Secret Reflection

10


Day Nine

The doctor arrived bright and early next morning carrying a small tray containing a variety of instruments and bandages.

‘I need to go home,’ Kelly said without any preamble. ‘It’s very important that I get back as soon as possible.’

The doctor’s eyes lit up. ‘Well in that case you’re a lucky girl because I believe I can grant your wish. All your tests have come back fine.’ She checked the chart as she spoke, making notes and flipping pages. ‘You’ll have a headache for a few more days but you should be good as new by the end of the week.’ Donning surgical gloves, she gathered the tray and set about removing Kelly’s IV tube. She placed a wad of cotton to the back of Kelly’s hand. ‘Press on this,’ she ordered as she applied some tape. ‘There, all done,’ she said, gathering the scraps and placing them into the receptacle by the bed.

‘When can I leave?’

‘So long as you can guarantee there’ll be someone with you at all times for the next day or so, I can sign the release right now.’

‘I’m staying with Nancy and Tom, one or both are there day and night.’

‘Good. I’ve written a prescription for painkillers. The nurse will give that to you when you’ve signed your discharge papers. Take it easy and rest … and no late-night adventures sneaking about through secret passages,’ she said with a laugh. ‘Okay?’

Kelly grimaced when she tried to smile. She shuddered to think what her forehead looked like if how it felt was anything to go by. As soon as the doctor left she climbed, a little too quickly, out of bed. She had to hold onto the tray table when a wave of dizziness struck, but after a short moment she steadied. She took a slow trip to the nearby bathroom to inspect her head. Once she got there she dearly wished she hadn’t bothered. Her forehead was a mess. Bile surged up her throat and for a moment she thought she might throw up.

Gingerly, she washed her face and rinsed her mouth. By the time she returned she found Nancy sitting on her bed, hugging a bundle of clothes and a bag of toiletries.

‘For me?’

‘Helen rang to say you were being discharged, so I grabbed some jeans and things for you.’

‘Thanks. Give me three minutes and I’ll be ready to go.’ She handed Inspector Mathieson’s business card to Nancy. ‘While I’m dressing can you give him a call and tell him I’m leaving soon?’

‘Sure thing.’

On the way out she signed her paperwork and took the pill prescription. When they reached the front door she saw a uniformed policeman closing fast. Obviously Mathieson was not going to give her the chance to escape. The policeman introduced himself as Constable Ward then followed them all the way back to Stanthorpe, parking his car just within the gates.

Inside the manor workmen dodged police as both groups tried to go about their business. As they entered the hall, her eyes immediately darted to the mirror at the top of the stairs. He stood there, regally, both relief and concern etched across his face. She wanted to run up the short flight and reassure him that she was fine, but the people around her, perhaps with the exception of Nancy, would probably take her straight back to the hospital if she did.

She flashed him a brief smile.

‘Do you want to come into the salon for tea, or would you prefer to go straight to your room?’ Nancy asked.

‘My room,’ she replied immediately.

‘I thought as much,’ Nancy said with a knowing grin.

Tom was just coming down the stairs as they started up. ‘The police went through all your stuff I’m afraid. Inspector Mathieson seemed particularly interested in the material in your attaché case about the miniature cameras and listening devices,’ he said by way of warning. ‘I kept watch on them as they searched but kept my mouth shut.’

She shrugged. There was little she could do about it now. How incriminating those pages might be was anyone’s guess, but she had truth on her side and she didn’t really think the inspector seriously suspected her of murder, otherwise he’d have been a whole lot meaner and certainly wouldn’t have let her come back to Stanthorpe without batting an eyelid.

‘Have they finished?’ She could see John behind Tom’s shoulder and was eager to get back to her room and have the privacy to confront him about his diary.

‘I believe so. Mathieson didn’t say to stop you going in there.’

‘Is he still here?’

Tom shook his head. ‘He got a call and hared out of here in a big hurry. C’mon, give me your gear. You look tired.’ He grabbed her small overnight bag and turned. ‘Nance, why don’t you make Kelly a pot of tea?’

‘Make that coffee and I will be forever in your debt,’ Kelly said, grimacing as she tried to grin.

Tom took her arm and led her up the stairs. As she passed the big mirror she saw John’s eyes widen as he took in her bruised appearance, but he didn’t speak – there were too many other people about.

At her door, she halted. ‘Do you mind if I go in alone?’ she asked Tom.

He nodded his understanding and placed her bag just inside the door. ‘I’ll tell Nance to knock when she comes up,’ he placed a soft kiss atop her head. ‘Do you want me to stand guard and make sure you’re left alone?’

‘That’s okay. You’ve got better things to do. Just warn me if Inspector Mathieson shows up. That man scares me.’

He was pacing the width of the mirror like a caged tiger when Kelly entered the room.

With the journal secure behind her back, she wondered how he’d react when she read the telling pages to him. She still didn’t understand how he could damn himself so readily when all the evidence was right here in her hands.

‘Kelly.’

John spoke her name with such feeling that the rhythm of her heart quickened.

‘Yes,’ she replied, as if her name had been a question on his lips. He appeared weary as he strode forward.

‘Your brow, does it pain you terribly?’

‘Not much. They gave me some tablets at the hospital. It looks worse than it feels.’

‘I am so sorry I asked you to go into the passage to search for the journal. My quest is not worth endangering yourself over.’

‘I offered.’

‘Perhaps. But I cannot ask any more of you.’ His expression, both tender and sad seemed to reach through the barrier of the glass and tug at her heart. ‘You have done enough. More than enough.’

‘No, I haven’t.’ She cast him a determined look. ‘I’m going to search again tomorrow.’

‘Do not. It will be an effort wasted,’ he stated. ‘Time is passing. Soon there will be no more. It is ever my doom. But I do thank you for trying.’

‘We still have time … and I’m not going to give up until we’ve exhausted every possibility.’ She paused and gathered the courage to reveal her discovery. She took one step closer to the mirror and trapped his gaze with hers. ‘I did find something. Not Edward’s journal, but something that might help us. Let me read you a few pages …’ She drew the red bound book from behind her back and held it up toward him.

‘No! … where did you find that?’ he demanded savagely, lunging at the glass. ‘That will not be of any help. Destroy it.’

‘I don’t think so.’

His hands fisted. ‘Madam – it belongs to me. It will not benefit us. Cast it into the fire!’

She shook her head slowly and opened the book to a page she had dog-eared. ‘Before you just dismiss it, let me read you something.’

‘Please, Kelly,’ anguish filled his face, ‘I know what it says. It will not help us.’ Yet even as he said the words she saw capitulation cloud his dark eyes.

‘It might not help us find a way out but it does help me to understand. Listen …

10th October, 1861

It is as I feared. Elizabeth is more than ill. The physician confirmed today what I had known since Sunday. The smallpox. The worst kind. I have seen many die from the dreaded sickness and I know the agony. The small scars are still visible, but I was lucky. The physician said there is no hope for Elizabeth – that I should purge the room as soon as the end comes.

Kelly looked up to see John’s features locked in torment. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ she whispered.

‘It was no excuse.’

She stepped forward and placed her fingers on the mirror as if she could lay a consoling hand upon his arm.

‘Of course it is … I’ve read it in your own words.’ She turned the page and continued …

14th October, 1861

The house is empty but for Elizabeth and myself. I do not know what the servants think, nor do I care. Nothing really matters now. She begged me to end it for her but I cannot do it. I would die in her place if I could …

‘She begged you! Begged you to put her out of her misery. What else could you do? I know how you loved her.’

Slowly, his eyes rose to meet hers. ‘Love could do nothing.’

‘Except save her from further pain …

15th October, 1861

I cannot abide it. Her pleas – her pain. She begged me again and again until I could no longer withstand her cries. The old herb woman said the poison is painless but I want to try the physician’s medicine one more night. Perhaps she has passed the worst of it …

‘And this … the final entry,’ Kelly flipped the page.

16th October, 1861

She drank the poison happily. It was as if I had set her free and in truth, as God is my witness, I am grateful for it. She made me promise that no matter what, Edward must never know the manner of her illness or death. It will be difficult. But I will do as she asks. For her sake … and his. I will bury her body immediately so he cannot witness how the dreaded disease has marred Elizabeth’s beauty. Then I shall burn the bedding.

I have written to Edward. I expect he will arrive within days. I pray I can summon the right words to tell him what I have done …

‘So you kept the secret – even when he accused you of murder, you stayed faithful to your promise.’

‘I loved her as my sister and my word is my bond. I made a vow before God. I could never betray her trust. She was carrying his child and he had forbidden her working with the children from the orphanage … and that was where she contracted the smallpox. She didn’t want him to know she had defied him. She didn’t want him to know she had killed their child. Knowing how she died would only have caused Edward terrible pain.’ His eyes glittered with unshed tears. ‘As it happened, his anger overrode it. I just did not see far enough into the future to realise that I would be condemning Anne to an agony worse than Elizabeth’s. In the end I could save neither woman.’

