Once Before (The Hero Next Door Series Book 3)

by Rebecca King

  ‘You joined the army?’ Tabitha asked, her chin quivering. All the time years she had been worried sick about him, wondering if he was alive or dead, he had been fighting for King and country.

  ‘I contemplated writing to you but didn’t think your father would allow you to receive any correspondence I sent you,’ Daniel explained.

  ‘I wasn’t there anyway,’ Tabitha whispered. ‘After what happened, I knew I couldn’t stay. The man was a fiend. Once you had gone, he turned on me and while he didn’t physically hurt me, he gave me a long list of orders that practically suffocated what was left of my life. I was not to go out without a chaperone, not to socialise unless he was with me, not to talk to anyone without permission, and not to arrange for visitors to call by the house without his approval. I was to be a veritable prisoner.’

  ‘She wisely gathered up all the money she could get her hands on and left,’ Mildred continued. ‘While you went to Burnham On Sea, Tabitha came up here to me.’

  ‘This house was the safest place for me because I knew Lynchgate hated my Uncle Ralph and Aunt Mildred as much as they hated him,’ Tabitha added bluntly.

  ‘You were lucky you managed to travel all this way without Lynchgate finding you or fetching you back.’

  ‘She is cleverer than he is,’ Mildred announced with pride.

  ‘It is odd what a lot of determination can do, isn’t it?’ Tabitha asked Daniel.

  He pursed his lips and nodded. Before he said anything else, he slid a look at Hamish. Hamish understood what he was asking. For a few moments the men never said a word although seemed to have an entire conversation with those looks. The faint tip of Hamish’s head, the gentle curve of Daniel’s lips, the knowing looks in both men’s eyes. Eventually, they seemed to come to some sort of decision.

  ‘Well, after my stint in the army, I joined the War Office,’ Daniel told her. ‘I have been working there ever since.’

  ‘What in the Devil’s name does the War Office want with Lynchgate? I assume that is why you are here,’ Mildred blustered. There was a hint of anticipation in the older woman’s eye that was tinged with a little malevolence.

  Daniel didn’t doubt she disliked David Lynchgate just as much as Tabitha.

  ‘We work for a specific department within the War Office called the Star Elite,’ Daniel announced quietly.

  Mildred blinked in astonishment. ‘The Star Elite? You are one of the Star Elite?’ Despite her age, her heart melted a little when Daniel grinned widely at her.

  ‘Yes, we are with the Star Elite,’ he confirmed sliding a look at Hamish. ‘We both are.’

  Mildred, clearly stunned, leaned back in her seat as if completely flabbergasted by the news.

  Tabitha shook her head in admiration. ‘You have made a success of your life. Good for you,’ she whispered fervently, utterly delighted that despite his poor start in life Daniel had managed to succeed. ‘If anybody could get themselves out of that situation it was you.’

  ‘You always said I could,’ Daniel murmured.

  Tabitha nodded, her heart bursting with love and pride. ‘I knew you never believed me.’

  ‘I am sorry, but what on earth does the Star Elite want with Lynchgate?’ Mildred interrupted.

  Tabitha forced herself to look away from Daniel and focus on the reason why he was in her home. She sucked in a breath and kept her gaze on the floor while she absorbed the reality of who he was now. It took her a few moments to realise what Mildred had asked him.

  ‘David Lynchgate is now one of the Governors at the workhouse,’ Daniel explained. ‘But since he has joined the organisation a few financial irregularities have come to light.’

  Tabitha shared a disgusted look with Mildred but remained silent.

  ‘It appears that Lynchgate used his connections to get his seat on the Board of Governors. He has been using his contacts to influence the Board’s decisions and has prevented the Governors from being able to get full access to the workhouse’s accounts. However, someone has managed to get a look at them and found a few entries that look suspicious.’

  ‘That isn’t the sole reason for our visit here today,’ Hamish continued. ‘We understand that you have recently inherited Muldoon’s Cotton Mill located just on the outskirts of Tumdell.’

  ‘But that’s a mistake, surely?’ Tabitha protested. ‘I have received a letter from a solicitor informing me that I need to attend a reading of the last will and testament of a Mr Reynold Muldoon, but I have never been acquaintances with the man. I have written to the solicitor and told him that he must have the wrong person.’

