He watched her blanch and wondered if he was scaring her too much, but then didn’t want her to leave the house and put herself at risk. She had to be aware of just how dangerous London could be and understand fully the dangers a single woman was in whenever she stepped outside of the door without a suitable chaperone. If worrying her, in turn, meant she was less likely to sneak out of the house while he wasn’t looking then so be it.
“Who was that man? Do you know who he is yet?” she whispered. She took a sip of her brandy but then wished she hadn’t when it blazed a trail of white-hot fury right down to her stomach and made it churn alarmingly.
“I was hoping you could tell me that,” he murmured. Hungry, he tore off a chunk of bread and offered her some before he slathered his liberally with butter.
“Me? Why should I know?” She shook her head and watched him.
“Well, you are the one in trouble,” he countered without any hint of accusation.
“I am not in trouble,” Poppy protested. “Not the kind that would warrant anyone to try to strangle me. I had nothing to do with the dead body I found, and that is the truth.”
Luke sighed, relieved that they were finally starting to get somewhere. “What kind of trouble are you in Poppy?” He hoped to God she didn’t tell him she had killed someone. He was a member of the Star Elite, and could manage to pull many strings when and if he ever needed to, but getting someone off a murder charge was going to be impossible.
“I am not in trouble. Clarence is,” she sighed. It felt odd to confide in a total stranger, but the fact that he didn’t know her helped her divulge her deepest secrets. She rather felt that if she knew him any better she wouldn’t want him to think the worst of her and so wouldn’t be inclined to confide as much. Or maybe she would. He was strong, and had a commanding, take charge manner about him that warned her there wasn’t much he hadn’t seen or done in life that hadn’t taught him how to cope with adversity. She didn’t know if that was why she wanted to lean on him and let him take over her problems. It was a little disconcerting.
“Clarence?”
“The man who just accosted me in the street,” she explained. She watched his gaze slide to her ring finger and shook her head. “He isn’t my husband. He is my father.”
Luke heaved a mental sigh of relief, but didn’t move, didn’t speak or show any sign of emotion as he considered which question to ask her next.
“He accused you of being a thief.”
Poppy sighed. “He is my father but not much of a father, if you ask me,” she declared ruefully. “He drinks to excess, gambles money he doesn’t have, and spends most of his time in and out of brothels. He is a charlatan who has squandered so much money that he has rendered us nearly destitute. He came to London purely to borrow money from a cousin so he can repay a creditor he owes quite a lot of money to. Well, he actually ordered me to borrow the money from a cousin because Peter hates Clarence, and wouldn’t loan him a penny.”
Luke frowned at that. “I thought you said you came from Cumbria?”
“I do.”
“So, has Clarence run up debts in London?” He knew something didn’t add up.
“Not as far as I am aware. He has been too busy drinking to travel anywhere.”
“He ran the debts up in Cumbria?” He waited until she nodded. “In that case, why has he come to London to pay the debts off?”
“He borrowed money of someone somewhere who told him to make a repayment in London apparently. I don’t know,” she sighed.
She wished now that she had pushed Clarence for more information. “Clarence didn’t tell me too much. He was reluctant to discuss it and got defensive when I asked him why we couldn’t leave London as soon as we had the money from Peter.”
“Do you know the name of the creditor?”
She shook her head. “I asked him several times. He told me it was none of my business.”
“Yet he wanted you to borrow the money on his behalf?” Luke shook his head in disgust and leaned back in his seat. He was relieved to see the honesty in her eyes and, for the first time since he had met her, he started to trust her.
“I didn’t want to be the one to borrow money from Peter, but Clarence made it clear that our house in Cumbria was at risk of being taken by the creditor if we didn’t repay the money he owed. So I had no choice. I went to Peter and asked for a loan so we could clear some debts. Clarence didn’t come with me, so I took the opportunity to tell Peter what I knew, although at the time I didn’t realise our situation was as bad as it is. Peter gave me enough funds to cover everything but instructed me to make sure that I sorted myself out with it and didn’t just hand everything over to Clarence to fritter away.” Poppy sighed and looked at Luke. “As soon as I borrowed the money, Clarence told me that he had sold the house in Cumbria along with everything in it, and had cleared the debts off. He also told me that we were never going back to Cumbria.”
“So if he cleared the debts off with the money from the house, why does he need more money from Peter?” Luke asked with a frown.
“I don’t know how much debt Clarence is in. Every time I asked, he got aggressive and refused to answer me.”
“That money is in this bag, I take it?” Luke asked. He watched her nod reluctantly.
“Minus a few expenses for lodging for the last few days, and a ticket back to Cumbria.”
“Did you pay the creditor any of it?” Luke asked, but suspected she hadn’t.
Poppy shook her head. “He didn’t turn up. Unfortunately, the body did.”