rising level of rage in both men. It was a dangerous, dark tide that seemed to flood through the house.
His fatherâs voice was tight with fury.
â. . . You murdered her in cold blood, didnât you? I canât prove it, but I know you did it. . . .â
âShe wasnât important.â The stranger spoke in low, angry tones. âJust a chambermaid who learned more than was good for her. Forget her. Weâre on the brink of making a fortune. . . .â
â. . . I wonât be a party to any more of this business. . . .â
âYou canât just walk away. . . .â
âThat is precisely what Iâm going to do.â
âYou surprise me, Colton,â the visitor said. âYouâve been a swindler and a fraud artist all of your life. I believed you to be far more practical.â
âFleecing a few wealthy gentlemen who can well afford to lose several thousand pounds is one thing. Murder is another. You knew Iâd never go along with that.â
âWhich is, of course, why I did not tell you,â the stranger said. âHad a feeling youâd be difficult.â
âDid you think I wouldnât suspect what had happened? She was just an innocent young woman.â
âNot so innocent.â The strangerâs laugh was mirthless. It ended in a harsh cough. âRest assured, mine was not the first gentlemanâs bed she had warmed.â
âGet out of here and donât ever come back. Do you understand?â
âYes, Colton, I understand very well. I regret that you feel this way. I shall be sorry to lose you as a partner. But I respect your wishes. Rest assured you will never see me again.â
A sudden, sharp explosion reverberated through the house.
The roar of the pistol shocked the boy into immobility for a few seconds. He knew what had happened but he could not bring himself to accept the truth.
Down below, the door of the study opened abruptly. He stood, frozen, in the shadows at the top of the stairs and watched the stranger move through the light of the gas lamp that burned on the desk behind him.
In spite of the boyâs horror, some part of him automatically cataloged the details of the killerâs appearance. Blond hair, whiskers, an expensively cut coat.
The man looked toward the staircase.
The boy was certain that the stranger was going to climb the stairs and kill him. He knew it as surely as he knew that his father was dead.
The stranger put one booted foot on the bottom step.
âI know youâre awake up there, young man. Been a tragic accident, Iâm afraid. Your father just took his own life. Come on down here. Iâll take care of you.â
The boy stopped breathing altogether, trying to make himself one more shadow among many.
The killer started up the steps. Then he hesitated.
âBloody hell, the housekeeper,â he muttered on another hoarse cough.
The boy watched him turn and go back down the steps. The killer disappeared into the darkened hall. He was going to check Mrs. Daltonâs rooms to see if she was there.
The boy knew what the killer did not. Mrs. Dalton was not in her rooms because she had been given the night off. His father did not like any of the servants around when he conducted his illicit business affairs.
When the stranger discovered that he had no need to worry about an adult witness, he would come hunting for the one person who could tell the police what had happened tonight.
The boy looked over the railing and knew that he could not possibly make it down three flights of stairs to the front door and out into the safety of the night before the killer returned.
He was trapped. . . .
7
A mbroseâs feat of magic went remarkably smoothly the following day. Concordia was more than merely impressed with the timing and the coordination, she was awed. Surely there were very few men in the world who could
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