Kelly so wished she could reach through the glass and touch him, comfort him. ‘Barnsley told me Anne went mad.’

‘Madness brought on by torment. Edward used her as a tool of vengeance against me. The things … the things he did to her …’ he faltered and turned away.

Her own eyes filled as he watched his shoulders shuddering with emotion. She splayed her hand against the glass, feeling more impotent than she ever had in her life. ‘But you weren’t to know what he’d do!’

He turned back, his face now a stormy mask that was filled with self-recrimination.

‘I contributed to her madness. I tried to talk to her, tried to tell her to escape once I learned the depth to which my cousin had sunk. She could not see me, only hear my voice, and when she spoke of it to Edward he denied hearing a sound. So, like every other person who has heard me since, she thought I was the shade of her betrothed … she believed I had returned to haunt her for the sin of letting my cousin rape her.’

‘He raped her?’

‘There is no other word for it … he seduced her against her will a few short weeks after the magistrate pronounced my death. Poor Anne had only arrived days before and was numb with grief. She was very young and naïve and certainly had no notion of the ways of men, and Edward all but convinced her that he was consoling her for her loss – that it was what I would have wanted. I do not know what ruse he used to lure her, alone, to this room. She did not understand his intent until too late.

‘Her family forced her to accept his marriage proposal when it became evident her virtue was no longer intact. It was mere weeks before Anne discovered she was with child. I believe Edward suggested I had fathered the child and his offer of marriage was a self-sacrificing effort to repay my debt.

‘Anne’s father refused to hear her protestations, and she and Edward were married soon after. On the wedding night … he …’ – John fell to his knees – ‘… I begged God to save her but He would not hear me. As He did not hear me for Elizabeth.’ A lone tear began to roll unheeded down his cheek. ‘I could do nothing. In the end I stopped trying to speak to Anne as the sound of my voice only caused her more distress.’

His face was so close Kelly felt as if she could reach out to touch him. It took every ounce of effort not to sob as she watched him relive the torture, unable to offer anything but empty words.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she whispered.

Glancing at her, he gathered himself and wiped away the single tear. ‘Do not be sorry for me, Kelly. I have endured loneliness, but the women I loved … Elizabeth, Anne … my mother – they suffered worse.

‘Edward became quite mad in the end, and all the generations of Ditchleys since have shown a similar taint. So I beg of you,’ his eyes lifted to hers plaintively, ‘do not allow the viscount any intimacy. He will bring you harm, I know it.’

She almost wanted to laugh at the irony; John’s life was in the balance, they had mere days to find the answer to his incarceration and he was more concerned with her welfare than his own. Laying her cheek against the cold glass, she knew in her heart no matter what, she would find a way to release him.

A sharp rap on the door brought him to his feet. Kelly was slower to react, pushing away from the mirror only after a second series of taps.

‘Come in,’ she called.

A tray with coffee and cookies preceded Nancy into the room. ‘Sorry to disturb,’ she began, but the instant she saw Kelly’s tears she dumped the tray on the bed and wrapped her arms around her friend.

‘Are you all right?’ she asked, concern etched across her face.

Shuddering, Kelly nodded then extricated herself. ‘I’m okay. John just told me a very sad story, that’s all. I’ll share it with you one day, if John doesn’t mind?’ she darted him a questioning look but he merely shrugged.

Nancy’s lips lifted in a sympathetic smile. ‘I suppose I should say hi to your invisible friend?’ she said, her smile widening.

John nodded, though only Kelly could see him. ‘Greetings, Madam, I am in your debt.’

‘Whatever for?’ Nancy narrowed her gaze and peered at the glass, to no avail. She shivered. ‘It really is weird, you know?’

‘Imagine, from my viewpoint, Madam, how utterly strange it is to be speaking to a woman who lives one hundred and forty years in the future … and having her believe I am not a mere ghost.’

‘So Kelly said, though I just don’t get that bit. I’d really like to talk to you some more about all this, but Inspector Mathieson is downstairs.’ She turned her attention back to Kelly. ‘He wants to see you, Kel. Do you feel up to it or would you rather I told him you’re sleeping?’

‘It’s probably best if I cooperate. As far as I know I’m his only suspect and it wouldn’t help my cause to be belligerent. Can you ask him to give me ten minutes? I’d like to freshen up and drink my coffee. I think,’ she glanced up at John, ‘that I’d like to talk with him up here … and if Mathieson has no objection I’d really feel better if you or Tom were here with me.’

‘Sure. We’ll both be here for you.’ Nancy headed to the door. ‘Don’t worry, Kel, it’ll all be sorted. We know you didn’t hurt Deanna, and so will the inspector soon enough. I’ll delay him with a cuppa and will buzz your mobile to let you know when we’re coming up.’

‘Thanks, Nance.’

Although she wasn’t physically cold, Kelly hugged herself and rubbed her arms briskly as she came back to stand before the mirror.

‘Is there any way I can help with this Mathieson fellow?’ John asked in a low whisper. ‘I cannot believe this man is right in his mind if he suspects you could murder that girl.’

One dark brow rose. ‘You know about that?’

‘Your friends informed me of it yesterday. I thank you for asking them to speak with me. Even if I cannot escape this prison, knowing that others no longer fear the sound of my voice is a great boon. I shall assist in whatever way I am able.’

She shook her head. ‘I don’t know what help you can be, but I’d like you to listen to what he says in case you can think of something. Only, please,’ she begged, ‘don’t say a word while he’s here. All I told him is that I was searching for Edward’s journal to write my story. If he thinks I’m on some kind of ghost hunt he’ll probably lock me up and toss away the key!’

‘I do not quite understand, Kelly, but I will do as you ask.’

‘Great. I’ll just change clothes and down my coffee.’ No longer concerned if he saw her half-naked or not, she stripped her sweater off as she headed for the walk-in closet. She left the door open so they could continue to talk. ‘Are there other passages up on this floor we can search?’ she asked, ducking back into the room in just her bra and panties. They were pale pink and almost transparent. She grabbed her coffee from the desk and took a quick sip.

‘There is—’ He turned and stilled at the sight of her. His breath seemed to catch, a look of unbridled desire instantly filling his steady gaze.

She faltered, feeling a little like a doe caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. She didn’t breathe … couldn’t … no man, not even Frank, had looked at her that way. Every nerve, every pore, seemed to sing as his gaze travelled over her. She imagined that he would have devoured her if he’d been able to step through the glass.

For a long moment he continued to stare at her, his eyes burning into hers. Heat flooded her body and moisture pooled between her thighs.

‘John … I—’ she began as she took an involuntary step forward. Her gaze shifted down his body and she saw his arousal. Stunned, her eyes darted to his and she recognised not only his yearning but the utter futility of such desire. ‘I’m so sorry … I shouldn’t have—’

Slowly turning his back, he said, ‘While it is a torture to look upon you, Kelly, it is a delicious torture.’

‘Can you … I mean … is there any way …?’

He raised a hand to stay her question. ‘If you are asking what I believe you are, the answer is no. Just as I cannot eat or sleep – I cannot find satisf—’

Leaving the rest unsaid he turned back, a wry smile playing at his lips even though he deliberately kept his eyes averted. ‘I beg you, Kelly, do not torture me further. Please cover yourself … although … I suppose it will be of no consequence now – in future whenever I look upon you I will see your delicate and beautiful body as it is before me now. My cousin is likely delighting in this unexpected victory.’

When she disappeared into the closet without another word he was grateful. She had no idea how much his fingers twitched to touch her pale skin. She was now engraved upon his mind with a clarity that he knew he could never forget. While he could do nothing to assuage such burning desire and his groin would long remain heavy with need, he knew what he felt was more than just lust. He would gladly give his life to hold her, just once, even if his lust could never be satisfied. Despite all his best intentions he’d fallen in love with his saviour. And while he said she should not attempt further explorations, he hoped that somehow she would find a way to release him from this prison. The notion that he could spend years in a state of unfulfilled want, both physically and emotionally, would surely complete his journey into madness.

Once he had thought he’d loved Anne but now he knew he had not. He’d known a strong affection for her, and because of her youth he’d wanted to protect her but the well of feeling that now lay within his breast seemed almost suffocating in its intensity. When Nancy told him of Kelly’s injuries, he had been beside himself with fear for her. He should have known then that it was already too late to protect himself, that she would find a way inside his heart and learn the truth about Elizabeth.

‘That was your final warning.’ The voice on the phone brooked no argument. ‘Next time, we’ll break your legs and make a permanent mess of that pretty face of yours. You have seven days to get the money.’

