Page 26 of The Secret of the Three Fates
“Yes, well. I’d appreciate it if everyone had a few less secrets at present.” I pinched another bite of the grassy cheese between my thumb and forefinger.
“I bought it off a man on the train, if you must know.”
I rolled my eyes, failing to disguise my amusement at the scene. “Leave it to you to clandestinely procure cheese.”
He smiled again, but it died away. “You’re growing thin. Mrs. Penrose will have my skin.”
“Serves you right for bringing me here under false pretenses.” I took another bite, letting its deliciously smooth texture melt on my tongue. “Mmm. On second thought, just feed me cheese and I’ll forgive any and all sins.”
A strange expression crossed Mr. Owen’s face. “All of them, my love?”
“Certainly most of them. Have you any grave ones you haven’t told me yet?”
“Stop torturing the cheese,” he grumbled, casting a glance at an uneaten piece still between my fingers. I stuck it in my mouth dramatically. Mr. Owen continued on, eyeing me much as Mrs. Penrose had been of late. Both of them complained that I needed to eat more, but my nerves always went to my stomach. “Ruan came by looking for you earlier. Tell me you’re not detectiving again.”
“That’s not a word—”
“I mean it, Ruby. I could not bear it if something happened toyou because of me. This place… I should not have come here. Should not have brought you here—Manhurst has been nothing but trouble.” He pulled his glasses from his face and rubbed his eyes.
“That’s quite the understatement.” I spied an apple sitting in the bowl before him and snatched it up, taking a bite. It seemed I’d found my supper this evening. “Have you given any thought to who might have wanted Lucy dead?”
He shook his head. “No, my love. Though I fear it has to do with me coming back here. I’ve avoided this place far too long. The ghosts are angry. They demand their price.”
I frowned, leaning forward, my apple momentarily forgotten. “Mariah, you mean? The spirit from the séance?”
He stared at his hands, flexing his fingers before sighing. “I do. Lucy was her twin sister. I would have thought she’d forgiven me after all these years but perhaps not.”
I leaned forward, elbows on my knees. “Forgiven you… for what… exactly? As it stands right now the inspector thinks I killed Lucy. I really need you to tell me everything you know about this place. Anything that could help me.”
His breath hitched but he did not speak at first.
“Captain Lennox told me I should ask you about Mariah. I’m asking now, Mr. Owen. Tell me about Mariah.”
“Andy gossips like a fishwife.” Mr. Owen took a swig of his Scotch and sighed. “But aye, I knew her. I do not know what you want me to say about her that would do any good after all these years. I once knew a woman, radiant as the sun. I loved her and now she is gone. It is the way of things I suppose.”
I blinked at him, taken aback by the sudden honesty. “She was your lover?”
“She was mywife.” He flexed his fingers, studying them in the waning light of day. “I wonder if there was truth in what she said. If I had killed her somehow. Pushed her away until she—”
“Your…wife…”I repeated slowly, the revelation rattling around in my brain. “Might you have told me abitearlier?”
“What difference would it have made?” He grumbled, lifting his eyes to mine. “You don’t tell me everything either. Like how you know this Mr. Sharpe fellow. Were you going to tell me that, hmm, lass?”
I sucked in a breath. “How did you know…”
“Ruan also gossips like a fishwife.”
I snorted back a laugh. I had never known Ruan to gossip, but I supposed there was no harm in Mr. Owen knowing about my past—in fact there was a bit of relief in it. One fewer secret between the two of us. “What exactly did Ruan tell you about him?”
He shook his head. “Not much. Only that he did not trust him. That you were afraid of him and to watch him.”
I arched a brow. “And nothing else?”
He shook his head. “No. Is there more to it?”
I wet my lips and shook my head. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him about New York, and my suspicions about Mr. Sharpe’s true identity, but I could not bring myself to add to his worries—at least not when I didn’t know for certain myself. “No. Nothing. How did she die?” I asked, bringing us back to safer waters—for me at least.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. She disappeared one night. Some say she drowned in the lake. Others that she ran away from me. But I loved her, Ruby. Gods, did I love that woman.”
