“Remember, confidentiality has to be maintained at all times. Be discrete, and for your own safety, do not discuss with anybody what has been mentioned today,” Isaac warned.
Mr Finchay looked nervous as he watched the men leave the shop. The second they left the shop, Mr Finchay slid the bolt across the slammed the blinds in his shop windows down. Isaac rolled his eyes because it looked suspicious but decided against going back inside and ordering the man to keep his shop open.
“Where to next?” Mark asked when they were standing side-by-side on the pavement outside of the shop.
“Harriett?” Isaac asked. He was astonished when Mark visibly winced and seemed reluctant to want to go home.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Isaac found out why Mark was reluctant to see his wife a few minutes later when Mark let himself into the family house and crept through the door like a cat burglar.
“It’s only me,” he called.
A heavy silence greeted him.
Isaac followed his friend into the comfortable family home and remained mute as Mark worked his way through each still and empty downstairs room. Isaac wondered if Harriett had left her husband and taken the children with her, until Harriett appeared like a wraith in the doorway to the parlour.
“We have come to ask you some questions,” Mark announced as if needing to justify why he was in his own house.
Harriett nodded to Isaac. “How are you?” she asked quietly, purposefully ignoring her husband.
“Fine,” Isaac relied somewhat stiffly.
“Tuppence? Is she all right?”
“She is as good as can be expected given the circumstances.” Harriett’s coldness toward her husband was so tangible that Isaac had no doubt their marriage was in serious trouble.
“I should like to pay her a visit if that is all right with you?”
“I wouldn’t right now,” Isaac replied. “There has been a gunman on the estate shooting at us. It isn’t safe. Best stay here for now, eh?” Isaac couldn’t stop his tone from softening because he saw very real concern and hurt in Harriett’s eyes when she learnt that she couldn’t see her friend.
“We want to know what you have heard about the sale of Glover’s farm,” Mark began softly.
Harriett looked about to cry when she glared at her husband. “Why?”
“Because Mrs Glover was the only one out on the street this morning, around the same time that Mrs Girdling was murdered.”
“Good God,” Harriett burst out. Mark shoved a chair out and forced her to sit in it when Harriett paled alarmingly. “Mrs Girdling?”
“You haven’t heard?” Isaac asked, scowling at Mark, who suddenly looked guilty.
Not wanting to take advantage of Harriett’s distress, but determined to do whatever he had to do to save his marriage, Mark perched on a seat before her and gathered his wife’s shaking hands in his. It was the first time she had allowed him to touch her all week. The lack of physical contact with her was driving him out of his mind. He clung and edged a little closer.
“Can you remember what she told you about the sale of her husband’s farm? Was she angry? Happy?” Mark pressed.
“Well, she seemed very bitter about it. She was annoyed that Richmond hadn’t given her the full market value for the property. She said that the land was worth a lot more, but they needed the money and wanted to move somewhere else.”
“They have moved to Great Tipton.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes, they bought a house there,” Harriett replied.
Isaac scowled at Mark. “I thought they went to stay with a relative.”
“No. No. Mrs Glover told me that they were using the money to buy a small cottage.”
“Where is Mr Glover working now?”
“I don’t know,” Harriett replied. She scowled at her husband. She was so annoyed with him for arresting Tuppence that she hadn’t been able to bring herself to even stay in the same room for him for long. Consequently, the atmosphere within the Bosville household could only be described as frosty. While she missed her husband dreadfully, she knew that Tuppence was innocent and was appalled that her friend might be hung for a crime Mark had wrongfully arrested her for. The fact that he wouldn’t even discuss the case with her was offensive to her both as his wife and the mother of his children. Harriett had thought that their marriage was a union. While each of them had their respective roles to play in life, they worked together to create their loving, happy home. It wasn’t necessary all the time, but Mark often discussed the complexities of his cases with her during their more private moments. When it came to Tuppence’s case, though, he absolutely refu