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“Do you think it was Hargraves?”
Ben nodded. “I think that it has to be, don’t you? I mean, I cannot conceive that it would be anyone else. He has been the only one in the area of late who has a carriage very similar to that one.”
“I don’t know, Ben. I think that the carriage today was different to the one Hargraves uses,” Beatrice mused. “If you remember, Hargraves said that he had only purchased his carriage last year. The carriage today looked as though it had been built to go with Browning’s house.”
Ben looked at her steadily for several long moments while he thought about that.
“Do you think it was Browning?” she gasped.
“I think it is entirely plausible, don’t you? At first glance, the carriage today and Hargraves’ carriage do look similar. However, the one that just passed us today wasn’t highly polished, and definitely not new.” He threw her a look. “I want you to think carefully about the carriage that nearly ran you over the other Sunday. Was it bright and shiny like the one Hargraves uses; or dull and dingy like that one?” He tipped his head backward to indicate the road behind him, and waited for Beatrice to reply.
In all of his life he had never had a carriage journey as fraught as this one. If he had been on his own, he would have felt a little less stressed throughout the remainder of the journey home. However, with Beatrice beside him, a good outcome suddenly became considerably more important. He wanted to get her home safely; to protect her and nurture her, not put her in a ditch and bring an end to her life.
“I really cannot say with absolute certainty. However, I don’t think that the carriage on Sunday was as shiny as Hargraves’. Now that I come to think about it; wasn’t his horse brown?”
Ben scowled off into the distance and nodded. The horse that had just passed them had been as black as the carriage it had pulled. He couldn’t help but wonder if a third person was involved.
Was it Browning, or Murray, or even Archibald Harrington?
His head began to whirl with all of the details he was trying to make sense of, and he puffed out his cheeks on a stupefied sigh. Right now, he was starting to wonder if they had unwittingly ventured into things that they should have just left to the police.
The sudden rumble of carriage wheels nearby made them both jump nervously. Beatrice glanced behind them in horror, and her eyes widened as she saw the now familiar black horse racing up the lane behind them.
“Ben!” She cried, and tugged on his sleeve with one hand while she pointed behind them with the other.
Ben threw a glance over his shoulder and cursed. “Keep an eye on it,” he growled.
He clicked his horse into a trot but tried as hard as he could to keep the tension out of the reins so the horse didn’t panic. Rather than pull over to the side of the road as most considerate carriage drivers did when someone wanted to pass, he deliberately directed the horse to block the road.
“Hold on to something, Beatrice, and see if you can get a good look at that driver. He isn’t going to get past me this time,” Ben snapped.
He threw a dark look at the heavily garbed coachman, and mentally calculated how far they had to go before they reached the next turn in the road. He knew this road like the back of his hand. If he kept his horse in the middle of the lane, and quite effectively blocked the path of the carriage behind them, it would be forced to remain behind all the way to Tipton Hollow.
“Why do you think he is holding back like that?” Beatrice gasped as she saw the distance between the carriages widen.
“I think he is waiting for a suitable gap he can push through at speed,” Ben replied. “If he forces his way through quickly, he knows I will have to move to the side of the road or face being pushed out of the way. We will get hurt, or killed, if this thing tips us out into the middle of the road.” He glanced at her. “Is he approaching us yet?”
“Go to the left, Ben. He is looking at the left side of the carriage.”
“Keep an eye on him. Make sure that the carriage doesn’t shoot past us again. There is a turning coming up that will leave us vulnerable, but there is nothing we can do to avoid it.”
Ben wondered if they were doing the right thing. After all, there was nothing to say that the driver didn’t have a gun on him. Luckily, they were trotting along at a rapid clip, and it was going to be damned difficult for anyone to shoot at them while trying to steer a carriage at the same time, but he still didn’t like feeling vulnerable.
“We are going to go to my house,” Ben declared firmly. “We will go past your house, and through the village.”
“Do you think he will follow us through the village?”
“I don’t know. I don’t really care right now, darling. Let’s just see what happens.”
“He is heading to the right again. No left. No. Back to the right again.”
Beatrice sighed as she studied the carriage driver. There as something about him that rang alarm bells, and brought forth just a little bit of recognition. She was sure that she had seen that horse somewhere before, but where? Why did it look familiar to her?
“He is trying to force his way past again,” Ben growled after a quick glance over his shoulder.
Suddenly, as if the driver had heard him, the carriage lunged forward. Ben glanced back, but was reluctantly forced to move to the side of the road. His own conscience would let him force his horse to harm itself in a daring stand-off with a fool. Not only did they need the horse to get home, but the animal deserved better treatment. The lunatic behind them clearly had no respect for his own horse, and didn’t seem to care that the beast had to grunt and struggle to drag the huge carriage past the thicket at the side of the road.
As it forced its way through the narrow gap, the wheels of both carriages touched and threw sparks all over the road. Ben swore at the sight of the corner only a few feet ahead of them, but didn’t slow his pace. For several moments it was neck and neck as to who would get the main line around the corner until, with a crack of a whip, the huge black horse recklessly increased its speed. Unfortunately, the corner was upon them before it could pull the carriage clear.
