Once Before (The Hero Next Door Series Book 3)

by Rebecca King

  ‘How much is it?’ Tabitha asked nervously, staring worriedly at the paper he held out to her.

  ‘Three thousand pounds,’ Mr Rumpton announced solemnly. ‘Tell me, do you have someone you might help you manage it?’

  Stunned, Tabitha was already shaking her head. ‘I had thought that you might be able to. I mean, it must stay in the account. I don’t intend to use it or invest it or anything.’

  ‘Well, that is your decision of course. There are some who would advise you to invest it but given you are female it might be wiser to allow us to look after it for you, and you can use it whenever you see fit. How about that?’ Mr Rumpton smiled kindly at her.

  ‘I think that would be best. It still doesn’t feel like mine,’ Tabitha whispered, suddenly finding herself on the verge of tears. They appeared out of nowhere and gathered on her lashes leaving her dabbing ineffectually at them with the handkerchief Mr Rumpton kindly held out to her.

  ‘Where is your aunt, my dear? Did she come on this trip with you?’

  ‘No. She has had to stay at the house. We have a problem, you see, and she couldn’t leave it,’ Tabitha explained.

  ‘Well, let’s get this paperwork sorted out for you and then we can get the account set up. When it is all done, you are free to go and tell your aunt the good news.’

  ‘Tell me, Mr Rumpton, did Mr Muldoon have any other property aside from the factory?’

  Mr Rumpton’s gaze turned knowing. He nodded but then hesitated as if trying to decide if it was a good idea to say anything. ‘I think you should take a few moments to look through those papers before you leave. Maybe you would like to do it here while I fetch the papers I need to set up your new account, eh? I won’t be a moment.’

  Tabitha wanted to warn him about the Star Elite but was too curious to know what Reynold Muldoon had left her. When she was alone, she carefully opened the thick package on her lap and gasped aloud when she read the uppermost paper.

  ‘Title deeds to Cragmore House, Willow Lane, Cragmore Camden,’ she whispered as she read what was written. ‘Present owner: Miss Tabitha Lynchgate.’ Stunned, she read the rest of the title deeds which confirmed that Reynold Muldoon had transferred ownership of his house into her name the week before he had died. ‘Now why would you do that?’

  Carefully placing the deeds on Mr Rumpton’s desk, Tabitha looked at the next piece of paper, a note from Reynold Muldoon himself.

  ‘My dear, I know this has to be the most confusing time for you. By now, you most probably know about the factory and have just learnt you have inherited my family seat, Cragmore House. You may wonder why on earth I have chosen to leave things to you. The answer lies in the search for truth. While I could tell you, all the evidence is in one note which could quite easily be stolen, lost, or damaged. To prevent this, I have left a trail of facts for you to gather. Take heed, though, there are enemies who will try to stop you learning the truth. When you do find out what has happened, I am sure you will have no qualms about doing the right thing. I understand from several reliable sources that you aren’t any friendlier with your father than I am. I hope you bear this in mind when you decide what to do with the factory. Oh, and the house of course. For the time being, be very careful not to ask questions of people. The answers, the truth, lies in the information I have left for you. Find the keys. The house might be a good place to start. I wish you happy hunting and hope you have the foresight to keep your father at a safe distance from yourself of course, the factory, and Cragmore House. I didn’t spend as much time there as I should have. I regret that now. I hope you are wise enough not to make that same mistake. Yours, Reynold Muldoon.

  Tabitha read it again and held the note while she gazed down at the next piece of paper, which detailed Cragmore House’s full address. Beneath that was a note that simply read. ‘Number one: the study.’ She suspected she already knew what it meant and was as eager to go and find out as she was to tell Mildred about it all.

  Curiosity compelled her to rifle through the rest of the paperwork. It contained details of a man who was prepared to purchase the factory at a legitimately fair price should she ever need to sell it, according to the note Mr Muldoon had written for her. Tabitha almost wept with relief but decided to worry about that later. She had a mystery to solve first.

