwick. “I have seen her since and I think Miss Haversham’s suspicions are entirely correct.”
“What happened to the original Miss Smethwick though? I mean, she can’t simply -” Harriett closed her mouth on a snap and stared at Mark as her stomach turned over.
“Now, don’t worry. To be honest with you Harriett, I simply don’t know, but I can promise you that we are going to get to the bottom of this. I will find out what happened to Miss Smethwick. Until then, I don’t want you to go anywhere near that woman. Don’t let her into the house, and don’t enter into any conversation with her that relates to the last few days.”
Harriett was more than a little bit shaken. It was all she could do to nod. She still struggled with the feelings that coursed through her from his kisses. Now the latest revelation had thrown her world into turmoil even more. She could just about live with Miss Smethwick being replaced by a younger person, but why did they want to kill her?
“Come on, let’s get you home.” Mark drew her away from the wall and kept his arm around her as they walked down the street.
At the corner of Berrisford Road, Harriett caught sight of a familiar figure scurrying away from them. She opened her mouth to call out to Babette, but then closed it again with a snap when her aunt turned into a path and disappeared into a house half-way down the street.
Mark studied the now closed front door of the solicitor’s house and looked down at the woman on his arm.
“I think Babette is involved in something of a personal nature.” He nodded toward the house.
“That is the solicitor’s house,” Harriett sighed.
“Does she have problems?”
Harriett shook her head. “Not as far as I am aware.”
Mark struggled to find the words to break the news to her. Harriett was no fool, but would she believe that her aunt might be having an affair with the bachelor?
“He isn’t married is he?”
“No, he isn’t,” he replied and studied the sadness on her face. Her voice had hardened and matched the glint in her eye. “You don’t seem surprised about it.”
Harriett sighed and glanced at him. She knew that she would never get a greater opportunity to broach the subject with him. Given everything he had done, and was doing, for her, she couldn’t refuse to take him into her confidence now. She briefly explained what she had witnessed in the early hours on the night of Minerva Bobbington’s death.
Mark remained quiet until she had finished, then nodded sympathetically.
“Do you know what annoys me the most about it?” Harriett asked as she removed her cloak and hung it on the row of pegs just inside the hallway. She led him down the passage to the empty sitting room. “She couldn’t wait to visit him. Not even on the night of Minerva’s death. It is disrespectful, if you ask me.”
“There are no boundaries when it comes to love. If she genuinely cares about him, there is nothing that she won’t risk, and nothing that she wouldn’t do, for the opportunity to spend some time with him.”
The absolute conviction in Mark’s voice drew her attention and she looked at him steadily. “You sound as if you are talking from experience.”
“That’s because I am, Harriett.” Mark sighed and leaned his hips against the table. She hadn’t offered him a seat and he hadn’t taken one because he wanted to stand. He wanted to be able to press the issue further until she understood.
With the closure of the séance, he felt as though a new door had opened and he now had to make the most of the opportunities that were presented to him before he drew the investigation to a close and had no reason to continue to call at her house. “I am only advising you, Harriett, but I would suggest that you don’t judge her until you find out why she is making those visits. If they are lovers, then that is matter between them and it isn’t for you to form an opinion on the matter. However, you must remember that in villages like this, gossip rules. It isn’t always fair or right, but it happens. All it is going to take is one person to witness her visits, and the gossips will run wild with stories. I think that the best thing you can do is sit her down and talk to her about it. Don’t lose sight of the fact that your Uncle Charles is involved in this too. She has to take into account his reaction if she was ever seen visiting a bachelor late in the evening, or in the middle of the night. All it is going to take is one person and the family is going to face scandal.” It wasn’t a statement and he wasn’t issuing any threats but he knew that she understood his warning from the look in her eye.
“I know, Mark,” Harriett sighed. “I work in a tea shop. Almost all of the patrons come there to share news and gossip. I try to stay out of it. I don’t want to get involved in spending my days sharing the latest news about some unsuspecting and unfortunate soul. I am aware that many scandals are discussed in detail over tea and cake. It’s shameful really, but there you have it.”
“It’s important that you try to stop Babette from becoming their next scandal.”
“I know,” Harriett glanced at him and offered him a rueful smile. “Thank you for your discretion. You knew she was visiting him, didn’t you?”
Mark smiled wryly and sauntered over to her. She didn’t make any protest when he drew her into his arms and relaxed against him in a way that was so natural that neither of them could stop it.
“Unfortunately, yes I did. The other night, when I was outside, I saw her scurry down the road. It wasn’t her journey that caught my attention; it was the furtive way she glanced around her as she scurried along. She didn’t want to be seen. I am confident though that this is personal and she has nothing to do with the thefts, murders or anything else.”
“Babette isn’t like that,” Harriett sighed and leaned back to look up at him.
He took advantage of her calm acceptance to their closeness and dropped a lingering kiss on her lips. “I won’t say anything to anyone. This is a family matter and it remains with us.”
Contentment swept through her at the way he had casually included himself in the family.
“Thank you. I will speak to Babette about it as soon as I get the chance. These days, it is difficult with so much going on.”
“She doesn’t usually work at the tea shop does she?”
She shook her head. “S
he used to, but then began to fight a lot with Charles. It put the customers off their tea, so she decided to remain at home instead. I don’t know what she does here all day but now, given what we know, I don’t think she is at home much. She is certainly not close to Uncle Charles any more. They hardly spend any time together and don’t even share the same bedroom.” She knew that she had already told him far too many family secrets, but if there was anyone she knew she could rely on to be honest with her in Tipton Hollow, it was Mark.
“If the relationship doesn’t warrant them even sleeping in the same room at night, there is a fundamental problem in their relationship that they need to work out as a couple. This is their relationship though, and down to them to sort it out. All you can do is advise her.”
“I am sorry you got dragged into this.”
Mark smiled. “With everything else that is going on right now, Babette is the least of the problems, don’t you think?”
“Where will it all end?” Harriett whispered and rested her head on his broad shoulder for a moment. His palm cupped the back of her head and he pulled her tightly against him.
She was so content that she could quite easily have stayed there for the rest of her life.
“Out of every darkness there comes light. You just have to be patient and allow certain matters to unfold for you. You can’t fight everything all of the time. In this, I am going to deal with Hepplethwaite, Humphries and Miss Smethwick in the morning.” He tipped her chin up and nudged her off his shoulder. “All you have to do is keep yourself out of harm’s way.”
He didn’t give her the chance to say anything more and captured her lips in a kiss that swept them both away on a tide of sensation that left them gasping and wanting more. Harriett trembled with the force of the desire. A need to draw him closer than ever before had her clawing at his jacket as he nibbled and nipped his way down her neck. The warmth of his breath in the hollow there made her shiver with desire and her head fell back to allow him greater access. She was stunned that someone like Mark would want her: Harriet, but she couldn’t question it. A small part of her wondered if these were the feelings Babette had for her solicitor friend. If it was, then she could only feel compassion and commiseration for Babette’s situation.
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