“Thank you,” Isaac murmured.

  Harriett’s face was grim as she turned to nod at Isaac. Before Isaac could leave, Harriett asked: “How is she? Really?”

  “She is doing all right,” Isaac replied.

  “We are trying to find evidence that she didn’t do it,” Mark offered.

  “I tried to see her at the station.” Harriett still ignored her husband and bit down on her annoyance when Mark interrupted her.

  “It isn’t wise for you to get involved. To help solve this we must be seen to be impartial, Harriett.” Mark ran a frustrated hand through his hair when Harriett merely glared dismissively at him.

  “Please tell her that it was not my fault that I wasn’t allowed to see her. I would love to come and see her now if she will allow it. I can understand that she must hate us by now but what happened wasn’t of my making. It was wrong. I know she wouldn’t do anything to hurt anyone. Would you tell her? Please?” Harriett looked so beseechingly at Isaac that Mark muttered a blistering curse.

  Isaac sighed. “I am sure that when this has all died down you and she will be able to clear the air but understand that what she has been through has been life-changing. Right now, I am not even sure if she is likely to stay in Tipton Hollow when this is all over. While most people will accept that she was innocent, some won’t. Some will always stubbornly suspect her purely because she found Mr Lewis.”

  “That is the consequence of such damaging actions by the police, I am afraid, but given they aren’t the ones who have to live through it they won’t give a damn,” Harriett bit out, sliding a dark look at her husband. “I wish them all in Hades.”

  With that, she nodded to Isaac, skirted around him, and promptly slammed out of the house.

  Mark stared at her retreating back as she left the yard at the back of the house. For several long moments, he couldn’t say anything. All he could do was stare after the woman who had been such a large part of his life, his soul, his world, that he couldn’t contemplate a future without her. It was bleak. Cold. Icy even. Isolated. Barren. It was not how he had envisaged his future. It was not how he wanted it to be, but he couldn’t find a way around that either. The damage had already been done. Harriett hated him.

  “Do you know something, Isaac? If you love Tuppence, don’t waste a moment with her. Don’t allow a single moment of any day to come between you. Things happen. Mistakes can be made. Life can turn against you and bring you problems that can shake happy unions down to their foundations. You can be going about your ordinary business, like Tuppence, and suddenly everything goes wrong and turns your life, your happiness, your hopes for the future on its head. If you learn one thing from this it is that you should never take anything for granted. Make sure that you do everything you can not to just forge a future with Tuppence but to keep her. True happiness, the love of the woman you are born to marry, will only ever appear in your life once. If you are stupid enough to let her go, you might not be able to get her back.”

  “Harriett will calm down and forgive you.”

  Mark stared blindly out into the yard. “I have never seen her like this.”

  “You did arrest her friend. This is serious business, Mark. Wrongful arrest is a serious mistake to make, a serious assumption that could result in a killer walking free, and an innocent person hanging for their crimes.”

  Mark sighed. “Because of witnesses, I had to arrest her.”

  “No, you didn’t,” Isaac growled. “She found the body. Tuppence didn’t have to be arrested in front of half the bloody village like that. You created the problem. I am not here because I am your friend, Mark. I am here because I am not prepared to allow you, or your arrogant boss, to orchestrate a travesty of justice to try to save your reputations.”

  With one last warning look, Isaac turned to the front door. He suspected that it was time to leave before Mark threw him out. By the time he reached the door, though, Mark was directly behind him.

  “Where are you going now?” Mark asked when they were outside, and Mark had locked the front door. It wasn’t something he usually did in Tipton Hollow because hardly anything ever happened in the otherwise sleepy village.

  “I am going to solve this bloody murder like you should be doing,” Isaac growled. “The place to start is with Mrs Richmond.”

  “Her husband has just died,” Mark replied.

  “I don’t care if Mrs Richmond is upset. She is going to answer a few questions because it relates to her husband’s murder.”