  Daniel stared at Mildred in horror. Without saying a word, he spun on his heel and raced up the stairs as if the hounds from Hell were nipping at his heels. He slammed into Tabitha’s bed chamber and stared at the empty bed before ducking down to check underneath it. He then poked his head behind the retiring screen. Daniel’s curses flowed freely when he raced downstairs to meet Roger in the hallway. Shaking his head, he left the house and searched the outbuildings.

  ‘Did she leave a note?’ Roger demanded.

  Mildred shook her head.

  Daniel charged back into the kitchen and ran a hand through his hair as he struggled to control his panic.

  ‘Mildred, can you think of somewhere Tabitha might have gone?’ Roger asked calmly yet with a hint of firmness that made Mildred frown.

  ‘I cannot think of anywhere. I was the one who usually visits the sick parishioners with the vicar. Tabitha helped the ladies with the church cleaning occasionally, but they aren’t cleaning today. They do that on Thursdays. I don’t think she would have gone to church unless she absolutely had to. Tabitha isn’t a devout worshipper.’

  ‘I will go and check anyway. Maybe she has gone to a shop in the village,’ Roger suggested.

  Mildred shook her head. ‘We don’t have any shops in the village.’

  ‘Friends?’

  ‘No. The friends she has live in town and she wouldn’t have gone there without telling us.’

  Daniel stomped angrily around the garden but with paths running everywhere there were no tracks to follow. In desperation, he began to check every window, and quickly discovered that the French doors were unlocked. Staring at it in disbelief, he stepped into the sitting room. Roger, who had been on his way past the room, slammed to a stop and stared at him.

  ‘Someone has unlocked this door from the inside.’ Daniel poked his head outside again. The path led around the perimeter of the house and joined the main path leading from the front door to the road. ‘Why? Why would she leave the house like this?’

  ‘Maybe she let someone in, and they persuaded her to go with them?’

  Daniel shook his head. ‘She wouldn’t let Lynchgate in. Besides, who would call at the house at the French doors?’

  ‘Nobody,’ Mildred announced, fretfully wringing her hands. ‘What do we do?’

  Roger reluctantly turned to look at Mildred because he knew Daniel wasn’t going to like his next question. ‘Did she have a lover, or a suitor, or someone who has been paying her attention on a romantic level?’

  ‘I-I don’t think so,’ Mildred said hesitantly. She flicked a worried look at Daniel.

  ‘Go on,’ Roger prompted, folding his arms and lifting a commanding brow.

  ‘Well, there is Joshua Corlton. He is the local doctor. He has danced with her a few times and called by expressly to see her but has gone no further than a walk or two around the village. I doubt she would have snuck out of the house to go and see him, especially with Lynchgate nearby.’

  Daniel stared at the woman and felt his heart sink with every word she spoke. He knew it was to be expected that someone like Tabitha would have a suitor willing and able to marry her, but it hurt to think of her being held or kissed by another man.

  ‘Why has she never married before now?’ Daniel asked suddenly. It wasn’t the right time to ask such a question, but he wanted to know.

  Mildred glared at him. ‘What does that have to do with anything?’

  ‘Because she might have a problem that is weighing heavily on her and gone for a walk somewhere to clear her head,’ Daniel snapped. ‘Maybe with everything that has been going on she needed to go for a walk. Is there somewhere she might have gone? Anywhere, Mildred – think.’<
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  ‘Tabitha always discussed things with me.’

  ‘So, there is no reason why she couldn’t have eloped with this Joshua Chorlton?’ He hated to have to wait even a faction of a second for Mildred to answer.

  ‘Tabitha wouldn’t do anything like that,’ Mildred protested. ‘She is and always has been reluctant to marry because she has memories of how miserable her mother was.’

  ‘Was it bad?’

  ‘Her mother left Lynchgate and went to live with her cousin but on a permanent basis. Tabitha went with her. When Lynchgate got angry at the length of time she was away he went to fetch her. Not his wife - Tabitha. Lynchgate demanded that he raise her and informed his wife that he was able to provide more for her. It devastated her mother, I can tell you, but she had no choice but to let her go. Tabitha was distraught. Tabitha’s mother died not long after.’

