Page 44 of One Wicked Secret
Had they planned to hurt her?
Did they know she held the clues to finding her father’s journal? Did they know a solicitor held copies of documents proving fraud and hoped to blackmail Magnus, not realising he was clueless?
Dread settled heavily in his gut as they neared the cottage, a small stone building tucked away on the edge of the grounds. Weeds littered the gravel track, sprouting around the doorframe and stone walls. If only they had grown into an impenetrable jungle to block their way.
Rothley forced the swollen door open. He searched every room before taking up a position outside, standing guard like a soldier on duty.
With tentative steps, Elsa entered the house, moving through the sitting room as though the floor might give way beneath her. She ran her palm over the dusty sideboard, her touch lingering as if searching for something she’d lost.
“Have you been here before?” he asked, watching her closely. The thought of her alone with Carver made his skin crawl.
“No, never. Not even as a child when Mr Carver’s predecessor lived here.” She glanced around the small sitting room, moving to pick up the book on the desk and checking it didn’t belong to her mother. “Nothing here is familiar.”
The remark relaxed his tense shoulders. He could manage his own harrowing thoughts, but he prayed her memories remained a blur.
“We should move to the bedroom,” he said, reluctantly leading the way. “I can leave you alone if you’d prefer.”
“I’ve spent enough time alone. We will tackle this together. As we should have done in the beginning.”
He felt the sting of her reproach. “You know why I left you in Henley.”
“You should have told me the truth before we exchanged vows. A lady deserves to know why a man is marrying her.”
“You know why I married you.”
“Yes, to save me from the noose.”
“And because I had driven myself mad, dreaming about having you. These last six months have been torturous.”
Her head snapped towards him, her gaze lingering on his mouth as it had that night in the hothouse. “Never keep secrets like that from me again. There’s something strangely arousing about your candid confessions.”
He managed a smile. “That was tame.”
“So you’re still telling me half-truths?”
“The next time we kiss, I’ll make sure I vocalise every thought.”
Elsa smiled too, her lips so plump and rosy he could kiss her now. But the light in her eyes dimmed when they reached Carver’s open bedchamber door.
Everything was as Daniel had left it the night they buried Carver’s body. A clean blue quilt covered the bed, the mattress beneath it new. Not a trace of blood remained on the boards where Magnus had wrapped the body in sheets.
Elsa closed her eyes and whispered a prayer, asking the Lord for strength. She pressed her hand to her chest, as close to her heart as the sling would allow.
Strained seconds passed.
“It’s as if that day never happened,” she said, her voice so fragile it broke. “Why can’t I remember? Why does it feel like it happened to someone else?”
He stepped into the room, the vision of her naked withCarver like a blade to his heart. “Perhaps you don’t want to remember.”
“I’m afraid to remember.”
“I shouldn’t have brought you here.” Not wanting to add to her trauma, he focused on the case. “We searched high and low that night and found no clues to the murderer’s identity. Can you think of anything that might prove useful?”
She stood frozen to the spot, staring at the sparse room. “No. I’m sorry. My mind is empty. Were there no clues amongst his personal effects?”
“Other than clothes and grooming items, we found nothing else here. Someone emptied his desk and took the leather folio he used for work.”
“What did you do with his clothes?”
