Wicked Love

by Michelle Dare

“It’s great to meet you.” Jane started to spoon some of the beef stew into a bowl.

  “Fraulein Westen, that is for Agnes and Heidi to do,” the manservant said, suddenly looking alarmed.

  “It’s no problem. I’ve got it. They’ve already done a great job laying the food out.” Jane lifted a spoon from the bowl in front of her to taste the stew. “This is amazing. Thanks so much for making all this for us.”

  Both ladies smiled politely and then headed out of the dining hall.

  The manservant gave an uneasy cough. “Eh…Fraulein Westen, remember that it is our cook who prepares the meals. Shall I give her your compliments on the dinner she prepared?”

  “Yes, please. This is amazing,” Jane said again before taking another bite of her stew.

  The manservant swallowed hard, gave her a final pointed look, and then left the dining hall.

  Gabriel watched as Jane’s cheeks turned pink.

  “Did I do something wrong?” she asked.

  He couldn’t help but laugh, utterly charmed by how unpretentious she was. “No. They’re just not used to people gushing and thanking them.”

  “Oh.” She chewed her lower lip. “I guess I’m not used to being waited on.”

  “Really? Not even on vacations?”

  “I don’t know what kind of vacations you take, Gabriel, but I’m more of a staycation kind of girl,” she murmured. “Bet you’ve been to, like, Bali or something.”

  “Several times,” he confirmed without hesitating.

  “Wow. You’re not even going to pretend to live like the rest of us?”

  “Why should I?” he asked as he started to serve himself. “I make money. I spend it. Though, most of the times I travel it’s for work. I haven’t had an actual vacation in years.”

  “I’m not the least bit surprised that you’re a workaholic,” she said.

  He didn’t respond right away and started eating his food. “Hard work isn’t a crime,” he said finally.

  “It should be if you hate your job,” she grumbled. There was also a weariness in her tone that made him sympathize with her, although he was well aware that he really shouldn’t.

  “Hospitality business getting you down?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I work in a seedy motel. Our guests are mostly drug addicts, drifters, and prostitutes. We’re providing mattresses to crash on more than hospitality.”

  No wonder she could hold her own against a lawyer like him. Jane probably dealt with clients who were just as tough and scary as his were.

  “Is that why you want to turn the castle into a hotel?” he asked. “To finally get to work somewhere a little more…respectable?”

  “I guess that’s part of it. But really, I want to be my own boss,” she explained. “No more taking orders from jerks who underpay me.”

  “Well, I can toast to that,” he said, lifting his mug. “Cheers.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise, but she lifted her mug and clinked it against his.

  He decided to steer the conversation to a more pleasant topic and started talking to her about his trip to the nearby village before he had arrived at the castle. She eagerly asked him questions about the surrounding area, and he was happy to oblige.

  Though Gabriel knew it was a bad idea to let his guard down, he was desperate to talk to her. For whatever reason, he’d actually settle for an argument with Jane over not getting the chance to speak with her again.

  Suddenly, when dinner was winding down, a loud, blood-curdling scream pierced the air. The sound was so inhuman that Gabriel knew something unspeakable had happened.

  3

  “What was that?” She got to her feet so fast she nearly knocked over her chair.

  “Whatever it is, it’s nothing good.” Gabriel had survived some dangerous situations in his life, but had never heard anyone scream like that. He got up and quickly strode out of the dining hall, with Jane rushing after him.

  The scream had turned to anguished wails, more chilling than the sound of the howling wind from earlier. Shouts came next. Followed by voices raised in alarm.

  His heart hammered with each step he took as they followed the noise across the great hall to a side corridor.

  The sight before him was like a scene from a horror movie. He stopped in his tracks, unable to fully process the carnage in front of him. There, at the bottom of the long, winding stone staircase was the broken body of Heidi, the maid. The maid’s head was turned at a strange angle, her eyes dull and lifeless. A spot of blood ran out of her mouth, the red staining her pale skin.

