Beth nodded, bowing her head as she tangled her fingers together. “It is, miss. After…well, years of worrying, it’s hard to wake up in the morning and not worry about the future.”
“I can see that. And I’m so sorry that you had to go through so many decades of insecurity. But Malcolm will make it up to both of you.”
“Bless you, miss!” she whispered, choking up with tears. Then she sniffed and straightened her shoulders. “His lordship said you needed some papers in the study. This way,” and she led the way to Edward’s office and opened the door with a flourish. “If there’s anything that you need, you just ask me. No one else in the village knows you’re here. So you won’t be bothered by the local police. They think things will continue on the way they’ve been going.”
Ella smiled. “Thank you for your discretion, Beth.” Ella glanced at the desk, piled with papers. Malcolm had been forming stacks for different issues, but Ella wasn’t sure which was which. “I guess I should just…dive in, shouldn’t I?”
Beth rubbed her hands together, which seemed more like a nervous gesture than one of anticipation. “If you…well,” she looked a bit guilty.
Ella realized that Beth was nervous, but not sure what about. “Talk to me, Beth.”
The housekeeper looked over her shoulder, then back at Ella. “The thing is…” she sighed, her hands now tangled her apron. “Harvey thinks I should just…leave it. But…”
Something in the way Beth’s eyes scampered over the room warned Ella that this was important! “Nothing you tell me will go beyond Malcolm and me, unless it is something we need to bring to the authorities,” Ella assured her.
Beth chewed her lip for a moment, did another over-the-shoulder glance, then nodded, as if she’d just made up her mind about something. “You’re looking for something,” she whispered, then took a tentative step closer. “I know…places.” She fidgeted nervously. “I’ve cleaned this house for the past several decades, Ms. Ella. And that man, the duke, he was…he did things. He did evil things!”
Ella’s heart rate accelerated but she tried to appear calm, not wanting to scare the timid woman. “I know that. Malcolm and I are trying to prove that.”
Beth’s fingers clasped tightly together. “His lordship was a good man!” Beth whispered. “Malcolm was a good boy! As soon as he realized that things were bad in the house, after his momma died, Malcolm left! The duke, he ranted about the son for years, trying to trick Malcolm into coming back and taking over the finances. The duke, he muttered about bad things. He thought we were cowed, but Harvey and I, we heard and we…” Tears sprang to the woman’s eyes. “We didn’t do anything about them because we were too scared and we didn’t know what to do. The police in the village, they came here all the time, schmoozing with the duke. And he paid them. All the time, that horrible man paid them.” Her eyes glittered with angry tears. “Harvey and I didn’t break or lose any of the things that he said we’d broken. But the police, they were owned by that rabid bastard!”
Ella let the housekeeper’s fury wash over her. Beth had obviously been keeping things to herself for a long time. It was good that she was venting.
“I know that. He kept you under his control in a different way.”
“You’re right!” she hissed. “He kept the village police officers under his control by paying them. So, whenever something bad happened, the police would only pretend to investigate! You wouldn’t believe all of the things that bastard got away with over the years! He paid those officers all that money, but then held Harvey and I in servitude with false accusations!” She closed her eyes, a tear sliding down her wrinkled cheek as she took a deep, calming breath. “What I’m trying to say is that, Harvey and I know where the duke’s hiding places are. If you tell us…” she stopped, then shook her head. “No. I’ll just…you and his lordship have been looking for the past several days. Now it’s time for Harvey and me to show you everything. Obviously, you haven’t found what you need in order to nail that bastard.”
“Beth, no!” Harvey hissed from the hallway.
Ella turned to find the gardener staring at his wife, his face more than slightly green.
Beth’s chin went up, but Ella could see her chin quivering. “Harvey, please,” Beth whispered.
Turning back to Ella, she said, “Let us help you.” Beth’s hands fluttered for a moment, but she stood firm.
Ella took a step forward, trying to think of something to say that would assure Beth and Harvey to help. “Malcolm has taken over the duke’s finances. He’s in the hospital and there are multiple witnesses that heard the duke announce that Malcolm should take over. So, there’s nothing illegal about you showing me anything on this estate.”
