The Dark Lord, page 12
That question swept over Elizabeth. In the ambush, cold determination had filled her. She had had a weapon and direct action to take. Now, she sat pinned to the chair by Erik before her, and fear shuddered through her, wanting to snatch her wits. Jackman’s question echoed. She had no means of defense, no means of attack. And something cold and wet and sooty grey draped over Elizabeth’s head. She could still see—Erik before her, Geoffrey Harcourt standing beside the settee, his shoe in a puddle of wine, the green-eyed Letitia sunk back onto the harpsichord bench. She couldn’t see Mr. Hicks. Jackman thought him a witness, so the butler had to be near.
Someone tried to open the door, but the knobs didn’t turn. They began knocking, knocking.
“And how do we explain me shooting them?” Jackman sounded very calm, very rational—but he pointed the rifle at Lord Harcourt, freezing him in place. “Him first. Her next. Hicks third. That leaves a fourth rifle. You going to use that on me?”
Her pistol remained in her jacket pocket. She couldn’t remember if she had reloaded it. She couldn’t remember if the rifles had been reloaded after she fired them the second time. Were the rifles Erik had used reloaded? Had he fired his?
Only Jackman would know.
Geoffrey Harcourt came forward a step. “You’re my partner in this. We only need a good story. We can say that Harcourt seized a rifle—.”
“Won’t work.” Jackman sounded sorrowful. “Rodger knows that I carried in the rifles. And why would his lordship want to shoot anyone?”
“He found out that you played the ghost!”
“The Silent Lady, sir?”
“No, the other. The one you’ve been playing at.”
“I wondered how long before you cast the blame on me. I didn’t play ghost. You did, sir.”
“I did not. I wasn’t here. I was at Aynsbrough. You did it! Harcourt, Jackman played ghost. He’s done so for months, driving off your servants. Trying to drive off this woman, too. She needed to leave. The plan was his.”
Erik shook his head. “Your timeline won’t work, Geoff. Jackman only came three months ago. Hicks has complained about someone playing ghost and targeting the housekeepers for five months. Your plan is unraveling. You can’t switch it now. Jackman’s your partner, you say. How will you explain his death? Or will you leave him out there to blackmail you at will? Say you succeed at killing us. Too many people will testify to your presence in this room. Too many people will testify to your hatred of me—it is hate, isn’t it, old man? Too many people will see you hang.”
“I will not hang—,” he started, but his wife cried out. “Playing ghost? This is where you’ve been all those nights? Here? Playing ghost. To frighten servants! You told me you were meeting with investors.”
“Letty—. Erik—.”
“I think your game is up, Cousin. You’ve lost your henchmen on the road. One’s dead; the other will testify against you. Jackman doesn’t seem willing to take the blame for murder. And I’ve foiled your plan to inherit. Kill me; everything goes to her. Kill us both; everything goes to her family. Her father and brother will inherit. House. Land. Money. You’ll have an empty title.”
“Damn you!” He tugged something out of his pocket.
Erik planted himself before Elizabeth, but she saw the pistol Geoffrey leveled at his cousin.
Then a cold wind whooshed through the room, extinguishing the candles. The fire dampened down. Ice descended, painting a grey rime over everything.
Geoffrey Harcourt turned in a circle, his pistol wavering. “Where are you? Stop hiding! I’ll kill you!”
Erik hadn’t moved. Jackman turned his rifle on Geoffrey. At the harpsichord, Letitia sobbed.
“Face me, Erik! Stop hiding. Jackman, where is he? Where are you?”
“He’s gone mad,” Letitia wailed.
The pistol swooped to her, took aim, then “No” Geoffrey said. “You chose me over him. You can live. But that other one has to die. With Erik. Jackman, where did you go?”
The grey was thickening.
The double doors opened. Elizabeth spotted Hicks crouching in the gap, a long-barreled pistol in his hands.
“Jackman! Answer me!”
A gliding movement caught Elizabeth’s eye. A sooty grey shape drifted behind Letitia Harcourt. Geoffrey swung away, his pistol aiming an arc that included Erik. The grey shape slowed. Then the pistol left him. And the figure swooped in, all tatters and darkened ice.