  The heavy silence between them remained in place all the way to the Richmond house. The aged mansion sat nestled amongst dense woodland overlooking a large fishing lake. In any other location it would have been rather pretty. But with the house’s gothic towers jutting skyward from every corner, and rampant moss covering the front door and making it look like a dead man’s gaping mouth, the house had a sinister air of abandonment about it that made Mark want to reach for his gun.

  “Jesus. I thought he wanted to create an estate,” Mark whispered.

  “Have you been here before?” Isaac asked only to realise then what he was doing. “Why are we whispering?”

  Mark eyed the dense shrubbery on either side of the debris strewn cart track that crept uncomfortably toward the front door with a shiver of unease. “Because of predators, I expect,” he muttered in disgust.

  Isaac coughed and straightened in his seat in a way that later he would consider was bracing himself. For now, he was focused on what questions he wanted to ask of the grieving Mrs Richmond.

  It took an age for a frazzled looking maid to yank the door open and blink owlishly at them as if she had never seen a stranger at the door before.

  “May we speak with Mrs Richmond?”

  The maid stared at Isaac with a slack jaw for several moments until she seemed to rummage around in her most distant memories for her tutelage about what to do in the presence of a Lord. Eventually, she dipped into a clumsy curtsey, but nearly fell over and clutched at the door she was holding open as she forced herself upright. Blushing furiously, she stepped back to allow them into the house.

  Isaac stepped cautiously into the large entrance hall around which was a series of identical doors. It was a positive labyrinth of rooms in the centre of which was a massive winding staircase.

  “The mistress says she cannot see you now,” the maid informed them quietly when she returned several moments later.

  “It isn’t a request, I am afraid,” Mark growled. “Tell me where she is. If she refuses to speak with us, I will arrest her for failing to assist us with a murder investigation.”

  The maid blinked and paled. “She is in the garden room, sir.”

  “Show me.”

  Together, the men followed the maid through the door in the furthest corner of the entrance hall, down a long corridor, and into a room which jutted out into the garden like a giant’s footprint. Three sides of the long, narrow room were covered with windows and on one side was a pair of French doors. It was beside these that they found Mrs Richmond, dressed from head to foot in black, staring blankly out across the lake.

  “I told that stupid girl that I wasn’t taking visitors,” Mrs Richmond snapped when she realised that she had visitors.

  “Your maid doesn’t have a choice in the matter, and nor do you,” Isaac informed her.

  “Who are you? What do you want with me?” The grieving window scowled.

  Mark introduced himself and Isaac.

  “What is he doing here?” Mrs Richmond glared at Isaac.

  “I am working with the Lord Chief Justice’s office,” Isaac replied. This was enough to make Mrs Richmond sit upright and stare at him in dismay.

  “Have you found the fiends who murdered my husband?” she demanded. “I demand they hang for what they have done.”

  “We will find whoever is killing the villagers. It isn’t just your husband the killer has murdered. He has murdered Mr Lewis too, and tried to murder Lord Aldridge, and several of his estate workers. What we need to know from you is what happened with regards to the purchase of Mr Glover’s farm?”

  Mrs Richmond blinked at him as if she had never heard of the place before. “Pardon?”

  “Did your husband mention to you that he had purchased the Glover farm?”

  “Well, he said that he had purchased a neighbouring farm.” Mrs Richmond squinted at Mark. “What does that have to do with his death?”

  “Do you have any papers pertaining to the property sale?”

  “If there are any in the house, they will be in my husband’s study.”

  “May we see them?” Mark asked.

  Mrs Richmond scowled at them but heaved herself wearily out of her chair and tugged her shawl tighter around her shoulders. “Ruth, close the doors for me, and make sure that everywhere is locked.”

  While the maid hurried to carry out her orders, Mrs Richmond led the men through the house. “I never really liked living here anyway.”

  “Do you intend to stay here?” Isaac asked.

  “God, no.” Mrs Richmond laughed bitterly. “I always told him that he would do better purchasing a proper estate, but he always had to do things his own way. He wanted an estate in Tipton Hollow.” She flicked a rueful look at Isaac. “I think it was because he felt that if he were the only other landowner, he would be socially equated with you. I told him that nobody would see him as your equal because he didn’t have a title, but Angus wouldn’t listen. He loved this house. He called it odd. I hated it on sight. It’s like a mausoleum.”