Richard held the telephone so tight his fingers were turning white. ‘I told you. If you can give me another month, I can pay twice that … more.’ That meant less than a month to convince her to marry him, after which they could escape to the US until things died down. He could wire the money to Denny once they got there. Denny would have friends in America, the man had friends everywhere so there was no question he’d have to square up eventually.

‘Time’s about run out, my man. Pay up or pay the price – it’s that simple.’ Richard felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle as the phone went dead. Until now Denny had been fairly tolerant, allowing him lots of leeway to settle his account. Richard had wondered, more than once, what in hell had made him so nasty lately.

Will Montgomery, Dee’s father, had been the man who’d delivered Denny’s ‘warning’. Never a man for subtlety, Will had always been a thug. He’d been Denny’s runner for years but Friday night was the first time he’d actually laid a finger on him.

Instead of replacing the receiver, Richard pressed the disconnect button then dialled the Montgomery house. Will answered after three rings.

‘Will?’ Richard began, ‘I am so sorry to hear about Dee … she was a nice kid.’

A low growl came down the line. ‘Nice kid? You thought she was a nice kid? You thought she was a nice piece of arse you sick bastard. Don’t worry, I’ll be telling the coppers all about you, Lord bloody Stanthorpe! I’m sure they’ll come up with some kind of child molestation charge as well!’

‘Huh? What are you talking about? As well as what?’

‘Murder, you arsehole!’

Richard went cold. God! Had Will known about Dee and him? Dee always swore he didn’t. Still, even if he did, the man couldn’t have any proof, Richard had always been extra careful about that. Never had anyone seen him and Dee together, and he made a point of flirting with all the girls at the bakery, not just Dee. He’d always used condoms … well, almost always. And they’d never gotten up to mischief if there was anyone about the estate. If she snuck by to see him, she hid her bike and rode through the back woods where few ventured these days.

No, the man was just bluffing.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Will. I’ve never done anything to hurt your daughter. She worked for me! Look, I just wanted to pass on my condolences. How is young Eithne holding up?’

‘You stay away from my little girl, you paedophile. If I catch you within a mile of her I’ll kill ya meself! And don’t you dare step foot anywhere near the funeral. It’s all your fault my Deanna is dead.’

The phone buzzed in his ear and Richard reeled backward until he sprawled in an ungainly heap on the couch. Will must have known. Oh God! His heart began to pound so hard his chest felt like it’d burst. What was he going to do? With Denny after him, and now, if Will’s threat could be believed, the police as well, he really needed to get Kelly’s cooperation – and fast. He went straight to the liquor cabinet and grabbed the scotch. He didn’t bother with ice, tossing back two quick shots, neat. As the alcohol burned its way down his throat, his heartbeat began to slow. He downed another shot then took the bottle and glass back to the couch.

Rubbing his eyes until they hurt, he let out a long weary sigh. The police wouldn’t have any evidence, only Will’s rantings, but Richard couldn’t afford to take chances. Well, there was nothing for it … he’d have to seduce Kelly in the next few days. His charm hadn’t deserted him before. He’d just have to make her an offer she couldn’t resist. He tilted his head till he could see the crates stacked just beyond the kitchen.

Yes, the missing journal … that’d do it. He’d hint that he might have found it and ask her to come and take a look. She’d be so grateful. His face broke into a slow, lazy smile. He’d had the journal all along, had found it several years ago but hadn’t bothered reading much of it. After a few pages of ‘lovey dovey’ entries written like letters to the man’s insipid wife, Richard had wanted to puke. Pure schmaltz. Talk about lovesick! His predecessor must have been a weak, snivelling prick. Yet Richard had decided to keep the thing – after all it was very old and might prove to be valuable one day. He’d even sent it to an antiquarian in Scotland to have it authenticated. The man offered three thousand pounds for it, but Richard thought better of selling. Now he was glad he had because it might well be just the weapon he needed to win Kelly over.

It would be odd to have a wife, he thought. But that wouldn’t affect his lifestyle any. A psychiatrist once called it an addiction … but he preferred to think that he just couldn’t resist a beautiful woman. The overpriced psychiatrist who’d examined him at the tender age of sixteen had met her match though. He’d delighted in telling her the erotic details of his adventures in the village. After two sessions he had her so aroused that she’d lifted her skirts, all but panting for him. She’d been fat and old, but she had a warm p-ssy and once he’d had a sniff of that scent he couldn’t stop himself. Not that he’d wanted to. Twice a week they had wild sex in her office in Oxford as his mother sat innocently chain-smoking in her car down in the street below. It was funny when he thought about it, his mother constantly worried about his mental state, while the woman who was supposed to be ‘fixing’ him took great delight in fulfilling every one of his carnal fantasies instead. Of course, she could no longer see him as a patient and he refused to see another psychiatrist. Their affair only lasted a few months before her conscience got the better of her. Last he heard she worked as a counsellor to rape victims at a refuge in Liverpool.

Rape, he mused, that was about the only sexual sin he’d never indulged in. He’d never needed to. His charm always won out and the chase was half the fun. Besides, in every town he always had a few backstops if his needs weren’t being met. Younger girls, or even the occasional boy, were often awed by his wealth and title and would succumb to his passions with little resistance. And they were loyal. It amazed him how loyal. None had ever reported him to the authorities, even when he asked for things they didn’t like.

That thought led him to another and he picked up the phone again – this time dialling a London number. A moment later Sonia’s husky voice purred into his ear.

‘Sonia, my sweet, what are you doing right now?’

She laughed that sexy laugh of hers and his body immediately reacted. Like Dee, Sonia was another he’d schooled for years. The daughter of one of his polo cronies, they’d had their first encounter before she turned fifteen. After her seventeenth birthday, a gay friend of his had agreed to give her an apprenticeship in his fashion house and she’d been only too pleased to move into a one-room London flat if it meant she’d escape life out in the countryside.

‘Why Ricky, I’m all alone and missing you. When are you coming back to town? Or are you just looking for a little phone sex?’

He glanced at the clock above his mantle. It was only a quarter past three … while the phone sex idea sounded tempting, he could be in town and between Sonia’s delicious thighs within a few hours.

Chuckling, he told her to put on her sexiest outfit, he’d be there in a while and if she’d been a really good girl he’d hang around and spend the night. He’d also avoid that copper who’d come looking for him while he was out riding earlier.

When he grabbed the keys to his Jaguar, he decided he felt better. He’d miss Dee, she really had been a sweet kid. Very sweet, but she had also become a liability. And while he didn’t discount Will’s threat entirely, he was fairly certain the man couldn’t prove a thing.

Perched on the bed with a light blanket over her legs, Kelly cast Inspector Mathieson a bland look as he crossed the threshold. Nancy and Tom followed. The inspector seated himself in the chair by the desk, while Nancy made herself comfortable on the edge of the bed. Tom remained just inside the door in order to fend off any other visitors.

‘Are you feeling any better, Ms Reid?’ he asked. She could tell he was just being polite.

Touching her forehead with her fingertips, she kept her face impassive. ‘The head still hurts but not as bad as it was.’

‘Glad to hear it.’ He retrieved his PDA and began tapping the stylus on the screen. ‘Have you remembered anything else about Deanna Montgomery’s death?’

She shook her head slowly. ‘I don’t know about her death, Inspector. I never saw her. I was unconscious. All I know about that is what you and Tom told me.’

He nodded and tapped some more.

‘The person you say hit you – apart from the smell, is there anything at all you can tell me? What exactly did you see and hear?’

Kelly related her movements from the time she exited her room until the time she woke up in the hospital. The only detail she omitted was John. Throughout her story the inspector studied her intently, his gaze boring into hers whenever he asked a question.

‘I get the clear impression that you aren’t being completely honest with me, Ms Reid.’

She glanced at the mirror, then back at Mathieson. ‘I don’t know what else I can tell you, Inspector.’

‘Why did you take that mirror with you into the passage?’ One black caterpillar brow arched. ‘After all, it must have been difficult carrying both the candle, and a heavy hand mirror.’

The room got suddenly hot and she hesitated to answer. What could she say that would sound even remotely believable?

Even as she swallowed down her fear Tom, bless him, jumped to her rescue. ‘I’d have taken it to see around corners and inside cavities. Being flat, you can slide it into places where you can’t otherwise go.’

Inspector Mathieson again faced her and raised both brows. ‘Is that the case, Ms Reid?’

‘Yes,’ she replied, though she knew she sounded far from convincing. She glanced at John who smiled his encouragement.

‘Later today, I will get you to walk me through the passage exactly as you did on the night in question.’ He pulled out some sheets of paper and laid them on the bed before her. ‘What are these, Ms Reid?’

They were the print-outs of the equipment Graham Zatz had sent her. If the inspector had done his job, he’d have looked at her emails and already knew where they came from. She’d never bothered with passwords on her email account. If something needed to be kept secret she never used emails.

Raising her eyes, she flashed him a weak smile. ‘They are for another story I’m working on, Inspector Mathieson. As you probably already know, I’m a journalist. I often work on more than one piece at a time.’

