by Rebecca King
“State your reason for trespassing in this house. I warn you now that I am not who you think I am, so I suggest your explanation for breaking into this house is a good one,” Luke drawled calmly.
“What do you want, Clarence? Taken to following people now have you? For someone who is so eager to get rid of me as you claim you are certainly reluctant to cut those paternal strings,” Poppy challenged.
Clarence snorted and nodded to Luke. “He can have you because you are of no use to me. You have been a burden to me all of my life and I want rid of you so I can get on with what I want to do. I am not here for you. Just give me the money. It’s mine and I want it.”
“The money is yours is it?” Poppy’s fury burned. She visibly trembled with the force of the rage that began to build within her. It became so strong that she briefly contemplated just snatching the wicked looking gun out of the assailant’s hand and hitting him with it, but she couldn’t run the risk that the trigger would get pulled and Luke would get hurt.
“You know what I am talking about,” Clarence snarled. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you messed everything up. And you claim you are not a burden to me. I should have known better than to trust you to do something as simple as handing over some money at a pre-arranged meeting point. It was a simple thing to do, but it was too difficult for you.”
“You only wanted me to do it so you could steal money that isn’t yours,” Poppy countered. “That’s what you wanted me to do, wasn’t it? Give your scoundrel here the money so you didn’t have to steal from me. If I had blindly handed it over that day, what then?”
“He was planning on getting this buffoon here to make sure you didn’t return to the hovel, weren’t you Clarence?” Luke drawled. He knew from the way that Clarence didn’t even look bothered by the notion that he was right.
Poppy turned her gaze to Clarence’s accomplice and knew now that he was the man who was supposed to meet her in the park.
“Where were you then?” she challenged. “I was in that park for a good hour and you didn’t show your face.” She looked at Clarence. “One of us made a mess of things that morning, but it wasn’t me.”
She began to wonder if Clarence’s cohort had the intelligence to do anything other than grunt and look blankly at Clarence, but when he did speak she rather wished he hadn’t. The husky timbre of his voice was nothing short of a deep growl. It heightened her fear when accompanied by blue eyes that were such a pale shade of blue they were almost translucent.
The man looked bashful. “I got the wrong park,” he murmured.
“Shut up Henry,” Clarence sighed. “You are a fool.”
Henry dutifully closed his mouth with an audible snap. Poppy had to wonder if Henry had limited understanding given that his manner of speech was more of a rolling of words.
“So you sent him to rob your own daughter?” Luke put every ounce of the disgust he felt into his voice.
“I am not robbing her. I am only getting what is mine.”
“So why send me to the park?” Poppy snapped.
“He was going to get his accomplice, Henry, here to do what he tried to do in the coaching yard the other day. In the quiet corner of the park Clarence sent you to so early in the morning there would be no witnesses to see you either fall into the river and drown, or be killed in some other way and left in the woods to be found long after these two have vanished. Nobody knows you are in London, my dear,” Luke reasoned.
He didn’t want to hurt her but reasoning everything out was his only way of warning her of just how much danger she was in right now. Her anger positively radiated off her, and that was incredibly dangerous with Henry so close. There was something all too innocent about the gaze that was docilely on Poppy at the moment that worried Luke. It was almost as though the man had no concept of what they were doing, and would kill without realising the enormity of what he had done.
“You were going to kill me?” She felt sick at the thought. “I was doing you a favour. You pretended that you were too scared to go out so you could set me up. There wasn’t a creditor, was there?” It wasn’t a question, and she could see the answer in Clarence’s eyes. From the malevolent look of glee in those hazel depths, she knew he would almost relish the opportunity to carry out his macabre intent himself if he had to.
“You sent her to the park where your accomplice here was going to kill her and then return the money to you in that dive. You then intended to start your new life with your mistress. Why Camden though?” Luke asked carefully.
“It’s the arse end of Hell. Nobody chooses to live there, they are dragged there by circumstance. It is a soulless pit where people die every single day and people are too busy thieving and lying to even notice,” Clarence snarled. “She wouldn’t survive two minutes there on her own if he bundled things, and she went back.”
“So why didn’t you answer the door when he called around after the meeting failed? You seemed almost scared Clarence,” Poppy demanded.
She frowned when Clarence looked awkward. She thought carefully about his reaction that morning. “When I told you about the body I found, you thought it was him,” she murmured with a nod toward Henry. “Is that why you didn’t answer the door? You thought it was Helena, your mistress, demanding to know where Henry was? You were scared about what she would say – or do, weren’t you?”
“Shut up,” Clarence snarled.
“She is right though,” Luke snorted. “You seem almost scared of Helena.”
“We both are,” Henry declared with a nod but then looked guilty when Clarence glared at him.
“Shut up,” Clarence snapped more loudly this time.
“You bought her to London where you could dump her body without any form of identification on it and nobody would know who she is, or where she came from. She would have a pauper’s funeral and an unmarked grave. You left Cumbria and told people you had gone to London, England’s largest city. Anyone who tried to find her would be looking for a needle in a haystack if they wanted to try to find either one of you wouldn’t they?”
