He lit the way with a lantern while Samantha followed behind, her attention flitting toward the spot where Murry had stood when he’d been shot, to where she’d landed after Mrs.Lester shoved her down the stairs, to the room off the foyer where she’d collected an oil lamp.
The fresh air that greeted her as she stepped out of the house was like tonic.She gulped it down and was instantly overcome by relief.She and Adrian lived.Murry would, she hoped, do so as well in the end.They’d stopped two heinous villains and Kendrick would not use the deaths they’d caused against them, as he might have done one month earlier.
She turned to him after he handed her up into the hackney he’d commandeered.“Thank you for the help you’ve provided.”
“I’m not an unreasonable man, Mrs.Croft, but don’t make the error of thinking me weak, or worse, that we might be friends.Neither is the case and if you or your husband ever break the law in earnest, I will hold you accountable.”
The edge of her lips drew into a partial smile.“Duly noted, Chief Constable.”
A flicker of movement at the periphery of Samantha’s vision made her realize they weren’t alone.And then a woman spoke.“Kendrick?”
He turned in an instant.“Miss Hastings.I told you to—”
“Stay in the carriage?”Miss Hastings said as she closed the remaining distance between them.“Yes.I know.And I did so even as I watched two men carry a third man from that house and put him in a carriage which subsequently took off.”
The tremor in her voice conveyed her emotion.Fear, Samantha wagered.For the good constable, no doubt.She leaned slightly forward and spoke before Kendrick could manage.“My husband’s valet was injured during an altercation, Miss Hastings.Thanks to Kendrick, there’s a chance he will live.”
“Really?”Miss Hastings stared at Kendrick, the light from the lantern he held causing her eyes to gleam.
Kendrick cleared his throat, then scratched the back of his neck.“Well, I, um—”
“You have my heartfelt appreciation,” Samantha told him.“My husband’s too, I’m sure.We’ll look forward to having you call on us soon for that statement.”
“Right.Of course.Good evening, Mrs.Croft.”Kendrick fumbled with the door to the carriage but finally managed to close it.
Samantha sank against the squabs with a sigh, exhaustion finally seeping into every bone as the carriage took off.She couldn’t wait to get home or into the bath she desperately needed.
* * *
Wrengate waited until Mrs.Croft drove off before he approached Chief Constable Kendrick.He’d come to demand results of Ashburry when he’d noted the carriages parked in front of the Lester residence.Something was going on and as a result, he’d ordered his coachman to drive past the street.This allowed him to circle back on foot, more discreetly, and watch from a distance.
What he’d seen had certainly been unsettling.A body was carried out of the house by Mr.Croft and someone else, as far as Wrengate could tell.He’d seen a woman alight from one of the parked carriages and had started toward her, intent on asking questions.But he’d hung back when he’d seen two people exit the house and was glad he’d done so.The last thing he needed right now was for Mrs.Croft to find him here.
“Chief Constable,” he said, aiming for an amicable tone.“I wondered at the commotion here when I passed in my carriage and thought I’d make sure all is well.”
“I appreciate that, Your Grace.”The chief constable shook Wrengate’s hand and introduced him to the chief magistrate’s daughter, then said, “No need to worry, however.The situation is under control.”
“Nothing too serious, I hope?”
“I wouldn’t say that.”The chief constable glanced at Miss Hastings before telling him, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to make sure Miss Hastings returns home safely.It will just take a moment.”
“Of course.”
Miss Hastings looked ready to protest but held her tongue and allowed the chief constable to usher her toward the last remaining carriage.It drove off soon after, leaving Wrengate and Kendrick alone in the street.
The chief constable lit a cheroot and took a long drag before saying, “I’ve two corpses waiting for me in that house.Not exactly the sort of thing I want any young woman involved with.”
Wrengate didn’t bother asking why he’d brought Miss Hastings with him in the first place if this were the case.He didn’t care.All he wanted was answers.“Have the bodies been identified?”
The chief constable nodded and took another puff from his cheroot.“A doctor and a nurse.Both guilty of murder if you can believe it.”
Murder?Wrengate’s mind raced.“Are they not honor bound to save people?”
Kendrick grunted.“That was certainly the excuse they used.”
“What do you mean?”
And then the man told him what Ashburry and Mrs.Lester had really been up to.They’d not done what he’d paid them for or what he’d killed Wycliff for.They’d used him to serve their own agenda.
