Beatrice (13 page)

“When
the clairvoyants were arrested, we decided to disband the Psychic
Circle. Nobody wanted to sit in the dark anymore, especially after
what had happened and, to be honest with you, none of us had the
will to try and find a more reputable clairvoyant. I think that we
all lost confidence in them. However, we still wanted to get
together because we quite enjoyed our little meetings. Harriett’s
aunt, Babette, has made good friends with Hetty, Mark’s mum, and
wanted to meet up more often,” she glanced at Ben. “This was before
Mark and Harriett married, you understand?"

Ben
nodded but remained quiet.

“Well,
we were all in the process of making various things. Hetty was
crocheting a blanket, although remarked that she had no idea what
she was actually making one for given that she didn’t need one.
Babette was embroidering some napkins, and Harriett was knitting a
tea-cosy. The other members were making all sorts of things, most
of which they didn’t have a need for. We agreed to meet up, but
also decided to work while we chatted. To begin with, we just had a
cup of tea while we talked. Harriett then started to bring cake.
Then Mrs Dalrymple brought yet more cake. Then someone brought
sandwiches. One day, for some reason, we couldn’t get everyone
together in an afternoon and so decided to meet up one evening. I
put on a supper for everyone and it has gone from there really.
Each week, we all meet up at someone’s house and whoever plays host
provides a buffet type meal. You know, cakes, sandwiches, pigs in
blankets, that kind of thing.”

“You eat
and drink tea while you socialise.”

Beatrice
nodded. “Exactly. Anyway, over time, we gradually made a pile of
things that we didn’t want or know what to do with, so we decided
to give them away. At first we used our contacts; friends and the
like. Then word got round and we started to get requests from some
of the elderly members of the community. Mrs Ambleton cannot knit
anymore because of her arthritis so offered to buy the wool for a
new shawl if someone could make it for her. Tuppence took that one
on. Then Mrs Dentworthy’s son put a hole in his jumper. The
Dentworthy’s don’t have much money and couldn’t even afford a
second-hand replacement, so Hetty made him one from some odds and
ends. Unfortunately, Mrs Dentworthy is rather proud and we knew she
wasn’t likely to accept it as a gift, so we held a raffle. We sold
tickets for ha’penny a strip and put the jumper, as well as the
unwanted items, up as prizes. Harriett sold the tickets in her
shop, and Hetty and Mrs Dalrymple went knocking door-to-door. The
tickets all sold out and the prizes went.” She smiled at Ben
conspiratorially. “Mrs Dentworthy won a prize and picked out the
jumper Hetty had made for her son.”

Ben
fought a smile, and lost. “You are really a very sneaky group of
ladies, aren’t you?”

Beatrice
laughed aloud.

The way
her eyes sparkled gave her a look of such vibrancy that she
appeared more beautiful than ever, if that was at all possible. He
struggled not to draw her closer for a kiss and merely shook his
head in disbelief at just how ingenious their plan was. Those who
were too proud to accept charity got what they needed, and felt as
though they were giving something back to society by buying raffle
tickets.

“What
charitable cause did you cite to sell your tickets? I mean, you
just didn’t raffle everything off to make a profit, did you?” For
some reason, Ben seriously struggled to contain his
laughter.

Beatrice
beamed up at him but didn’t hear his swift intake of breath, or
notice the stunned look of surprise that suddenly appeared on his
face.

“We used
some of the money to purchase some of the yarn and things we needed
to make another set of items. However, we made more money than we
needed to spend, so donated the rest to the orphanage in Great
Tipton. They said they were going to use it to purchase new toys
and clothing for the children.”

She
named a sum of money that made Ben’s brows rise in shock, and he
turned toward her with such a look of admiration on his face that,
for a moment, left her speechless.

“Heavens
above, you really are quite ingenious,” he declared in wonder. He
took a sip of his tea and thought about the waspish comments Mrs
Underwick had made about the Circle’s endeavours, and suspected
that the old woman was jealous at just how successful the
enterprising group of women were.

