by Rebecca King
He nodded in understanding. “Just be careful. If you see strange men hanging about the village, they will be my colleagues from the Star Elite, but don’t approach them because they are working. I promise that I will be back as soon as I can, whether Delilah likes it or not.”
Because he couldn’t be sure when that would be, he refrained from suggesting specifically when.
Jeb looked at the kitchen doorway and saw Delilah busy chopping vegetables. Tugging Sophia out of her line of vision, he dragged her into his arms and kissed her with all of the desire he dared show her. The kiss was far swifter than Jeb would have liked and was more of a branding than a sensual promise, but she needed to feel the strength of the unfamiliar emotions he was experiencing right now. Just so she understood he had been honest when he had said he wanted her to be his future wife.
“I will see you soon,” he promised and left while he still could.
Sophia stared at the closed door and touched her lips in rapt wonder. Never in her life had she anticipated that to happen. When he had kissed her before, he had always been somewhat hesitant, as though he hadn’t wanted to startle her. This time, he made no attempt to hide his need for her, and she was as awestruck. It echoed her deepest feelings for him. It was immensely reassuring and, for the first time since she had arrived in the village, she didn’t feel so completely alone. She had Jeb.
Crikey. You have Jeb, she mused and shook her head in silent wonder.
“Has he gone?”
Sophia turned to stare at her aunt, still somewhat dazed. Before Delilah could say anything disparaging, she quickly made her way to her room to think over what he had just said.
Maybe it was best if she stayed in Framley Meadow for the time being after all.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Two days later, Sophia still hadn’t talked to Jeb. She had caught sight of him around the village in the company of at least three different men whom she suspected were his colleagues. He had yet to call at the house, but just knowing he was busy trying to catch the killer of Mrs Banks and Tabitha eased her doubts and worries.
The last time he had seen her, although he had been deep in conversation with his colleagues, he had stopped and smiled, and had stared at her right until the moment she disappeared from sight.
“That has arrived for you,” Delilah snapped as soon as Sophia appeared downstairs.
She quickly scanned the note and smiled with delight as she joyously clutched the parchment to her chest. While she stared blankly into the fire, she ran through the contents of her meagre wardrobe and selected a rather sunny outfit of a pale green walking dress liberally adorned with tiny rosebuds. It was the prettiest dress she had brought with her, and would be perfect for another picnic by the river with Jeb.
She glanced at the clock and gasped when she realised she didn’t have long before she was due to meet him beside the stream. Hurrying to her room, she quickly changed, collected her shawl and rushed through the house.
“Where are you going?” Delilah demanded when Sophia made her way to the kitchen door.
“Out,” Sophia replied. “Back soon.”
Sophia let herself out and hurried across the lawn without a backward look.
Once at the riverbank where they had picnicked before, she stopped and studied the empty space thoughtfully. She thought about his work investigating the deaths and wondered if he was delayed by one of his colleagues, or had found something out he wanted to talk to her about, so decided to wait.
Thankfully, the sun was out and rather warm. It was wonderful to be out in the crisp summer air, and so with a sigh, she sat beside the stream to wait for him.
Marcus watched the beautiful young woman leave the house and hurry across the garden. This was the first time he had seen the woman who had captivated Jeb. She was utterly stunning. Tall and slender, with a thick mop of dark curly hair and an oval, porcelain face that was nothing short of perfection.
“No wonder Jeb fell for you,” he murmured, following at a distance so she wouldn’t know he was there.
He knew Jeb had told her to stay close to the house but hadn’t actually banned her from leaving it. As far as Marcus was concerned, now that he had seen her he knew his colleague should have made her stay inside, wrapped her up in swaddling, and protected her with every weapon he possessed while not leaving her side morning, noon, or night. He shook his head in disbelief that his colleague had allowed her out of his sight, even for an afternoon, and watched her take a seat beside the river. She looked like a nymph as she sat watching the water trickle by but there was nobody else about, and she wasn’t doing anything to put herself in any danger.
Pleased that she had common sense, Marcus kept an eye on their surroundings and settled back against a tree to wait.
Sophia waited. She waited and waited. One hour passed. Then another.
Then she had to concede that Jeb wasn’t going to turn up. She took the parchment out of her pocket and read it again with a heart heavy with disappointment, however tried to reassure herself that his failure to appear must have something to do with his work. She knew that finding the person responsible for the deaths of Mrs Banks and Tabitha was more important than sitting with her beside the river.
However, if he doubted he could get to meet with her, why had he sent the note?
The words blurred on the page as she blinked back the salty sting of tears. She didn’t know why she was so upset but she was. The sensible part of her knew he was busy investigating serious crime within the village. Unfortunately, her heart bled at the thought that she wasn’t as important in his life as he was in hers. It seemed cruel to invite her and then simply not turn up. Having thought that, to her consternation she found that she still couldn’t be angry with him. Upset – yes. Angry – no.
Dejectedly, she scrunched up the parchment and shoved it into her pocket. She didn’t give it a second thought as she left the sheltered area and made her way back to the house.
