She struggled, doing her best to escape his grasp, but Black was quite strong. He tried again to kiss her, but Judith stomped her heel into the top of his foot. “Help me! Someone help!”
“You must listen to me, Judith. Stop fighting me. Stop fighting the love that I know you feel. I want you to marry me. We can be married immediately.”
“That would be rather impossible, Black. Judith is going to marry me,” Roman announced from the now open door.
Black was enough surprised by this that he let go of Judith and looked at her. “This can’t be true.”
Judith glanced at Roman as she took a sidestep. “But it is,” she said, nodding.
Roman started to move toward Judith, but Black grabbed her and pulled her back. “No! You will not touch her. She’s mine.”
Just then Winchell and Mary rushed into the office. Judithfelt such a sense of relief to have them come to her aid that she tried to pull away from Bert. He wasn’t having any of that, however.
“You can’t leave me. I won’t allow it.”
Roman took a step forward. “Let her go. She doesn’t belong to you.”
“But she does. She loves me as I love her. I know she does. We’ve shared a great many days and evenings in each other’s company.” He turned Judith toward him. “Remember the train ride here? We shared the private car and many hours of discussion. I know you care for me.”
“I don’t,” Judith protested. “I was merely being polite. Each time you’ve approached me in this manner, I’ve rebuffed you. Now release me. I’ve tried to be nice about this, but you have given me no choice. You need to go now and never return.”
But instead of accepting defeat, Black shocked them all by stepping back several feet, dragging Judith with him. When he turned to face Roman and the others, he pulled a revolver from his coat pocket and waved it around before settling it on Judith.
“I didn’t want this to become violent, but I can’t seem to persuade you otherwise.”
Judith could see the fear in Mary’s eyes and the anger in Roman’s. Winchell stood in his usual stoic manner. It was almost like the setting for a play.
“Mr. Black, this will do you no good.” Judith finally spoke. “You need to stop this before you do something that will cause you imprisonment.” She looked at the others. She needed to get them to safety. “You should go. Mr. Black and I will discuss this and work through the problem.”
“No! They need to stay. I can’t have them going for the police.”
“This is ridiculous. You can stop it now, and there will be no need for the police.”
“I will kill you before I’ll let him have you,” he replied, fixing his gaze on her face. “You are mine. I won’t let him take you away.”
Roman took a step toward them, and Black raised the revolver to Judith’s head. “I’m quite serious, so you should step back before I feel the need to use this.” He cocked the hammer and looked again to Judith. “I love you and cannot live without you.”
20
“Whoa, Black. There’s no need for this. I didn’t realize you loved her so much,” Roman said, raising his hands to draw Black’s attention.
“But I do. I love her. It’s not just about the money, but the money should be mine. Ashton promised me a fortune. He told me if I gave up my life in Boston and aided him here, he would make it well worth my troubles. I gave that old man ten years of my life. Years that I might have used to cultivate my own practice, to marry. I could have had my own family, but that old man would not allow for it. He said I had to give him my all.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Mr. Black. That seems rather harsh.” Roman tried desperately to calm the man. “I doubt that Judith realized how you, too, had been ruined by James Ashton.”
Judith seemed to recognize what Roman was doing and nodded. “I’m so sorry, Bert. I didn’t know.”
Roman might have smiled at her thinking to use his first name, but didn’t want to give away the fact that they weretrying to use his imbalance to calm the situation. Playing into his feelings and beliefs of what was due him seemed a simple solution.
“He kept me serving him and him alone.” Black lowered the gun but kept it pointed at Judith. “When I met Judith, I knew she was for me. It was the reward that I was always meant to have.”
Roman nodded. “I can understand how you feel.”
“But she won’t marry me and so I must kill her.”
“No! You don’t need to do that,” Roman protested. He could see the fear in Judith’s eyes and wished with all his heart he could put an end to this entire situation. “As she said, she didn’t know how you really felt.”
“It doesn’t matter now. I can inherit the money if she’s dead. The original will stated as much. Ashton made no provision in the new will, but I will go to the men who created the second will and pay them to add on the provision. I will offer them as much money as I need to, and I know they’ll accept. They must be devious in their practices or James Ashton would not have used them.”