Harvey’s eyes moved from his wife’s startled gaze, then back to Ella.
Beth took a step closer, her weathered hands pleading with her husband. “Harvey, it’s time. We can’t be completely free until we show them. He’ll have no power after that. We’ll really be free.”
Harvey’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly as his gaze continued to shift back and forth from Ella to his wife. Finally, Ella saw the resignation in his eyes and he nodded slowly. “You’re right,” he sighed.
Beth wrapped her arms around Harvey comfortingly. “It will be okay,” she whispered to him. “His lordship is a good man. He’ll protect us.”
Harvey didn’t look convinced, but his arms moved around his frail-looking wife. For a long moment, Harvey laid his cheek against Beth’s salt-and-pepper hair, closing his eyes. He looked like a man about to be led to his execution.
Thankfully, a moment later, he lifted his head and looked at Ella with eyes shining with tears. “We’ll show you everything.”
Ella released the breath she’d been holding, slowly. Still, she tried to hide her relief, even though she felt the spurt of adrenaline fizz through her veins. This was it, she thought. Her fingers tingled, wanting to text Malcolm, who had gone to the hospital to visit his father. It wasn’t going to be a friendly visit. Malcolm was going to demand answers to several strange amounts of money that had been taken from the duke’s accounts. Ella doubted that the duke would explain anything, but Malcolm had wanted to try.
Ella watched as Beth pulled a step stool out of a closet, then walked back into the study. Instead of placing the stool against a wall with books, she placed it near one of the windows with the heavy curtains against one side. The velvet curtains were faded and dusty with age. Beth pushed it carefully aside and, with the press of a fingertip, a secret panel swung open. Behind that panel, were several books, journals actually. The leather-bound journals weren’t dusty, indicating that the old duke had been using them recently.
“What’s in them?” Ella asked, moving towards Beth to take the journals into her hands.
“I don’t know, ma’am,” Beth said. “I never dared to look in them. If the duke ever discovered that I knew that they were there, I’d…” she didn’t finish that statement, but instead, turned and pulled a box down. “You’ll need these too.”
Ella accepted the box, eyeing it curiously. “Thank you,” she said as Beth stepped down from the step stool.
“Show her,” Beth whispered to Harvey.
Harvey’s eyes widened slightly, and he glanced at Ella. For a moment, he looked like he might argue, but then his shoulders slumped, his head bowed. “This way,” he said and turned, walking out of the study.
Harvey led her out of the house, Beth trailing behind them. Ella wondered where they were going, and what they would find when they got there.
Eventually, Harvey stopped beside a beautiful garden. The rest of the landscaping was well cared for, but this spot stood out as something more elaborate. More beautiful. Obviously, care had been taken to create something special here.
“It’s lovely,” Ella said, admiring the lush flowers and the beautiful, blooming trees that surrounded the plot.
“It’s a…” Harvey’s voice died in his throat and he gulped hard. He cleared his th
roat and tried again. “It’s a graveyard,” his voice barely a whisper. “I didn’t bury them here,” he told Ella. Then the man looked directly into her eyes. “But I discovered them and didn’t say anything to anyone.”
Ella moved closer, putting a hand on his arm. “You didn’t commit a crime, Harvey,” she assured him. “The duke created a situation in which you and your wife were under duress.”
The man choked again. “The duke said that he’d blame me for the women’s deaths if I said anything to anyone.” He looked at the lovely garden. “It was all that I could do to make their final resting place into something nice.” Roughly, he wiped at the tear that escaped. “I didn’t even know that they were buried here until I came to work that morning.” He turned to Ella. “But I’d seen the police here having dinner with the duke. I knew that they’d never listen to me and Beth.” He looked at the graves again. “I did what I could for the women. But it wasn’t enough.”
Ella reached out, touching his arm again. “Malcolm will help. I’m writing a news article and most likely a book, Harvey. I’m going to spread the word about what a horrible man the duke was. He was an evil monster.” She shifted the journals in her arms. “I’m going to prove it. With the help of you and Beth.”
