The Lord’s Dangerous Obsession (Dangerous Desires Book 2), page 24
part #2 of Dangerous Desires Series
“How do we know you and your friends didn’t decide to do this on your own?” he demanded.
“Come on, Harrison!” Wakefield wailed. “Do I look like a killer? We were told where you were and when you were going to be alone. We weren’t expecting your brother and father to be there, but it was too late. We just...we just wanted our money troubles to go away.”
“So you resorted to attempted murder?” Ian growled. “Do you have any idea how that sounds? A judge is going to have a field day with this.”
“We were forced into it!”
“And unless you can come up with a name, you’re the only one in the dock.”
Wakefield was breathing heavily, his eyes wild. With tears streaking his pale face, he looked like a frightened little boy.
“We would have been thrown out of our families and left on the streets for even going to a money lender, never mind earning debts that we couldn’t afford. They wouldn’t pay them for us. We couldn’t have survived.”
David had to concede that. Knowing how vicious the parents and grandparents were, he could believe that. Wakefield had been backed into a corner and he was willing to take any chance he could to get out of that corner.
“Are you sure you can’t identify the real killer?”
“No. We never met him.” Wakefield suddenly gripped David’s arm, his fingers digging into David’s wrist. “Keep me safe, please! He’s going to kill me like he killed James and Matthew. Please, you have to protect me.”
David took a deep breath. He wanted to wring the young man’s neck. But that didn’t mean he wanted the lad dead. He carefully eased Wakefield’s hand off his arm and stood.
“We’ll do what we can. In the meantime, you need to remember anything else you can. It will help both of us in the long run.”
“Anything,” Wakefield said eagerly. “I will do anything! Please!”
Ian touched David’s arm and jerked his head towards the door. There wasn’t much else they could do. Even then, David felt awful as he left the room. This mess was getting even worse. It started out framing him for it and now the real killer was making sure his tracks were well and truly covered by bringing in other debtors to do his dirty business. Someone really wanted to hide his face.
David didn’t think even with Wakefield’s help that they would get any closer. But, at least, they knew that Wakefield was just a scared party, one that he didn’t want to be privy to.
They were silent as they left the room, heading down the stairs. At the bottom, David stopped, unable to go any further. Ian turned to him.
“David?”
David slumped onto the bottom step. He was exhausted. This was getting to him.
“This is worse than I thought, Father,” he said, staring at the wall.
“How can it be worse than it already is?”
“Someone’s playing everyone here. They framed me for the murder and got other debtors to do their bidding. Wakefield and his friends would never have got involved if they hadn’t been in debt.” David looked at his father as Ian sat beside him. “I saw the amounts they were in for. So did you. Those black books are very meticulous. There was no way any of those boys could have paid it back in one go or even in installments without anyone noticing.”
“I know,” Ian said grimly. “Someone’s going to a lot of lengths to hide behind everyone else to keep you framed for murder.”
“And when they realized it wasn’t going to be as easy as they thought and I wasn’t going to do as I was told, they decided that getting rid of me would be a better option.”
Ian grunted. “Thank God us Irish are stubborn.”
David had to smile at that. Ian wasn’t wrong. He ran his hands through his hair. There wasn’t going to be any hair left on his head after all this, he was sure.
“I just wish I knew who was doing this. It’s getting ridiculous.”
“I have an idea on who it might be.”
David stared. Ian stretched his legs out, hands rubbing on his thighs.
“You do? And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“I’ve been going over it in my head all night. And it’s just a possibility, David, not a certainty.”
“Who?”
“Lady Beatrice Hartley.”
It took a moment for David to remember where he had heard the name. It had been a while since the scandal, but he did remember it.
“That’s Lady Derby’s stepmother, isn’t it? Viscount Hartley’s widow? Why on earth would she go to these lengths? I’ve never even met her.”
“To get to me,” Ian said quietly.
He was staring off at the opposite wall.
“Father, I’m confused. You might want to start again.”
“Lady Hartley is constantly trying to get money off Anna. She has been for years. She thinks that Anna should fund her lifestyle now she’s a rich widow and living in comfort on her son-in-law’s estate.”
“Doesn’t she have money of her own?”
Ian shook his head.
“Lady Hartley doesn’t have a penny to her name. Her husband was in debt with a lot of people and they took what they were owed. And Lady Hartley isn’t known for frugal spending, so she lost the rest trying to keep herself in Society. Anna refused, quite rightly, to fund the woman who had had an affair with her first husband while they were still married. Then Lady Hartley threatened to tell me about Anna’s past.”
