Steve released a bitter laugh. “I’m not the one who got myself thrown in jail.”
“They have nothing on me,” Glynn grumbled. “All they have are the incoherent slurs of your opium-induced wife. And you know as well as I, a woman like that cannot be taken seriously.”
Steve laughed again. “What makes you think they aren’t going to believe her?”
“Because you are going to convince your wife that she was dreaming up this whole story. Then she will go to the police and apologize for her opium ramblings.”
Ashton arched his eyebrow. Steve knew about his wife’s habit? Interesting...
“You think you have this all figured out, don’t you?” Steve said, his booming footsteps moving across the floor once again.
“Of course I do. I’m always in control.”
“Not this time. In fact, I’m a little relieved to see you behind bars. Now perhaps I’ll get to run the railway the way I want to.”
“Ha!” Glynn’s bark echoed through the room. “High and mighty Ashton Lee won’t allow that.”
“Well, if you had stopped him like you were supposed to do, we wouldn’t be arguing.”
“I did stop him!” Glynn huffed. “But you were the one who messed everything up.”
“And where did you obtain that false information?”
“From the police.”
Steve chuckled. “Pray tell, what kind of information could I give them that they don’t already have?” There was a brief pause. “Oh, I know. I could tell them about what you did during five years ago—about how you were robbing the railway even back then just because you thought the queen was wasting their money sending it to other countries.”
Ashton sucked in a quick breath. Glynn couldn’t possibly have done that.
“The Crown was wasting their money,” Glynn snipped.
“Don’t you see?” Steve’s voice lifted. “This makes you look like a traitor. You could hang from these crimes.”
An evil laugh escaped Glynn’s throat. “And what about you? Were you not the one who paid the miscreant to rob the railway?”
Ashton scrubbed his face. What miscreant?
“Only because you found him first,” Steve grumbled.
“Listen here, you little slip of a man...” Glynn’s voice turned cold and harsh. “You will keep your mouth shut or I will tell the police exactly how Ashton’s father died.”
Ashton sucked in his breath, but his heartbeat hammered in a different rhythm. What were they talking about? His father died of heart failure.
“You wouldn’t dare...” Steve growled.
“Try me. I think it’s time Ashton learned how his friend, Steve Larson, strangled the poor, helpless man.”
“Now see here...”
A clanging noise came from the other room, sounding like the bars were being rattled somehow. Ashton jumped to his feet as his breathing accelerated. He wasn’t quite sure how to react to this news.
“I wasn’t the only man Mr. Lee had been cheating. If you remember correctly, it took both of us to strangle that deceitful, selfish, banker. He was a large man. I wouldn’t have been able to kill him by myself,” Steve shouted.
Groaning, Ashton closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands. Oh, Lord...keep me from killing these men myself! Bile rose in his throat, but he gritted his teeth to keep from vomiting.
The door opened to the small room where Ashton sat as a policeman poked his head inside. “Have you heard enough?” he asked with a tight expression. “Because I have. I’m ready to string both of them up by their neck until dead right this very minute.”
“You can hear them, too?” Ashton whispered.
