“Perhaps you’d prefer to wait with Kincaid and his intrepid companion.”
“We agreed we’d remain close.” She held his gaze, the spark behind her eyes a forbidden promise. The same spark that had undone him once already. “And I’ll not miss another chance for you to play knight-errant.”
Temptation stirred. “I admit, I am rather partial to the role.”
“I could always start a commotion, so you can carry me out.”
“There are places I’d rather carry you.” His voice dropped a shade lower. “Rooms in our house no one else will ever enter.”
She slipped her hand into the crook of his arm, the gesture so natural it felt like a prelude. “Then perhaps we might explore them on our return home from the theatre tonight.”
He pictured the possibilities, never more grateful for the cavernous house. His mind lingered on shadowed corridors, the hush of hidden rooms, all the places he might have her to himself. Want simmered beneath the surface, but he kept his composure and instructed Kincaid to follow.
They entered The Bear to the scrape of chairs and the murmur of voices. Ale soured the air. A few labourers sat hunched over tankards, caps pushed low, eyes lifting just longenough to mark the newcomers before turning back to their drink.
The sexton was easy to spot: too idle to be a mourner, too clean to be a gravedigger, too glassy-eyed to be sober.
“Nesbit.” Gabriel strode up to him, refusing to waste another minute. “A private word, unless you’d rather the rector discover how you’ve spent your morning.” He silently counted to three, jaw clenched. “Now, Nesbit, before I drag you out. Don’t make me raise my voice again, not in the presence of my wife.”
The fellow turned too quickly and nearly slid from his chair. He blinked at Olivia through bloodshot eyes and slurred, “What’s this about?”
“It’s about missing records, a magistrate expecting answers, and finding you here, drunk, instead of doing your duty.”
The mention of the magistrate had Nesbit lurching to his feet, though he swayed as he walked to the door. Outside, he was quick to make a host of excuses for his presence in The Bear.
“I was only resting my legs. A man needs a moment to wet his whistle.” He wiped his brow, looking anywhere but at Gabriel. “I only stayed because the landlord said he’d got a message for me.”
“You’re neglecting your duties. You’ve not visited the burial ground near the rectory for months.” It was too odd to ignore. Why leave that plot in such disrepair when it lay so close to the rectory? “I demand to know why.”
Nesbit shifted his feet. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Gabriel didn’t blink. “Try me.”
“There’s ghosts out there.”
“Ghosts?”
“Aye. Some of the men say they’ve seen things. Shapes moving between the headstones. Strange groans at night. And the rector, he’s worried about footpads and the like, causing trouble.”
“I lived in the cottage next door for a time and saw no criminals working in the area,” Olivia said. “And certainly no ghosts.”
Perhaps they’d seen the man in the beaked mask.
The sexton opened his mouth, then thought better of it.
Gabriel removed gold coins from his pocket and held them stacked between his thumb and finger. “Five sovereigns if you tell the truth. If not, you’ll be taken in as an accessory to grave robbing. Someone broke into the mausoleum.”
“It ain’t a mausoleum,” Nesbit muttered, glancing over his shoulder. “It’s where men meet, not mourners. Mostly after dark. I’d wager there are no bodies in that tomb.”
Gabriel let two sovereigns fall into the man’s palm. “Why do you say that?”
Nesbit pressed his lips together and cast another glance towards the tavern.
Gabriel eyed the remaining coins. “There are three more if your story is worth hearing.”
A moment passed before Nesbit nodded. “Something the old sexton said. He was told not to tend the graves. And he saw men meeting there at night, bringing things and hiding them beneath false gravestones.”
Gabriel’s pulse stirred. At last, something that resembled honesty. Or a tale a half-sotted man might conjure for coin. Whether fact or invention, it was more than they’d had an hour ago.
