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“Just stay strong for me, Sophia,” he muttered, doubting she could hear him.
Later, he would remember nothing about actually getting into the house, or carrying her up the stairs. Everything was a blur of emotional action and reaction. Lost beneath the tumult of emotions that beleaguered him; the worst of which was the outright panic he felt at the thought that he might lose her.
While in the battlefields he had endured his fair share of trauma. He had witnessed brutality and conflict, and seen just how cruel man could be, but nothing had affected him as profoundly as this. Mainly because nothing had mattered to him more than the woman he placed on the bed so tenderly that she might have been made of the finest crystal. He wanted to rage; he wanted to beat something; he wanted to weep.
More importantly, he wanted to drag the person responsible all the way to jail and slam the cell door on her just to hear the satisfaction of the metallic clank of the metal cage with his own ears, and be assured that Sophia would never be put in danger again.
With that came the horrible realisation that he had failed her. He hadn’t protected her like he had said he would.
Once again, he had failed to follow through on his promises. In spite of the careful watch he and his colleagues had on the house they had still failed to protect the one person in the world who really mattered to him.
Right there and then he made himself a promise that if she survived, he would spend the rest of his days making it up to her. She would live in the safe and luxurious confines of Briggleberry, where he could provide her with whatever her heart desired. He would quit the Star Elite just so he could see her every day and see for herself that she was alright.
As long as she was by his side, he would sacrifice anything just to be with her. If only he got the chance to tell her that then he had a future. If she left him, then his future would die with her.
While he waited for the doctor to appear, Jeb gathered her into his tender embrace and began to pray.
CHAPTER TWENTY
When the doctor ordered Jeb to leave, at first he protested. Until it became evident that the more he objected, the longer Sophia had to wait for the medical help she so desperately needed.
&
nbsp; Once outside in the corridor, lingering frustration made it impossible to stand still.
To begin with he began to pace backward and forward across the entire length of the upper hallway until the space became too small. The walls began to close in on him. He had to do something or would go stark raving mad. When Barnaby’s voice suddenly increased in volume, Jeb hurriedly made his way downstairs.
“I am telling you now that you won’t like what prison has to offer,” Barnaby growled just as Jeb walked in.
Jeb stood beside Marcus and Joe, and watched Barnaby try to get information out of the stoically silent woman. It irked Jeb to see the callous way the woman stared dispassionately down the empty garden as though contemplating whether to chance a walk or not. It was only the dark look Barnaby threw him that kept Jeb from grabbing the woman and violently shaking the truth from her.
“You will answer me, or I swear that I am going to slam you into the darkest, grimiest prison cell I can find and throw away the key. You have been seen this morning attempting to murder your niece. Given this was also the way Mrs Banks and Tabitha have been killed, I can only assume you have killed those unfortunate souls too. What have they ever done to you? Tabitha was a young girl, minding her own business. She was nothing to you, I say. Nothing.”
Barnaby suspected she hadn’t killed them, Bamber or Myers had, but wanted to prod her to get her to start to talk. It worked too because Delilah suddenly gasped and glared at him.
“I didn’t kill them,” Delilah snapped.
She suddenly released a falsetto laugh and opened wide eyes to look at Barnaby a little too blankly.
Barnaby snorted, thoroughly unimpressed by the spectacle.
“Don’t even try to go the madness route. You are no more insane that I am so I suggest you stop,” he growled. “Unfortunately for you, Sophia is alive. She will attest that you are not mentally deluded, and so will Jeb. You have witnesses in authority who can confirm you have cold-bloodedly tried to kill your niece. Until you can prove your innocence, you will also be considered to blame for the murders of Mrs Banks and Tabitha. That will see you are put away for the rest of your life.”
Panic began to build on Delilah’s face.
Jeb stared blankly down the garden but saw nothing of lush green grass and blossoming flora and fauna. It was hard to tear his gaze away from the spot he had witnessed the horrifying sight of his beloved in a lifeless heap on the floor. Everything, though; the entire focus of his being, remained with the heart and soul of his life: Sophia.
“Why kill her? What has she done to you?” Barnaby demanded.
Delilah stared down the garden, but Barnaby wasn’t going to be ignored. He moved sideways and blocked her view. She had no choice but to look at him. It was something he knew made her uncomfortable from the way she quickly dropped her eyes to her fingers and still refused to look.
“There is also the man in the woods,” Barnaby murmured. He couldn’t put a name to the man, mainly because he didn’t know who he was yet, but suspected the woman before him knew. “My, my, you have had a busy day, haven’t you?”
“What?” Delilah sucked in a startled breath and looked up at him. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“That man you killed in the woods this morning. What has he done to you?”
“I didn’t kill any man,” Delilah protested. She threw a panicked look at Marcus, but when she got no reaction from him, she turned her desperate gaze to Barnaby. “I didn’t. I don’t know what you are talking about. You can’t blame me for that.”
