The Bet

“It is old and requires maintenance, Estelle,” Myles sighed. “I had no idea this was here. There used to be that dresser in front of it, I think. If only we had known about it, we could have sealed this off, or put it to good use ourselves but secured it properly to prevent ourselves being invaded.”

Estelle glanced around them and shivered.

“We need to get going,” Myles urged gently. “I know you don’t want to but you need to see this. I need to secure the opposite end of this tunnel, and put the dresser back in a way that cannot be moved, but only when we have made sure that the killer isn’t going to come back. Estelle, I need to make sure he has gone now.”

Estelle heard the urgency in his voice and knew she had to be brave – or be prepared to get left behind because she suspected Myles was going to go back down the tunnel anyway.

“Fine,” she whispered on a sigh, but knew it wouldn’t be.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“It will be alright,” he assured her gently.

She looked at him but made no attempt to mollify him by assuring him she was alright. She wasn’t. She most definitely wasn’t.

He smiled at her.

“Fine,” she repeated on a heavy breath.

She tried to throw him a dour look but it didn’t quite reach her eyes because she knew she didn’t mean it. Her disquiet about what she now faced really wasn’t his fault. If she wasn’t prepared to go this far with him she should never have agreed to come with him on the house search in the first place. It was as simple as that.

He grinned and grabbed the back of her head to draw her toward him. Slamming a kiss onto her lips reassured him that she truly was going to stay with him. He rested his head against hers. “I will shoot anybody who comes toward us, I promise.”

She shivered when the warmth of his breath swept over her cheek, but it wasn’t through fear. The need to draw him closer and take what he so temptingly put before her was strong, but now was not the time or place for any of that. Right now, they had a killer to catch.

A killer to catch, she knew. You are not going to catch him, Myles is. You are just accompanying him because you cannot abide the thought of staying in that house whilst not knowing where he is or how he is.

“How do we know someone won’t follow us?” she murmured, wishing he would kiss her again.

“Because I have just chased him through that tunnel,” he replied. “He may have the audacity to double-back and try to re-enter, but he won’t bank on facing the wrong end of my pistol. I think on this occasion I am well within my rights to shoot the blackguard, not only for trespassing but for murdering two of my relatives. He poses a very credible danger to everyone in the house. I am sure there will not be a court in all of the land that won’t consider me well within my rights to defend innocent people in the wake of such callousness.”

Estelle nodded. Myles was right. “As long as you don’t shoot any of your relations, or the servants,” she warned.

“I am a better shot than that,” he assured her with no small measure of arrogance.

Estelle rolled her eyes. She knew that if she dithered any longer she would talk herself out of her decision to go with him.

“Fine,” she repeated for the third time, and sighed heavily again when he turned around and dragged her into the darkest part of Hell she had ever experienced.

“I don’t like this,” she whispered moments later when she stepped on something soft and it slithered out from beneath her foot. She jerked and bent down to try to see what it was only for something fine to feather gently across her fingers. Her hand was squeezing Myles’ so tightly her fingertips began to tingle but she couldn’t bring herself to let go.

“What’s that?” she demanded when something dropped on her head. She flicked desperately at her hair, and in doing so yanked several pins out of it. It began to tumble in great waves about her shoulders. When she realised she was going to look a fright when they emerged into daylight again, she swiftly removed the remainder of the pins and allowed all of her heavy locks to fall. It helped to deflect the sudden drop in temperature from her unco

vered shoulders as they moved forward, and ease her fear that she might have something settle within the tight curls if she kept her hair up, like a spider or something.

She shivered and kept her focus firmly on Myles’ back as they shuffled forward. Listening to his voice when he spoke helped to soothe her shattered nerves, and she forced herself to ease her hold on him.

“It is just a few drips from the roof, that’s all,” he replied briskly. “I think we must be beneath the moat by now.”

Estelle hissed a breath. “Please don’t tell me that.” She forcibly turned her thoughts away from all of that water swirling fiercely above her head only a few feet away. Instead, she ducked her head and tried to ignore the fact that she couldn’t see a blessed thing.

Myles kept close to the wall. When he had followed the cloaked figure the first time he had walked this tunnel he had followed the sound of the footsteps, and hadn’t allowed the figure to get too far ahead. He hadn’t really noticed just how dark it was deep beneath the earth. Now he was there again, with Estelle, the darkness was so impenetrable that he knew it was foolhardy to go any further. But it was too late to go back now, even though he knew they should. The safest thing to do was return when they had several lanterns to light the way. However, he wasn’t ignorant of the fact that in going back, he would have his back facing the exit. If the killer chose to return, he could creep up behind him and stab him in the back just like he had Gerald. The prospect of that left him and Estelle no choice but to carry on.

Onwards and upwards, Myles thought as he forged ahead.

Several minutes passed before he became aware of the dull ache starting to form in his hand. Although Estelle’s hand was tiny, the strength of her fear had tightened her hold and now threatened to cut off all circulation. When he tried to loosen her hold a little, she placed a hand on his forearm and tightened her grip. In spite of himself, and the discomfort in his hand, his grin widened in the darkness. He shook his head because by now he would normally be at the end of his patience. With Estelle, he didn’t mind one bit.

To Estelle, it felt as though they were in that tunnel forever. At first she was too scared to notice when the darkness began to lift. When she stared to see more and more of the man before her she began to increase her pace. Slowly, the wonderful sight of Myles’ back emerged out of the gloom. Within seconds, she could see the small curls on the back of his neck, and the small black cloth that bound his long hair at the base of his neck. Then they arrived at the bottom of several stone steps.