He narrowed his eyes, studying her movements more closely now. The flip of her hand, the tilt of her head, and the curve of her smile gave away the person she was trying to hide underneath those drab, old, and very worn clothes.
What was she doing on the railway...and with another man? And why in the blazes was she dressed in that fashion? She had told him at the costume ball that she usually didn’t look so elegant, and even their afternoon down by the sea, she had said it again. Could she have been telling the truth? Could he be staring at the real Nicole Bastian?
For some reason, he didn’t think so. The woman he had gotten to know in Meols was the real Nicole. He felt it deep in his heart. So then, what was she doing dressing up like this? And who was the man she was with?
The man sitting beside Nicole laughed, and he rested his arm behind her. She didn’t seem bothered at all by the intimate gesture. Not very often did Ashton become a possessive man, but the green monster of jealousy crept over him slowly and twisted something inside his chest as he watched the two interact together. He didn’t like the unknown feeling at all. He wanted answers now.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t say anything yet. He, too, was in disguise, but for a good reason. What could Nicole’s reason be?
The longer he watched her and the other man, the more he realized they were scoping out the others in the railcar, too. Very interesting...
Ashton’s curiosity bumped up a notch, yet doubt sneaked into his head at the same time. Would she be with the people who were robbing his railway? Perhaps that was why she had become so enthralled in him the night of the masked ball, especially the next day. And, she had called him by name when they were outside in the gardens that night. She had mentioned that is uncle had heard of Ashton.
Now he wondered if she had known his identity the whole time. He had already suspected she withheld the truth from him, and he was determined to discover what was it was.
Something bumped against his boot again, and he glanced down. The little boy’s ball had dropped and rolled against him again. Ashton bent to retrieve it when the newspaper on the seat next to him captured his attention first. Actually, it was the bold, large letters reading: Lord Reynolds arrested for Opium ring that made Ashton pause in picking up the ball.
“What the devil?” he grumbled and grabbed the newspaper instead of the child’s ball. He skimmed over the article plastered on the front page. Apparently, Reynolds was under suspicion for distributing opium, which was illegal.
As Ashton read further, the article stated that Reynolds was amongst a group of sellers in London. The proof of this was a journal kept between the buyers and sellers found in Lord Reynold’s manor.
Blowing a ragged breath between his teeth, Ashton shook his head in disbelief. And to think that he was in Lord Reynolds’ presence a few times during the masked ball. He and Nicole had even seen the man the next day at the park near the sea. Had the man been under suspicion during that time?
Yet it all made sense now. Reynolds probably knew he was under suspicion. That could have been why he looked so angered when Ashton noticed him at the park. Yet the man appeared to aim his anger toward Nicole. She must have felt something because that was when she decided to hurry away from Reynolds and his associates and hide.
Come to think about it, Ashton had witnessed Nicole in Reynold’s study the night of the ball. She had appeared to be reading some kind of book. Could this book have been the same journal that held the evidence to get the man arrested?
Coincidence or not? For some reason, Ashton couldn’t explain, he thought not.
More doubt snuck inside him as he slowly lifted his gaze to focus on Nicole and the other man. Strange that she would somehow be involved with Lord Reynolds, and now she was on the railway, appearing even more suspicious.
One way or another, he needed to get her alone and have a long talk with her...and hope to shout that he believed her story.
Chapter Seven
Nicole was certain her father would be disappointed. She and her brother spent most of the day on the railway, but with nothing to show for their efforts. Out of all the people they talked to and watched, they didn’t discover anything about the robberies. Either nobody knew about the theft, or they just didn’t want to tell her or Gordon. She and her brother were nearly to the Liverpool station, and they would return home to give their father disappointing news.
She had been on cases that had showed no results for the longest time, and they never bothered her as much as this one. The only thing she could pinpoint as to why she felt this way was because she wanted to be the one traveling to Meols and talk to Ashton, not sitting on this railway asking strangers questions they didn’t know anything about. Out of everyone on their team, she felt she was more qualified to ask Ashton questions. She would be able to get more answers out of him, more so than the other detectives.
The motion from the railway began to lull her to sleep, but that was something she couldn’t afford to do while on assignment. If her brother caught her dozing, he would certainly reprimand her, and rightly so. She was a better detective than this.
She glanced at Gordon. He stared at the window, his eyes narrowed at something in the distance, and his mouth pulled down into a frown. She knew this look all too well. She had first seen it five years ago when they were on assignment searching for a murder suspect. Gordon had blamed himself for letting the suspect slip through his fingers. He had been wrong to feel that way, much like today. Her brother was good at what he did. He needn’t think himself a failure after finding no lead on the robbery. She felt bad enough for both of them.
Sighing heavily, she adjusted herself on the uncomfortable seat and smoothed out her dress. She’d had this particular yellow dress for many years and used it for the sole purpose of disguising herself as a working-class woman. Even her beige bonnet was a little tattered. At least it worked, and others in this class of people saw her as an equal.
When she lifted her head to glance around the railcar once more, she caught a man looking at her. Quickly, he lowered his attention back to the newspaper in his hands. Curiosity got the better of her, and she continued to watch him closely. Every minute or so, the man would look up at her, only to turn his head as if he hadn’t been caught gawking.
Perhaps today hadn’t been a total failure after all. For some reason, this man was watching her and not Gordon. Strange that she hadn’t noticed before now.
For the next little while, she tried to visit with those around her, but she was in tune with the man on the other side of the car. Her skin prickled with awareness every time he looked her way—which was quite a lot. She didn’t dare say anything to her brother yet because she was still confused as to why the man would be spying on her.
The few times she shifted her attention toward him, he hadn’t been watching, so she tried to study him to see if she knew him. His nose and lips looked familiar, but then at times, they didn’t. If only she had been closer and could see his eyes, but unfortunately, all the seats were taken.
Although he sat with a woman and her two children, the man didn’t appear to be with them. The children wouldn’t go by him, and he and the woman rarely spoke to each other. In fact—Nicole scratched her nose—she didn’t recall seeing him in this car when the railway first left the station. She had only really noticed him as they were returning. Was he someone who had boarded at the last station? If so, she was certain she didn’t know this man.
The rhythm of the train gradually slowed. From out the window, the station grew closer and closer.
“Well, that was a wasted trip,” Gordon grumbled.