  ‘She might not trust men, and certainly doesn’t like Lynchgate enough to want to go anywhere with him,’ Roger said. ‘That points to her having been snatched, but that doesn’t explain why the door was unlocked from inside.’

  ‘I have been patrolling this house. Nobody has gotten in here. It has been as silent as the grave all night long. I would have heard the click of the door opening. Damn, I have been able to hear the hoot of the owls so clearly they might have been in the house with me, for God’s sake,’ Daniel protested. ‘I would have heard someone break in. Besides, I checked that door on my last round at about six this morning. It was locked.’

  ‘So she might have left after six and before Mildred went to wake her.’ Roger planted his fists on his hips. He looked at the clock on the mantle. ‘Two hours.’

  ‘She could be anywhere by now,’ Daniel snapped. ‘Anything could have happened to her.’

  ‘I will go to the safe house and summon the others,’ Roger said, already on his way to the door.

  ‘Wait!’ Mildred cried. ‘Might she have gone to the factory?’

  ‘I doubt it given what happened there the other night,’ Daniel snorted.

  ‘We will send someone over to check,’ Roger assured her. ‘Leave it to us. We will find her.’

  Daniel stormed outside. His mind raced in several different directions. He struggled to concentrate on anything.

  ‘Do you think Lynchgate might have her?’ he demanded when Roger joined him.

  Roger was already shaking his head. ‘He might have persuaded her to answer the door, but I don’t see how he could have seeing as you were in the house and would have heard them talking.’

  Daniel swore. ‘She has to have crept out then.’ He mentally plotted all the things he was going to say to her when he caught up with her and struggled to control his anger.

  ‘I will go and tell the others. You go to the factory and see if she is there. I will meet you back here in an hour,’ Roger said before storming off and leaving Daniel to fetch his horse.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Tabitha clutched the new packet of papers to her chest as she strode to the ticketing office in town. Unlike earlier, she saw little of her surroundings. She was busy mulling over what she had just learnt. Without hesitation, she used some of the money she had just withdrawn to purchase a coaching ticket to Cragmore Camden.

  ‘Are you sure you want to go there, miss? There is nothing out there except a little village in the back of beyond,’ the ticket officer asked doubtfully when he slid the ticket across the counter to her.

  ‘Of course I am sure I wish to go there,’ Tabitha replied pertly.

  ‘Well, you can’t take a direct route. You are going to have to travel half-way and get off at Torton and then get the carriage to Carmine from there. The carriage will stop off on the way to Fremon so long as you tell the coachman and remind him. There isn’t going to be a route back for a week, though.’

  ‘A week?’ Tabitha’s heart sank. She stared down at the ticket in her hand. ‘When does the coach leave again?’

  ‘In an hour, miss. It is going to be on time, so you must be here for when it gets here. It won’t wait for you, you know.’

  ‘I don’t expect it to, thank you.’ Tabitha offered the man a brief smile. She wondered if she should just tell him she had changed her mind and return to Mildred’s to face the Star Elite’s fury. Instead, she returned to the counter. ‘I shall need a return ticket for a week then.’

  The ticketing inspector heaved a sigh and dutifully marked her ticket as a return before accepting payment. Tabitha didn’t bother to worry about whether it was a wise move – she wanted to go. Hearing about the factory she had inherited had been a shock, and Muldoon’s personal fortune that was now hers. What bothered her more than anything, though, was the mysterious content of Muldoon’s note. She was curious to know what kind of house he had, but also what clues he had left her, although had no idea what she was going to do if the evidence he had hidden there proved that he had been murdered. She would be stranded there for at least a week.

  God only knows what the Star Elite would be doing by then.

  Mentally wincing, Tabitha returned to the market square and studied the shops. Minutes later, she was sitting in Mr Rumpton’s office again waiting for him to fetch her second withdrawal of the day.

  ‘Are you sure you want this much?’ Mr Rumpton asked with a scowl as he slid the money across the desk. ‘It is a rather large sum for a young lady such as yourself to be walking around with, you know.’

  ‘I have several things I wish to purchase,’ Tabitha replied. ‘Might I be presumptuous and ask to borrow a piece of notepaper and a quill?’

