by Rebecca King
“We need to talk to Dexter tomorrow.” He turned a hard glare on Florrie. “You are going to stay at Crompton.” His tone brooked no argument.
An instinctive protest hovered on Florrie’s lips before she bit it back. Did she really want to meet Dexter? She wasn’t sure but it irked her that Pie felt he could dictate to her and clearly expect her to meekly comply with his orders.
“This involves me, and I have every right to be there,” she snapped defiantly, throwing her shoulders back and drawing herself up to her full height.
“You are going to bloody well do as you are told,” Pie snarled, adamant that in this argument she wasn’t going to get her own way. She had already scraped through two near-death encounters by the skin of her teeth. The third time she may not be so lucky. He wasn’t going to be the one to spend the rest of his life with her blood on his hands because he had sat back and allowed her to go near the man called Dexter for a third, and fatal time.
“I am not going to have you shove me out of this, not after tonight,” Florrie snapped. She placed her hands on her hips and stared at him, studiously ignoring Hugo and Archie who were carefully sidling around them and pretending they couldn’t see them. “If you won’t let me come with you tomorrow, suit yourself. I will be there already.”
She heard Pie draw a breath to object but didn’t bother to wait to hear what he had to say. With an indignant sniff she stomped out of the churchyard, slamming the gate forcefully behind her. Sweeping past Hugo and Archie as though they weren’t there, she stomped down the driveway toward Crompton like a general marching into battle.
Pie stomped out of the churchyard and caught the bag of coins Hugo tossed to him. His gaze was firmly locked on Florrie’s rigid back as she stalked down the driveway.
“She bloody well plans to meet with Dexter.”
Hugo merely nodded but kept quiet.
“Over my dead body,” Pie snarled, and stomped after her.
Hugo and Archie shared a quick grin yet remained silent and watchful.
“How long do you think it will be before those two are married?” Archie sighed watching Pie stalk ever closer to his quarry.
“Six weeks?” Hugo replied with a shake of his head.
“You really think it will be that long?” Archie muttered. He couldn’t help but think that there could very well be a third wedding before the Star Elite headed off in different directions.
The faint echo of distant cries suddenly broke the silence. Both men froze and stared at each other for one brief moment before they burst into a run.
“What’s that?” Florrie gasped, staring at the strange lights coming from Crompton’s upper floors.
She glanced at Pie who ran up behind her.
“The house,” he growled. Grabbing Florrie’s hand, he joined Hugo and Archie as they raced down the lane, dragging Florrie behind them. Together they turned onto the main driveway leading to Crompton and cursed loudly at the sight that greeted them.
“Oh my God,” Florrie cried.
The orange glow of flames at two of the upper widows was shrouded in thick smoke that billowed into the night sky. There was a small group of people standing several feet away, huddled together while they tried to protect the crying babies.
The servants had already raced to fetch buckets, pans; anything they could find to fill with water to extinguish the flames. Florrie could see men inside the dimly lit hallway running up and downstairs alongside the maids and the butler.
“Is everyone out?” Hugo demanded, glaring at Harriett as he raced past.
“Everyone but the servants,” Harriett cried after him.
Florrie drew to a halt beside Tabatha who was standing several feet away from the main group of people. Although the fire appeared to be in her room, she was unscathed and didn’t even have a hair out of place. She was watching the men working within the hallway with a frown of annoyance on her face. Florrie couldn’t help but wonder why.
“Is the fire in your room?” Florrie gasped. She watched in horror as Pie raced through the front door and met with Simon, who was already ordering the staff to find more buckets. Everything within her wanted to be able to call him back out and keep him safe but she knew that even if she did, he would just ignore her. Pie wasn’t the kind of man who would quietly stand aside and allow the staff to work to save the house. All of the Star Elite who were there had already disappeared into the house to work alongside those already battling the flames.
Florrie turned and caught Tabatha staring at her out of the corner of her eye. There was something about the woman’s all-too-calm demeanour that was alarming. Had Tabatha started the fire? But that didn’t make sense. Why would Tabatha want to raise Crompton to the ground? For what purpose would she put herself out into the cold for the night?
There was something about Tabatha’s quiet watchfulness that was staring to make Florrie a little unnerved. She ostensibly moved a few inches further away and, with a glance that kept flickering between the house and her aunt, she knew she owed it to everyone busy working inside to try to get to the bottom of her aunt’s strange behaviour.
“It’s your room, isn’t it?”
“It is my room, yes,” Tabatha said without a hint of regret or concern for her belongings.
“Are all of your things in there?”
“Only the few things I brought with me. Nothing of any significance,” Tabatha sniffed dismissively.
Only because you have sold everything that has any worth, Florrie thought waspishly. She had to bite her lip from actually saying the words.
“What happened? How did it start?”
“Hmm?” Tabatha seemed to be transfixed on the house, which wasn’t anything unusual given that everyone else was watching the main door and the flames in the bedroom window. “Oh, from the fire I think.” It was the furtive glance that Tabatha flickered around the gardens that gave Florrie the hint that something was definitely amiss.
