Having seen the calculation in his eyes she knew what he was thinking. Just the thought of it filled her with complete disgust at just how low he would consider sinking.
“I wasn’t about to suggest such a thing,” Clarence declared flatly.
Poppy shorted and threw him an askance look when his guilty gaze slid back to the floor. “It will become apparent to the killer that he had the wrong person soon enough, won’t it? What do you plan to do then because you are a sitting target here, aren’t you? We are in one of London’s poorest districts where murder and God knows what happen on a regular basis. Anything could happen, and you would not be around to tell anybody.”
Clarence suddenly lurched forward in his seat. “You would be wise to remember those words yourself, my dear,” he warned her.
“Are you threatening me? After everything I have done for you, you dare to threaten me?” She studied him. She had never been so disappointed in anyone in her entire life. For a moment she wasn’t sure what to think other than she couldn’t be sure why she had wasted her time on such an odious creature for so long in the first place.
“You have been a burden to me since the day you were born,” Clarence declared flatly. “I wanted a son, but your mother was too weak to have another child after lumbering me with you. All you have done is cost me. You have no marriageable qualities, even to the labourers in Cumbria. I can’t even find you a decent husband who will accept you without a dowry, and you are certainly too old now for a come out. What now? Am I to be burdened with you for the rest of my days? Shall I have no peace and freedom to go wherever I want to go of my own accord without having to pander to the delicate eccentricities of a daughter with no qualities?”
Poppy stared at the hatred in Clarence’s eyes and tried to ignore the foul stench of fetid alcohol on his breath. She had never been close to Clarence. For as long as she could remember he had been a distant figure to her; someone who pretended to be interested in what she did but really wasn’t. It pained her to have all of her lifelong suspicions confirmed, but deep down she knew that she had to hear them at some point. Harbouring false hopes that one day he would be nice and they could be on friendlier terms was nothing but foolish, and something she resolved never to spend another second on from this moment forth.
“I apologise for not being born the right sex to suit you, Clarence, but I am not responsible for it. Your disappointments are you problem. However, given I am a weak and useless female, I see no reason why my lack of skills in any department should work to deliver any more packages for you, cook any more of your meals, launder any more of your clothing, or sort out any further financial woes your vices sink you into.”
The slap that landed across her cheek brought tears to her eyes and made her flesh burn. In that moment something inside her died, and she stared at Clarence with all the disillusionment she felt toward the man who had lurched out of his chair and was now leaning over her with pure menace in his eyes. Determined not to be thwarted by him, she pushed at his shoulders so swiftly and with such determination that he stumbled back and landed against the dresser with a heavy thump.
Before she could speak, the sudden rap of a knock on the door shattered the silence. Fear flooded Clarence’s gaze as he threw a panicked look at the front door visible down the long corridor that ran through the centre of the house.
“It’s for you,” she whispered, unrepentantly merciless.
He threw her a beseeching look, but seemed to realise from the steely look in her eye, and the red mark across her cheek, that he was going to get no help from her.
“Go on then, answer it,” she taunted when the knocking became heavier. “They are waiting.”
Clarence swallowed but didn’t move.
“If you ever lay a hand on me again, I shall turn you over to them myself and let them have at you,” she declared coldly. “Someone is at the door. Nobody even knows I am here so it can’t be for me and you are, after all, the man of the house. Answer it.”
“I-I can’t,” he mumbled.
“God, you are nothing short of a coward,” she spat when he didn’t move or speak. “I wonder what mother ever saw in you. You are a coward and an ingrate.”
“Watch your mouth,” Clarence snapped.
This time though, Poppy was not going to be bullied by him. She took a breath and opened her mouth. “I wonder what they would do if I screamed?”
“Bloody keep quiet,” he snarled. Racing to the back door, he frantically slid the bolt home with a dull thud. When the knocking continued, he raced to the hallway door and closed it quietly before he tore across the kitchen and drew the bedraggled pieces of fabric across the window. They didn’t meet in the middle, but it was enough to provide them with some shelter from prying eyes outside.
“Where are you going?” he gasped in horror when she moved to the hallway door and went to open it.
“It is you they are after, not me,” she replied. “There is no reason why I should hide.”
With more confidence than she really felt she yanked open the door and made her way to the stairs. She could see the tall, dark silhouette on the doorstep and knew immediately that it wasn’t the man she had met in the park: Luke
Brindley. He had lighter hair and was even taller than the unknown caller on the doorstep. Sensing it had something to do with the money in the kitchen cupboard, she hoped and prayed that Clarence was indeed a coward and wouldn’t find the confidence to open the door. At least then he wouldn’t learn the truth for another few hours. That’s all she needed now to decide not only what to do next, but how she was going to go about doing it.
“You can’t go walking about in London by yourself,” she whispered as she closed her bedroom door behind her to block out the repetitive knocking Clarence refused to answer.
“It’s time to leave,” she murmured.
“Poppy, get down here gel,” he demanded in a hushed whisper, but she ignored him.
She had no intention of ever doing anything Clarence told her to do again. Not while she had breath in her body and a brain in her head. She was an independent woman of means now. It was irrelevant to her that those ‘means’ didn’t actually belong to her. She had borrowed the money from Peter, so for now it really belonged to her and she had every right to use it for herself.
It still bothered her that when he had handed the money over, Peter had issued a few cautionary words that she was never to allow Clarence to get his hands on any of it. It had been as though he was trying to warn her about something, or knew of the problems that lay ahead. Either way she would do as Peter told her to and use the money to leave the hovel. Now, after Clarence’s despicable behaviour this morning, she was going to use as much as she needed to keep a roof over her head, clothing on her back, and food in her stomach while she decided what to do with her life.
“Poppy, get down here this instant or I shall come up there and fetch you.”