  ‘Of course my dear.’ Although Mr Rumpton’s eyes were alive with curiosity he didn’t ask any questions. Instead, he handed her the withdrawal and busied himself on the opposite side of the room to allow her a moment of privacy. He knew that it wasn’t wise to offend one of his wealthiest customers. Besides, he quite liked Tabitha. She wasn’t arrogant like most of the wealthy who came to his bank.

  Tabitha signed off her note and asked Mr Rumpton if he would mind sending it to Mildred for her. While she contemplated writing a note to Daniel as well, Tabitha struggled to know what to put in it that wouldn’t annoy him.

  He is going to be cross because I am involving myself in the Star Elite’s investigation when he has told me not to.

  ‘But it is my house now. I can do what I like there,’ Tabitha murmured to herself. ‘Now that Daniel and his friends are in our house all the time it will be impossible to leave again, especially after today.’

  ‘Eh, my dear? What’s that?’

  Tabitha quickly added another note to her missive to Mildred and handed it to Mr Rumpton. ‘Would you mind seeing that my aunt gets this?’

  ‘Of course, my dear. I say, you are not in trouble, are you?’ Mr Rumpton’s brows shot up.

  ‘No. No. It’s nothing like that. Given what I have learnt this morning my plans for the day have changed, that’s all. I know my aunt is going to worry about me, so I have just written a note to her to explain that I shall not be returning home as planned.’ She offered Mr Rumpton a grateful smile and quietly took her leave of him.

  Keeping a wary eye on the clock, Tabitha hurriedly went to purchase the things she would need to get through the next week before returning to the ticketing office. Minutes later, with the last of her chores finished, she picked up the heavy basket of food and her newly purchased travel bag which she had stuffed full of new clothing, and handed them to the carriage driver to load before clambering aboard herself.

  ‘I need to stop off at Cragmore Camden,’ she told the driver, who hesitated and blinked in astonishment at her. ‘And yes, I am sure before you ask.’

  The driver shook his head as if it was beyond him why someone would want to go to such a place.

  ‘Excuse me,’ Tabitha called to him as he was climbing onto the driver’s seat. ‘Is anybody joining us?’

  ‘No, miss. There is just you travelling. I don’t know who else is going to join us along the way, though, so sit tight,’ he order
ed.

  Within seconds, the horn was blasted, and the carriage lunged out of the yard.

  Daniel cursed fluidly and hauled back on the reins when a large black carriage raced out of the coaching yard. He glared at the driver before his gaze fell to the occupant within the carriage he was driving.

  ‘That’s Tabitha,’ he growled nudging his horse into a trot.

  The carriage was moving too fast for him to flag down.

  ‘I will go and see the ticketing officer to see where it is going and will then fetch the others,’ Hamish offered.

  Daniel nodded but Hamish was already turning into the coaching yard. Nudging his own horse to go faster, Daniel followed the carriage through the narrow streets until it reached the outskirts of town. It was then that he was forced to stop by a large farmer’s cart laden with straw which moved slowly out into the road and blocked his way.

  ‘Damn it, get out of the way,’ Daniel snapped.

  ‘It is going to a place called Craghorn Camden,’ Hamish called when he caught up with him. ‘I am going back to fetch the others. Roger was returning to the factory so we will catch up with you when we can. According to the ticket inspector, Craghorn Camden is in the back of beyond. God only knows why Tabitha is going there or who she is meeting.’

  ‘I don’t give a damn who she is meeting. I am going to find out, though, and she will damned well know not to do something this stupidly foolish again when I get my hands on her,’ Daniel growled.

  Hamish grinned at him. ‘Face it, Daniel, you adore her.’

  ‘Rubbish,’ Daniel spat too incensed to contemplate such a thing.

  ‘She is your mate,’ Hamish persisted. ‘I mean, she has the ability to turn you on your head doing nothing more than everyone else does at some point in their lives.’

  Daniel glared at him. ‘What?’

  ‘Tabitha is not under house arrest. She has every right to go and see a friend if she wants to. It shouldn’t worry you that she has chosen to get out of the house for a while.’