To Catch A Thief (Saved By Desire 3)

“She was only doing what Hooky told her to do. He ordered her to come here to help curb your spending because you are damned near bankrupt because of your frivolous ways. You don’t work and have no credible source of income. Did you not stop to consider that your crimes would catch up with you?” Jeb countered.

“Clearly not,” Barnaby answered for her. “She has carried on regardless and refused to correct her crimes even when her niece caught her red-handed. Of course, when Sophia threatened to take it to the magistrate if you didn’t stop then you knew you had to do something to silence her, didn’t you Delilah? What better way to get rid of her than killing her in those woods. Given how remotely you live, those woods are practically your own. Who would be around to hear her scream?”

Jeb placed his hands flat on the table, primarily to stop himself reaching for her. “So you decided to kill her because you wanted to go back to your thieving, didn’t you? Especially given the orders you had from your contact to steal the jewels from the Squire.”

Delilah looked up in shock.

“Oh, yes, we know all about the jewellery you have been ordered to take next from the Squire’s house,” Jeb murmured sinisterly.

“W-wha-?” Her gaze flew from Jeb to Barnaby and back again.

“We have him too. Your contact, Myers. He is in prison now. He has told us all about your little plan. Unfortunately for you, Sophia had already threatened to report you if you didn’t stop stealing so you had to get rid of her to be able to take the jewels. With the Squire’s ball in a few days, you had to take matters into your own hands. You had to get rid of her. However, how on earth you expected to go to the Squire’s ball when you were recently aggrieved by the death of your-” Jeb paused and thought about that for a moment.

Suddenly the penny dropped, and he realised then what she had intended to do.

“That was the perfect cover for you, wasn’t it? I mean, you wouldn’t go to the ball at all because you were busy grieving for your newly departed niece, so nobody would expect you to be in the house. You would have the perfect cover to steal the jewels, wouldn’t you?”

Delilah remained quiet.

Barnaby snorted shook his head in disbelief. “So why kill Morwenna Banks? What had she done to you?” He lifted a finger when Delilah opened her mouth to speak. “I warn you now that if you try to tell me any lies it shall add to the sentence the magistrate issues.”

“I swear to you on the Holy Bible that I didn’t kill Tabitha, the Squire, or Morwenna. I didn’t. It wasn’t me.” Delilah’s voice was thick with fear and worry. She looked at Jeb with a frown. “Who are you? You have been sniffing around Sophia to get information on me, haven’t you?” Before Jeb could reply she burst out laughing. “Oh, how rich! Hooky’s precious Sophia has been conned by a lothario.”

“He is a bit more than that,” Barnaby replied crisply. “We work for a branch of the War Office, as you have been told. You have been caught stealing quite considerable amounts from people of wealth within the village, and murdering innocent individuals who happen to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was here to investigate your contact, Roland Myers, who led us to you. Any connection he may have made with Sophia is purely a personal matter between him and Sophia.”

“Sophia was just waiting for her father to let her know what to do about your finances before she returned home. She had every intention of just handing the matter over to him to deal with given how arrogant you are. You just don’t listen to reason and are not prepared to hear anybody else’s point of view or the voice of wisdom. You are nothing short of an arrogant, disrespectful, and the most contemptuous human being I have ever set eyes on,” Jeb declared coldly. “I am glad Sophia will be rid of you. She deserves better. The matter of your finances is irrelevant now because you shall not need money where you are going. Your meals, home, and days will be decided for you. As far as I am concerned, you can go to Hell. It is nothing less than you deserve.”

Before Delilah could respond, Jeb stood back to allow Marcus and Joe to secure the woman with a rope and lead her toward the door.

“Where am I going?” she demanded from the doorway.

“To jail,” Barnaby replied with a smirk. “It’s the closest thing to Hell we can send you to.”

She looked at Jeb. “I don’t regret any of it.”

“I don’t believe you do,” Jeb declared coldly and nodded to Marcus and Joe. “Get her out of here.”

“God awful woman,” Barnaby muttered as she disappeared from sight.

Jeb took a seat at the table.

“I am going to arrange for the Squire’s body to be moved,” Barnaby reported. “Are you sure it’s the Squire?”

Jeb nodded. “I am sure. He was killed this morning from the look of him. He was probably on his way here for some reason. I doubt he usually visits the woods here. There is a larger one closer to his home. He has no reason to be in the area.”

“Why kill the Squire? The ball is certain to be cancelled,” Barnaby murmured thoughtfully.

“It gets him nicely out of the way, doesn’t it? I mean, with the Squire gone the house is going to be thrown into chaos. There will be a flurry of people in and out of there to pay their condolences, and undoubtedly guests attending the funeral whenever that is arranged. I am sure that at some point during the mourning period those jewels are going to be stolen,” Jeb said thoughtfully.

“Why dump his body so close to this house, though? Why not leave him in the woods closer to his home?”

Jeb pushed to his feet and began to pace. “I think we are being warned. Bamber followed me from London. He knows we are here and are investigating him. I think Bamber killed him to get him out of the way. I am not sure if Bamber knows we have Roland yet, or whether he is sending us a message to tease us that he has strangled Samson and Balgravia.”

“Do you think he is leaving us his calling card? He could be taunting us to catch him. I mean, Belgravia was left in woods and was strangled.”

Jeb nodded. “I think Bamber is the killer, and he is playing a careful game of cat and mouse with us. The similarities between the deaths are just too striking to be ignored.”

“Myers could be his accomplice,” Barnaby mused. “I mean, Balgravia was moved after his death. Bamber wouldn’t be able to move a man all by himself, not someone of Balgravia’s size anyway. He had to have help.”