Beatrice (The Tipton Hollow 2)

Isaac looked at Mark. “Do you want me to force entry?”

Mark nodded. “I think we need to.” With that, Isaac quietly left.

Within minutes, Ben slid the bolt across the front door having watched Isaac turn out of the driveway and disappear from sight. He wanted to warn the Detective to keep an eye out for runaway carriages but, given that the carriage that had been the cause all of the trouble of late was now firmly embedded in a hedge, it seemed a worthless piece of advice.

He returned to the sitting room to find Mark and Beatrice discussing the circle.

“I will go and sit in the front parlour so I am out of sight, and will wait there until Caroline arrives. When she does appear - if she does appear - I will come out and deal with her. We don’t know how dangerous she is, or how desperate, so don’t be fooled by any innocent act she may put on. Stay completely out of the way and let me and Ben handle it.”

Beatrice nodded at the clock. The sudden rattle of the front door made them all jump, but Beatrice smiled when the knocks were quickly followed by the high pitched chink of keys against the glass panelling.

“It’s Maud. She has come back to sort out tea,” she whispered and jumped up from her chair to let the housekeeper in. “She always knocks like that,” she called as she slid the bolts back and yanked the door open.

“Ben!”

The words were out before she could stop them,

and held every ounce of the shock that almost swamped her when her gaze landed on Maud, who had Caroline Smethwick directly behind her.

“Caroline Smethwick,” she heard Ben whisper behind her, but she daren’t turn around and acknowledge him. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the cold ferocity written on Caroline’s face.

Before she could say anything, she was waved back into the hallway by a glowering Caroline, who shoved the housekeeper before her. The wicked looking pistol she waved around recklessly was enough to ensure that both women complied without protest. Beatrice grabbed Maud’s hand and continued to pull her toward the kitchen, until Caroline was a few feet away from the front door. As she moved back she was aware that someone was bent over and moved behind her, but she daren’t take a look to see who it was.

The sudden thud of the bolt being slid across the door sounded like gunfire in the silence of the house. Caroline spun around to stare in shock at Mark, and inadvertently gave Ben the perfect opportunity he needed to yank Beatrice and Maud into the sitting room where they were out of danger.

“Well, well, I have just sent one of my men to look for you,” Mark drawled and watched Ben close the sitting room door behind him and move to stand in the hallway that led to the kitchen. “You have saved me from having to get half of Great Tipton constabulary to tear the county apart to look for you.”

The gun was lowered a little as Caroline stared at him blankly for a moment. It was evident that she was trying desperately to find a way out of her current predicament from the frantic way her gaze flickered around the hallway. To begin with, it appeared that she was going to try to brave it out because she squared her shoulders and glared defiantly back at Mark.

“I came to speak to Beatrice.”

“With a gun?” Ben snorted dismissively. “You will have to speak to her through us.”

“Go on then,” Mark urged when she remained silent and watchful. “Beatrice is right there, in the sitting room. Say what you have to say before I cart you off to the station.”

“I am not going to the station,” Caroline declared flatly. “I have done nothing wrong.”

“You are waving a gun at a woman,” Ben snorted.

“She accosted me on the driveway at gunpoint,” Maud piped up from the safety of the sitting room.

“Shut up, you stupid woman. I didn’t accost you. We were heading in the same direction, that’s all.”

“Oh, and you just happened to be pointing a gun at the same level as my ribs along the way, did you?” Maud snapped defiantly, but made no attempt to leave the sanctuary of the sitting room.

“You have nearly run Beatrice over twice in the lane on Sunday, and attempted to run Ben’s carriage off the road twice today. You have had a busy week Caroline. I am going to arrest you for attempted murder because, as far as I see it, you could not fail to notice that someone was using the road on foot when you almost ran her down the other Sunday. You could not have failed to spot Beatrice and Ben on horseback about ten minutes later outside here either. Even if your eyesight is that poor, your reckless carriage driving today has resulted in extensive damage to Farmer Denton’s hedge and field. You can hardly argue that it wasn’t you given that we still have your horse and carriage stuck on Denton’s property.”

“I sold them,” Caroline countered with an arrogant toss of her head.

“You did not. They are yours, Caroline. You see, I live in Tipton Hollow too. I know that your neighbour, Mrs Underwick, and you are extremely close. She liked your aunt and considered herself to be one of her best friends. It stands to reason that she took you under her wing as soon as she realised who you are, and extended the same hand of friendship toward you as she did your aunt. But you couldn’t take that, could you Caroline? You couldn’t take that hand of friendship because you are not your aunt. You had to use it to try to get at Beatrice, and pour spite into the old woman’s ears. I have heard your attempts to poison Mrs Underwick against Beatrice with my own ears, in Harriett’s tea shop and several other places around the village.”

Ben sighed and shook his head. “So have I,” he added quietly.

He briefly recounted his altercation with Mrs Underwick in the churchyard but, for Beatrice’s sake, didn’t recount all of the sordid snippets of snide gossip. However, his dour look warned Mark that he had heard enough to support Mark’s belief that the women had been working to sully Beatrice’s name.

“I wondered what grievance Mrs Underwick could have against Beatrice,” Ben growled. “I am sure that if you ask Mrs Underwick a few pertinent questions, she will oblige and inform you that she heard some awful things from Miss Smethwick here. I have no doubt that Miss Smethwick has been feeding the woman all sorts of stories about her experiences with the new Circle.”

“I think you are right, Ben. I need to get Mrs Underwick down to the station to find out what poison has been fabricated.” He turned to Caroline. “Denegration of a person is illegal, Miss Smethwick.”