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“When was this?”
“Late last night. About nine o’clock,” Tuppence whispered.
“Where did you go yesterday?” Mark didn’t see the need to tell her that Harriett had called upon her.
“I went to town to purchase provisions to get me through winter because I won’t be able to travel to town for food if we are knee deep in snow like some of the farmers are saying we will be,” Tuppence replied.
Mark nodded. It seemed a very plausible explanation and increased the doubts starting to build in the back of his mind. He had to wonder if Angus Richmond did have something to do with Mr Lewis’s death after all.
“What did Richmond come to see you about?” Mark asked.
“He wants to buy the farm,” Tuppence replied.
“But you refused.”
“He offered me one and a half thousand pounds for it,” Tuppence’s lips twisted in a parody of a smile. “I told him that the farm is worth five times that amount and that it wasn’t for sale. He threatened me. He said that I had to ‘brace myself’ and that I was vulnerable being alone on the farm.”
“Then you heard the voice calling your name and someone running around,” Mark replied.
Tuppence sighed. “It wasn’t him. On the farm last night. It wasn’t Mr Richmond running around and calling my name. I don’t know who it was. I didn’t recognise the voice, but he threw a stone at me when I was unloading the cart. He then chased me to the house. I don’t know who it was because it was too dark. That’s the truth. That is all I have to tell you.”
“I will go and have a word with Mr Richmond,” Mark informed her. “He has to have a witness who can attest that he was at home, or somewhere else if his wife can’t vouch for him.”
“Could he have done this?”
“Why would he?”
“Maybe he wants to buy Mr Lewis’s land as well?” Tuppence frowned and stared at the ground beneath her boots. It was just soil. Just ordinary, muddy, soil. It wasn’t worth losing a life for.
“I will find out,” Mark assured her. It was instinctive to reach out to place a supporting hand on her upper arm. He didn’t stop to think about what he was doing until he reached out toward her again only for her to jump out of the way as if scalded.
“I need to prove your innocence, Tuppence,” Mark whispered placatingly. “Tell me now if there is something you think might help in my investigation. Anything. It doesn’t matter what. Tell me. I will help you.”
Tuppence stared at him for a moment but couldn’t bring herself to soften her stance toward him. It sounded as if he had already made his mind up about her and was giving her one final chance to confess. Glaring at him, Tuppence tipped her chin up and announced: “I have told you what I know. If you don’t believe me then that is your concern. However, you will now have to prove that I am guilty, and I am not. If I am to die for the murder of Mr Lewis, then whoever did kill him will have two deaths on their conscience.” With that, Tuppence turned her back on him and began to march toward home.
“Where are you going?” Mark called after her.
“To get changed,” Tuppence snapped without stopping. “I have no intention of spending my life in prison sitting in a soaking wet dress.”
Tuppence also had to wash the blood off her hands and say goodbye to her old life, but she didn’t say as much to Mark. She knew that he wouldn’t understand because he could see nothing more than the job he had to do. As far as he was concerned, the only place she should be going was to prison. Strangely, Tuppence suspected she wasn’t going to be allowed to leave again.
Alive in any case.
Bitter regret settled deep into her core as she changed, doused the fire in the kitchen, and locked up the house. It felt as if she was closing the door on an era, a lifetime. Tears gathered on her lashes, but her face was stoically calm and controlled as she took one last look around the farmyard. Now that she had to, Tuppence was reluctant to leave it. She hated to leave it. Only yesterday, she had ruefully regretted her decision to stay. Now that she had to leave it all behind, she wanted to stay and go about her endless chores just like she always did. Stepping into the barn to kiss Baxter goodbye was heart breaking, and Tuppence was still sitting beside the animal crying when Mark found her several minutes later. Behind him was a carriage being driven by Mark’s detective friend, Edward Calger.
“We will take you to the Police Station now,” Mark informed her gently. His gaze dropped to the dog. “I will make sure that Baxter has somewhere warm to sleep tonight.”
“He usually sleeps in here. He just needs food.”
“But he cannot stay up here by himself,” Mark protested. “I will make sure that he has the proper care. Don’t worry.” He offered her a smile, but it soon fell when her dull gaze met his. It was alarming that Tuppence’s eyes were cold and empty. It was as if she had closed off from everyone. In that moment, she was a stranger, and it was disturbing.
With all the regal grace of royalty, Tuppence walked slowly to the carriage and climbed aboard. Detective Calger leaned into the carriage and slid the window blinds down.
“We don’t want people gawping at you now, miss,” he offered with a brisk smile before retreating and slamming the door closed.
Tuppence was grateful that she couldn’t watch the farm buildings disappear out of her life. Instead, she was encased in a tomb of a carriage that she suspected wasn’t going to be any better than the cell she was going to be forced to call home.
“Is there anything else you wish to tell me?” Mark pressed when they were nearly at the station. Until that moment, the silence within the carriage had been deafening.