With hollows for eyes.
Geoffrey Harcourt screamed when the Silent Lady rushed over him, through him.
Then she was gone.
And he was lifeless on the floor. Icy rime covered him.
The hearth flames blazed back. The candles re-lit, strong and steady, unflickering.
. ~ . ~ . ~ .
Hicks had thumped Jackman on the head, knocking him out even as he scooped the rifle away.
Letitia Harcourt had hysterics. She claimed a ghost had attacked her husband and killed him.
Which was true.
By midnight, the constable arrived from Widderby and gaped at Mrs. Harcourt’s claim. “Everyone knows ghosts ain’t real,” the servants said.
The local physick arrived from Widderby and dosed her laudanum. “Now, now, my dear, everyone knows that ghosts are a figment of an overactive imagination.”
The next day, the magistrate came from Thirsk, with two constables in tow. The servants repeated their claim. Mr. Revere agreed with Erik that Geoffrey Harcourt had had a heart seizure. They discounted Mrs. Harcourt’s wild statement about a ghost. Mr. Revere said, “Everyone knows ghosts are not real.” Then he collected Jackman, sporting a sore head, and returned with him to Thirsk, for Jackman was to stand trial with the surviving ruffian for the attack on Baron Harcourt.
Enjoying the late afternoon sunshine, Elizabeth stood on the terrace. When Erik slipped his arms around her waist, she sighed and clasped his hands on her stomach. “Has Mrs. Harcourt emerged from her room yet?”
“Not yet. The doctor is currently with her, again. He believes that she will become calmer when she returns to her own home. He’ll write a missive to a doctor near Aynsbrough as well as one in London. She wants to return to her family there.”
“Is she still talking about—?” She couldn’t bring herself to mention the Silent Lady.
“Yes. I do not want to confirm anything she says. Very scientific is our Doctor Williamson. We don’t want him considering us superstitious or worse. Let it rest.”
“The Lady protected the baron of Feldstone Grange. She died doing that. She’s still doing that. We should—somehow, Erik, we must acknowledge that to her.”
“We may never again see her. She only walks when a threat rouses her. But she will always be here, protecting us, protecting our children.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.” He turned her within his embrace. He had a half-smile on his face.
His eyes looked very dark, and she remembered dark eyes through candlelight. They’d had the pistol. Then Sebilla had said sapphires and a bower. Elizabeth touched fingers to his scar, white now, no longer twisting his face.
“I must apologize, Elizabeth.”
“Whatever for?”
“Hicks informs me that your possessions have been moved to the Lady’s Chamber and mine to the Lord’s Chamber, as is fitting, he says.”
“I didn’t expect that.”
“Nor I—or I would have ordered it. Now, Elizabeth, my bride, are you going to tell our butler that you wish to return to your former rooms?” Those dark eyes heated her down to her toes. “I will not do it.”
She clasped her hands on his nape. “I dare not.”
His kiss sparkled in her like champagne.
. ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ .
Thank You!
Thank you for reading The Dark Lord, the first book in the novella series Miss Beale Writes. This venture into the vintage gothic has more paranormal than my other stories. Adding the ghostly bits was tremendous fun. I look forward to the paranormal / supernatural touches for the next novella in the series.
For any questions, comments, and speculations, please contact winkbooks@aol.com. You can find my books on my website ~~ www.writersinkbooks.com. Look for the books at online distributors both nationally and internationally.
To receive information about all of my books, please join my quarterly newsletter list. Contact me at winkbooks@aol.com. Use this link to join the newsletter and receive a free short story featuring secondary characters from Christmas with Death. https://dl.bookfunnel.com/wc84divkre
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Dream it. Believe it. Do it.
~~ M.A. Lee
NOTE: THE QUOTATION “Methinks the lady doth protest too much” is from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Hearts in Hazard by M.A. Lee
Mysteries with a dash of romance, set during the Regency Era of England
1 ~ A Game of Secrets ~ Smugglers, secrets and spies: Kate tries to hide in plain sight; Tony tries to catch a spy. First they fall in love, then they fall into trouble with smugglers. Will they survive?