  “Do you get to inherit it?”

  “I should hope so, but only so I can sell it. I think I am going to go back to Bath to live with my sister,” Mrs Richmond informed them. “Now, I think the solicitor gave my husband a copy of the papers when the farm was transferred to my husband. He will have put them in the safe.”

  She pulled a large portrait away from the wall and revealed a safe. A quick turn of the large dial opened the door. Minutes later, Mrs Richmond was poring through piles of papers.

  “Are these what you are looking for?” She shoved a sheaf of papers marked ‘Glover Farm’ across the desk at Isaac, who thumbed through them.

  “He paid the full value,” Isaac murmured. It was all he needed to see.

  “Well, of course he did. Angus was nothing if not fair. Yes, he wanted to be able to have an estate, but he was prepared to pay a fair price for the land.”

  “He approached Miss Smethurst about the sale of Hilltop Farm but didn’t offer her the full asking price,” Mark interrupted. “Why is that?”

  Mrs Richmond’s face closed. She flicked a dark look at Isaac. “I have no idea what you mean.”

  “I think you do, Mrs Richmond. While it is good to note that he did pay the full price for the Glover farm, he didn’t offer the full price for Hilltop Farm. Why? He must have told you.” Mark thumbed through the papers and found a sheaf marked, ‘Hilltop Farm’, but there weren’t any documents inside the file because no sale had taken place.

  “Well, you know how run down that place is. He knew she couldn’t really keep it. The entire village is talking about it,” Mrs Richmond snorted.

  “Tuppence Smethurst has been born and raised on that farm. She is far better equipped to run it than Mr Glover was,” Isaac replied. His tone was defensive, but he made no apology for it because he knew that despite Tuppence’s rather impoverished lifestyle, she could run the farm.

  Mrs Richmond looked solemnly at the desk for a moment. “I don’t know why he was adamant that the farm was too run down for him to pay the full price.” She looked tearfully at Mark. “It is too late for you to ask him now.”

  Mark sighed. “Did he mention disliking Miss Smethurst, or Mr Lewis?”

  “God, no. I know that Mr Lewis initially refused to sell his farm, but he eventually agreed. Angus offered him more than it was worth, I think.”

  Mark once again pored through the papers and found a file marked, ‘Lewis Farm’.

  Isaac read the paperwork. A brisk nod confirmed that Mrs Richmond was right.

  “Your husband called at Hilltop Farm the night before Mr Lewis was found dead. Further, he offered to purchase Hilltop Farm at considerably less than the asking price, but then issued a threat to Miss Smethurst before he left the farm, and odd things started to happen. Would you know anything about that?” Mark lifted his brows and stared at Mrs Richmond as she stumbled backward and slumped into a large, high backed chair. The heavy thump of her bottom hitting the seat was the only sound in the room for several long moments. “Mrs Richmond, your husband cannot hurt you now, nor can he defend himself. We need to know what happened because there is a killer roaming the area. He is likely to pick a new victim any day now. We need to stop him.”

  “It wasn’t her, was it?” Mrs Richmond whispered.

  Both Isaac and Mark shook their heads.

  “The only thing that I can tell you is that Mr Glover came by here about a week after the farm sale went through. I don’t know exactly what was said. I just know that Angus was furious because Mr Glover wanted more money. He – Mr Glover - said that they had made a mistake and that the farm was worth far more than it had been sold for. There was also an issue with some of the farm equipment Angus thought was involved in the sale but when he went to view the property, the equipment had been removed and sold by Mr Glover. He sold it all to some of the locals, I think.”

  “Like Mr Lewis?”

  “I don’t know. You would have to ask Miss Smethurst, or other farmers, or the locals,” Mrs Richmond gasped. “I don’t know.”

  “If Mr Glover calls at the house again, do not let him in. The same goes for Mrs Glover, I am afraid.”

  “Am I safe here?” Mrs Richmond asked, looking from Isaac to Mark and back again.

