“Get up!” He snarled. “Get up now, or I swear to God that you will be buried in the garden by tea-time.”
“No, he won’t Ben,” Mark growled from the doorway.
Beatrice screamed and spun around with such speed that the world swam alarmingly. She swallowed around a suddenly painful throat and felt the sting of tears at the sight of help in the doorway.
Mark stalked into the room with a pair of handcuffs hanging from his hand. “Richard Browning, I am arresting you for the murders of Jules Sanders, Brian Mottram and Sigmund Hargraves, and the attempted murder of Beatrice Northolt. Stand up.”
When Browning didn’t immediately comply, Ben and Mark hauled him unceremoniously to his feet and shoved him face first down onto the desk. Once his arms were secured tightly behind his back, Browning was then dragged toward the front door to Fred, and a small army of constables who were waiting in the driveway.
Both Beatrice and Ben stood to one side and watched solemnly as a dazed Murray was also handcuffe
d and ushered out of the door. Mark stepped forward and instructed one of the constables to fetch Doctor Woods, before he turned toward them.
“Let’s go and sit down, then you can tell me what happened.”
Beatrice swallowed past the rawness in her throat and stared at Ben in horror. “Maud? What about Maud?”
“She is dazed but otherwise unharmed. I will feel better though once Doctor Woods has seen all of you,” Mark replied with a sigh.
“Is she outside now?”
“She is in her room.” Mark waved them both unceremoniously into the sitting room. “I know that this has been very difficult for you both but, if I can get a gist of what happened this morning, I can go and interview Murray and Browning at the station and formally charge them knowing that I have included all of the charges. I can then leave you to recover in private, and you can finally relax knowing that this entire ordeal is now finally over.”
“How did you get here so quickly?” Ben demanded.
“We were on our way to pay an early morning visit to Murray’s house when Fred saw Billy Green walking down the Main Street. He was counting a large wad of cash and had a huge grin on his face. Because Billy is one of the local scoundrels, Fred realised something odd was going on and stopped him for questioning. He reluctantly admitted that he had been paid to tell you that your house was on fire. We asked him who it was who had paid him, but he said he had no idea. However, the description he gave us matched that of Richard Browning.”
Beatrice stood on legs that trembled and had to wait a minute for the world to settle again before she could walk across the room.
“Where are you going?” Ben demanded with a scowl.
“I need to fetch something,” she whispered and stumbled past Isaac, who was now standing in the doorway. He shared a glance with Mark and followed her, not because they suspected her of anything but because she looked as though she was about to fall down.
Ben swiped at the blood on his face but didn’t bother to look at it. His gaze remained locked on the doorway and he willed himself to be patient, he really did, but even the few short minutes she had been gone felt like a lifetime to him. Right now he needed her to be by his side, and nowhere else. His scowl was fierce by the time she returned clutching a sheaf of papers.
She handed them to Mark and slumped onto the sofa beside Ben, who immediately swept an arm around her and drew her protectively against his side. In spite of the presence of the police officers, Ben kissed her temple and hugged her for several long moments while Mark read the declaration the killer’s victims had made.
“Well, we will need to verify the signatures are real, but I think that this document alone is enough to make sure that he won’t escape prison.”
“Can I see?” Ben asked and took the papers off Mark to read them briefly.
“I found them once you had left for your house. I couldn’t settle and started to rifle through the papers on uncle’s desk as we discussed.”
Sensing that they were waiting for her version of events, Beatrice quickly recounted what had happened to her, and only stumbled when it came to having to describe Browning’s attempt to strangle her.
Ben took over at that point and described what had happened to him, culminating in his arrival moments before Mark.
Somewhere in the middle of it all, Beatrice was aware of the arrival of the doctor, who first saw to Maud before ordering her off to bed to rest. He then examined first Beatrice, then Ben, in the front parlour before declaring that their cuts and bruises would fade, but they too needed to do nothing more than rest of the next couple of days. Given the depth of the bruising on Beatrice’s neck, he made arrangements to see her in his surgery in a few days’ time but, other than that, declared them well enough to go about their daily lives.
Once the doctor had taken his leave, Beatrice wondered how on earth they could go about their normal lives now. So many bad things had happened that she wasn’t sure what to make of it all. She knew that at some point over the coming weeks she would have to think over everything in more detail so that she could put it all behind her but, right at that moment she wanted nothing more than to savour the time she had with Ben.
Satisfied that he had all of the information he needed right now, Mark nodded to Isaac, who secured the house before both men took their leave. Ben left her long enough to slide the bolts home on the front door, before he returned to the sitting room.
“Come on,” he ordered and held his hand out to her.
Beatrice knew that she would follow him wherever he went, and didn’t hesitate to do as he wished. She clung on to him as he led her across the hallway and up the stairs to her bedroom.
Once there, he carefully drew the covers back and tugged his shirt over his head at the same time that he kicked his boots off.