Ghost of Christmas Past (25 page)

He
couldn’t lose sight of the fact that Thea’s description of her
abductors included a coachman in a top hat, and that was definitely
linked to Fornier.

With
this in mind, he considered Thea’s attempted abduction a bit more
closely. If Fornier wanted her dead, he could have just shot her
while she was walking by the side of the road. She would have been
in plain view of the coachman, or anyone who wanted to shoot her
from within the carriage. The fact that he had doggedly pursued
her, waited until she was tired, and then tried to snatch her off
the streets pointed to him wanting her for a particular reason. He
either intended to use her to draw the Star Elite out, or wanted to
use Thea to his hands on a significant amount of money.

That
being the case, why shoot John? He had been hit in the chest, not
the leg or arm. An inch or two nearer to the centre of his chest
and he would have been shot straight through the heart and killed
right where he stood.

He
pushed to his feet with a weary sigh. At the door to the room he
turned and glanced back at John. “While you are sitting here, I
would like you to think carefully about who could feel the need to
target you.”

“
Do you think my shooting is related to the Star Elite
business at all?”

“
I think the two incidents are related, yes, but I just don’t
know how yet.”

John
watched Rupert leave and puffed out his cheeks. He had never really
considered just how difficult, dangerous and complex the Star
Elite’s work was. How Rupert went about getting to the truth was
anyone’s guess. Still, he frowned at the wall as he began to
recount just who he had come into contact with of late who would
want him dead.

Rupert
checked on Thea and found her fast asleep on the bed. He took a
moment to cover her over with a blanket and kissed the top of her
head before he quietly made his way out. At the top of the stairs
he spied Harry into the hallway below and hurried down to join
him.

“
What is it?” The concern on Harry’s face alerted him to the
fact that there had been significant movement in the investigation.
The gun that was visible in Harry’s hand warned him that trouble
was afoot and he wouldn’t be able to head back upstairs and spend
what was left of the evening with Thea, as much as he might like
to.

“
There is news about Fornier,” Harry growled as he glanced
around the empty hallway. “Jacob has sent word that Fornier is in a
house by the dockside.”

“
The same house Marcus and I went to take a look at this
morning?”

“
No. This one is in the same area but further back from the
dockside. Sir Hugo has given us instruction that we are to move
now.”

“
Let’s go.” Rupert waited long enough to find Marcus, and
stopped only long enough to write a brief note to Thea explaining
where he had gone and that she was to remain inside and not open
the door to anyone. He left it on the small table beside the bed
and placed a white rose he purloined from the large arrangement of
flowers in the hallway beside it before he tip-toed out of the
room.

Seconds
later, he quietly followed Harry out of the back door of the house.
Determined to get this over and done with, he ignored the biting
winds that nipped at his cheeks, tugged the collar of his coat up
around his ears and hurried after his colleague.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

Thea
yawned and rolled over in bed. Outside was already dark. She was
blissfully warm and content. The plush pillow beneath her head
smelled of roses and it reminded her of her small house in
Leicestershire. It was such a long way away that it felt like
another world entirely. For an instant she wanted to be back in the
comforting walls of her own bedroom but then her thoughts turned to
Rupert, and she was glad that she was at Ridings
instead.

As her
senses returned she frowned at the canopy above the bed and took
stock of her situation. After her bath she had dressed but had felt
weary beyond belief and, rather than head downstairs for supper,
had climbed onto the bed for a quick nap instead. She glanced down
and frowned at her clothing. Someone at some point had covered her
over with a blanket but not bothered to wake her. Somehow she knew
that it had been Rupert.

Winds
rattled the windows alarmingly and, with a shiver, she rolled off
the bed and took a moment to gather her shawl about her shoulders.
She frowned and wondered where he was. All about her the house was
still and quiet. A blue sheet of notepaper sat on the table next to
a beautiful white rose. Her heart warmed at the sight of it and she
had a soft smile on her face when she picked the rose up and
sniffed the wonderful scent that had woken her. She took a moment
to savour the softness against her cheek before she turned her
attention to the note Rupert had left her and immediately she went
cold.

She read
the words over again and again as her horror grew. Fornier had been
found and was in a location where he could be cornered and
captured. She thought of the harsh hands that had so cruelly tried
to force her into the carriage earlier and felt a sickening sense
of dread wash over her. To think of Rupert out in the darkness,
facing such danger, filled her with horror but there was nothing
she could do about it except sit at home and wait.

Her
thoughts immediately turned toward her uncle, and she pushed off
the bed. If she had to sit by herself to wait for Rupert to return
she would go quietly mad. She had to do something that would take
her mind off her worries, but had yet to go to the shops and
purchase any sewing materials, and besides read there was very
little else to do except while away the endless hours with her
uncle.

She was
standing outside her uncle’s bedroom door when a series of rapid
knocks on the front door drew her attention. When the butler didn’t
immediately answer, the knocks grew steadily louder until she began
to wonder if the door would hold firm under the force of the
attack. She watched Marcus disappear into the Library and carefully
made her way down the stairs to find out what they should do. Argus
stood at the bottom of the stairs, clearly waiting for instruction.
He should answer the door, but the knocker had been removed to
indicate that nobody was available to accept visitors. It was the
height of bad manners for anyone to ignore such a clear signal that
visitors weren’t welcome and knock on the door anyway, but that
didn’t appear to matter to the person outside who continued to
hammer relentlessly on the door anyway.

“
Who is it?” She asked Marcus when he appeared in the library
doorway.