  “If you can pack a few things and leave then do. For now, if you stay here make sure that you keep your doors and windows locked at all times. If you can, put something in front of the doors just in case someone does try to get into the house. I am not saying that they will try to attack you, but the villagers know about your husband’s death now, and the killer is one of the villagers. I am afraid that the killer targeted Miss Smethurst because she lives alone. There is nothing to say that he won’t target you now that he knows your husband is dead and you are alone here too.”

  Mrs Richmond launched out of her chair and almost ran toward the hallway only to slam to a stop when she saw a worried looking Ruth standing just inside the doorway. “Go and do it,” she ordered grimly, not caring that Mark was gathering her husband’s paperwork into a pile. “Go and pack. Now, Ruth.”

  “Can I take these?” Mark asked, waving the papers aloft.

  “Yes, yes. I will need them back at some point, but those are copies. The solicitor has the originals, I think. I am not sure.”

  It was evident to Isaac and Mark that she didn’t care either. Mrs Richmond stood impatiently in the doorway and looked back at them almost sadly. “I am sorry for what happened. I hope Miss Smethurst will be all right.”

  “Did he dislike her?” Isaac whispered. He had no idea why he was compelled to keep pushing when the woman clearly had no idea what her husband had been up to, but he had to ask.

  “No. If anything, Angus probably worried her just to try to force her to leave the farm. He was someone who disapproved of women being independent. It annoyed him that she was living there alone and called it a ‘damned disgrace’ that she was having to farm a place like that all by herself. He said that she should be married with children.”

  “But he wasn’t prepared to pay her the full price for the farm.”

  “Oh, I think he would have done had she agreed to sell it. You see, Angus liked to barter, but always did the right thing in the end.” Mrs Richmond’s voice wavered, and she sniffed into her sodden handkerchief.

  With the papers now clutched in his hand, Mark took his leave of her and followed Isaac out of the house. Both men stood on the doorstep and listened to the heavy bolts being slammed closed on the door behind them. Even outside, they could hear the heavy way their echo clattered around the house in an almost haunting wail of desperation. It was enough to make both men shiver and hurry toward the carriage.

  “It doesn’t sound like it was Richmond who was scaring Tuppence.”

  “No, because it is Glover. It has to be,” Mark growled.

  “We have to find out where they are staying,” Isaac muttered.

  “Great Tipton is a big town. We have to speak to someone in the village,” Mark replied grimly. His immediate thoughts turned to Harriet, but after what had happened earlier there was no chance in Hell that he was going to find her again, especially with Isaac beside him. He would have to seek her out later and clear the air when they were alone. If he didn’t find the time to, Mark knew that he faced spending yet another night at his desk in the Police Station.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Once aboard Mark’s carriage, Isaac pulled out his fob watch and peered down at the intricately carved hands.

  “Do you have a meeting to get to?” Mark asked when he heard Isaac’s sigh.

  “I am just wondering how Tuppence is,” Isaac replied without thinking.

  It was shocking that even though he was annoyed with Mark, he had no qualms about taking the man into his confidence still. He should be as angry with his friend as Mark’s wife was, but Isaac also knew that Mark was suffering too and that he had a job to do despite everyone’s fury. It was an impossible situation for him, and one that Isaac didn’t envy him for. “I miss her when we are not together.”

  “It’s love,” Mark lifted his brows when he heard Isaac’s groan. “You don’t think so?”

  “Oh, I know so, but Tuppence doesn’t think we are compatible. I am the Lord of the manor apparently, and she is an impoverished farmer.”

  “It doesn’t matter if you love each other. The only problem I can see that lies between you two is that one of you is going to have to give up your lifestyle, and you know what I mean by that. You cannot turn your back on your estate, its workers, or your family. Their good opinion of Tuppence matters because she will be the Lady of the manor if she is your wife. To some of your staff, Tuppence may always be an impoverished farmer. From Tuppence’s side of things, being a permanent fixture in your house is a huge change in lifestyle for her. She will be thrown into a luxurious lifestyle where everything is done for her, and her only requirement will be to look gorgeous and contemplate what menus to have cook prepare each week.”