One Penny Surprise (Saved By Desire 1)

“They are in jail and are going to stay there for a long time yet. Although they are off the streets, don’t go to their patch just yet. So far, all anybody knows is they have just vanished. Sayers may send another gang in once he realises they have gone, so watch your back,” Luke warned.

“I will see you back to your patch,” Marcus offered once Toby was full, and had been furnished with yet more money and food.

“I think Clarence has two accomplices. One is the man. The other is the woman at the coaching inn who pushed you over,” Luke murmured once Toby had gone.

“Who is she?” Poppy asked. “Is she his mistress?”

Luke nodded slowly. He told her what he had learned from Peter. “It is just rumour, you understand, but it appears that Clarence has secrets, and a lot of them. From the sound of it, he has never been entirely honest with you.”

“We will go and see if we can find them,” Barnaby said and followed Jeb out of the house before anyone could object.

“Is there any possibility that Clarence might have been meeting with this friend in London, without you knowing about it?”

Luke was used to the world of smoke screens and subterfuge to be fooled by one man’s scheming. He was also used to thinking like a criminal to be fooled by one and strongly suspected that Clarence was indeed a criminal of the most conniving kind.

Poppy’s mind was reeling. “Has he followed you too, or just me?”

“I doubt he has followed me,” Luke snorted. He used several tactics to avoid being followed when he was alone. He just wished he had used them the other night with Poppy. “I think this accomplice probably didn’t vanish into the smog as we thought he did. He could have used the fog to hide while he followed us all the way here. I used it to hide while I followed you. There is no reason why that attacker couldn’t have do

ne the same. Have you been anywhere near the window since you have been here?”

“Only to look out onto the street,” Poppy replied, horrified at the thought that Clarence had seen her with her being aware of it.

“I don’t think it is you he is bothered about,” Luke retorted without thinking. “I am sorry,” he added hastily when she closed her eyes. He couldn’t help it; he had to touch her and placed his hands warmly over hers. “I am sorry.”

Poppy smiled bravely, but it quavered slightly. “He is behind all of this, isn’t he? The park, that woman who knocked me over in the coaching yard, the near fatal stabbing the other night, it’s all him.”

“I would love to say no, but I strongly suspect he is.”

“Who is the accomplice though? Do I know him, do you think?”

Luke sighed. “No, I don’t think you do know him. Clarence may not have introduced you.”

Poppy looked at Luke blankly for a moment while she thought about that. Eventually she began to shake her head as she tried to battle the growing sense of disillusionment that swept through her. Desperate to do something before she went quietly out of her mind, she pushed to her feet and began to dip strips into the bowl of water on the table.

Sensing her disquiet, Luke remained perfectly still while she began to wipe the dried blood off his face. His body predictably responded to her nearness, but he ignored it given he suspected her trembling fingers had nothing to do with reciprocal desire. Was she angry though or upset?

“Tell me, did you get many visitors in Cumbria?”

“No,” she whispered, feeling sicker and sicker with each moment that passed. “Now that I come to think about it, we had no visitors at all. Clarence always said it was because most of the family were dead, and his friends didn’t make house calls. He lied, didn’t he?”

Luke nodded.

“Do you think he might have lied about it all to get his hands on the money? If he wanted the money though why not just take it out of the house while it was there. Why all the subterfuge and deceit of the meeting in the park though?”

Luke instinctively shied away from the very thought of what could have happened to her if he hadn’t found her in the park. Somehow he suspected that Clarence hadn’t been expecting Poppy to return to the house that morning. He just didn’t know how he could tell Poppy that. The man was, after all, her father.

“I don’t know,” Luke sighed. “I think that matters will unfold in time.”

“Not too much longer, I hope. I want to get this over and done with,” she replied sadly.

Luke sympathised. “We need to question either Clarence, or one of his associates, but until one of them surfaces and we can get our hands on them, we will carry on as normal.” He didn’t add that she wouldn’t be left alone, especially now that Clarence was outside. “There is more I need to tell you about my meeting with Peter, but for now please don’t worry. I am here, and shall not allow anything to happen to you.”

He had never meant anything so much in his life.

“There is something you are not telling me, isn’t there?” Poppy slumped into a chair wearily when Luke nodded.

“Clarence has a mistress, Poppy. I think it is that woman in the coaching inn. Peter said she has a son, but nobody knows if it is Clarence’s son.” He closed his eyes when he heard her gasp. “I think it is safe to assume that there is no creditor. That park meeting was a set up to get you to hand the money over to Helena’s son. It is a way of getting money off you, or Peter, without you being aware that Clarence has it.”