For saying that the woman had just escaped a fire in her room, her clothing was relatively uncharred and she didn’t appear to be all that perturbed by the potential risk to either her life, her possessions, the house or the other occupants.
“But you have a fire guard in your room,” Florrie stated quietly. “Didn’t you use it?”
Tabatha turned to glare at Florrie. “Of course, I used it,” she snapped. “I take it that you are talking to me again now then?”
Florrie stared at her. “If you wish to talk about anything except your debts, then yes, I suppose so, but otherwise no.”
She watched as someone from within the room suddenly tugged the window upward and threw what looked like bedding and curtains onto the ground below. The curtains lay on the beneath the window. Flames grasped steadily at the cool night air until Archie appeared and threw water on them; stomping on the lingering flames that refused to die.
The thick, billowing smoke grew steadily thicker until the small group of people began to cough. Florrie followed the others as they moved further back. She glanced at Harriett who was still in her night clothes, her hair tumbled wildly down past her shoulders as she tried to soothe one of the fretful twins. The nanny was beside her, doing the same with the second charge. A head count confirmed that everyone was now out of the house. It was down to the men to extinguish the fire and then they could check to see exactly how much damage was done to the house and decide whether it was still habitable or not.
Turning toward Tabatha, she jumped to find the space beside her empty. She glanced around but couldn’t see much in the darkness.
“Has Tabatha gone back inside?” Florrie asked, sidling closer to Francesca.
“She is over there, look,” Francesca nodded to a position several feet away from them. Tabatha had moved further away so that she could get a better view of what was going on inside the room.
Florrie glanced back at the window, relieved to see that the flames had gone completely and the smoke had started to thin. Pie appeared and threw all of the win
dows open. Archie appeared in the room next door and opened the windows in that room as well. Gradually one by one, all of the upstairs rooms were opened to the elements.
Hugo appeared in the doorway and made his way over to the group. “You should be alright to come back inside in a minute, but you will have to stay downstairs in the sitting room for now. We need to check the joists in the room before you can go back in. There doesn’t look to be too much damage to them, but we need to make sure.”
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Florrie studied Tabatha carefully as she listened to Hugo’s announcement. She saw the flicker of intense annoyance; anger even, upon hearing that the damage hadn’t been as bad as she had probably planned.
“How much damage is there?” Florrie asked Hugo quietly as they watched Tabatha return to the house.
“The damage is mainly to the curtains and rugs. Her wardrobe has been badly singed but nothing more than that except for a few well charred floor boards. I think we managed to catch it on time.”
Florrie glanced at Harriett who had moved to her husband’s side to give him a quick hug.
“I take it then that it couldn’t have started by the fireplace.”
Hugo lifted quizzical brows and stared at her.
Florrie watched Tabatha disappear up the stairs over Hugo’s shoulder. True to form, she wasn’t going to follow orders without a struggle and had clearly decided to forget her own safety and go up and see the results of her handy work for herself.
“No, I don’t think so. The fire was near the windows and on the rug at the bottom of the bed. Why?”
“Tabatha.” Florrie sighed, studying the window. She could see Pie talking to Tabatha. She hated to say the words, especially because she couldn’t fathom out why her aunt would do such a thing, but the possible consequences to all of them if Tabatha had the opportunity to try again were horrific.
“I think she stared it deliberately.”
“I know,” Hugo sighed. “The fire isn’t near the fireplace and, even if the logs had spat, embers wouldn’t cover two thirds of the room to start the fire on the curtains near the window.”
“I don’t understand why though. I mean, why would she risk everyone, including herself?”
“To go home,” Harriett replied, glaring up at the window at Tabatha, who was standing in plain view.
“What do you mean?”
Harriett sighed. “I mean she has at least another few days here. She may want to go home now that she realises that Florrie knows about the debts that Tabatha has tallied up in her name. The involvement of the Star Elite has thwarted her carefully planned deception and her lies have come to light. It is only a matter of time before you tell all of her creditors, and her access to the gaming houses is severed completely. Getting Florrie alone again means that she can control Florrie’s access to the creditors and protect her scheme for a bit longer.”
“Do you think that she may have other secrets and she wants to get out of here before we start to dig around too much?” Hugo scowled at the window. His wife’s logic was flawless.
“Yes, I do,” Harriett sighed, handing the heavy baby to her father who took her and settled her against his chest. Within minutes the young tot was fast asleep. “She may also believe that your interest in her will stop once she has left.”
“Oh dear lord,” Florrie felt such a huge wave of guilt sweep through her that she didn’t know how to apologise to them; or really what to apologise for except for bringing evil to their door. Well, it wasn’t exactly to their door, but it was within their reach. “I think I had better get her out of here,” Florrie whispered, feeling slightly sick.
“You shall do no such thing,” Hugo declared flatly.
Pie would wring his neck if he allowed Florrie to leave after everything he had been through with her. Not only that, if Tabatha had been responsible for running up debts fraudulently and attempting arson to find an excuse to leave the house, then it was up to Hugo to ensure that her rather amateurish shenanigans were brought to a halt as quickly as possible, preferably before someone really got injured.
Placing a tender kiss on the baby’s head, he handed her back to Harriett and nodded at Florrie.