The inspector leaned back in the chair and set the PDA down on the desk. ‘Tell me about this other story.’

Frowning, she shook her head. ‘Sorry, Inspector, I can’t divulge anything about it at this stage but I can guarantee these pictures have nothing at all to do with Deanna’s death.’

‘Oh, come now, Ms Reid – you’re not a doctor, there’s no “confidentiality” in journalism.’

‘Perhaps not, but I am permitted to protect my sources. That story is only in its infancy so I really have nothing I can tell you right now.’

The inspector didn’t look happy and pinned her with his dark brown stare. ‘How well did you know Deanna Montgomery?’

‘Like I said before, I met her a couple of times. She seemed jealous that I was with the viscount the first time I met her. A few nights later, she angrily suggested I return to the States – but that is all. I’ve only exchanged a dozen words with her.’

He grunted and began scratching away at his handheld again.

‘What is your relationship with Richard Ditchley?’

‘My relationship?’ she glanced at the mirror, an involuntary action. ‘I suppose he has become a friend, Inspector. I had dinner with him on Friday evening.’

‘Has that friendship become intimate, Ms Reid?’

Kelly choked back her outrage with a groan at the same time as John growled. Her eyes darted to the mirror in alarm, before instantly returning to the inspector’s closed face. Whether the inspector heard him or not, she couldn’t tell. ‘Inspector Mathieson,’ she stated, sending John a warning look, ‘when I said friend, I meant friend. Our dinner was simply that. Dinner.’

Mathieson studied her, his expression not in the least contrite. ‘I beg your pardon if you found the question offensive, Ms Reid. From my investigations I have learned that your Lord Stanthorpe is quite the ladies man and as you are a single woman …’

The sentence hung in the air between them like an accusation and Kelly felt her gall rising. It was just like after Frank had started his smear campaign against her. Everyone automatically assumed she had been sleeping with her ex-lover.

‘Despite what you see on television, Inspector, not all American women—’

‘No, no, Ms Reid. I was not implying anything of the kind. I merely needed to be certain of the extent of your relationship. A titled gentleman is often seen as an attractive prospect—’

This time she cut him off with a harsh laugh. ‘Sorry to disappoint you, Inspector, but if you do a little research you will find that I have all the social connections I could ever want or need. And, if I had a mind to, I could buy Lord Stanthorpe many times over.’

Though he raised one thick brow Kelly could tell that he already knew all this. It frustrated her to think that he might simply be baiting her. What was he really after?

She didn’t get the chance to ask. His mobile phone blared and he excused himself to the hall to take the call.

Nancy patted Kelly’s leg. ‘You’re doing fine.’

John’s expression was equally encouraging, though Tom looked troubled as he kept an ear out for Mathieson’s return.

Some minutes later he came back into the room carrying a Harrods bag and settled back in the chair.

‘Have you seen this before, Ms Reid?’ he asked as he extracted a black rod about eighteen inches long, wrapped in clear plastic.

Taking it from him she immediately recognised that it was a bicycle pump.

‘It looks a lot like the bicycle pump I tripped over outside the back door as I came back inside on Friday after my dinner with Richard,’ she said, handing it back.

‘It is a bicycle pump, Ms Reid, although it wasn’t found near the back door. From preliminary tests we believe this to be the murder weapon. It was found at the other end of the passage where Deanna Montgomery’s body was discovered, some twenty feet away. Forensics has found traces of blood and a clear set of fingerprints.’

Kelly felt her stomach clench. While she knew she was innocent, if it was the same pump she’d picked up, then those prints could easily be hers.

This time he pinned her with a stare that made her whole body quake. ‘And these?’

He held up a plastic bag that contained what appeared to be runes like the ones she’d collected from her windowsill. They were covered in reddish brown stains, which she could only assume was blood.

‘I— they … there were some similar stones in my room the other day … but they disappeared,’ she finished weakly. If they were the same, her fingerprints would be on them, too. It all seemed so damning.

‘I would like you to come to the station at Oxford tomorrow to have your prints taken. Constable Ward will accompany you.’

‘Surely you don’t think that I—’

He cut her off. ‘At this stage I cannot say what I think, Ms Reid.’ His mobile phone interrupted again allowing Kelly to release a pent-up breath.

‘What am I going to do?’ she whispered once he’d left the room.

Nancy reached over and hugged her. ‘Don’t worry, kiddo, we won’t let him pin this on you. We know you’re innocent.’

‘Indeed, she is,’ John said in a low voice. ‘If you will let me speak to this police person, I can verify your story.’

‘I wish you could, John, I really do, but if it took me a week to believe in you and I can actually see you, how long do you think the hard-nosed inspector will take?’

He frowned at her but did not say more.

The inspector stuck his head back around the door and said, ‘I’ll be back in a few hours for that walk-through, Ms Reid. The autopsy results are back on the body so I’ll be heading up to Oxford. Needless to say, don’t leave the precinct.’

Kelly nodded.

‘An odious man,’ John commented in an offended voice once the inspector had gone.

The disembodied remark made Tom chuckle. It was obvious from the look on his face that he still hadn’t quite come to terms with John’s invisible presence.

‘Though we might not like it, he’s just doing his job,’ Kelly explained with a deep sigh.

‘Perhaps,’ John crossed his arms with righteous indignation, ‘but he showed little respect for your person. In my day women were treated with more courtesy.’

‘Things are very different nowadays,’ Nancy responded ruefully.

‘So I have come to learn during this past week.’ He looked at Kelly with a sad smile. ‘Is there nothing I can do to help clear you of this unjust accusation?’

‘Well, he hasn’t actually accused me of anything yet. He says I am a suspect but for all we know there could be others he hasn’t mentioned.’

Nancy agreed. ‘Yes – they only tell you as much as they want you to know. We could all be suspects,’ she turned towards the mirror, ‘except for you.’

Kelly couldn’t help but grin. ‘One thing we could do is get that stored mirror put up in a place that will allow you to watch what is going on.’ She explained to Nancy and Tom about the five mirrors. ‘Now that the hand mirror had been taken into evidence, that really only leaves three that John could use. Another would increase the odds of him seeing something useful. But where to put it is the question,’ Kelly mused.

‘Perhaps the library would be the best location,’ John offered. ‘Is that not the room where the police have spent most of their time since the passage was opened up?’

‘We’ll have to wait until the coast is clear before we can take anything in there. The room has been cordoned off and there’s a man on guard outside most of the time,’ Tom said.

Nancy stood and began to pace. ‘What about the hall opposite the door then? John could keep watch for who comes and goes, and when the door is open then he’d be able to see much of what happens. The bookcase you moved is almost directly in that line of sight.’

Tom didn’t wait for further discussion. ‘Let me go down and check things out. If I can put it up straight away, I will. Inspector Mathieson did say that we could keep working towards our opening date … well … he can’t object if we put our furnishings back where they belong, can he?’

Nancy giggled after he left. ‘Such a resourceful man. I’m so glad I married him.’

Heat rose from Richard’s sweat-slicked body. While he adored Sonia most days, sometimes, no matter what he did, she just wouldn’t come! When it happened she always said that she couldn’t help it, but he suspected it was ploy to make him feel inadequate as a lover. Or get her way about something.

Not long after he’d arrived she complained that the flat had no air-conditioning, and that if the current London heatwave proved any indication of the coming summer, she’d refuse to put up with it.

Her whining had taken the gloss off their first bout of sex, so after a short break so he could recover himself he’d put on one of his dirtiest porn DVDs to get her in the mood. Right now they were watching a buxom black girl being done by two men – usually Sonia’s favourite scenario – yet she still seemed bored and unresponsive.

To hell with it, he thought. There was no way he was going to pay for an expensive air-con unit and that was that. He didn’t have the spare cash even if he’d wanted to, so he pumped harder, pushing her face-down into the couch, till he found his own pleasure. Once the shuddering stopped, he withdrew and walked away to leave her kneeling on the couch with her backside in the air. As far as he was concerned, she’d had her chance … she could bloody well masturbate if she wanted satisfaction.

Disposing of the condom in the bathroom he strolled naked into the kitchen and set the kettle on the stove. He wrinkled his nose in disgust when he turned on his mobile phone to check his voice messages. There were three: one from Denny reminding him that he had six days left, and two from an Oxford number which, he suspected, was that damned police inspector asking him to call and set time aside for an interview. He didn’t bother to respond. He’d contact Kelly first thing in the morning, just to be certain she would confirm his alibi for Friday evening … then he’d talk to the inspector. He just wished he could be certain that Will didn’t have anything concrete about him and Deanna. Maybe he’d call in at Will’s house on his way back to the coach house just to make sure.

