Jo Goodman (45 page)

"Even if I said I always knew your confession to the captain wasn't true?"

It was a struggle to keep her voice steady when her heart was pounding so hard. "Even then."

"I did it to teach you a lesson, Mercedes." Severn approached her. He raised his hand and touched her cheek with the backs of his fingers. His smile was indulgent. "You must have suspected that. Does it surprise you I could be jealous? I am, you know. Weybourne held you out to me like a carrot on a stick. For years. I was incredibly patient where you were concerned. It was only when Weybourne disappeared that I pressed my suit. I thought you would be pleased to accept my protection. Instead you threw my offer back at me and accepted Thorne. Is it any wonder that I was moved to take more serious measures?"

She couldn't keep the horror out of her tone and she recoiled from his touch, pressing her back to the cold stone wall. "But to accuse me of murder?"

"You brought it on yourself, Mercedes." He stepped nearer. There was a certain wildness to her eyes that intrigued him and a cornered quality to her posture that made him want to keep her contained. This time when he touched her his hand grazed her cheek then continued on a downward path. He brushed her throat, her shoulder, her breast, and finally rested his palm against the curve of her waist. "You know you did. I offered my help after the earl's will was read and you turned me down. I came back because I recognized the powerful influence Thorne was exerting on you. You needed to hear from someone else with an interest in Weybourne Park."

"Please go," she said on a thread of sound. The hand on her waist seemed to exert enormous pressure against her diaphragm. She had to remind herself that it was only her imagination that made it seem so. "Your being here serves no purpose. I can't see that you can help me. Nothing you say will make any difference."

Severn gave her a small shake. "Hear me out before you judge. I returned to Weybourne Park to talk some sense into you. Then I found you in the tower room with Thorne, engaged in some absurd argument about the earl's death. He actually
believed
you might have done it. I never thought that, Mercedes. Never for a moment. What does it say when you agree to marry a man who questions your innocence and refuse the man who has never doubted it?"

"Yet you're the one who's made me seem guilty in the eyes of others."

"I had to," he said. "How else could I have you?"

Wrenching away from his light grasp, Mercedes moved to the cot. She stood at the foot of it, trying to place a small barrier between them. "You don't have me," she said. "I haven't heard anything that will make any difference. You went to a great deal of trouble to create the evidence against me."

Severn sighed but remained calm. "You're speaking of Ashbrook and Deakins."

"Two names I wish I had never heard."

"Mr. Patterson would be interested to know that they never heard of you."

"Until you paid them to tell him differently." Anger flushed Mercedes's features. "How could you do that?"

"How could I not? The opportunity presented itself and I took it. Mr. Ashbrook and Mr. Deakins will discredit themselves for the right amount of the ready. No one ever has to know they were paid to lie in the first place. What they were paid to remember they can be paid to forget."

Mercedes closed her eyes and hugged herself. "Oh, Marcus," she said miserably. She implored him to see reason. "My uncle wanted his sons to inherit the title. You set out to undermine his wishes. How can you think I would have you as my husband?"

"Have you no care for your freedom?"

"I care everything for it," she said steadily. "But I have more freedom in these four walls than I would ever have with you."

Mercedes never suspected he could strike so quickly. Severn's blow knocked her against the wall before she realized she was in danger. She tasted blood at the corner of her mouth where she had bitten her lip. Drawing herself up proudly, Mercedes moved away from the wall. "And you wonder why I won't shackle myself to you," she said.

Severn stared at the imprint of his hand on her cheek. Color rushed to fill her complexion, then faded until only a faint outline remained. "You'll hang," he said.

Her gray eyes sparkled with tears she blinked back. "For a murder you committed."

That set Severn back. He actually smiled. "You think I murdered Weybourne?"

"Why not? You wanted the title. You wanted me. His death meant you could contest Captain Thorne's claim to the Park. I believe that when you trapped me in my carriage at Tattersall's you had already met with my uncle. You knew where he was and that he intended to leave the country. I think he told you about the addendum to his will and it infuriated you."