“I think we have some questions to ask your aunt. Do you want to be there?”
Florrie considered that for a moment. She wasn’t sure whether she did or not. On one hand she didn’t want to be there and would prefer to stay in the sitting room with the others and wait for the all clear to be able to go to her room, but on the other she wanted to be able to hear what lies her aunt was prepared to tell in order to get her freedom. Given Tabatha’s penchant for lying and incriminating Florrie, she knew it was probably best that she was there.
“I want to be there,” Florrie sighed.
“I warn you now though Florrie,” Hugo replied. “When people get as desperate as her, there is no telling what they will do. When we get inside I want you to stay close to Pie. You can ask questions, but it is probably best that you let me take the lead in the discussions.”
Hugo glared up at the open window. It looked as though the clear-up was already underway. Footmen were throwing various items out of the room, while maids were removing what was left of the bed curtains. “It is partly my fault,” he added regretfully. “Tabatha has asked me several times to allow her to go home. She has pointed out that we are not able to keep her a prisoner and she has the freedom to go when she chooses. I have pushed her into this because I have given orders for her not to be taken anywhere by carriage. It is too far from the village for her to walk, especially if she carries her belongings so she has been backed into a corner and forced to stay.”
“But why set fire to her room? She could have been killed.” she replied, frowning down at the stone steps outside of the front door. A faint whiff of smoke hung in the air but, other than that, there was no hint of anything untoward having happened.
“It gives us a hint of just how desperate she really is,” Harriett sighed.
Hugo remained silent and walked toward the study. He glanced up at the ceiling, looking for evidence of cracks or charred paint but there was nothing. It was enough to convince him that the room was safe to use for now. Luckily the fire had been directly over the morning room next door and that was currently out of use for now.
He waved Florrie to a seat and nodded at Pie, Archie and Simon as they entered the room. “I think we have found our culprit,” he announced quietly.
Simon paused and turned to watch him walk out. Any questions they may have had remained unasked for several long moments while they waited.
CHAPTER NINE
“Before you ask, I do not know how it started.”
“Yes, you do,” Pie replied quietly in a voice that was slightly hoarse from the smoke. “It was deliberately set and you know it.”
“It was embers from the fire, you silly man,” Tabatha sniffed dismissively. She filled a glass half full of brandy without asking and took a seat. The theatrical yawn she gave as she sat down did little except raise the tension.
Florrie sat in the window seat. Despite the seriousness of the situation she still felt a tiny thrill of awareness when Pie moved to sit beside her. She glanced briefly at him and shook her head at the glass he held out to her.
He studied her quietly for several moments. She was clearly cold, but was stoically trying to ignore the fine trembling in the fingers she clenched tightly in her lap. There was a hidden fire in her eyes that made her so beautiful that he wanted to sweep her into his arms, in spite of the fact that he smelled like he had been rolling around in the fire grate for most of the evening.
“So, what was the purpose? Do you want to go home?” Hugo drawled, taking a seat directly opposite her. In a nonchalant pose, he placed one booted foot on his knee and stared hard across the fireplace. It wasn’t lost to him that Tabatha had yet to meet his gaze. She was trying to hide something. It was as much of an admission of guilt that he needed and it fuelled his
determination to continue his questioning until she broke. He knew that everyone, no matter who they were, whatever their upbringing had been, had a breaking point. A point at which they felt panic begin to set in and nerves began to unravel their logic. Careful questioning would be enough for them to seal their own fate. He had no doubt that although Tabatha thought she knew what she was doing, she was in fact out of her depth, and was going to have to learn the hard way that she was up against a master.
Tabatha remained silent and stared defiantly at him. “I am not a criminal and I have done nothing that you can prove. You do not have any control over me and are not in a position to threaten me or keep me a prisoner here against my will. If you even try, I shall have my solicitor on you faster than you can blink.”
“But how are you going to pay that solicitor, Tabatha? Because we all know that you are nearly destitute. You know it. I know it.” As he spoke he watched the woman’s eyes harden although she remained belligerently silent.
“You know nothing of the sort,” Tabatha protested, her voice cold and hard.
“Oh, I am afraid we do.”
Tabatha scoffed inelegantly and took a sip of her brandy. “There is nothing you can prove.”
Pie sighed and moved to stand before the fireplace. He named several of Tabatha’s favourite gaming establishments and watched derision appear on the woman’s face momentarily before it was replaced with cold contempt. The woman really was rather ruthless. He felt a surge of protectiveness and empathy toward Florrie, and everything she had been through while living with her aunt. It was a blessing in disguise that Jamie and Cecily’s wedding had brought her into contact with the Star Elite, because they were the only people in a position to be able to get Florrie away from Tabatha and on her way to that new life she wanted so desperately.
“We can prove that the fire upstairs was started with perfume. The empty bottle you threw out of the window didn’t go far enough and the curtains didn’t burn the way you wanted them too. They reek of the same perfume you wear; far too much for them to smell that way if you happened to brush against them. You used a spill to light the perfume and let the dry material do the rest. Unfortunately for you, the curtain didn’t set fire to the rest of the room as you had hoped.
