AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I haven’t seen them, Mark,” Beatrice replied with a frown. “What do they look like?”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter. I can’t remember leaving the house with them. They are a buff pair of leather gloves; nothing special. If you do find them, please give them to Harriett if you would and I will pick them up from her sometime.”
“Would you care for a drink with us?” Tuppence offered as she held her sherry glass aloft. From the rosy look of her cheeks, she had imbibed more than her fair share of the dark liquid. Mark instinctively took a breath to refuse but then glanced at Harriett doubtfully. She looked as pale as a sheet but shook her head nevertheless.
“Sorry for interrupting, Beatrice.”
“It’s no bother. I will come and see you at work tomorrow, Harriett. We have a lot to talk about,” Constance mused wryly and gave her friend a look that warned her she would not be deterred by Harriett’s reticence to tell her everything. Harriett almost groaned aloud and had to struggle not to squirm uncomfortably. She knew that Constance never let up on anything. She pried and poked, prodded and cajoled until she got what she wanted. It wasn’t that she was a gossip. Harriett knew that she could tell her friend anything and it would remain confidential. No, it was just that Constance was curious; about everything and anything, all of the time and didn’t mind asking questions until she knew everything she deemed important.
“See you tomorrow,” Harriett mumbled and practically flew out of the house. By the time Mark closed the front door, Harriett had already reached the front gate and stood next to the low hedge to wait for him.
“Are you alright?”
“I just don’t know what I am going to tell them about your unexpected announcement this evening,” Harriett gushed. She closed her mouth with a snap and felt a surge of embarrassment sweep through her at the uncouth way in which she had just blurted everything out.
“Tell them that we are engaged. As far as anyone is aware, that is the truth,” Mark replied reasonably. He blatantly ignored the mild panic in her eyes. When she didn’t immediately move to follow him, he paused and waited. “We have to protect you, especially after what happened this evening with the carriage.” He nodded to the silent, empty road behind her and watched as she glanced furtively over her shoulder and scurried to his side. He hated to see her so scared; especially from doing something so inane was walking down the street.
“But what about when this is over? What do we tell people?”
Mark smiled down at her mysteriously. “Don’t worry; I am sure it will all work out.”
For you, maybe. The words hovered on her lips but she remained quiet and thoughtful as they walked down the street for the second time that evening.
Mark sighed at her slightly worried frown and knew that if she was anything like his mother, she would fret and worry herself until matters were resolved. He just didn’t want Harriett to worry about his intentions, or their future.
“I wanted to go back to Beatrice’s house because we know that Babette, my mother, and the others in Beatrice’s house couldn’t have been driving that carriage.”
“That leaves Miss Smethwick, Miss Hepplethwaite, Madame Humphries and Mrs Dalrymple,” Harriett gasped. “I cannot see Mrs Dalrymple driving a carriage. She is a little unsteady on her legs as it is. There is no conceivable way I could see her being strong enough, let alone secretive enough, to drive a carriage and horse like that.”
“Do they not own a carriage and horse?”
Harriet snorted inelegantly and shook her head. “Not many people in this village can afford luxuries like that. You have seen Constance’s house, what do you think?”
“I think that they are barely managing to scrape a living. A carriage like that, although old, is fairly expensive.”
“It would cost the earth around here to purchase much less maintain. That leaves the clairvoyant and her assistant and Miss Smethwick.”
“Miss Smethwick has been in this village for a long time,” Mark sighed. If he was honest, he didn’t like the woman, but tried not to allow his personal feelings to interfere with his professionalism, however there was something decidedly odd about the ageing spinster.
There was something in the way that she looked at you with those piercing black eyes of hers that made you feel as though she was almost looking through you; or looking for your deepest darkest secrets so she could pour scorn on them.
“I know. She is an inveterate gossip and very religious. I cannot conceive that she would do such a thing. Besides, I don’t think that she has the money to own a horse, let alone a carriage like that to go with it.” Harriett shook her head and searched the shadows around them as they slowly meandered their way down the street toward home. She was still shaken and was eminently grateful that Mark was there. Heaven only knew what state she would be in if she had been alone. She would almost undoubtedly be dead by now, or scared out of her mind.
“Will Babette and Charles stay at the pub for much longer?”
“I don’t know. Charles usually leaves the pub at chucking out time. Why, are you thinking about having to go and rescue your mother?”
Mark smiled and shook his head. “No, I want to talk to you about what is going to happen over the next few days. Do you think they would mind if I came and had a chat about it without them being there?”
“Seeing as you are the detective in a murder investigation and I found one of the bodies, I think that nobody could raise issue with you being in my house, least of all Uncle Charles and Aunt Babette. However, once the news of our fictitious engagement is out, we are going to have to be a bit more careful.”
“The gossips are going to have a field day, aren’t they?” If he was honest, he didn’t want to say goodbye to her. He wanted to stop and talk to her some more and was pleased that Babette, and his mother, had decided to give the happy couple some time to themselves.
“I am afraid so. Unfortunately, while it has given me short term protection, it has caused more long term problems than I think either of us are prepared for,” Harriett replied with a wry twist of her mouth.
“How so?”
“Well, I am forever going to be known as the jilted bride of the Detective Inspector from Great Tipton now, aren’t I?”