“Why would she do that?”
Ian stood and paced away.
“Come on, David, you should know the answer to that.”
David did. He had witnessed it over the past few days.
“You’re in love with Anna Day and she thought knowing that she was twice widowed and one of her husbands was a killer would make you run away, leaving Anna alone.”
Ian snorted. “More fool her, seeing as I already knew about it. Anna had told me about it all, and I heard from my daughter-in-law what she went through. I didn’t care about that.”
There was one thing you couldn’t fault Ian for and that was his ability to forgive within reason. David knew that all too well now. Again, he wished he had gone to Ian when he needed the money. It would have been repaid by now, and he wouldn’t be in this mess.
“You would think with the woman she despises willingly out of her life that she would leave her alone.”
“Lady Hartley loves being in control,” Ian said bitterly. “And she loves money. Greed does a lot of talking.”
“You think she might have gone to Simpson as well?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.”
David turned this over in his mind. It sounded plausible, but for the glaring fact that it was too elaborate. After hearing about the scandal five years previously and what Lord Derby and his family went through, David didn’t think Lady Hartley would be clever enough to put this together. She didn’t sound like the type of lady who was subtle.
“So, let me get this straight.” He rose to his feet, wincing as his legs straightened. That was too cramped a position. “You think Lady Hartley wants to get back at Anna by ruining you, so there won’t be a marriage between you.”
Ian’s face went red. “Who said anything about marriage?”
“Father, I’m not blind. She wants to ruin you and make sure Anna doesn’t go above simply the mother of a countess. She would go from Mrs. Day to Viscountess Harrison, thus back to a title she once had. Then the money Anna Day has would revert to you and be out of reach. So, she frames me to ruin you and make Anna pay up in order to stop the family name being blackened.” Even as he said it, David was shaking his head. “That sounds like a very long reach, Father.”
“It’s a possibility, and we have to think about it,” Ian pointed out. “Stranger things have happened.”
“I can’t argue with that. But I can’t see it being Lady Hartley. From what I’ve heard of the woman, she’s very confrontational. She wouldn’t be secretive about it all.” David rubbed at his eyes. “And I can’t see her being cold-hearted enough to murder someone just to frame someone she’s never met.”
Ian sighed.
“All right, I’ll concede that part. But let’s not discount it completely.”
David wasn’t about to put it aside. Anything was possible right now. David just wanted this nightmare to be over.
That was when there was a scream. David spun around. The servant outside Wakefield’s room was fumbling with the key, trying to get it into the door. The screaming on the other side was then abruptly cut off.
With his father close behind him, David charged up the stairs. He got to the door just as the servant opened it and charged his way in. Then he abruptly turned away as his stomach rolled.
* * *
Gregory Wakefield was dead. Right under their noses. Arabella sat in the library and watched Katherine as she sat out on the terrace with Lord and Lady Derby’s children while they had a pretend tea party. Someone had used one of the secret passages to get into the bedchamber Wakefield was being held in and cut his throat. It had been so vicious that Wakefield had almost been decapitated. And it had been done with a servant inches away on the other side of a locked door.
Arabella couldn’t believe it. Five years ago, she had witnessed someone using the secret passageways in the house to go around and murder people who threatened Lady Derby in some way. Now it was happening again.
How anyone could live in this house after everything that had happened, Arabella had no idea. She wouldn’t be able to sleep if she knew someone could tiptoe into her room.
David had come to find her shortly after. His shirt was covered with blood, and his face was gray. He had simply sagged to the floor and buried his face in Arabella’s lap while he quietly sobbed. Arabella hadn’t known what to say. She simply held him as he wept. It was painful to see him like this, and Arabella hated it.
To say Lord Derby was furious was an understatement. He had his servants charging around the house, searching the passageways. But they were a complete maze and there were a multitude of places where the killer could come out and disappear. They had to be covered in blood, being so up close and personal.
To murder someone so coldly and with people so close that they could have been caught...Arabella didn’t think you could get more brazen than that.
David had left once he calmed down to help in the search. His kiss before he left the room was intense, his body shaking. Arabella wished she could take all the pain away. David had been through a lot and he wasn’t used to dead bodies. This had to have completely shaken him up.
She wanted to take it away, but she couldn’t. She had no idea how.
At least, she had been able to keep it away from Katherine. As soon as she had heard the news, Lady Derby had ushered the children outside and kept them distracted with various games. She was out on the terrace now in deep conversation with her husband. Arabella had seen them look her way several times, and she wished she didn’t feel like she was up on a pedestal. They were treating it like it was her fault.