Sonia sidled up to him all sweet and contrite just as the kettle began to squeal. Her hand wandered down his belly until it found him and began stroking in just the way he liked. Over her shoulder he could see that a new scene had begun on the porn flick, this time two women playing with a massive sex aid: Sonia’s second favourite scenario, he remembered. He stiffened in her hand.

‘What are you up to, missy?’ he asked playfully; after all, he could never be angry with Sonia for long. ‘Are you going for some kind of record?’

Her full lips broke into a glowing smile. ‘Four more times for that,’ she said cheekily, ‘but I’m game if you want to try …?’ She raised one of her delicately sculpted brows then minced back to the couch and arranged herself so that he had the perfect view of all her luscious assets. He glanced at the teacup he’d pulled out of the cupboard, then the large screen television, and finally back at her. It was no contest.

Kelly stared at John for a long moment after Nancy had gone to see what had happened with Tom and the fourth mirror. Something about him made her go all soft inside.

‘I need to ask you something.’

‘Anything.’

‘Please don’t be angry when I ask this, but I really need to know. What I am beginning to feel …’ she faltered. Asking such a thing was difficult and despite her mental decision to forgive him no matter what, she didn’t know what she would do if the truth proved him a cheat and a liar.

‘Ask your question. I guarantee that I shall answer with perfect honesty.’

She took a big gulp of air and looked into his sapphire eyes. Her heart fluttered slightly and she felt like she was falling into them, so warm and compelling was his gaze.

‘For once and for all … please … if you are an actor playing a role, I promise I’ll understand … but I need to know …’

The smile he gave her in response was one of kindly indulgence, the type of smile reserved only for a loved one. ‘Your question is not unexpected, Kelly. I know I have presented no sound proof of my identity beyond the ability to move between the mirrors. But I cannot lie to you. You have stolen my heart and my soul. I’m sure you already know this, as such an emotion can never be hidden. If I could have stepped into your life as I real man I would have done so days ago but truly, I cannot.

‘Everything I have told you is the truth. I would go to my Maker a happy man if I were to be permitted to touch your skin or place a soft kiss upon your lips, just once, before I die. In the days I have come to know you, I have begun to understand what drove Edward to the extreme of madness. His love for Elizabeth, his anguish at his loss of her, surpassed his ability to remain sane. I just pray that if you cannot release me from this prison, that insanity claims me quickly.’

Futility filled his eyes and she felt her heart begin to shatter.

‘I so wished—’ she began, but no words seemed to fill the space inside her. For just a minute she’d really hoped that he would walk in the door, take her in his arms and tell her it was all a trick, that if she’d let him explain …

In that instant before he spoke she’d played it all out in her mind’s eye and there would be the happily-ever-after that she never expected. But now her choice was simple. She could condemn the man she had come to love to a future trapped in a place where she could never venture. Or she could see him die.

A hollow ache filled her chest and she found it hard to breathe. Could there be no other answer? Surely to God, there must be.

A quiet tap on the door preceded the appearance of Nancy’s blonde head. ‘Sorry to disturb again, but Inspector Mathieson has just arrived for that walk-through he wanted. I told him I’d come up and get you.’ She glanced over at the mirror, ‘Oh, and Tom managed to get that mirror into the library without much fuss, so if John wants to come down and join us?’

Swallowing down all the emotions that she didn’t want to feel, Kelly faced her friend. ‘Thanks, Nance. Just ask the inspector to give me minute and I’ll be down.’

‘I will adjourn to the library and keep watch,’ John said and promptly disappeared.

It was almost with a sense of relief that she went to the bathroom to tie her hair back so she could crawl through the passage with Inspector Mathieson. Being near John, but unable to touch him, made her feel completely bereft.

When Kelly entered the passage for the second time, it amazed her how brightly lit it now was. The police technicians had installed lights through the whole network of passages so it no longer had that creepy, gothic atmosphere.

After placing the flashlight down by the entrance door, she showed Mathieson how she crept along the passage, the mirror in one hand and the candle in the other. John appeared in the hand mirror as soon as she mounted the inner staircase. Eyes widening momentarily, she nearly lost her footing with the suddenness of seeing him there and she had to suppress the urge to yell at him for frightening her.

Yet, as her spurt of shock subsided, she was thankful for his presence. Mathieson seemed to take umbrage that Tom insisted on accompanying her throughout the investigation and barred him from joining in their little excursion, instead ordering that both he and Nancy wait within the library until they were done.

Once she’d led Mathieson past the window embrasure, she saw how the brick hidey-holes had crumbled when Tom had pushed out the bookcases. It was a good thing she’d found John’s journal when she did … if she hadn’t, she would never have learned about the true man, nor would she have allowed herself to acknowledge the feelings growing inside her. Her one regret was that any other treasures to be found amongst the rubble would now, no doubt, be in the hands of the police.

‘I don’t suppose your constables found any books or journals amongst that lot?’ she asked, gesturing at the scattered pile of broken bricks.

‘Not as far as I am aware, Ms Reid,’ he said, turning to look closely at her face. ‘I do wonder why this journal is so important to you, though.’

‘That is just it, Inspector, I don’t know if it is important or not. All I know is that it is missing and could shed light on the disappearance of one of the manor’s owners during the Victorian era.’

His eyes narrowed speculatively but he didn’t comment.

‘So what happened once you reached this spot, Ms Reid?’

With a swallow, she described how she’d placed the candle and mirror down beside her so she could prise away some of the bricks to search inside the cavities. ‘Then a gust of wind blew out the candle. As I was trying to light another, I heard the noise from down that way,’ she pointed to the far end of the passage. ‘By the time I got the match to strike, whoever hit me had come up beside me. I didn’t actually see who it was but when I finally got the candle lit, all I saw was a black object coming straight at my head.’ Raising her hand to her bruised forehead, she winced at the memory. ‘After that it is all a blank. That’s all I can tell you, Inspector Mathieson.’

The frown that had accompanied the inspector since he’d returned to the manor furrowed his brow more deeply. ‘And you say you did not see Deanna Montgomery at all on Friday?’

‘No, Inspector. Apart from Tom and Nancy, the only person I saw all day was Richard Ditchley.’

Watching the inspector’s passing expressions, she would have said that for the most part, he believed her story. But he also seemed to sense that she hadn’t told him everything. But then she knew he hid things too. She had desperately wanted to ask about Deanna’s autopsy, hoping something in it might steer the inspector away from suspecting her. So far he hadn’t said a word and the journalist in her seethed with questions.

‘The bicycle pump was found over there,’ he said, indicating the same area she said the first sound came from.

‘I’m sorry, but I didn’t see it there. It was very dark and I couldn’t see the end of the passage. I just heard a sound. If it is the same pump I picked up outside earlier—’

‘About what time was that?’ he asked, cutting her off.

She shrugged slightly. ‘I’m not really sure … around nine maybe?’ she replied. The uncertainty of her answer echoed in her voice.

‘That was quite early if you were on a dinner date, wasn’t it, Ms Reid? From what Tom Wentworth tells me, you didn’t leave here till well after seven.’

Kelly nodded. ‘We had a pleasant dinner, and that was that.’

‘Didn’t the viscount receive a visitor during that time?’

Kelly’s eyes darted up in surprise. He must have spoken to Richard already. ‘Someone came to the door and he and Richard had what you might call “a heated exhange”. I don’t know the other man’s identity. Richard said he was just a local who’d had too much to drink.’

‘That man came forward this afternoon, Ms Reid, and made some nasty accusations about Richard Ditchley.’

‘Oh?’ Her journalistic antenna suddenly jumped to high alert.

‘Nothing I can discuss at this point, Ms Reid. We are investigating the allegations. However, if you can recall any details of the argument that night?’

She shook her head. ‘I didn’t hear anything of what they said.’

The sideways look the inspector threw her suggested that he didn’t believe her but she couldn’t do a thing about that. In this instance she was telling him the whole truth.

He motioned that she precede him into the library where Tom and Nancy sat, both wearing slightly nervous expressions. She tried to give both a reassuring smile but her own uncertainty made it feel more like a grimace. John materialised in the larger mirror just as she stepped from the tunnel into the room. The inspector followed close behind her and gave the hand mirror, matchbox and candle to a constable who returned the items to their respective plastic bags and set them aside.

‘What happens now, Inspector Mathieson?’ Tom asked, rising from the chair with a reassuring pat on his wife’s hand.

The inspector looked away a second then muttered a few words to another officer before facing them.

‘For now, we have about all the evidence we need here, Mr Wentworth. The boys will begin clearing up soon and you should be able to start setting everything to rights by this evening. I will be keeping a man on the gates and outside the house.’ He turned to Kelly, a look of warning on his face. ‘Ms Reid, while you are not under arrest, I would advise that you do not leave the house until all this is cleared up. Tomorrow, I’ll expect you to come to CID headquarters in Oxford at ten to have your fingerprints taken and a formal statement recorded. An officer will escort you. If you have no objection, we’d like a DNA sample as well.’ His black caterpillar brows lifted in question.

