Tuppence (The Tipton Hollow 3)

“Nothing,” Isaac mused ruefully.

At some point he would have to discuss how nice it would be for them both if she allowed him to indulge in a few gentlemanly gestures with her, like handing her down from carriages. For now, he waved her toward the house.

“What is it?” Tuppence asked warily when Isaac stopped her from approaching the door.

Isaac looked carefully around the farm. He couldn’t shake off the distinct feeling that they were being watched. “Tell me something,” he murmured. “Are there any places on the farm where someone could sleep if they wanted to live and hide up here?”

Tuppence stared at him for a moment. Her mind raced. “Well, there is the back of the barn, I suppose, but that is where Baxter usually sleeps. There is a large mound of hay there which is used when the snow falls. It saves me having to carry large chunks of hay across the yard when I feed the animals. Why?”

“Can we go and take a look when we have finished in the house?”

“Of course,” Tuppence whispered. “We can go there now if you like.”

Isaac shook his head. “I want to check the area from one of the upstairs windows first, just in case someone is in the outbuildings watching us.” It surprised him when Tuppence looked a little ruefully at him as if she had been reluctant to admit what she was going to say.

“You feel it too, don’t you?” she whispered softly.

It was instinctive for Isaac’s gaze to slide to Tuppence’s lips. If they had been anywhere else, he would have kissed her, but with danger nearby, and so many problems to battle, now was not the time or the place.

“I do, but I have no idea where an intruder might be hiding. We are going to enter the house. You need to empty the safe and gather up what is left of the belongings you want to take to the estate. Then, we will search the farm before we leave,” Isaac whispered. “For now, try to pretend that everything is normal.”

Having spent some time in the luxurious confines of Aldridge Manor, Tuppence was now painfully aware of just how shabby the farmhouse was. It was instinctive to want to apologise to Isaac for the state of the place, even though it really wasn’t her fault. Her brother had left it to fall into ruin because he had almost constantly been drunk. It was only the scowl on Isaac’s face as he ran a somewhat disinterested gaze around the room that stopped Tuppence from uttering a word of apology to him. She could sense his disapproval but wasn’t sure if it were because of the threat lurking outside, or the state of the inside of the house.

“I am going upstairs to see if anybody is lurking up there.” Isaac waited for her to nod before he bolted the front door and raced up the stairs. He didn’t tell Tuppence as much, but he wanted to make sure that nobody had forced their way into the house since yesterday and were waiting upstairs for them to leave.

“Isaac? Have you found anything?” Tuppence called because she didn’t like how silent the house had gone. She had finished rummaging around in the safe and had gathered everything she needed to take back to the estate and now wanted to leave.

“Nothing,” Isaac called.

He suspected that if someone was hiding on the farm, it might be the killer because he knew the farm was vacant. However, he couldn’t escape the feeling that someone had followed them from Aldridge Manor. While he wanted to deny the possibility, he had tried to shrug off the distinct feeling of being watched throughout their journey. That feeling had only grown stronger now that they had reached the farm.

“But I can’t see anything untoward out there.” Even so, that didn’t mean that there wasn’t someone lurking in the outbuildings. What he couldn’t decide was whether it was a good idea to take Tuppence with him when he went to check them.

Tuppence smiled when she heard Isaac mumbling to himself. She didn’t hear what he said, but she managed to get the gist of his mutterings. He suspected that the killer was outside and had followed them from Aldridge Manor. She would have crept back down the stairs and tried to pretend she hadn’t heard him and would have had it not been for the loud creaking of the stairs beneath her b

oots.

“I am coming too,” she announced without preamble when he appeared at the top of the stairs. Her direct gaze challenged him to argue with her.

“He is out there, watching us.” Isaac knew, deep in his gut, that he was right.

“It plays on your mind, doesn’t it? I don’t know if it is the silence up here, or the mystery of not knowing who killed Mr Lewis. Whatever it is, I can’t rest comfortably in this house now. I don’t think I ever will again,” Tuppence whispered with a shiver. “Your house feels alive, but it is warm and welcoming and vibrant. It’s a home, Isaac. This house is a building, a hollow, empty shell. I haven’t realised how dire it has become until now. It has nothing to do with the killer being outside either.”

Suddenly, Tuppence had a wild urge to get Isaac out of the house. It was distressing to think that while doing his best to try to help her, he was putting his own life in danger, and the lives of his mother and staff. It was galling to think that she couldn’t do anything to protect them either. If her life, her future, was to be damaged by this killer, it was unfair but something she could live with. What she couldn’t live with was her conscience if something happened to Isaac because of her.

“How do you know that I haven’t lied to you?” she asked bluntly.

Isaac’s gaze sharpened. “Have you?”

“No,” Tuppence sighed. “But you shouldn’t trust people so readily.”

Isaac smiled. “I consider myself a rather good judge of character.”

Tuppence shook her head chidingly at him. “What would you do if the killer started to target you? We don’t know who this killer is, or what they want from me, or this farm, or even you. We don’t know what we are fighting, Isaac, and that puts us both in danger.”

Isaac heard the worry in her voice and instinctively stepped closer. He forced himself to stand perfectly still when Tuppence immediately backed away as if afraid of him. “I won’t hurt you.”

Tuppence sucked in a deep breath, and almost apologised for her reluctance to be near him. She had to remember that the house she was in was shabby, but it was hers. It was all she could afford, and the only roof she had to protect her from the elements. To lose it was to lose her ability to survive. As shabby as it was, it was all she had in the world. Isaac certainly didn’t belong there. He belonged in the hallowed halls of Aldridge Manor with his mother and Sir Reginald. While the huge manor house was temporarily her home it was just that; temporary.