An Inconvenient Trilogy (50 page)

“No,” Laura said quietly. She moved and sat up facing Alfred. “Alfred…..”

“It’s none of my business, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” he responded apologetically.

“You know what my job was,” Laura said, with remorse. “I can’t change my history Alfred, as much as I may wish.”

“I know, I was being unfair,” he said and he knew that he was, it was just when he had to imagine her with someone else, it did something to his insides that he was not able to stop. It was especially hard for a man like Alfred to deal with as he was usually so much in control.

“You couldn’t be unfair if your life depended on it, you are too good,” Laura said standing and shaking out her skirts.

“You know nothing about me,” Alfred said, a touch bitter about the misplaced compliment.

“Well it isn’t from want of trying,” Laura said provocatively. “Now take me home.”

Chapter 11

Each day Alfred and Laura either walked or rode out onto the land, both expressing a desire to see the extensive estate, which was partly true. They were both enjoying being out in the open after so much time spent indoors. Laura was enjoying noticing the different flowers and trees. She did not wish to appear ignorant, but felt comfortable enough in Alfred’s company that she could exclaim in delight at each new sight.

The real reason though, was that they wanted to spend time together. They liked Martha and Charles and the evenings were spent with them and Mr Lawson, but during the day Martha and Charles had duties to perform. So, rather than spend time inside, under the scrutiny of the staff, they spent every moment they could outside.

Each day they talked, little by little getting to know one another. Laura was more forthcoming than Alfred about her opinions, while he tried to deflect away any talk about himself, but Laura persisted. They usually finished whatever walk or ride they went on with time spent near the stream that they had found on the first day. Laura usually relaxing on Alfred’s lap, somehow this was the most comfortable for talking, each avoiding eye contact, which made it more anonymous in a way.

One afternoon, Laura decided that it was time that she found out more about Alfred. He had questioned her closely about her time in the foundling hospital and her life in London since the raid on Baron Kersal’s house, but he had been more reluctant to offer information about himself.

She had settled into place on Alfred’s lap and decided to try again. “So what attracted you to Bow Street?” she asked. “Do you like danger?”

“I don’t think anyone likes danger, if they are honest,” Alfred replied.

“I suppose not, but then what does attract you to a job that involves putting your own safety at risk?” she asked.

“It chose me, rather than the other way around,” Alfred said, obscurely.

“That’s sounds like an interesting story,” Laura responded.

“Not really,” came the response. “Why did you not come into the offices when you needed my help?” Alfred said, changing the subject as he always did when it seemed like the conversation was focusing too much on himself.

Laura moved quicker than most women in her condition could and sat up, facing Alfred. She put her arm over his legs and leant on the grass. “Alfred Peters, what are you hiding from me?” she demanded, sick of his aversion to speaking about himself.

“Nothing,” Alfred responded, not meeting her gaze.

“Nothing, my foot!” Laura snorted. “How can you expect me to believe such a blatant lie when I’m used to dealing with some of the greatest liars and cheats that exist in society?”

“You really should keep better company,” Alfred tried to joke.

“Ha, well I’m beginning to think that
you’re
questionable company, you’re being so secretive,” Laura responded tartly. Her words had been said in jest, but the moment they were uttered, she knew she had hit a nerve with Alfred. His gaze caught hers for a second before looking away again, but in that second she had seen such a haunted expression that it made her ache inside. She suddenly realised that Alfred was right when he had said that he was not the person she had thought he was.

Laura waited for a few moments, wanting Alfred to speak first, but it was apparent that he was not going to. She reached over with her other hand and touched his cheek, brushing his face gently with the back of her fingers. “What is it Alfred?”

“You think I’m good and I’m decent and I’m anything but,” came the quiet response.

Laura’s heart skipped a beat, she had always been able to read people quickly and well, it had helped her to survive. It scared her to think that she may have been wrong with Alfred, but then she controlled her feelings, because he had never shown her anything but decency. “You have been good to me,” she responded quietly, still stroking his face. “What happened that you think I would change my opinion of you?”