Kelly nodded. ‘I have nothing to hide.’

‘Thank you, Ms Reid.’

By the time the inspector finally dismissed her, Kelly could have sworn she’d run a marathon. Never in her life had she been so tired. Even the emotional exhaustion she felt after the final day in court where her marriage had been officially dissolved, paled alongside this. Why, she didn’t quite know. Perhaps it was the strain of keeping part of the story a secret. Yet she knew in her heart that any mention of John would only make matters ten times worse. Nancy and Tom believed in him, she knew that for a certainty, but she was just as certain nobody else would without more solid evidence than a voice that emanated from a mirror.

‘You appear fatigued, Kelly,’ John’s deep voice was gentle and filled with compassion. ‘Should you not rest?’

Their eyes met and held fast. ‘That was the plan.’

No longer fearing that he would be misjudged, he stood before her in a loose-limbed, relaxed stance. She moved towards the mirror and placed a hand on the glass. ‘Until the police have gone I cannot search anyway. Maybe after dinner tonight?’

The blue of his eyes darkened to become a stormy grey. ‘It is already decided, Kelly. You are to cease the search for my cousin’s journal. Once my days of reprieve are ended, you will still hear my voice, somewhat faintly. And I shall still see you. That is enough.’

That thought brought a sharp stab of pain to her chest.

‘For you, but not for me,’ she sighed. ‘Nothing is certain until we find that journal. It could be that you will be released, unharmed. We must try.’

A mixture of hope and fear filled his strong face. How she wished she could, just once, raise her hand to know that strength, to touch the warmth of his jaw, his throat. She closed her eyes and imagined what his skin would feel like under her fingertips and her body responded by sending a bolt of fire downward.

‘Kelly,’ he whispered.

She lifted her lids and saw that he not only understood what her body was telling her, but that he felt it too. She had come to desire him on all levels despite the impossibility of such emotions, and from the yearning heat of his stare, she knew that he had as little control as she did.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, turning from the potency of his steady gaze. ‘I don’t mean to …’

‘It is … okay,’ he said the word as if tasting it for the first time. He cast her a rueful grin when she glanced back at him. ‘While it is agony not to be able to reach across the barrier and be close to you, simply to watch, to be near you, can and will suffice. It must. Why don’t you rest? I shall go to the various rooms and keep watch on the police until you awaken.’

Again she put her hand to the glass, but this time she didn’t flinch when he lifted his own to join it. Energy, an electrical charge so strong it almost burned, flew between their hands as if to bind them. She gasped.

The look of wonder on John’s face sent a dart of heat straight to her loins and her legs became so unsteady that she thought they might crumple beneath her. The temperature in the room seemed to rise by several degrees. Every nerve in her body began to scream with want, and yet they had not even touched! Her pulse stuttered and her nipples tightened until they stood out against her blouse, and as she watched him watching her, she knew neither of them could withstand such unfulfilled passion and remain sane.

Backing away slowly, she let her gaze drop to the patterned carpet as the realisation hit her. If this was what it was like now, how would either of them cope in the coming days, let alone longer? For her it would be simple, whether on her own or by making use of someone like Richard, she, at least, could relieve her sexual tension if she became truly desperate. But finding relief for herself would be so unfair knowing that the man before her would never be able to achieve that same relief. And in all honesty she really didn’t believe she could bring herself to seek either of those solutions.

As she drew a shuddering breath, she turned back to face him knowing deep in her heart that if she could not safely release him from his prison, she’d be duty bound to release him from whatever emotional hold she now had on him. She would have to leave and never come back. Even twenty years from now if they were to try again … she would have aged but he – he would be the same as ever, a virile man in his prime. No matter how much he thought he might feel for her, she could not in good conscience make him wait. He had waited too long for freedom already.

When she gazed into his face and saw the poignant sadness there, she wondered whether he had discovered how to read her thoughts as well. It was as if he could see the resolution she had just made, as if he had already resigned himself to the loss of what they were both beginning to feel.

‘Go and rest,’ he murmured with a calmness that belied all the tension that flowed between them. ‘The Fates shall decide as they will. I have learned that it is a waste of my strength to dream for more. Please do not waste yours by wishing on my behalf. I am content.’

Kelly wanted to rail against the mirror, wanted to smash the glass. How could he take all this so calmly? Deep within she knew that no man would ever again touch her soul as he was beginning to do. Could she spend her life without him?

Stepping back she swallowed down the sense of despair that seemed to be growing inside her. She had to find a way. Even if it meant seeking out a psychic or sorcerer or some other crackpot she would never, until now, have believed could be legitimate. She had to find a way.

‘I think I’ll have a bath,’ she stated as she dragged her gaze from his and released her hair from the band that held it. ‘I’m all dusty from crawling around in the passage. Afterward, I’ll try to nap until the police have cleared out, and then we are going to find that damn journal!’

She ignored the narrowed glare he sent her.

‘While I cannot stop you, I beg that you will take extra care. I cannot enter the hand mirror now it has been removed from the estate, so I am unable to escort you. Perhaps you can ask your Tom to help if you insist on continuing the search?’

‘Maybe,’ she said. ‘We’ll see.’

Bowing, he favoured her with one of his devilish half-smiles. ‘I go to investigate the investigators.’ An instant later, he was gone.

As she ran the bath she allowed some of the tension to drain from her shoulders. Her body still hummed with need but that too would die down once she had bathed. After dinner she planned to go over every inch of the library and if took all night, or many, then so be it.

‘What is the matter with you?’ Sonia complained, pouting her lower lip. It reminded him of a pair of juicy red cherries. A few minutes ago she’d shimmied down the bed to slip between his thighs and had been attempting to work her magic with her mouth. But he didn’t much feel like it. ‘You’ve never had a problem getting it up before.’

Narrowing his eyes he took in her tousled hair and her smeared lipstick, and decided he was bored. She again put her mouth on him, her hot wet tongue swirling around the tip of his penis and though a momentary surge of desire shot through his gut, the thought that he needed to get Kelly tied to him, and fast, still distracted him. While he was laying here being serviced by Sonia, he could be back at Stanthorpe seducing Kelly instead.

‘F*ck it!’ he exclaimed when his mobile phone went off again. He knew without looking at the display that it would be that cop. The man had left five messages already and Richard knew if he didn’t answer it soon, they’d think he’d done a runner – something that would undoubtedly make him look guilty. Right now, he needed to get his priorities straight.

With a sigh he realised there was nothing for it, he’d have to head back to Stanthorpe and get it all sorted otherwise he could lose everything.

Grabbing Sonia’s thick auburn hair, he pulled her head back. Her lips made a soft popping noise when she let go. ‘What the—?’ she began, but he flung her head back none too gently, then swung his leg over her and sat up.

‘I gotta go,’ he said, reaching for his briefs.

‘But you said you’d stay over!’ She sat up on her haunches and pouted again. ‘I had supper planned and everything.’ She reached out and attempted to wrap her arms around his neck. ‘C’mon, Ricky, you promised. I’ll even let you— owww!’ she yelped when he slapped her.

She drew her hand to her burning cheek. ‘What was that for?’

‘That was for whining. You know I hate whiny women.’ He stood and pulled his jeans up, buttoning the fly with brisk, practised movements. ‘I just remembered some business I forgot back at Stanthorpe.’

‘But what business can you do at this time of night? Why not stay and get going early in the morning?’

He glanced across at her bedside clock. It was after eight. He could make it back to the coach house and dig out the journal ready to tempt Kelly in the morning. And on the way he might also pay a visit to Will Montgomery to find out what he’d told the police. Yes – he needed to know exactly what Will had said.

‘I have to get back tonight and that is that.’ He turned away from her and gathered his keys and mobile phone before buttoning his shirt. ‘I’m not sure when I’ll see you next … I might need to take a trip to New York. I’ll let you know.’

‘New York?’ she bounded off the bed, her full breasts swaying as she came up beside him. ‘Can I come, Ricky, please … pretty please?’

He cast her a look of disdain before sitting on the side of the bed to concentrate on his shoes. ‘Sorry, Sonnie, this trip is purely business … you’d just be in the way.’

She circled around him and smiled sweetly, rubbing herself against him like a cat. ‘No I wouldn’t, Ricky, I promise I wouldn’t.’

Without warning he swung his hand and clipped her on the cheek for the second time. She fell to the floor and gazed up at him, her eyes wide with shock.

‘I said NO and I mean it,’ he growled in a low, satisfied voice knowing she’d have a whopper of a bruise come morning. He didn’t help her up, just stepped around her and headed for the door.

By the time his Jaguar neared the turn-off to Garford, Richard had planned his attack. Even though Will needed to be at the stables by dawn he knew the man would still be up watching cable. He played the ponies all around the world and had a reputation for switching from one hemisphere to the other to place his bets. At this time of night he’d probably be watching the races in South Africa or Australia or somewhere else on the other side of the world.