It
annoyed the hell out of him to think that someone like Mrs
Underwick could quite deliberately attempt to discredit the hard
work of anyone else, no matter what they tried to achieve. It
seemed extremely narrow-minded, judgemental, and completely unfair.
After all, people were just people. What appealed to one person
might not appeal to another, but that was just the way that life
was. People were different and, while everyone had a right to voice
an opinion, nobody had the right to judgementally condemn someone
else’s work in the cruellest of ways just because they
could.

However,
he knew from personal experience that the most negative and
spiteful of people usually had the biggest mouths, and were
habitually the quickest to condemn the work of others. It galled
him to think that he had given Mrs Underwick the time of day
because, as far as he could see, everyone had benefitted from the
Circle’s endeavours. Those who had purchased raffle tickets, and
hadn’t won anything, had received the satisfaction of knowing that
they had at least contributed to an extremely worthwhile charitable
cause. Who on earth could possibly object to that?

Mrs Underwick,
Ben thought ruefully
and realised then that Beatrice had already finished her tea and
was rifling through another of the books.

An hour
later, the grandfather clock in the hallway chimed noon. Beatrice
realised then that she had not had any breakfast, and grimaced when
her stomach rumbled loudly. She dropped the last book onto the pile
at her feet and sat back to wait for Ben to finish trawling through
his book.

“Nothing.”

“Not for
me either.”

“I don’t
know about you,” Beatrice sighed. “But I really don’t think that we
are going to find what we are looking for in these
books.”

Ben had
to admit that he agreed with her. “Where do we look though? I hope
you don’t plan to go through all of the papers in your uncle’s
study?”

She
turned such a look of horror on him that he grinned at her. “I am
not that foolish,” she retorted flatly. “No, I think that we need
to wait for those translated cultivation notes, and then go and
visit at least one person on the list.” She sighed when she read
the look of wariness on his face. “I know that Mark said to stay
out of it, but if we had taken the notes to the scholar at the
university first thing this morning as we planned to do, we could
have at least asked him if he knew the people on that list my uncle
made. After all, if they are botanists, and experts in their field,
it isn’t inconceivable that they have close ties to someone at the
university. Someone there might know everything about that plant,
and be able to tell us everything we need to know so we don’t need
to visit anyone else.”

Ben had
to admit that he agreed with her. He thought about it for a moment
and really knew that she was right. If the people on the list did
all turn out to be botanists, and could be vouched for by someone
at the university, then surely there would be no risk involved with
calling by any of their houses – could there?

He
really couldn’t see any botanist resorting to murder to get his
hands on a plant he most probably had the skills to cultivate in
the first place. No, whoever killed the man at the end of the
garden had to be someone else. But who?

“I have
no idea what is going on with that plant, Beatrice, but I cannot
help but feel that Hargraves has nothing to do with botany. I
rather suspect that he is working for someone.”

Beatrice
was already nodding. “I agree with you, and I would much rather
leave that part of the investigation to Mark to deal with. However,
I have to know what is in my house. If it is just someone’s work
that is of no real importance, and merely someone’s possession they
want back, I have no qualms about handing it over to Hargraves, or
anyone else for that matter. I would be happy to get the horrible
stench out of the house and be rid of all of the problems it brings
us. However if, for some strange reason, it turns out to be a rare
plant, and one of its kind that is incredibly expensive, then I
think we need to decide what to do with it. I am not altogether
sure that I want to be guardian of the wretched thing, especially
with the likes of Hargraves sniffing around.”

“It is
hardly something you can just plant outside in the borders,” Ben
replied quietly.

The more
he thought about her suggestion, the more he could see absolutely
nothing wrong with what she was suggesting. He was glad now that he
had taken the time to copy the notes before he had given them to
Mark, and took a moment to lean under the couch to retrieve
it.