“
I don’t know,” the frown on his brow warned her that he was
worried. She wanted to ask where Rupert was only for the butler to
shift awkwardly beside her.

“
What would you like me to do, sir?” Argus
whispered.

“
Is the back door still locked?”

“
Yes sir.”

“
Keep the women in the sitting room back there, like I told
you,” he ordered and turned to Thea.

“
I am at home and can speak to them directly if you want to
stay out of sight,” Thea offered reasonably. If she was honest, it
was the very last thing she wanted to do but she couldn’t shy away
from the social duties required of her. She frowned at Marcus. “Has
the doctor been today?”

“
He came first thing this morning, before his surgery started.
He isn’t due back for a couple of days now.”

Thea
frowned at another series of heavy knocks reverberated around the
empty hallway. “It doesn’t look like they are going to go away.” It
sounded as though they were under siege and wondered if the banging
would ever stop.

“
Such scandalous ignorance of etiquette,” the butler declared,
more than a little peeved at the persistence of the person
attempting to gain entry.

“
It could be someone to do with your business,” Thea warned
and gave Marcus a knowing look.

“
They would come by the back door. Only Rupert and I use the
front door.” Indeed, Jacob had used the back door when he had come
by earlier with the latest news about Fornier, but he couldn’t tell
Thea that.

“
We had better answer it. It could be something to do with
John’s business,” Thea reasoned.

“
But we have taken the knocker off,” the butler protested,
outraged at the thought that anyone of the master’s acquaintance
could be so uncouth.

“
I know, but they are clearly not going to go
away.”

After
several moments of careful consideration, Marcus nodded. “Remain
where you are, Thea. Don’t invite them into the house. I will only
be in the library if they pose a risk to you. Whatever you do,
don’t agree to go anywhere with them, no matter what they say.
Rupert will not send word for you to meet him anywhere, so don’t
fall for it. If there is any kind of threat whatsoever, head for
the back of the house and go straight outside and stay in the yard.
Find somewhere to hide and don’t come out until Rupert or I come
and find you.” He cursed the fact that there was nowhere closer in
the hallway where he could hide. Instead he had to make do with
whatever hiding place was available, and that was behind the door
in the library.

Thea
stood at the bottom of the stairs and watched as the recalcitrant
butler yanked the door open, clearly displeased at the lack of
etiquette, and willing to eschew all of his years of training to
prove his displeasure. After a brief discussion, the door was
pushed open wider by the man on the doorstep. Thea watched him
stalk arrogantly into the hallway and immediately disliked him. He
was a tall, rather splendidly dressed man whom she immediately
assumed was someone connected with her uncle in some way. His
outfit alone must have cost hundreds of pounds. She briefly
contemplated waking her uncle up, but then discounted the notion.
If the man was wealthy he would be aware of etiquette, and the
removal of the knocker from the front door. To ignore it and demand
entrance was the height of bad manners, however this clearly didn’t
matter to the arrogant, almost lordly man who stalked into the
house as though he owned it.

Thea’s
back immediately straightened and she felt her hackles rise with
indignation as the man barely threw her a glance as he stalked by
her, straight into the sitting room. She wanted desperately to
glance at the doorway to where Marcus was hiding, but daren’t take
her eyes off the invader. There was something about the arrogantly
harsh stare that rang warning bells that this man was not here for
a social call. She struggled to keep her face a mask of polite
indifference as she watched him move deeper into the house and, by
the time he drew to a stop before her, she had adopted a polite
mask of indifference that matched his own.

“
Can I help you?”

“
I am Frederick Van Heisen.”

“
Mr Van Heisen,” Thea nodded politely. “How can I assist you?”
She kept her gaze as unwelcoming as she could manage and kept her
hands from shaking by clasping them before her and holding them at
her waist. She glanced at the butler who remained beside the front
door, ready to open it once their visitor was
dispatched.

“
May I have the liberty of taking your name?”

“
I assume that if you have business to call at the premises,
then you should know my name,” she replied challengingly and
studied him almost defiantly when a flash of hardness settled over
his arrogant features.

“
I came to speak to the owner of the house,” the man drawled
as he glanced disparagingly around the room.

“
About what exactly?”

“
Are you the owner of the house?” He repeated.

“
I am a relative of the owner of the house. The owner is
indisposed at the moment, hence the reason for the door knocker
being removed.”

The man
smirked at the pointed reference to his ignorance but made no
apology for his bad manners. Instead, he sauntered negligently over
to the brandy decanter and poured himself a liberal dose. Thea’s
hackles rose. How dare he just walk into anyone’s house as though
he owned the place and help himself – to the brandy none the
less?

“
It is a dangerous business you are in,” he drawled quietly as
he swirled the brandy around in the crystal glass he
held.

“
I beg your pardon?” Thea demanded coldly. She eyed the brandy
before she stalked across the room, yanked it out of his hand and
slammed it back onto the tray that rested on the bureau. “I think,
sir, that you have taken enough ill-mannered liberties. I insist
that you state your business and leave.”

Whatever
else she was about to say was swallowed by her gasp as her arm was
clutched in a fierce grip that almost lifted her off her feet.
Tears pooled in her eyes but she threw her head back and glared up
at her unwelcome visitor defiantly. “Get out now,” she snarled.
“Argus! Argus, get this man out of the house.”

“
I will call for assistance,” the butler announced and
disappeared into the hallway.

“
I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“
I have no idea who you are, or why you are here, but I demand
that you leave this house this instant.”