  Several feet away from the maid was an overturned bowl of beef stew.

  Gabriel’s stomach tightened, his lungs constricting painfully.

  A crowd had gathered around the body. The castle’s cook was wailing, tears rolling down her cheeks. Agnes, the housekeeper, wrapped an arm around her, desperately trying to comfort the weeping woman.

  Standing over the body was the manservant, who prodded at the maid with his foot.

  Anger flared, indignation at the manservant’s behavior burning through him. Gabriel had to force himself to breathe. If he didn’t get a hold of his anger, he’d snap and go after the manservant instead of doing what needed to be done. Someone had to take charge of the situation and do something.

  Gabriel knelt beside Heidi, taking her hand gently in his. It was still warm. “Has anybody checked for a pulse?” he demanded as he pressed his fingers against her wrist.

  “You’re too late.” The manservant shook his head grimly. “Can you not see she is dead?”

  Gabriel didn’t say anything. Instead he took the time to check for a pulse and then, with a resigned shake of his head, he lay the maid’s hand back down on the cold stone. The maid’s vital signs were non-existent as far as he could tell. Heidi was gone. “How did this happen?”

  “Obviously, she fell down the stairs and broke her neck,” the manservant said.

  “We have to call the police,” Jane said suddenly.

  Gabriel looked up, their eyes locking. Jane’s face was pale, her huge brown eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Even though he knew she had probably survived some messed up situations at her job, this was too much to bear. He had to get her away from here before she unraveled. Best to get them all away from the scene.

  He got up and moved over to Jane, placing his hands on her shoulders, doing his level best to steady her. It was the first time he had touched her outside of a friendly handshake. He could feel the heat of her body even through the thick layers of clothes she had on. The sensation of her warmth against his palm seemed to chase away his own shock. Jane trembled. She was so small and fragile that he feared he’d break her with that single touch. Gabriel loosened his hold on her slightly.

  “You’re right. Local emergency contacts are listed on my phone. Think you can handle calling while I deal with the others?” he asked.

  Maybe giving her a task would help keep her away from the horrific scene in front of them. In spite of the hostility between them, right now he’d give anything to make her pain go away. Anything.

  “Yes, I can do that,” she forced out on a shaky breath.

  Reluctantly, he released his grip on her and retrieved his cell phone. He waved the manservant over. “Emmerich, why don’t you help Jane call the police? She’ll need you since she doesn’t speak German.”

  The manservant took the phone with a nod and led Jane back into the main hall.

  His gut churning, Gabriel walked around the body of the poor maid and approached the remaining servants. “Do either of you need anything? I can escort you to the kitchen if you need something to drink.”

  The housekeeper, Agnes, shook her head. “I do not want to leave her alone just now. Someone should be with her until the police arrive to collect her.”

  He nodded. “I understand. Will either of you be in good shape to talk to the police? I don’t want them badgering you or causing you distress.”

  The housekeeper sighed. “It is Berta,
the cook, that can answer. She is the one who saw Heidi fall down the stairs.”

  Gabriel focused his attention on the cook. Her face was streaked with tears and her shaking hands repeatedly smoothed down her apron. “Is that true, Berta? You saw what happened?”

  “Berta doesn’t speak much English, so I can translate,” the housekeeper offered before turning to Berta and posing the question in German.

  Berta wiped at her eyes and replied in German, her voice trembling.

  Agnes turned to him and sighed. “Berta was in the great hall on her way to sleep for the night, when she heard a terrible crash followed by a loud cry of pain. She ran to the staircase to investigate and discovered Heidi’s body lying at the foot of the stairs. Berta was in a great deal of shock, so she began to shout for help. I ran to see what was the matter and…”

  “This must be hard for you,” Gabriel said. “You don’t have to go on if it’s too painful to talk about.”