  ‘But I thought you had already inherited the factory,’ Hamish replied.

  Tabitha shook her head.

  ‘Has the solicitor replied yet?’ Hamish asked before Daniel could.

  ‘Well, yes. He has written to confirm that the last will and testament of Reynold Muldoon has been confirmed as legitimate and that I am to attend the reading of it.’

  ‘But you haven’t been to see him yet?’

  Tabitha shook her head. ‘I don’t know this Mr Muldoon. Moreover, what would I want with a cotton mill? Why would he wish to leave it to me?’

  ‘Possibly because he knows you don’t like your father,’ Daniel retorted.

  Tabitha frowned with confusion.

  ‘Your father owns ten shares in the cotton mill. Thanks to Reynold Muldoon, you now own the other ninety,’ he informed her.

  ‘I co-own it with a man I don’t like.’ Tabitha felt sick. Her dismay was evident to anybody who cared to look.

  Daniel nodded. ‘Has your father been in contact with you lately?’

  ‘Yes. Since last month as a matter of fact,’ she confirmed.

  ‘Might I be presumptuous enough to ask what it is he wants?’

  ‘Me to go back to Marlton House to talk to him about some legal matters that have come to light.’

  Daniel shared a look with Hamish. ‘Does he say expressly what legal matters he wishes to discuss?’

  Tabitha shook her head. ‘I am afraid not. I have told him that I see no reason for us to meet.’

  ‘I have told her that she shouldn’t trust the man, even though he is her father,’ Mildred interrupted. ‘He is up to something.’

  ‘Has he contacted you before last month?’ Hamish asked gently. He kept his tone soft because Tabitha looked scared.

  Tabitha didn’t immediately answer. Mildred sighed heavily.

  ‘I don’t wish to keep harking on about the past, but it is pertinent given your questions. Like we have told you, Tabitha left Marlton House the day after you were beaten by Lynchgate. She hasn’t been back since. Thankfully, when she left, she decided to come here because she knew we disliked Lynchgate. She knew that we would do everything possible to protect her. To answer your question, Lynchgate did try to contact her not long after she first arrived. He did everything possible to bully and threaten Ralph into sending her home, but my Ralph was made of sterner stuff and refused to allow that oaf any leeway. He therefore got nowhere with his threats or the solicitor’s letters that nephew of his sent us. Ralph was also a solicitor, you see. He wasn’t prepared to allow Lynchgate to take Tabitha out of our lives again, especially once he knew what had happened.’

  ‘I wrote and told father that wild horses could not drag me back to live in his house, and that I couldn’t and wouldn’t forgive him for the way he treated you. He wrote back to demand that I return home immediately. I responded and said that I wouldn’t. He threatened me again, and so on and so forth. This carried on for many months, until I absolutely refused to reply to his letters anymore. My uncle then did so on my behalf and made no bones about my refusal to return being permanent.’

  ‘My husband eventually curtly informed Lynchgate that Tabitha had witnessed what he and his men had done to you and that it was illegal for anybody to do that to a young boy, even if you did come from a workhouse. My Ralph made it clear that he would report Lynchgate’s behaviour to the magistrate in this county s
eeing as the one in his is corrupt. It was enough to make Lynchgate leave her alone for a while. He said he would wait because we would also get fed up of looking after her, and she would get bored living here.’

  ‘But you didn’t.’ It wasn’t a question.

  Mildred positively glowed with maternal pride whenever she looked at Tabitha and Tabitha was so at peace it was clear she was content with her lot in life.

  ‘How could I ever get tired of living here? You have seen this place. It is wonderful, and life here is much nicer than it ever was with him. My father was a bore and a bully in that order. Even my mother didn’t want to live with him, and she married the man,’ Tabitha snorted.

  ‘We have been fine ever since, although Ralph sadly passed away several years back. I did expect Lynchgate to start pestering us again once he learnt of Ralph’s passing, but he hasn’t.’

  ‘Until Mr Muldoon’s solicitor got in touch. A couple of days later, I received a letter from Lynchgate demanding that I return home,’ Tabitha added.