The phone calls from the police meant Will hadn’t been bluffing. Richard knew they were probably on the lookout for him so he decided to park down the road from Will’s house and jog up the rear lane to the back entrance. He knew Will’s place well, having been there many times to settle up, or on the odd occasion, collect his winnings from the day’s punting.

As he suspected, the kitchen blazed with light and he could hear the television going in the background. He knocked.

Less than a minute later young Eithne came to the door. She’d grown somewhat since he’d last been by, her legs had slimmed down and she had a coltish look about her. She wore bright blue shorts and a semi-transparent blouse, and he could see she was just beginning to come to full womanhood. Her eyes, so like Dee’s, widened as she recognised who stood at the door.

‘He ain’t ’ere, Mr Ditchley,’ she said without bothering to greet him, ‘he’s gone to the stables.’

‘Do you think he’ll be long? I need to speak to him.’

She shrugged and turned. As she walked away he watched the gentle sway of her hips. When she reached the other side of the kitchen she half-turned. ‘If you want to come in and wait, y’can.’

He wasn’t sure that was such a good idea after his last few run-ins with Will, but then again he couldn’t just stand around the back door all night and he did need to know what trouble Will might have got him into. Cautiously, he opened the screen and let it shut with a squeak behind him.

‘Close the door after ya,’ Eithne bellowed from the adjacent room.

In the doorway to the parlour he found her sitting cross-legged on the couch opposite a large-screen TV.

‘What’s on?’ he asked as he sidled in, catching a glimpse of her bright red panties beneath the leg of her shorts.

She shrugged again. ‘Nothin’ much.’

He sat in an armchair where he could see both the girl and the back door, ready to jump to attention the minute Will showed up.

After several minutes silence, during which she ignored him completely, he said, ‘I’m sorry about Dee.’

Eithne’s eyes flashed to his then back at the television. She showed no emotion.

‘Do you know when the funeral will be?’ he tried again.

She shook her head but didn’t answer. Instead she took a cushion from the corner of the couch and lay sideways, though she kept one leg propped, which meant he could still see down the leg of her shorts and, though he tried not to look, his eyes kept being drawn there. He felt his groin hardening and decided that this was a bad move right now, what with the accusations Will might have made.

Rising, he said, ‘Perhaps I ought to wait outside for your dad.’

‘If that’s what you want,’ she lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug.

When he reached the back door, he heard her behind him and turned. ‘Hey, Mr Ditchley … have you found anyone to take over Dee’s job at the manor? I’m pretty good at cleaning cars and I’ve taken care of the horse’s tack for Dad.’

‘How old are you, Eithne?’ he asked, wondering if God had just smiled on him again. He shifted from one leg to the other in an attempt to lessen the tightness of his jeans.

‘Nearly fourteen. I’d work real hard, Mr Ditchley. Me dad, he don’t believe in pocket-money and a girl needs stuff, y’know.’ She smiled in that innocent way that Dee had all those years ago.

He nodded sagely thinking how delightful it would be to teach Eithne all the skills he’d taught her sister. ‘Come see me after the funeral, Eithne, and I’ll see what we can sort out.’

A car door slammed behind him and he spun about to see Will Montgomery, covered in dirt, glowering at him.

‘You get away from my little girl!’ he yelled.

Richard held up his hands to show they were empty. ‘I was just waiting to talk to you, Will. I’ve only been here a minute.’

Will’s eyes narrowed, first at Richard and then at his daughter. ‘Go to bed now, Eithne.’

‘Fine,’ she snarled before dissolving into the shadows of the parlour.

‘What do you want?’ Will demanded, hands on hips.

Will was shorter than Richard but far stockier and after the punch he delivered the other night, Richard was certain he didn’t want to mix it with him again.

‘I want to know what you told the cops.’

Will bore down on him and crowded his space. Richard backed up against the screen door. ‘I told ‘em what my Deanna told me – that you’ve been doin’ her for years.’

Richard felt the heat rising up his neck. She wouldn’t have told him, surely! His heart began to beat harder and he slid sideways to gain a little distance.

‘C’mon, Will, you didn’t believe her, did you?’

‘Of course I believed her. She was pregnant with your brat and it weren’t the first time!’

Again Richard backed up a step and shook his head slowly. He didn’t know whether he was denying it to Will or himself but it didn’t matter.

‘You can’t be serious. She must have had half a dozen boys in the village panting after her.’

Will raised his fists and Richard took another step backward. The rosebush behind him stabbed his legs but he ignored the prickling sensation.

‘Dee might have been a cheap little whore but she always told me the truth. I’m willing to bet all you owe Denny that when the police do their tests, they’ll find out you were going to be a daddy.’

Oh God, please, let the kid belong to someone else!

He swallowed. Hard. ‘I really don’t know what you’re talking about, Will.’

With that he turned and headed for the lane, trying hard to quell the panic that rose in his chest. When he reached the car he chanced a look back at the house. Will stood there, haloed by the porch light, just staring at him.

By the time he pulled the Jag into the garage of the coach house Richard had calmed a little. As far as he knew the police could not compel him to give his blood for a paternity test and unless they had some kind of evidence … all they had was Will’s word against his. The first thing he needed to do above all else was convince Kelly that he was falling in love with her. If he could make her do the same, then she wouldn’t believe any of Will’s lies. The next thing would be to contact his lawyer – just in case.

Glancing at his watch he considered his next move. It was late – after eleven. Did he dare go over to the manor and pay Kelly a visit? Maybe he could seduce her tonight and put his plans into motion. The lord knew that Eithne’s little display had made him horny as hell and sating himself with Kelly did have a lot of appeal.

Yes, a quick shower and a midnight rendezvous sounded very romantic.

Kelly’s eyes fluttered open as a warm breeze flowed over her bare skin in a sweet caress. She’d left the window ajar – the evening had grown balmy. In the back of her mind she knew that she had slept long past the time she had wanted, but her tired limbs were so languid after her bath, she just couldn’t force herself to move.

At some point, under the cover of the darkness, she’d stripped off her t-shirt and pushed down the bedding so she could let the gentle wisps of air cool her bare breasts.

Although she couldn’t see John in the mirror, she knew that he watched her – she felt him; he’d become part of her awareness. A stab of guilt assailed her for displaying herself almost naked before him. Yet she secretly wanted him to see all of her, to know all of her, even if only by sight. She belonged to him now, in spirit at least, and she wanted them to join in whatever way possible.

Closing her eyes she imagined what it would be like if he could touch her. Goosebumps rose on her skin at the mere thought of his hands upon her. She smiled to herself and drifted off as the scent of her own arousal rose into the air.

The warm press of his hands lingered in her mind and the bed dipped slightly. She rolled into him and felt his hand sweep up her back, making every nerve tingle.

Soft lips grazed her neck, whispering words of love that were beyond her hearing. But she answered them with her own nonetheless. She wove her hands into his hair. The cool strands were silky and smelled of sandalwood.

His mouth made a meandering course up her neck and over her cheek then across to finally capture her lips. Again he didn’t force, but coaxed with wet nips at her lower lip until she couldn’t help but open her mouth on a satisfied sigh. He didn’t enter immediately, but played with her lips, sucking gently – first the top, then the bottom – before tasting more deeply with his tongue.

Heat fired through her, pooling in all the places she so wished he could touch. She could feel her nipples puckering, rising towards him, begging for his hands, his mouth.

As his tongue finally claimed her mouth he drew slow circles with his fingertips, inching ever so slowly downward until his hand cupped one breast. A shuddering breath burst from her lungs as the sensation of his large hand on her skin sent darts of pleasure firing down to her loins. She could feel herself swelling and moistening, her hips wanted to arch against him, so strong was her need.

One fingertip slid back and forth across her nipple with agonising slowness and she wrenched her mouth from his to allow a low moan to escape her throat. Her breathing quickened and her heart stepped up its beat as it pumped heated blood through her. Each touch made her quiver.

A soft chuckle whispered in her ear as his lips began a journey downward. He spread wet, open-mouthed kisses along her collarbone, then, without warning, his hot mouth covered her breast and sucked hard. Her body shuddered on a gasp as he gently dragged his teeth across her swollen nipple sending a torturous ache right to the base of her spine. Lost in the heat of him, she was barely aware that his hand ventured downward but when his fingers slid into her warm folds, she nearly bucked off the bed. A startled moan burst from her lips.

Please! she silently begged, wanting him inside her, filling her.

He moved his fingers in a languid rhythm, parting her and then dipping inside before sliding upward again.

‘Please!’ she said out loud. He was pushing her to the edge and she needed all of him.

‘Not yet,’ he murmured.