"So I killed him."

"It's a possibility Mr. Roundstone will be looking into."

Severn shrugged. "Let your barrister do what he will but there's no crime to be laid at my door."

"You falsely accused me!"

"I reported things I heard."

"Things you admit you knew weren't true! You paid men to lie about me!"

He actually smiled at her rising passion. Her eyes sparkled and her complexion regained its color. "A small matter, I assure you. One that can be rectified if you would see reason. You really only have yourself to blame. Your own actions have caused you more grief than any of mine. I had nothing to do with the weapon they found in your room or your uncle's clothes being in your possession. There is a record of two thousand pounds paid to Ashbrook and Deakins and it doesn't bear my signature. You've been foolish to place your trust in Thorne. He can't help you, Mercedes. I can."

"Then do it," she said, challenging him. "Tell Mr. Patterson that you lied."

"But I didn't. Don't you see? That's the beauty of it. I told no lies. I paid others to do it for us."

His line of reasoning stole Mercedes voice for a moment. "You did nothing for
us.
It's only been for you." She pressed one hand to her temple. There was a blinding ache behind her eyes. "Nothing you've said changes my mind. Get out, Severn. Leave on your own before I call for the turnkey." When he didn't move immediately, Mercedes started for the door.

Severn caught her by the elbow. "I won't be back, Mercedes. You only have this one chance."

"I never wanted this chance in the first place," she said tightly. She pulled, but he held her fast. "Colin thought I should talk to you. I regret now that I listened to him." Mercedes winced as Severn's grip on her elbow hardened. When she looked at him his gaze was set distantly and she realized he was unaware of what he was doing. "Let me go Marcus. You’re hurting me."

Severn regained his focus. He looked down at his hand on her arm then at her. Now it was his smile that was a trifle sad, even disappointed. "Oh, Sadie, what have you done?"

His response startled her but not as much as the sound of the door being unlocked. "I didn't call for you," she told the turnkey as he pushed open the door. Her eyes widened when she saw the sheriff standing behind his assistant.

"No, but you were going to," the turnkey said.

"Release her, Severn," Patterson said. "My lady, you may step outside. His lordship and I have matters to discuss in here."

Mercedes felt Severn's hand drop away from hers. She glanced at him uncertainly. The look in his eyes could only be described as malevolent. She recoiled and hurried for the safety of the corridor. "I don't understand," she said to the sheriff.

Patterson pointed to the outer office. "Captain Thorne will explain. Please go."

"Colin's here?" Mercedes did not risk a glance back at Severn to see if he heard this news. The men stepped back to let her pass and she hurried down the corridor.

Her initial thought as she walked into the sheriff's office was that she was the target of more trickery. Colin was not immediately visible. Mercedes called to the turnkey, first for assistance, finally in alarm, as she spied Colin's body lying behind Patterson's desk. Dropping to her knees beside him, Mercedes raised Colin's head and cradled it in her lap. She ran her fingers through his hair and over his scalp. There was a lump at the base of his skull and her fingers were tinged with his blood when she pulled them away.

It was the sheriff who responded to her cry. He took in the situation at a glance and called for his assistant. "They've escaped," he told the turnkey. "They can't get far shackled together. I want you to find Douglas and that pickpocket and bring them back."

The turnkey tossed his ring of keys to Mr. Patterson and ran out the door. The sheriff's command that he fetch a physician followed him.

"Here's a sorry sight," Severn said from the doorway.

Patterson sighed heavily. He was going to have words with his assistant. Severn should have been locked in the cell. "I'm not finished with you."

"You are for now." He waited to hear a contradiction. When there was none, he walked out of the jail's open door and into the sunlight.

Shaking his head, the sheriff hunkered beside Mercedes. "How bad is it?"