  ‘Might I see his letter?’

  Tabitha handed them to him, then took a seat and waited patiently while he and Hamish both read them.

  ‘He is persistent, isn’t he?’ Hamish murmured, handing another note to Daniel, who glanced briefly over it before handing it back to Tabitha.

  ‘That is because money is involved,’ Mildred scoffed. ‘That man will do anything for money.’

  ‘We can take it from the timing of these letters and your father’s determination to meet with you that he knows about you inheriting the mill,’ Daniel surmised. ‘What I would say is that you are never to return to Marlton House.’

  ‘Do you think she is in any danger?’ Mildred asked with wide eyes.

  Tabitha immediately opened her mouth to dismiss the notion but then caught the look on Daniel’s face. It was cold and hard. His words, when he spoke, fell like pebbles on a calm mill pond, rippling the calm waters of the house Tabitha and Mildred called home.

  ‘Yes, I do believe she is,’ Daniel replied succinctly.

  He looked at Hamish and waited only to mentally curse when Hamish nodded and said: ‘These letters prove that Lynchgate is determined; desperate even. Daniel is right. Don’t go and meet with him. Anything could happen to you once you were there. For now, I would ask if we may keep these?’

  ‘Of course. I have no wish to keep them,’ Tabitha muttered with a dark glare at the notes in question.

  Mildred leaned forward in her seat. ‘Do you really think Tabitha is in danger?’

  Daniel knew that if he could talk quite openly and honestly with any woman and not overset her it would be with Mildred Quigley. ‘Given the personal knowledge I have of the man’s brutality we have to conclude that he poses a physical threat to Tabitha, yes. To both of you, in fact.’

  ‘We have to put you under our protection for the time being,’ Hamish murmured with a sigh.

  It was then that both Mildred and Tabitha both realised there was something far more serious going on. It was the real reason that two strong, powerful men from the Star Elite had called upon them.

  ‘You may as well tell us everything. We need to know what we are facing,’ Mildred murmured.

  ‘We have reason to believe that Lynchgate might have had a hand in Mr Muldoon’s death,’ Daniel announced solemnly. ‘Until we can prove otherwise, we have to believe that Lynchgate will stop at nothing to get his hands on the rest of the shares in the cotton mill that you now own, Tabitha, and that puts you in a lot of danger.’

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ‘Oh, dear God.’ Mildred began to fan herself.

  ‘What do we do?’ Tabitha whispered.

  ‘Firstly, I think we have to get you to the solicitor to attend the reading of the will and deal with all of the paperwork so that the mill is under your control,’ Daniel informed her gently, a little worried about how pale Tabitha had become.

  ‘But I don’t want it,’ Tabitha cried.

  ‘For now, you must accept it, I think that is what they are saying,’ Mildred offered.

  Daniel nodded. ‘We are here, Tabitha.’ He knew he shouldn’t call her by her first name until she openly told him to in front of her aunt but, thankfully, neither her aunt nor Tabitha told him off for being so forward. Indeed, there was a familiarity about the free-flowing conversation that put everyone at ease. It inspired confidences and allowed the usual social strictures to be temporarily forgotten. Consequently, Tabitha didn’t attempt to hide her dismay.

  ‘You are now under the Star Elite’s protection. Believe me, we haven’t allowed anybody under our protection to die yet and we don’t intend to start with you,’ Hamish assured her.

  ‘What does that mean? Is she to go into hiding?’ Mildred demanded looking a little alarmed.

  Hamish offered her a smile. ‘You are both to remain here and go about your lives as normal. It means that, with your permission of course, we will station a couple of men in the house to keep watch over you so that nobody can get in.’

  ‘We will also be in the house if Lynchgate decides to pay you a visit. I doubt he will be amenable to having his letters ignored for too much longer, especially since his solicitor is incapable of blocking the legality of the will,’ Daniel said. ‘I think a visit from Lynchgate is inevitable. We just have to make sure that one of us is here when he does come to call.’

  ‘We will be armed, I am afraid, but will escort you wherever you go, just to make certain that nothing untoward happens. All we ask is that you don’t go anywhere alone and certainly don’t leave the house without telling one of us,’ Hamish added.