Luke struggled to contain his fury at the man’s complete disregard for human life. Such selfish acts of callousness were the reason he was in the Star Elite in the first place. To protect the lives of people like Poppy, who were victims through circumstance not because of their poor choices in life.
“So what do you plan to do if you get this money you are demanding? Skip off into the sunset with your accomplice here? Strangely, I don’t think he is the liveliest of travelling companions. He seems a bit dim to me. I hope Helena is worth it, but I doubt it given how scared you are of her. Maybe your mistress is getting greedy?” he taunted
“Where I go and what I do now is nothing to do with you. Give me the cash. Now.”
“No.” She would rather die than give Clarence anything. “When your scheme in the park failed, you suspected I had the money on me but didn’t want to have him come into the house in case I realised how much danger I was in and ran with the money. You needed me there to begin with but then wanted me to leave so I was out on the streets where I was the most vulnerable. Your friend, Henry, here would be able to murder me without anyone any the wiser. God, you sicken me,” she added with a snarl as she realised just how much of her life she had wasted on this odious creature before her. “I should have left you in the bottom of a brandy bottle where you belong,” she added.
“He ain’t’,” Henry suddenly blurted. “Mama wouldn’t allow it.”
“Mama?”
“She is his missus, but she don’t want ‘er comin’ along,” Henry said to Luke, ignoring Clarence’s order to shut up.
“So, assuming you got your hands on this cash, what do you intend to do? I mean, you would have committed murder. It wouldn’t be safe to settle in this country in case anything went wrong and Peter found out. If he found you shacked up with your mistress playing happy families with a load of cash he knew wasn’t yours he would have you behind bars in a thrice.”
&
nbsp; “You are leaving the country.” Poppy felt sick. The image of the hatred in the strange woman’s eyes she had bumped into in the coaching yard the other day suddenly burst into life and she stared at Clarence. “She was in the coaching yard the other day, your mama.”
Henry suddenly grinned at her. He reminded Poppy of an eager puppy, happy for any kind of attention, and even more eager to please.
“She wanted the money,” she whispered to Clarence. “I cannot help wondering what you plan to do with him once he has done what you want,” she added quietly. “I mean, if I am a burden, what is he?”
Luke looked at her for a moment and then nodded. “Planning to get rid of him too were you?”
He knew from the cunning look on Clarence’s face that he had stumbled upon the truth and wondered just how bad a situation Clarence was in to be prepared to go to such lengths to secure a fortune.
“So, you planned for Henry to kill Poppy and, while he was still in the area, you were going to do away with him too. You could then live abroad with your stolen money and your mistress without fear of discovery.” Luke’s voice was pure menace as he assessed which one to relieve of their weapons first.
“I am afraid that your scheming has failed, Clarence. You see, I have already paid Peter a visit, and he has signed a document to confirm that he gave Poppy the cash, not you. He also has made it clear that you are not to get your hands on any of it. Therefore, if you leave this house with anything that isn’t yours, I shall arrest you for theft. You are already going to be arrested for breaking and entering anyway, so be very careful because anything else illegal you do will only make your situation worse.”
“I ain’t broken nothing’,” Henry grumbled. He scowled at Clarence as a small child would do and huffed sulkily. “You got me in trouble. Mama is going to be cross with you.”
“Oh, shut up you imbecile,” Clarence snapped.
“Leave him alone,” Poppy ordered.
Sensing an argument was brewing, Luke stepped forward. “Henry, did Clarence tell you to kill Poppy?”
“I-I-I-,” Henry looked from him to Poppy and back again. He stepped backward until his back hit the wall then jumped and threw a worried glance over his shoulder. Like a frightened animal, he suddenly barged past Luke and raced to the back of the house.
Luke turned and watched him go and spied movement just around the corner. Thankfully, help had arrived. Marcus was lying in wait just inside the kitchen. Apart from a slight scuffling noise, nothing betrayed what had really happened to Henry.
“The boy has to go,” Clarence remarked drolly. “Now give me the money and I will get out of your hair.”
Poppy snorted. “Yes, it looks like it. If you just wanted your money, why have you brought a gun with you?” she demanded, but gave Clarence no opportunity to reply. “You have no intention of leaving us alive if you were ever allowed to get your hands on the cash but I don’t have it. It was returned to Peter yesterday. I have no need for it you see.”
“That’s right,” Luke agreed mentally applauding Poppy for her ingenuity. “Poppy doesn’t need money now that she has me in her life. I can provide for her. She is my wife now, and it is my duty to protect her. If you have anything to say to my wife then you say it to me. Unfortunately, as she is my wife, everything that is hers is now rightly mine and I absolutely refuse to give you a single penny of our cash.”
“You are lying,” Clarence snarled.
“No. I have a friend here who can vouch for the fact that Poppy is now my wife.”
Marcus silently appeared in the doorway that led to the kitchen.
Inwardly, it felt wonderfully right to Luke to be able to declare that Poppy was his wife. As far as he was concerned, the sooner he could make that slight fabrication a fact, the better.