Marcus followed her with a frown of concern on his face. He wondered if he should go and fetch Jeb. While she had been sitting beside the stream something had upset her because she now looked like she was on the verge of tears. What had changed though because she hadn’t met with anyone?
At the moment he knew Jeb was busy planning what should happen at the Squire’s forthcoming ball when the jewels were to be stolen. He was tucked up in the study in Briggleberry with Barnaby and a very deep inkpot. Should he bother disturbing them? What if she was just upset but there was nothing fundamentally wrong?
Marcus was so busy contemplating what to do as he followed her toward the house that at first he didn’t notice the rather odious smell, until it became so noxious he could barely breathe.
“Jesus, not another none,” he murmured in disgust.
He glanced around the area but couldn’t see anything. Thankfully, the house had just become visible through the trees and was only a few hundred yards away. Sophia was only a moment away from the back door so was fine.
Having done his duty to keep her safe, Marcus set to work trying to find the source of the smell. It didn’t take long.
When he saw the corpse he realised it had been there for at least a couple of days. Although he searched the forest floor, there were no clues to tell him whether the man had been killed where he lay or placed there randomly. The location was certainly far enough away from the road that nobody was likely to stumble upon it anytime soon. As it had just done with Marcus, the odious smell had been what had warned him something was wrong, and it had lured him to investigate.
However, it wasn’t the smell that raised the small hairs on the back of Marcus’s neck. It was the fact that the location of the body, and the way he had been murdered, was strikingly similar to the deaths of Samson and Balgravia in London.
Assured that Sophia must be back at the house already, and that Joseph was due to take over from him in the next few minutes anyway, Marcus went to fetch Barnaby and Jeb.
Sophia sniffed
and wiped moisture from her eyes. The last few weeks at Framley Meadow had been so fraught with tension and worry that she felt beleaguered by it all. That worry wasn’t helped by her fears and uncertainty over her relationship with Jeb. Although she had never felt this way about any man before, she was sure she loved him. Whenever she saw him, however long they were together, it was never enough, and time always passed interminably slowly until she saw him again.
While it had been wonderful to hear him confirm that he wanted a future with her, it opened up an entirely new set of problems. Could she contemplate a future in Framley Meadow, where she would see Delilah on a more permanent basis? The thought filled her with quiet horror if she was honest, mostly because she knew there wasn’t any viable alternative.
Still within the shelter of the trees, Sophia dabbed at her eyes and willed herself to calm down. She took a deep breath and promised herself she could shed her tears in private later, once Delilah was tucked up in bed and wasn’t around to notice her red and swollen eyes. With this in mind, she took a step forward and was about to enter the garden when she was suddenly grabbed from behind.
The painful tightness around her throat at first made her cough. She tried to swallow, but her throat wouldn’t work properly. Her feet tried to gain purchase as she was unbalanced, but she was propelled backwards with a force that left her stunned and unable to fight for freedom. The restriction around her neck made it so very difficult to breathe. Desperate fingers clawed at the ligature, but she couldn’t get it released enough so she could swallow the bile that rose in her throat. Within seconds, stars began to dance behind her eyes. Her mouth opened as she tried to scream but all that came out was a watery gurgle.
The world around her began to fade. Bending as far back as she could without falling over, she looked up but could see nothing but leaves and branches of the trees high above, behind which brilliant blue sky promised warmth of a day that would never be hers. With a sigh, all of her thoughts turn to Jeb, and the love she felt for him that would never be spoken.
Unable to do anything else, she gave into the suffocating blackness that sucked her under.
Jeb cursed when nobody answered the front door. He threw a dark look at his colleague, and made his way around the back of Delilah’s house with a scowl on his face.
“Do you think she is not in or not answering?” Barnaby asked as he followed.
Jeb shook his head and threw him a warning look when he saw the half-open kitchen door. They silently withdrew their guns.
Something wasn’t right. The place was too quiet; too still.
“Hello?” Barnaby called.
“Sophia?” Jeb pushed the kitchen door open and stepped cautiously into the kitchen.
Leaving Jeb to search downstairs, Barnaby hurried through the house and rushed up the stairs.
“Nothing,” he reported as he made his way back down.
“There is nobody down here either,” Jeb said. “They must be in the garden.”
“I took a look earlier and didn’t see anyone,” Barnaby replied, but suspected Jeb hadn’t heard him because he was already stalking down the garden.
The various shrubs, trees, and plants did little to provide any hiding places, though, and it quickly became evident that the garden was as empty as the house.
“Hello? Sophia? Delilah?” he called as he came to a stop at the end of the grass.
It was then that a flurry of movement in the trees caught his attention. His eye widened. His world ground to a halt as he eyed a bundle of clothing on the floor, and a thick mop of glossy dark hair that was so achingly familiar.
He knew, even without looking, that it was Sophia.
He started to walk before he even realised he was moving. Barnaby flew past him and dropped to his knees beside her. Jeb watched in a haze of terror as his friend removed the cruel ligature from around Sophia’s neck. The sight of her body slumping lifelessly over as Barnaby turned her onto her back was something that would remain with him for the rest of his life. It was the most horrific thing he had ever witnessed in his life. His gaze lifted to the woman standing not but three feet away and, in that moment, felt a feral rage unlike no other.
