‘I grabbed you and shoved you back inside. And then…’ His voice trailed off. Glancing up at him, I saw him staring at his hands. Both of them were covered in scratches and stains of dried blood. Straightening, he met my gaze with one of his own that made a shiver run down my back. ‘Suffice it to say that I held them off from the door until reinforcements arrived. My men dispersed the strike, established a secure perimeter around the mine, and allowed a team of specialists to start working on putting out the fire.’
‘And you?’
His gaze did not waver from mine. ‘I made sure that you were safe.’
I swallowed. Warmth started to spr
ead through my chest. With the way he looked at me right now, I did not for a moment doubt his sincerity. He’d had a fortune in coal going up in flames and a million things to do. And the first thing he had done was make sure that I was safe.
Mr Rikkard Ambrose never did anything without a reason. He analysed and judged all things according to their value. And he always took care of the most valuable thing first.
I didn’t smile. I didn’t say thank you. I just held his gaze, and gave him a small nod, signalling that I understood. He nodded back. For several more long, heart-pounding seconds, our gazes held - then I glanced away.
‘And the mine?’ I enquired.
‘It was sabotage. There’s no doubt about it. Once the fire was out, we found the body of the late Mr Gibbons at the bottom of a shaft. He was charred by fire and explosions, but not enough to conceal the giant hole in the back of his head. He was struck down from behind with a pickaxe.’
‘A pickaxe? How can you be so sure?’
‘Because we found the pickaxe, still with some remnants of bloodstains on it, under the bunk of the miner who killed him.’
My eyes flew back to him. ‘You…you’ve found the man responsible?’
‘Oh yes.’ Mr Ambrose was standing at the window now, gazing out over the city of Newcastle through a gap in the dark curtains. I watched him flex and steeple his fingers. ‘Oh yes, we have him. Or to be more precise - Karim does. He has not yet been able to discover who paid the man, but it is only a matter of time. Besides, even if he does not, I suspect I already know.’
A shadow seemed to fall over the room, blocking out even what little light streamed in through the gaps in the curtains.
I felt my mouth go dry. ‘Dalgliesh?’
‘Indeed, Mr Linton.’
Well, well…that was nice news to wake up to. If Mr Ambrose’s nemesis had indeed returned from whatever dark corner he had been hiding in the last couple of months, we were in for interesting times. Lord Daniel Eugene Dalgliesh was not to be trifled with.
But…could it really be him?
He couldn’t possibly know that Mr Ambrose was up here in the north. Mr Ambrose had postponed all the arrangements until the very last minute, and I had been the only one to know about them in the first place. No. He couldn’t possibly have known. It must have been someone else. Or maybe the discontented miner had just acted out of hatred. Yes. That had to be it.
‘I must leave.’ Mr Ambrose’s cool voice tore me out of my contemplations. ‘There are many things I still have to take care of. But I will make sure that you have the best medical care available.’
‘Thank you, Sir.’
‘The medical bill shall be deducted from your wages, of course.’
‘How kind of you, Sir.’
‘And…’
‘Yes?’
In a flash, he was beside the bed and leaning over me. His stunningly perfect, granite-hard face was only inches away from mine, his fathomless, sea-coloured eyes boring into mine.
‘Don’t you dare do something like this ever again! Trying to shield me with your body, betting your life on the chivalry of a mob of northern mine workers? That is the single most foolish idea in the history of the world, and anyone who thinks of it should sell his brain for soup! If you ever try something like this again, you can consider yourself fired, do you understand? Fired!’
A muscle in his jaw twitched.
I simply lay there, gazing up at him for a long, long moment. Then, with a herculean effort, I lifted one aching hand and gently touched his cheek.
‘Yes, I understand.’ A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. ‘Maybe even better than you, Sir.’