“I am her husband now and here to stay.” As he spoke he kept his eyes locked on hers, and put all of his emotions into his words, silently pleading with her to stay with him, remain calm. She understood because she smiled at him and edged a little closer. She was aware that they painted a picture of sublime domesticity that had temporarily flummoxed Clarence and knocked the edge off his arrogance. For now, they had the upper hand.
“Ah, that’s nice,” Clarence snapped sarcastically. “But I know you still have that money. I have been keeping watch on this house since the day you entered it and apart from that kid who keeps coming and going, nobody has left here with that bag. It’s in this house somewhere. I want it.”
“It is irrelevant whether the bag is here or not, it is not your money so you shall not have it, no matter how much you threaten.” Luke shook his head sadly and sighed theatrically. “I am afraid you chose to pick on the wrong person and killed the wrong man.”
“I didn’t kill the man in the park, nor did Henry. We just want the money.”
“But you were prepared to murder your daughter for it,” Luke challenged.
Clarence’s silence was condemning.
“So, to be with the woman in the coaching inn you have to be free of all burdens. You need to get rid of your daughter she doesn’t want around, and she wants to off-load her somewhat awkward son. I wonder why? Why now, Clarence? What’s happened to change the situation so suddenly because I know Helena has been your mistress for a long time now?” Luke felt Poppy stiffen against his side but she remained quiet. Luke allowed silence to settle over them for a moment before he decided to take a random guess that he suspected was right. “I think that you have been living way beyond your means for a long time now. Your mistress has gotten used to a lifestyle she cannot afford herself. You are incapable of working because you have no skills and have never worked a day in your life. Because your options are limited, and the only thing of value was the roof over your head. You had to sell up to be able to keep your mistress happy. Unfortunately, that left you with the problem of the house sale not raising you enough funds for the foreseeable future, and two serious problems in the form of Poppy and Henry.”
“Shut up,” Clarence snapped.
Luke snorted. “I am right, aren’t I, Clarence? What is it; blackmail? The woman in the coaching yard the other day was nasty. I bet she can be vicious when she is angry.”
“I am not staying with Helena,” Clarence suddenly snapped. “She has threatened to ruin me too often. I have had enough of her too. She wants a life I cannot afford. When I tell her to cut back on her spending she threatens to tell everyone I know that I have a bastard son with her who is simple. Well, I am sick of being blackmailed. I am not going to drag all three of them with me for the rest of my life. I am selling up and going my own way, and nobody is going to stop me.”
“You are scared of her,” Poppy whispered. Deep inside she knew she was right.
“The entire family hates you, Clarence. You are one of life’s scroungers and, on this occasion, were prepared to abandon, or kill your own daughter rather than take a proper job, weren’t you? The last thing you would do was face the consequences of your actions, or tell Helena what to do with her threats. You would rather steal, kill, and slither off to a new life with your ill-gotten gains.”
“You don’t know what you are talking about,” Clarence snapped, although with considerably less belligerence than he had previously displayed. “I am getting sick of this. Move and get me that money Poppy, or I will shoot your lover dead.”
Before Poppy to protest, she watched in horror as Clarence lifted his gun and pointed it straight at Luke’s head.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Luke didn’t flinch. He merely stared dispassionately down the wrong end of the gun before lifting a somewhat rueful gaze to the man holding it. He didn’t need to look behind him to know that Marcus had just appeared in the doorway. He slid a comforting arm around Poppy, quietly moving her so she was out of the line of fire, and nodded toward the door behind Clarence.
“You might want to chance a look behind you, Clarence. You need to be aware that these men work for the government. They are the authority aroun
d here, and will ensure you are put behind bars where you belong if you fire that gun. Breaking and entering is what we will arrest you for. That, and trespass, attempted theft, and attempted murder.”
“It wasn’t me,” Clarence snorted.
“You were seen,” Luke challenged. “I have a witness who saw you there.” He took a random guess but watched Clarence consider that for a moment, and knew that on the night Poppy had been knifed, Clarence had been there too.
“I am afraid you have made one serious miscalculation, Cleghorne,” Luke drawled. “You see, I work for an investigative branch of the War Office. I am the authority around here and have even more authority than the magistrate about these parts. My colleagues and I were investigating some strange goings on in the park the other morning and stumbled across your daughter here waiting to make payment. Needless to say she has been under our protection while we uncover the truth surrounding the death of the man she found floating in the river.”
“So you aren’t married?” Clarence snorted and threw a disparaging glare at Poppy. Now that the scent of money was back in the air the bravado had returned; bravado that Luke was determined to shoot down in flames.
“Oh, she is my wife, alright. Peter will vouch for the legality of the marriage. There is nothing illegal with what I have done. It is a pity you cannot say the same.”
Clarence studied Luke before he turned his attention to Marcus, who was also now armed and had his gun pointed at him. He shuffled around until his back was to the wall on the opposite side of the hallway and he could look at the front door. The glass panels afforded a somewhat hazy view of people on the doorstep. They watched the door swing open silently to reveal Barnaby.
“You have forced your way into a government building with a gun and threatened an innocent person while you attempt to steal money. As far as I can see, you are guilty of attempted robbery and trespass, as well as intent to kill. After all taking a gun on a house call is hardly warm and welcoming now, is it?”