  The housekeeper’s lower lip trembled and she inhaled sharply. “Heidi was young, so she had not worked here as long as the rest of us, but she was a good girl. Hardworking. Followed orders well. She would read to the master of the house when he was on his deathbed. Read and hold his hand. Now she, too, is dead.” Agnes suddenly burst into tears and the two women held on to each other as they cried.

  Their grief was gut-wrenching. Especially because Gabriel knew what the shock of a sudden death was like. There was no accepting it. No getting over it. For years he had tried to make his own peace with it, but there wasn’t any peace to be made.

  This particular shock was so profound even he—practically a stranger—was having a hard time dealing with it. Less than an hour ago Heidi had been serving dinner. Now she was gone.

  The manservant reappeared in the corridor. “We have tried calling the police, but they are unreachable. Cell phone services appear to be down.”

  “Thanks for trying,” Gabriel said, taking the cell phone. “There’s got to be another way to get in touch with them. The castle has a landline, right?”

  “I have already tried calling with the landline,” a booming voice said from what sounded like the top of the stairs.

  Gabriel looked up and found the bespectacled castle solicitor, Otto Kramer, and another castle guest, Timothy O’Brien, slowly walking down the stairs. Timothy crossed himself, seemingly murmuring a prayer as he moved.

  When they got to the bottom of the stairs both men walked carefully around the body, Timothy’s head still bowed in prayer.

  “I tried calling, to no avail,” Otto said as he walked up to Gabriel. The solicitor was large and burly, a rosy-cheeked man in his early sixties with sharp eyes and a larger-than-life personality. Gabriel had liked him instantly when he’d met him the day before, but he also knew that beneath Otto’s easy smile and ruddy cheeks was a man he didn’t want to mess with. “The nearest police station is closed.”

  Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Closed?”

  “We are, as you Americans say, in the middle of nowhere, Mr. Ross,” Otto said. “It is rare to have an emergency, much less one so late at night. There is only a handful of police officers in the immediate surroundings.”

  “What about emergency services a little farther away?” Gabriel asked. “This might not be their jurisdiction, but they’d have to come to the castle for an emergency.”

  Otto sighed and removed his glasses to wipe the lenses with his jacket. The expression on his face turned so grim that Gabriel was certain he was in for even more bad news. “Would that they could, Mr. Ross. Would that they could. Unfortunately, a news bulletin just announced that a terrible avalanche has struck in the next village due to an approaching snowstorm. Many services have been knocked down as a result.”

  “There’s a blizzard coming?” Gabriel asked.

  Otto nodded. “Yes. That is why the cell phone service and internet are already down.”

  “So we have no way of contacting the outside world?” Gabriel demanded.

  “We still have the landline, but most services in the area will be closed during the storm anyway,” Otto responded. “That means nobody is coming for poor Heidi anytime soon.”

  Gabriel’s eyebrows went up. “You mean we’re stuck here?”

  “That is correct. Nobody can come to the castle and, more importantly, nobody can leave.”

  Jane stared into the orange flames, trying to force the awful images from her mind. She could hardly believe what had happened. None of it seemed real. A maid had suffered a horrible, untimely death. Already she was going numb from shock and felt as if she was disappearing. Having an out of body experience where she was observing it all from afar.

  The others were filing into the great hall, so she turned away from the fireplace.

  Gabriel approached her, his stride purposeful and sure. Even now he exuded confidence. She didn’t know how that was possible. Not that it mattered. Against her better judgment, she ached for him to comfort her again. Place those large, strong hands on her and banished the worst of her fear. What she’d give for him to touch her again.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “I can’t put it into words.” She shifted her gaze to the grief-stricken servants. Agnes and another servant she didn’t recognize sat down beside each other near the fire. “But whatever I’m feeling pales in comparison to what they’re going through. I only met Heidi once. They knew her.”

  “It’s tough for them,” he said with a nod. “Especially since their former employer recently passed away, too. They have all this uncertainty to deal with in waiting to find out who their next employer will be.”