"Not so bad, I think. He has a hard head. Usually I find it cause for complaint; just now I find myself thankful."

One of Colin's eyes opened. His outlook was blurred but Mercedes's face was still a sweet sight. "I'll remember that." The eyelid closed and Colin groaned as he tried to raise his head.

Mercedes stroked his hair. "Stay where you are. Mr. Patterson has requested a physician be found. There's no need for you to move."

Colin could admit to himself that he had no desire to move. If it were not for the sheriff's watchful and somewhat suspicious regard, Colin would have found himself remarkably content.

"How did this happen?" Patterson wanted to know.

"They rushed me," Colin explained. "I was sitting here at your desk and they were across the room."

"They were still shackled?"

Colin nodded. "One of them clobbered me with those iron wrist cuffs. I admit my attention strayed when I heard you and the turnkey leave the other cell and go to Mercedes's. They saw an opportunity and took it."

Mercedes thought Colin did not sound particularly remorseful. She wondered if Mr. Patterson noticed the same thing.

The sheriff rose and began rifling through his desk. The keys to unlock the shackles were the first thing he couldn't find. That was not surprising. It was when he began digging in a side drawer that he swore softly.

Colin struggled to a sitting position in spite of Mercedes's wish to keep him down. "What is it?" he asked Patterson. "My evidence drawer." The sheriff slammed the drawer so hard the massive oak desk vibrated. He kicked the corner of it for good measure. "He stole everything."

Mercedes assumed Mr. Patterson was talking about the pickpocket. It did not seem helpful to remind the sheriff that the man
was
a thief by trade. Had he thought that a few weeks in a cell and the threat of a hanging were going to alter Blue-eye's habits? She wisely said nothing.

"Everything?" Colin asked.

Patterson had begun pacing the floor. "Damn him," he said to no one in particular. He clicked off the loss on the points of his fingers. "He got the purses he pocketed at the fair, Miss Callahan's pearl necklace, Mrs. Lynch's beaded coin bag, and that earring no one ever claimed. God, that I have to explain this to his victims. Mrs. Lynch will never let me hear the end of it. And Miss Callahan... Miss Callahan never liked the idea that I wanted to keep the articles. I told her it would only be until the assizes."

Colin was unconcerned by the sheriff's litany of loss. "He stole everything?" he asked again.

"Yes." Mr. Patterson stopped pacing. "Didn't I just say so?"

Rising to his feet, Colin then helped Mercedes to hers. He leaned against the desk to steady himself. "The earl's pistol?" he asked. "His clothing?"

"All of it," the sheriff said heavily. He didn't look at Mercedes or Colin but stared morosely at the open door. "Even the flask, though I suspect that may be found again when we get Douglas back. He can't turn away drink."

Mercedes sat down slowly in the sheriff's large wooden chair. She looked uncertainly at Patterson. "What does that mean?"

He turned, stuffing his hands in his pockets, and sighed again. "It merely assures there is no case against you. Your conversation with Severn had significantly tipped the scales in your favor."

"You were listening?" she asked.

"Captain Thorne's idea," the sheriff said. His wiry brows rose and fell in small salute to Colin. "A good one as it turned out. My assistant and I dropped in on the conversation much the way Severn dropped in on you and the captain."

"Why did no one tell me?"

"I couldn't risk it," Colin said. "If you knew Mr. Patterson was listening, you may have tried too hard to lead the conversation. Severn would have become suspicious." He addressed Patterson. "I take it you heard enough."

"Enough."

"You questioned him?"

"There wasn't time for that. Your inattention to your prisoners cost me the opportunity to keep Severn here."

Colin accepted the rebuke in silence.

Patterson rubbed his chin. He swore under his breath again and when his hand dropped to his side it was curled in a fist. This turn of events was unacceptable to him. "Since there's no reason for me to remain with you, I have a search party to organize and a prisoner to find." He eyed Colin consideringly. "I don't suppose you'll want to join the search?"