“Stay away, Jeb,” Barnaby warned when Jeb rushed at Delilah.
Delilah stared at the gun Barnaby held as though she had never seen one before in her life but made no attempt to run.
“Stand still. Don’t move and don’t speak,” Barnaby ordered.
“Get away from me,” Delilah snapped, taking several steps backwards.
“Joe!” Barnaby yelled, hoping his colleague would still be nearby. He had been on his way to help Marcus with the corpse.
Joe appeared within minutes.
“Make sure she doesn’t run,” Barnaby ordered and turned his attention to the woman on the floor.
“Sophia?” Jeb’s voice cracked at the sight of the brutal ligature marks around her neck and bent down until his ear almost touched her mouth. He closed his eyes on a silent prayer when he felt the fail warmth of her breath sweep across his cheek. It was a timid breath, but at least she was still alive.
He threw a dark look at Barnaby. “Get a doctor. Quickly.”
He glared at Delilah. “If you run, I swear to God I will shoot you down before you take a step.”
“Leave her to me,” Joe urged. “You deal with Sophia. Get her into the house. We can’t leave her here.”
Jeb didn’t need to be told again. He tucked his gun back into the pocket of his cloak and lifted her into his arms. If only she would open her eyes, his heart could stop breaking, and all would be right with his world. He hated to see her so still and lifeless. The blueness around her lips was unnerving. The mottled red and blue bruising around her neck warned him that it was a miracle she was still alive.
“Just stay strong for me, Sophia,” he muttered, doubting she could hear him.
Later, he would remember nothing about actually getting into the house, or carrying her up the stairs. Everything was a blur of emotional action and reaction. Lost beneath the tumult of emotions that beleaguered him; the worst of which was the outright panic he felt at the thought that he might lose her.
While in the battlefields he had endured his fair share of trauma. He had witnessed brutality and conflict, and seen just how cruel man could be, but nothing had affected him as profoundly as this. Mainly because nothing had mattered to him more than the woman he placed on the bed so tenderly that she might have been made of the finest crystal. He wanted to rage; he wanted to beat something; he wanted to weep.
More importantly, he wanted to drag the person responsible all the way to jail and slam the cell door on her just to hear the satisfaction of the metallic clank of the metal cage with his own ears, and be assured that Sophia would never be put in danger again.
With that came the horrible realisation that he had failed her. He hadn’t protected her like he had said he would.
Once again, he had failed to follow through on his promises. In spite of the careful watch he and his colleagues had on the house they had still failed to protect the one person in the world who really mattered to him.
Right there and then he made himself a promise that if she survived, he would spend the rest of his days making it up to her. She would live in the safe and luxurious confines of Briggleberry, where he could provide her with whatever her heart desired. He would quit the Star Elite just so he could see her every day and see for herself that she was alright.
As long as she was by his side, he would sacrifice anything just to be with her. If only he got the chance to tell her that then he had a future. If she left him, then his future would die with her.
While he waited for the doctor to appear, Jeb gathered her into his tender embrace and began to pray.
CHAPTER TWENTY
When the doctor ordered Jeb to leave, at first he protested. Until it became evident that the more he objected, the longer Sophia had to wait for the medical help she so desperately needed.
&
nbsp; Once outside in the corridor, lingering frustration made it impossible to stand still.
To begin with he began to pace backward and forward across the entire length of the upper hallway until the space became too small. The walls began to close in on him. He had to do something or would go stark raving mad. When Barnaby’s voice suddenly increased in volume, Jeb hurriedly made his way downstairs.
“I am telling you now that you won’t like what prison has to offer,” Barnaby growled just as Jeb walked in.
Jeb stood beside Marcus and Joe, and watched Barnaby try to get information out of the stoically silent woman. It irked Jeb to see the callous way the woman stared dispassionately down the empty garden as though contemplating whether to chance a walk or not. It was only the dark look Barnaby threw him that kept Jeb from grabbing the woman and violently shaking the truth from her.
“You will answer me, or I swear that I am going to slam you into the darkest, grimiest prison cell I can find and throw away the key. You have been seen this morning attempting to murder your niece. Given this was also the way Mrs Banks and Tabitha have been killed, I can only assume you have killed those unfortunate souls too. What have they ever done to you? Tabitha was a young girl, minding her own business. She was nothing to you, I say. Nothing.”
Barnaby suspected she hadn’t killed them, Bamber or Myers had, but wanted to prod her to get her to start to talk. It worked too because Delilah suddenly gasped and glared at him.
“I didn’t kill them,” Delilah snapped.
She suddenly released a falsetto laugh and opened wide eyes to look at Barnaby a little too blankly.
Barnaby snorted, thoroughly unimpressed by the spectacle.
“Don’t even try to go the madness route. You are no more insane that I am so I suggest you stop,” he growled. “Unfortunately for you, Sophia is alive. She will attest that you are not mentally deluded, and so will Jeb. You have witnesses in authority who can confirm you have cold-bloodedly tried to kill your niece. Until you can prove your innocence, you will also be considered to blame for the murders of Mrs Banks and Tabitha. That will see you are put away for the rest of your life.”