  “Gosh, I hadn’t even thought of that. This is all so tragic.” She sighed heavily. “Has anyone been able to reach the police?”

  “No. Cell phone service is out and so is the internet.” He leaned closer, the heat of his body rivaling the flames in the fireplace. As he edged nearer she caught the faintest scent of pine and leather. From the elegant way he commanded himself to the very scent of him, it was as if Gabriel belonged here. Was made to be in a place this regal and imposing. “That’s what I came in here to talk to you about. There’s a snowstorm headed our way and there’s no way for the police to get here.”

  Her eyes widened. “What?”

  “We’ve got no choice but to sit tight,” he told her.

  Otto Kramer, the husky solicitor she recognized from photos, held up his hands. “Friends, we have a long night ahead of us. A storm is coming, and the police will not be able to reach us for some time.”

  “How long will we have to wait?” an older mustached man Jane hadn’t seen before asked. Unlike most of the others, he didn’t speak with a German accent. Instead he sounded like an upper class Brit, with his clipped tones and plummy accent.

  “Typically after large storms such as this, authorities clear through the snow between three and seven days,” the solicitor responded.

  “Seven days? You mean we might be holed up in here for up to a week?” the mustached man demanded. “That’s bloody medieval, man. Bloody medieval.”

  “To be fair, we are in a medieval castle,” Jane couldn’t help but point out.

  The mustached man looked at her, squinted for a moment, and then laughed loudly. The screeching sound in the hall would have been unnerving in the best of times. But with a body in the next room, the laughter was downright maniacal. Still grinning, the mustached man walked up to her with an outstretched hand. “Timothy O’Brien at your service. You must be the famous Jane Westen. Very droll little joke there. Wonderful to meet you, cousin.”

  Jane blinked in surprise. “What? Cousin? Are you Gabriel’s client?”

  Timothy laughed and took her hand to shake it vigorously. “Certainly not. We’re only cousins by marriage. I was married to Friedrich von Westen’s sister when she was alive, may she rest in peace.”

  “Oh. Uh…it’s great to meet you,” Jane said.

  “We’re still cousins if you think about it. Not to menti
on if you or Gabriel’s client met with a sticky end, I’d legally have a chance at the castle,” Timothy said, releasing her hand with a laugh and a wink. “Anyway Otto, old chap, if we’re going to be here, what the devil are we to do with the girl’s body? We can’t just leave her lying about,” he said, and made a sign of the cross. “Rest her soul.”

  The solicitor frowned. “I’m not quite sure what we’re supposed to do if emergency services are delayed.”

  “We will have to put her out, Herr Kramer,” the manservant piped up from his place in the shadows.

  “Put her out, old man?” Timothy asked. “What on earth does that mean?”

  “Well we cannot leave her about, as you say,” the manservant said. “Our only alternative then is to place her somewhere. We have no refrigerated storage for a…person. However, the snow seems cold enough to store her.”

  “Are you suggesting we dump Heidi outside in the snow?” Otto demanded gruffly. “That is unthinkable. We cannot shut her out there in the cold all alone.”

  The manservant steepled his bony hands beneath his chin. “Herr Kramer, she is dead. She will feel nothing. No ill effects. Better to preserve the body in the cold snow than to let it…fester inside for a week.”

  “He has a point,” Timothy said. “It would be the right way to handle the body.”

  Otto sighed. “Very well. We shall do that. But we will be respectful, please. Someone must collect blankets to wrap Heidi, and we shall place her out in the snow until the police arrive.”

  Jane suddenly felt sick and she clutched her stomach. There was a roaring in her ears and the voices around her grew distant. Desperate to get away from the morbid conversation, she edged away from the group.

  “You okay?” Gabriel asked, walking up to her.

  “Fine. I just need a second,” she murmured.

  “You should lie down,” he said. “Get some sleep.”

  “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to sleep after all this.” She was bone-weary to the point of sheer exhaustion, but she was certain that nightmares would keep her up all night.