“It will,” Alfred said dully. “But I can see that I am not going to get any peace until I tell you.”

“You are right about that,” Laura responded with a gentle smile. It worried her that Alfred looked so troubled.

He smiled, but it was a very small smile, before taking a breath and sighing. “I worked as an apprentice for a number of years. I was a clerk for a small business. I was like you, I’d been brought up in an orphanage, but I had a nicer place to go too.”

“I’m glad,” Laura said quietly, being able to picture the gangly boy that existed before the man emerged.

“I completed my apprenticeship, I really enjoyed the work. I like order and am methodical, I’m told,” Alfred said with a smile at the compliment his employer used to tell him. “I worked there until I was nineteen and then things changed.”

Alfred seemed to struggle with his memories, but for once Laura did not try to encourage him. She could see the torment on his face and waited patiently, her hand never losing contact with his cheek.

“My employer was a good man, he had a family, a wife and two daughters. Business had been quiet and I could see he was a little worried, but then things seemed to pick up. There was a difference though, in that the regular staff were kept well away from the new work. We were told that it was only the senior people that could be involved. It was his way of trying to protect us I suppose.”

“It was illegal?” Laura asked, already guessing the answer.

“Yes, well paid, but illegal. It was something to do with forgery of documents,” Alfred explained. “I still don’t know fully what it was. Anyway, it appears Mr King, my employer, made a mistake on one of the documents and it was identified as a fake. It cost the men involved a lot of money and they weren’t happy.”

“What happened?” Laura asked, her heart pounding. Stories like this in her world, rarely had a happy ending.

“A fire occurred in the King household, which killed them all,” Alfred said, struggling to keep control. “It wasn’t an accident, the windows had been nailed down and a barricade put across the door. The magistrate said it was suicide, that Mr King’s business was failing and he could not face the shame.”

“Could it have been?” Laura asked.

“No!” Alfred almost shouted. “He adored his wife and daughters, they meant everything to him. If what they said was true and he could not face the shame, he would have ended his own life but not theirs!”

“I’m so sorry,” Laura said, seeing immediately that the King family had replaced the family that Alfred had never had.

“I heard their screams, Laura,” Alfred said quietly.

“Oh good grief, you were there?” Laura asked, horrified.

“Not at first,” Alfred explained. “We had been given an evening out. It was money paid by the men involved to get rid of us until it was too late. I’d come back early, I don’t know whether I felt that something was wrong, or what made me return, it wasn’t usual for them to give us money, especially with them specifying that they wanted us to enjoy ourselves. So, I returned, but the fire was raging downstairs by the time I arrived, there were people there from the neighbouring buildings trying to get in, but there was nothing that could be done. I heard them screaming and then it went quiet.”

Laura moved closer and wrapped her arms around Alfred, he was shaking at the memory. She held him close until he calmed. “What happened afterwards?” she asked gently.

“There was an inquest, but it was a farce and then that was it. They were going to let it all pass without doing anything. I couldn’t allow that to happen. I wasn’t going to let Mr King’s kindness be repaid by my walking away and doing nothing about it,” Alfred said, looking angry at the memory of how his employer had been let down by society.

“What did you do?” Laura knew that she held a decent man, every action and word he had uttered proved it to her, but she also knew what revenge could drive someone to and she worried about what he had done.

Alfred looked at Laura, before resting his forehead on hers. “I almost killed a man.”

Laura stopped herself from the gasp that was in danger of escaping her lips. She must not react in such a way that Alfred would withdraw from her. She guessed correctly that this was the first time he had ever spoken about it to anyone. “Tell me,” she whispered.

“You will leave afterwards in disgust,” Alfred said quietly. He had tried to make his tone light, to appear that he did not care, but he did. His mind screamed at him not to tell her the rest, that he needed her to think well of him, but once he had started it seemed that he couldn’t stop.

“I beg to differ,” Laura said quietly, leaning closer and kissing him gently on the lips. “Tell me.”