Harvey looked at her sadly. “Nothing is going to happen. He’ll get away with it again.” He sighed. “Or he’ll die.”
Ella clenched her teeth. “Well, if he dies, then a lot of other people are going to face the charges as well. These crimes, whatever they all are, will not go unpunished!”
Harvey didn’t say anything more. Instead, he turned and took Beth’s hands. Together, they walked away towards the small cottage where they’d lived for most of their lives.
Ella watched, saddened by the horror of what they had gone through. They’d come to work for a man and instead, had endured a decades old nightmare that only compounded as the duke gained power over the years.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Edward Reynolds barked as Malcolm walked into the hospital room.
Malcolm stared at his father, then glanced at the nurse, who looked like she was considering smothering the old man.
Edward glared at the nurse who was writing something down on his chart. “Get out! I have business to discuss with my son!”
The nurse looked up from the chart, her gaze eyes conveying her hatred for the man. But instead of scurrying away, the woman simply turned back to the chart and finished writing. Casually, as if Edward wasn’t about to have a heart attack, or perhaps because of it, the nurse slowly pocketed her pen, then slid the chart into the slot at the end of his hospital bed. Then, with a look at Malcolm, she walked out of the hospital room.
“Close the damn door!” Edward bellowed. The nurse ignored him, acting as if she hadn’t heard him as she moved away.
“Damn idiot!” Edward grumbled. “All the staff here are idiots!” He shifted on the bed, then lifted his rheumy gaze to Malcolm. “Okay, tell me your plans. What are you going to do to fix the mess my accountants have created with our finances?”
Malcolm watched his old man for a long moment. Malcolm didn’t see the old man lying here, helpless, in the hospital bed. He remembered the almost gleeful expression as he’d left his study one afternoon. Edward hadn’t known that Malcolm was standing halfway down the ornate, wooden staircase. As soon as the old man passed by, Malcom had known what had happened. As an eight year old boy, Malcolm had already become well acquainted with that look. And it filled him with dread.
Sure enough, as soon as Malcolm had raced into the study, he’d found his mother lying on the ground. That day had been an easy one. There were no broken bones. Edward had only punched her in the stomach. Malcolm had found her on the carpet, her fingers curling into fists as she slowly breathed in and out in shallow breaths, trying to manage the pain.
Malcolm wondered if the nurses were fed up with Edward’s miserable attitude and weren’t providing palliative care. But no, from his experience, the medical world provided care no matter how miserable the patient might be.
More’s the pity.
“Well?” Edward demanded, his breathing becoming more labored.
Malcolm set the files down on the rolling table at the end of the bed. “I have some questions for you.”
“Just…fix it all!” Edward snapped. “You’re rich. You know what to do to make me rich again, damn it!”
“And you think I can just wave a magic wand around and fix the decadent lifestyle that you’ve lived your whole life?”
The man lifted his head, bushy eyebrows lowering with his fury. “Don’t you backtalk to me, boy!” he roared. “I’m your father! And you’ve neglected me for long enough! Now fix the damn finances and maybe I’ll change my will so that you inherit the estate!”
Malcolm chuckled. “Please don’t. Whoever you currently have designated to inherit is more than welcome to the estate.”
Edward tried to laugh. “You wouldn’t give up your birthright.”
“I would. In a heartbeat,” Malcolm assured his father. “But in the meantime, I have some questions.” He opened a file. “Can you explain these amounts? There are several payments from your bank accounts, and several more, sometimes larger amounts that are going into your accounts. They don’t match up to any of your business ventures, rents, or…?”
“Don’t worry about those,” Edward snapped, leaning back against the pillows. With a malicious smirk, he nodded. “That’s just…money someone lent to me.”
“Do they need to be paid back then? What are the terms of the loan?”
“No need to pay those back,” he said, waving the hand connected to the IVs. “No one is expecting repayment on those loans.”
Malcolm’s eyes narrowed. “So, they are illegal activities. I need names of…” He paused, looking down at his phone. He read the text from Ella, his stomach clenching. “Ella needs me back at the house. Apparently, she’s found something that I need to see.” Moving to the end of the bed, he looked at his father carefully. “Care to warn me of what I’m about to discover?”