  ‘Who will be staying with us?’ Tabitha asked, watching Daniel. It shook her to realise just how much she hoped it would be him.

  Daniel and Hamish looked at each other.

  ‘Daniel will,’ Hamish announced, ignoring Daniel’s surprised look. ‘I need to return to our base and tell our boss what we have learnt. I will also arrange a meeting with the solicitor to discuss the will. Daniel can go with you. I will be back with reinforcements as soon as I can.’ Hamish stood and prepared to leave and in doing so forced everyone else to their feet.

  ‘Do you think that Lynchgate might try to snatch Tabitha?’ Mildred asked worriedly.

  Daniel chose his words carefully. ‘The man is desperate enough to keep writing to her even though he is ignored. He isn’t averse to using physical force to get what he wants. Unfortunately, while rumours say that Muldoon killed himself, we cannot rule out the possibility that he might have been murdered and his death was staged to look like he had killed himself. What we do know is that nothing has gone right in that factory since Lynchgate appeared. That should tell you everything about how manipulative the man is. Whatever you do, don’t trust him. He is a liar, a potential thief, and possibly very dangerous.’

  ‘Do you know why Muldoon left the factory to Tabitha?’ Mildred asked with a frown.

  ‘No, we don’t,’ Hamish replied. ‘Because we need to investigate the truth about Muldoon’s death, we need to get into the factory to search it. Thankfully, once he learnt of Muldoon’s death, Muldoon’s solicitor closed the factory, laid off all the workers, and arranged for all the doors to have new locks and chains fitted. Not even Lynchgate has been allowed in, so any evidence of Lynchgate’s crimes may well still be in that factory.’

  ‘You need me to get the keys so you can search it,’ Tabitha whispered trying desperately to ignore the growing ache in her heart. She would never admit it to anybody, but she had always dreamt that Daniel would appear at her door one day, profess his love for her, and announce that he wanted a future with her. His appearance today was like a scene straight out of her girlish fantasies, but it was tempered by the real reason why he was here.

  Face facts, Tabitha, if it wasn’t for his work with the Star Elite, he wouldn’t waste his time on you.

  It made her sad that in all the years she had been thinking about him, waiting, hoping, longing for him, he had barely given her a secon
d thought.

  He has been busy turning his life around so that he is never vulnerable to the likes of David Lynchgate and his men again. He might even be married, with a family by now.

  For that she couldn’t blame him, although sadly Tabitha wasn’t able to understand where that left her. Daniel had occupied such a large part of her heart for so long now that Tabitha wasn’t at all sure what she was going to do if he was married. Her heart had always belonged to him and probably always would. Even though he never knew it, he was the reason why she had never married.

  ‘Tabitha,’ Daniel prompted when he spoke and realised that she hadn’t heard him.

  ‘Sorry, I was miles away,’ she offered with a half-hearted smile. ‘Is it wise for me to accept the keys? I mean, if Lynchgate finds out that I have them, surely that will make me more of a target, won’t it?’

  ‘I am afraid that Lynchgate will suspect you have the keys already,’ Daniel said. ‘Especially now that the will has been declared as legally binding.’

  Hamish nodded. ‘He might not have called to see you before now because he is waiting for all of the legal paperwork to be dealt with. It makes more sense that he would start to call upon you once he knows you can give him the keys.’

  ‘So I am in danger no matter what I do,’ Tabitha moaned.

  ‘Quite right, dear,’ Mildred murmured turning to look at Daniel. ‘If you are with the Star Elite, can’t you just go to the solicitor and ask for the keys so that you can search the place, find what you need, and arrest the man before he can do anymore harm to others?’

  ‘If only it was that easy,’ Hamish sighed. ‘I am afraid that we cannot allow anybody to know that we are investigating Lynchgate. While the solicitor will maintain confidentiality, we must make sure that very few people know what we are doing. I am sure you are aware that Lynchgate has the help of his nephew, Charles Rodgers, who is a solicitor in London, and his cousin, Judge Sminter. They have a network of connections in legal circles they can use to get what they want, including us stopped if they learn what we are doing.’