Alfred had not reacted outwardly to the kiss, but inwardly it had given him the confidence to continue. “I went into the offices, offering to pack everything up. I went through every piece of paper that was in that building. I was looking for clues, anything that would lead me to those involved. I found information, although it was well hidden,” he admitted, “but I wasn’t called methodical for nothing.”

“It took months, I entered a world that I had never believed existed before,” he said shaking his head slightly. “I didn’t think I would survive, but somehow I managed. One by one I hit the people who were involved in the forgeries.”

“Did you harm them?” Laura asked.

“Not initially,” Alfred replied honestly. “I wasn’t as hardened as I am today. I burnt down houses, offices and factories, making sure there was no one inside first. I thought it would help me feel better, that by getting my own revenge, I could finally put the Kings at rest.”

“And did it help?”

Alfred smiled, but it was a bitter smile. “No, revenge doesn’t, it just brings you down to the level of the person doing wrong doesn’t it? I had become a criminal, just as they were. The reality was that they knew someone was onto them. It only delayed their business, they set it up again in different locations. One time though, I came across the main man, a really powerful, nasty and ruthless individual. He laughed in my face when I told him why I was doing what I’d done, and told me that business was not a place for sentiment.”

“He’d fit in with some of the men I’ve met,” Laura said with feeling.

“So, I pushed away my sentiment and gave him a beating he wouldn’t forget in a hurry,” Alfred continued.

“He deserved it,” Laura said.

“Yes he did, but I’d become as bad as he was,” Alfred said. “I didn’t care what the outcome was as long as I achieved my aim. I wanted him to suffer and I wasn’t prepared to stop. I’d lost my sense of right and wrong.”

“But you did stop,” Laura consoled.

Alfred stood up and walked a few steps away from Laura. “I was stopped, I was going to kill him,” he said, turning his back to Laura. He could not face to see the rejection in her eyes.

“What stopped you?” Laura asked, her mind racing over the information she had been given.

“I didn’t know at the time, but the Bow Street Officers were also onto the trail of the gang. They had been following me as well, I thought I was so good and yet I’d been followed for weeks. They knew exactly what I’d been doing. My now boss, Mr Frost was there. If he hadn’t intervened, I would have killed a man that day and swung for it,” Alfred said. He will never forget the expression in Mr Frost’s eyes as he had spoken to Alfred.

Alfred had been held back by the Bow Street Officers and he had struggled, trying to finish the job he had started. Mr Frost had approached him and took hold of Alfred’s shoulders. “My officers are going to let you go,” he had said in his usual quiet voice. “You have two choices, finish the job you came here to do tonight and hang, or repay Mr King’s faith in you and let this man go to trial and hang for his crimes. We have enough evidence, built up over months. I’m sorry it wasn’t in time to save the King family, but we can only make choices about the future, we cannot influence the past. I can see the type of man you were and can be again. You have a choice to make about your future, but it’s up to you, no one else can do it for you, it has been your crusade.” He had stepped away from Alfred, and indicated that the officers should release the captive. Alfred had shaken himself in anger, ready to finish the task. Then he paused as the words sank in, and he looked at the Bow Street Officer. There was nothing but compassion in his eyes, he might not condone what Alfred wanted to do, but he understood. Alfred sighed, swinging for killing a man would not achieve anything, and he had relaxed slightly as the anger eased.

Mr Frost had seen the change as soon as it began, and indicated that his officers should make the arrest and take the offender away. Alfred watched the scene, almost dispassionately, it was as if he had not been a part of the evening. Mr Frost approached Alfred once the area was clear.

“You made the right decision tonight, young man,” he said gently.

“I must be a coward,” Alfred had responded bitterly.

“You are a bigger man for realising your action was wrong and responding to that. Don’t ever consider yourself a coward. You did what was right, and that is harder than acting in the heat of the moment. What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know sir,” Alfred had responded truthfully. He had been so focused on getting revenge that he had not considered his future at all.

“Come and see me tomorrow,” Mr Frost had said. “We could use an officer like you.”