Edward sniggered, shaking his head. “Don’t worry. No one is going to find anything.”
Malcolm’s lips thinned. “I notice you didn’t say there were no illegal activities to find.”
Edward shrugged dismissively. “You’re a wealthy man. You have to have cut corners or done something outside the line in order to make the kind of money you’ve made.”
Malcolm didn’t respond for a long moment. “Actually, I’ve never broken the law. I’m smart enough to know how to make money within it. So, I’m guessing that whatever Ella has discovered is going to prove that you’re a worthless crook.”
Edward tried to sit up, but his health and the tubes keeping him alive stopped his progress. “Don’t you speak to me like that! You’re nothing without me! You’re worthless!”
“On the contrary,” Malcolm countered, taking the files and tucking them under his arm. “I’m worth a hell of a lot more than you, apparently.” He tapped the file folders. “I’ll hire an accounting firm to look into these payments. We’ll figure out what you’ve been up to eventually.”
Edward choked. “Don’t you dare! Just…trust me. No one is going to demand repayment! They’re not loans, they were gifts!”
Malcolm was at the door by that point. “Were those gifts,” he said, his tone tinged with disbelief, “reported to the tax authorities?”
“Hell no! Why would I do that?”
Malcolm shook his head. “Did you ever do anything legal in your life?” Edward simply stared back, not responding. “I guess that answers my question.”
Edward glared at Malcolm. In the end, Malcolm didn’t want to know. Instead, he left the hospital room, the files tucked under his arm, feeling the need to go home and shower after the filth surrounding that man.
Chapter 13
I need you at your father’s estate. I’ve found something. Malcolm stared at the text message, trying to anticipate what Ella
had discovered. Even as he wondered, he pictured her in his mind. She was so damn smart and beautiful. Once again, his hand slipped into the pocket of his slacks, feeling the diamond ring there. Would she consider marriage? Or would she see marriage as something that would hold her back?
That question, plus a million others, swirled through his head. This mess with his father was only hindering the issue even further. He wanted so much to just get the ring on her finger and have her promise him forever.
After all of this, would she ever believe that he hadn’t been party to this royal mess? Would she always suspect that he was a part of his father’s illegal activities? Or perhaps she’d assume that he’d simply turned a blind eye on what was happening?
With a muttered curse, he tossed the files into the passenger seat of his car and, with a fury unlike anything he’d ever felt before, sped towards his father’s estate. Even if Ella could ever overlook the monstrous things that his father had done, could she ever love him? Love him, Malcolm, the man? Not the title that he currently held or the title he would inherit, but the man he was?
He doubted it. But in that moment, Malcolm vowed that he’d do everything within his power to make that happen. Somehow, he’d convince Ella to love him. To stay with him forever!
Chapter 14
“Ella?” Malcolm called out as he stepped into the old, run-down house. Ignoring the burst of revulsion at the heavy, wood-paneled walls that seemed to close in as soon as he stepped through the door, he felt for Ella’s energy. He wasn’t disappointed!
“In here, Malcom!” she called from his father’s study.
Malcolm stepped into the room, barely glancing at the walls lined with shelves full of old books. He found Ella sitting at his father’s massive desk. Short bursts of typing followed intense perusal of the books beside the keyboard.
He took a moment to watch, to take in her beauty and her intensity. Did Ella ever relax? What would she be like on a beach? While most people sat in beach chairs and read a book or dozed in the warmth of the sunshine, he couldn’t picture Ella doing anything like that. She was too full of energy. Too determined to get to the next thing in life, whatever that might be. No, Ella was too intense to relax on a beach. He couldn’t picture her dozing or reading, but he could picture her diving into the surf, trying to outrun a wave. Body surfing or swimming out past the waves to see how far she could go, then coming back, as if racing some demon over her shoulder, then walking up the beach laughing because she’d either won or lost, whichever was in her head.
The Secrets of Seduction (The Ladies of The Burling School Book 7) Page 14