Once he
had carefully unfolded it and smoothed out the crumples once again,
he showed Beatrice his drawings. He felt rather pleased with
himself when he saw the delight on her face, and was even more
rewarded when she suddenly gave him a fierce hug.

“You
clever man,” she beamed.

He
couldn’t prevent himself from dropping a quick kiss at the base of
her neck, and leaned back to smile at her. They were so close that
their noses almost touched, but neither of them made any attempt to
move away. She knew from the look in his eye that he was thinking
about the kiss they had shared earlier, and was nothing short of
thrilled when his head lowered toward hers. This time though she
knew what to expect, and sighed happily when his lips settled
firmly over hers.

His hair really is as soft as it looks,
she thought to herself as she slid her fingers in the short
strands at the back of his neck.

At
first, the faint noise in the hallway didn’t register through the
thick cloud of wondrous sensation that had settled over them.
However, when the door squeaked, Ben suddenly leaned back at the
same time that Maud appeared, fully dressed, in the doorway.
Beatrice was left to right her clothing and tuck her hair back into
the bun at the back of her neck.

“There
you are,” she croaked. “I have the luncheon ready, if you are able
to carry it through into the dining room?”

“Maud,”
Beatrice gasped, a little stunned that she had been so ensnared by
Ben and his kisses that she hadn’t even heard the housekeeper
rattling around in the kitchen. “You should be in bed. You are not
well enough to be up and about, much less making anything for
anyone,” she scolded. “We are perfectly capable of preparing our
own food, thank you. Now get yourself back to bed.”

When
Maud opened her mouth to object, Beatrice speared her with a
determined look that was enough to make the housekeeper shuffle off
toward her rooms with an affronted huff.

She
tried to ignore the hand that visibly trembled when she swept it
along her hair and, for some reason, couldn’t bring herself to meet
Ben’s gaze. Before Maud had interrupted them, Beatrice had felt so
close to him that she was certain nothing could separate them. Now,
she felt awkward and off-balance, and wasn’t quite sure what to
make of what had just happened.

“Shall
we eat in here?” She suggested when she couldn’t stand the silence
a moment longer.

Ben
studied her and wondered if he had crossed an invisible like
somewhere along the way, and made her worry that he was pushing for
more than she was prepared to give. However, he had asked for
nothing more than a repeat of the kiss they had shared in the
kitchen, and she had enjoyed that. They had certainly done nothing
to cause her alarm in any way. So why did she suddenly look as
though she wanted to crawl under the table and hide?

“I think
that’s a good idea,” he murmured.

They
collected the trays of food and, after ensuring that Maud had
indeed gone back to bed as instructed, they took a seat on the sofa
in the sitting room and began to eat.

“You
seem thoughtful,” Ben declared when the silence had gone on far
longer than he was comfortable with.

Beatrice
studied him for several long moments. “Can I ask you
something?”

Ben
nodded and waited.

“You
have helped me out so much since we left the church on Sunday that
I don’t know how to repay you. I am really extremely grateful to
you, but cannot help but think that I have put upon you far too
much. I mean, up until Sunday, I didn’t know you at all. Although
we saw each other in church on Sunday, the only time we have
actually met before was when you picked me up off the floor.” She
winced when Ben suddenly grinned.

That
fateful afternoon, three years ago, when she had first set eyes on
him, seemed like only yesterday. She had suffered the indignity of
stumbling over a loose cobble on the main street in Tipton Hollow,
and had landed in an unceremonious heap on the floor. Ben, being
the only gentleman nearby, had helped her to stand and made sure
that she was alright before he had hurried off. He had been
completely unperturbed by the entire event, however was in such a
hurry to get away that he hadn’t even bothered to wait for her to
thank him. Beatrice meanwhile, had been left to stare after him
with her mouth open and her senses awhirl. It was something she had
never been able to forget; not least because the memory of it was
so stark, so fresh, and so intriguing.