This wasn’t her fault, or David’s. He didn’t ask to be framed for murder, and he didn’t ask for this trouble to follow him. David preferred a trouble-free life. This was something he would rather avoid.
Fingers crossed, once it was all over, he could go back to a quieter life. A happier one. With her and Katherine.
Arabella had initially been nervous about a future with David. He would go back to Ireland, and he would expect her and their daughter to come with them. Arabella had been away from Ireland for years, and Katherine had never been there. They would have to leave everything they had known. Arabella didn’t know if she could do that. But she didn’t want to lose David again. Katherine was just coming to terms with the fact that her father was alive, and she had told Arabella that she didn’t want David to leave her again.
She would be fine. When Arabella saw David again, she was going to tell him. They would go wherever he wanted to go. They could always come back and visit. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, and they would have each other.
The thought of having that life she had always wanted, with the man she loved, had Arabella smiling. Once this was all cleared up, they could become the family they should have been.
“Arabella?”
Arabella turned. Peter was closing the door behind him. Arabella stood to greet him as Peter approached her, allowing him to pull her into an embrace. He held her tightly for a moment before releasing her. Then he nodded towards the window, where they could clearly see Katherine.
“How’s Katherine doing?”
“She’s aware of something going on, but she’s not sure of what.” Arabella stepped back and wrapped her arms around her middle. “She’s a clever girl, so I can’t keep it from her for long.”
“I understand.” Peter rubbed the back of his neck. “The body’s still in the bedchamber and the door is locked with a guard both inside the room and outside the door. No one is going anywhere near the body until the magistrate arrives. And…” He hesitated. “and a knife was found under David’s bed.”
Arabella gasped. “What? But he wouldn’t do that! You know he wouldn’t!”
“I know, and you don’t need to get flustered. David was with our father when it occurred.” Peter spread his hands. “It was a pathetic attempt to frame him again.”
More than pathetic. Arabella was sure someone had been hiding in that room waiting for David to leave. They must have thought they could pin it on David because he had been the last person to go in. But they hadn’t accounted for witnesses, or for Gregory Wakefield to make so much noise as someone slit his throat in half.
“Do they have any suspects right now?” she asked.
“David’s valet Arnold has disappeared. We can’t find him anywhere and his belongings are gone.”
Arabella felt cold all over. She felt nauseous. She paced away from Peter, kicking at a footstool.
“When are they ever going to leave David alone? He didn’t do anything!”
“I know that.” Peter sighed and approached her. “Look, Arabella, David told me to take you back to the cottage. It’ll be safer.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“What? Why?”
“It’s what he told me to do. Not even this house is safe anymore. He wants you and Katherine to be safe. She’s going back to your mother’s, and I’m to take you to the cottage.”
Arabella was confused. David and Ian had agreed that keeping his daughter and her mother close to him would be safer, especially if they were going to be targeted. And in the main house, even with everything going on, they would have protection. Going back to the cottage, in the middle of nowhere, was going to expose her and make her more vulnerable. David couldn’t be thinking clearly.
“I need to talk to David about it.”
“He’s out right now looking for Arnold.” Peter laid his hands on her shoulders. “You know I would never hurt you. I’ll keep you safe. Once the killer realizes they mistimed it, they could go for someone closer to David, and that’s you. He doesn’t want to lose you again.”
Arabella didn’t want to lose David again, either. She had wasted eight years over something foolish. If this meant they could tie this mess up and put it aside, Arabella would bite her tongue and do what David wished.
She nodded. “All right. Anything for David.”
“Good girl.” Peter smiled and stroked her cheek. “Tell your daughter you’re heading off now. Your mother’s coming to fetch her.”
Arabella nodded and stepped away. Even with Peter’s admission to keep her safe, having him touch her made her uncomfortable. Their previous interaction was still fresh in her mind. She headed out onto the terrace and beckoned her daughter over.
“Mama?” Katherine hurried over. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, honey.” Arabella knelt and hugged her daughter before cupping her face in her hands. “I need you to stay here, all right? I’ve got to go.”
“You’re not in trouble, are you?”
“I hope not. Grandma’s coming to fetch you.”
“All right.” Katherine bit her lip. “I don’t want you to go, Mama.”
“I know you don’t, but don’t worry.” Arabella kissed her head. “Uncle Peter will look after me.”
Katherine frowned and looked over Arabella’s shoulder at Peter, who was on the threshold of the terrace doors. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I don’t think he will, Mama. I don’t trust him.”