2 ~ A Game of Spies ~ Salons and soirées, flirtation and dancing, gambling and spies: Josette and Giles fall in love over a deck of cards—and try not to die.
Spymaster Giles Hargreaves was introduced in A Game of Secrets.
3 ~ A Game of Hearts ~ Two couples :: One titled widow, one wealthy businessman: two hearts shadowed by their past. One bright young flirt, one hard-edged young man: two hearts crossed by circumstance. Mix in a courtesan and two rakes, all out for mischief, and murder bloody and foul.
4 ~ The Danger of Secrets ~ Deep in the wintry countryside, a house warmed by relatives and friends: secrets of family, secrets of hearts, secrets of blood and pain. Match a daughter to an unknown father; match a spinster to an earl; match a serial killer to his next victim.
Gordon Musgrove was introduced in A Game of Spies.
5 ~ The Danger for Spies ~ Impossibilities? Rakes don’t lose their hearts. Spies don’t give up the game. No one hides in plain sight. Codes are unbreakable. A man can’t hold onto revenge for years and years. Impossibilities are designed to be shattered.
Toby Kennitt was introduced in A Game of Spies.
6 ~ The Danger to Hearts ~ A country manor in early Spring: older woman and younger man. Horses, cats, needlework, roses and afternoon teas ~ What could possibly go wrong in an idyll? Trouble in the past, trouble now, and murder.
The character Jess Carter was introduced in A Game of Secrets.
7 ~ The Key to Secrets ~ Debutantes should snare fiancés, not murder them. Constable Hector Evans must solve three murders. Is his former love guilty, of is she a convenient scapegoat?
Constable Hector Evans was introduced in The Danger to Hearts.
8 ~ The Key for Spies ~ Spies and traitors. Lies and treachery. Unexpected love where bullets fly. One traitor destroys loyalty. What will two traitors destroy?
9 ~ The Key with Hearts ~ A convenient marriage inconveniently causes murder.
10 ~ The Hazard of Secrets .~ Two hearts with dangerous pasts—Can they keep their secrets, or will murder force them to reveal all?
11 ~ The Hazard for Spies ~ Disguised to spy. Will murder destroy their chance for love?
12 ~ The Hazard with Hearts ~ Two wives haunt the castle. Will she be the third to die?
The Into Death series
Set after World War I and now entering the Roaring Twenties
Digging into Death ~ A governess seeking refuge, a handsome young man, an archaeological dig: romance is inevitable; murder is not. Suspicions escalate, artifacts are stolen, and then a second murder. Has the love of her life beguiled her straight into death? Available in paperback and e-book
Christmas with Death ~ Christmas is for miracles, merriment, and murder. Set in 1919 at an English country manor for a party throughout Christmastide. Available in paperback and e-book.
Portrait with Death ~ Isabella and Flick stumble upon the body of George Webberly, a teacher at Greavley Abbey School. He’s been bludgeoned to death. Why would anyone kill a school master? Motives abound, and suspects increase. Who committed the murder? Can Isabella find the answer?
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Did you love The Dark Lord? Then you should read The Hazard with Hearts (book 12) by M.A. Lee!
Two wives haunt the castle. Will she be the third to die?
Vivienne Northrup agreed to a marriage of convenience to reap the benefits of becoming the Countess of Sheldrake. While she explores the ruins of Sheldrake Castle, a falling stone dislodged from a tower nearly kills her.
Only then does Vivienne discover that the earl's previous two wives died tragically. The first had jumped to her death from that very tower.
Or had the woman been pushed? The way the stone nearly killed Vivienne?
In the gothic tradition of Victoria Holt and Dorothy Eden, The Hazard with Hearts offers a determined heroine who confronts doubts, superstition, and the dark passions of a killer who wants every countess of Sheldrake dead and buried.
The Hazard with Hearts is book 12 in the Hearts in Hazard series of mysteries and suspense, with just a dash of sweet romance. The stories are loosely connected with each story complete in one book.
M.A. Lee, The Dark Lord