She wanted to cry out in frustration, but his fingers still moved and desire compelled her. She felt it mounting, the tension growing to a painful pitch, and just as she was about to beg one last time, her body erupted.

Kelly spasmed into an upright position, her whole body tensing and shuddering as the orgasm continued to sweep through her. She panted for breath even as the waves continued to echo inside her. Her eyes sprang open to see John staring at her in utter amazement. His eyes were pools of blackness: his face pale but beatific while he watched her in the final throes of her passion.

As her heart continued to hammer in her chest, she saw herself in reflection alongside him. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was tousled around her face. Her eyes looked gigantic.

Stunned, she didn’t know what to do. She was alone and though the man in her dream could not have been real, the climax she felt was the most powerful she’d ever had; her *oris still throbbed even now.

‘Omigod!’ she said breathlessly. ‘That’s never—’ she broke off, not certain what to say. She knew she should have been mortified that it happened in front of him but she didn’t feel embarrassed … rather, she felt liberated.

Gazing at his face she saw utter astonishment written there. Like her, his cheeks were flushed and sweat beaded his brow.

‘I’m so sorry—’ she began, but the smile he gave her silenced any regrets.

‘Do not be sorry.’ His eyes glittered with desire. ‘What I have just witnessed is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It was as if I could see into your mind, feel what you felt – just as if I was laying there beside you as the passion swept you away.’

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As she let it out and glanced at him she grinned sheepishly. ‘But you were there.’

The look of male satisfaction he sent her warmed her all the way down to her toes.

A light tap on the door brought her up short. The t-shirt had fallen to the floor so she simply dragged the bedclothes higher. The scent of her arousal still seemed to fill the room but there was little she could do about that. At this time of night the only person it could possibly be was Nancy and she knew her friend would likely understand.

Another tap.

‘Come in, Nance,’ she answered in a half whisper, as if she had been woken from a deep sleep.

The door opened but to her dismay Richard stood there.

‘What are you doing here?’ she glanced at her bedside clock. ‘It’s almost midnight.’

His lips lifted to reveal a pair of dimples that made him seem very young and boyish. The bruise on his cheek had faded to a dirty yellow. ‘I wanted to see how you were after today’s ordeal.’

‘At midnight? Have you been drinking?’

He stepped into the room and pushed the door closed. ‘No. I’m quite sober. But I have been thinking and it couldn’t wait until morning.’

He moved towards the bed and behind him John glared with affront.

‘I wasn’t joking on Friday evening when I said I really liked you, Kelly. I want us to get to know each other,’ he looked hesitantly at the mirror for a second before turning back. ‘I know you think Tom and Nancy put me up to it but that was before I knew you. Now I do,’ he moved closer until he stood alongside the bed, ‘I think we would be really good together.’

Dumbstruck, she just stared at him, noting that even as he spoke, his pupils were dilating. All she could think was that he could somehow smell the scent of arousal on her skin, and reacted as any man would. She dragged the bedclothes higher about her neck.

‘I don’t really think this is the time or place—’

He sat beside her and placed two fingers across her lips to silence her.

‘Please don’t say no just yet. I also wanted to tell you that I think I have found the journal you’re searching for … in one of those crates. If you come over tomorrow we can check it out together.’ He let his fingers glide down her throat. Though she’d been enthralled by that same sensation only moments ago, now her flesh crawled across her back. She pushed his hand away, her gaze darting up to meet John’s. He appeared as if he was about to leap through the mirror to defend her honour. With a slight shake of the head, she cast him a warning look before returning her focus to Richard.

‘I’m sorry, but I don’t really want to get into this right now. Please, it’s very late and I’d like you to leave.’

Leaning into her, he rekindled the dimpled smile.

‘I will do as you ask, but before I go I wish to claim a goodnight kiss.’

Shaking her head she wriggled back into the pillows. ‘I don’t think that is a good idea, Richard.’

Refusing to take no for an answer he followed her movement and pressed his mouth against hers, all but laying over her. She pushed against him, trying to wrest her mouth from his.

‘C’mon, Kelly, don’t play coy,’ Richard said as she struggled against him. He was strong, though he didn’t hurt her. And while his movements were deft, all she felt was an icy fear. Her stomach clenched and the more she fought the further the bedclothes slipped. As she pleaded for him to stop she heard John’s roar of outrage. But Richard seemed oblivious. His eyes glowed when one breast appeared above the bedding and his mouth continued to dive at hers. All the while he kept telling her that if she’d only give him a chance he could make her very happy.

A cold dread filled her chest. Would he rape her? As Richard’s hand found her breast she tried to scream but his mouth smothered hers. John bellowed in that same moment and Richard froze at the sound. Pulling away from her, his head spun so fast Kelly almost laughed.

Very slowly, Richard inched away till his back rested against the wall beside the bed.

‘That was the ghost, wasn’t it?’ he whispered in a breathless voice.

Kelly raised her brows but didn’t reply.

‘You’ve seen him, haven’t you? That’s why you want that journal so badly.’ His voice dropped to a lethal tone as his gaze returned to her face. ‘Well, my dear, if you want the journal, you and I might have to make a little deal.’ This time his smile was far from boyish.

‘If you want it you’ll come to the coach house after lunch tomorrow.’ His eyes flicked to the mirror momentarily before he again focused on her. ‘And come alone.’ He all but ran towards the door as if he feared the ghost of Stanthorpe would grab him as he passed.

‘If you don’t come, I’ll burn the bloody thing,’ he said with a sneer.

Although she didn’t want to, she knew that she’d have to comply … John’s survival might very well depend on it. She let out a shaky sigh as she met Richard’s hard gaze. ‘I’ll be there.’

He nodded, then with a final, hesitant glance at the mirror, he slipped from the room.

Kelly waited until she thought she heard the back door close before she dared to chance a look at John. Though stormy, his expression also told of his frustration that he couldn’t help her against the likes of Richard.

‘My apologies—’

‘Don’t!’ she jumped out of bed and came to stand before the mirror, her small breasts heaving. ‘Don’t you even think of apologising for something that is beyond your control.’

‘But Kelly, I am appalled that I can do nothing to help the woman I love. It is identical to Anne’s plight. I will not see you endure that.’

Did he actually say he loved her? For an instant she thought she had heard wrong but his gentle gaze assured her otherwise. Her heart squeezed. Those words made it imperative she face Richard tomorrow, no matter what the price. John had to escape his prison if they were ever to have a future.

‘You must not go to him, Kelly. He will hurt you, I know it. The journal is not worth what I know he will ask of you.’

Stepping forward, she laid her cheek against the mirror as if she were leaning into his broad chest. ‘I’m not sure what I’ll do,’ she said. Tears pricked her eyelids but she forced them away. ‘Whatever happens, I am going to get you out of there. I promise.’

An anguished sound burst from him.

‘I forbid you to sacrifice yourself on my account!’

‘That depends on what he asks. It might be something small,’ she shrugged as if making light of the idea, ‘and if he has the journal, then the reward might be worth the price. I want us to have a chance. I just hope—’

‘Do not hope too strongly, my love. I could not bear to see the disappointment in your eyes if it should all be for naught.’

They could argue over this until dawn and she knew neither would win. His honour wouldn’t countenance what she knew Richard would ask, but by the same token, she was no snivelling virgin. Late in her marriage she had submitted to what amounted to rape simply because the man she married had demanded it of her. She didn’t know whether she could make herself do it again, but if that was Richard’s price, then she would try.

‘It’s very late and I have to be at the police headquarters first thing in the morning. I’d best get some sleep,’ she said as she climbed back in the bed.

‘I shall watch over you.’

As she reached for the alarm clock she hesitated. ‘Will you wake me?’

His eyes seemed to glow back at her. ‘It will be my pleasure.’

Journal of Edward James Ditchley,

Stanthorpe House, Oxfordshire, England.

December 23, 1862

My sweetest love, it is getting near time that I can wrest William from Anne’s grasp. She claims she still suckles the child but I have seen a wet-nurse sneaking in from the village, so I know she lies.

Tonight, I chose to reprimand her for that secrecy, though she knows not why I beat her. She has slowly learned to do as I ask in all ways, meekly kneeling before me to provide for my pleasure. Your murderer has also learned. He watches, as ordered, staring stoically at Anne as she places her mouth upon me. Yet I can still see the anger seething in his eyes, and that is worth suffering the girl’s inept attempts at pleasing me. He knows I will tell his mother of his infamy should he turn his eyes away.

In the end, this eve, she was so clumsy and incompetent I had to take the strap to her. I daresay Anne’s screams could be heard throughout the house. I forced her facedown upon the side of the bed to take her from behind like a sodomite. John’s anger at this was most especially gratifying. I have happened upon another weapon against him!

Do not fear, my love, I will be rid of Anne soon. She has not usurped you in my heart. And I shall end your murderer’s existence also. His face has become such an anathema that I begin to grow weary of our vengeance.