Page 42 of A Vengeful King Rises
“It seemed like the right thing to do, though I’m sure you’ll disagree.Which is why you’re here, is it not?”She shook her head.“Honestly, I feared what you might do to poor Henson if he tried to send you away.”
“No harm would have come to him, Mrs.Riley, I assure you.”
“And me?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets, the fingers of his left hand finding the button discarded by Evie’s killer.He flicked the item back and forth, felt the uneven texture from the embossed design adorning its surface.“I’m not in the business of hurting women.”
She swallowed with visible effort and took a sharp breath.“Then why have you come?”
“For the purpose of understanding exactly what happened.”He considered taking a seat but dismissed the idea as quickly as it had formed, preferring the authoritative advantage of towering over her instead.“What did you see the night of the Marsdale ball?And what the devil possessed you to go to the press with it?”
She flinched in response to the sudden hardness of his tone.“I’d gone to the garden for a breath of fresh air and to simply escape all the noise.At my age, peace and quiet is something I savor, which isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy social functions, simply that I prefer to attend them on my own terms.”A frown creased her brow.She took a shaky breath and gave him a hesitant look before adding, “I was nearing the end of the garden path, where the rhododendrons are planted, when I heard them.”
“What did you hear, exactly?”However distasteful, Adrian wanted to know.
“A man’s voice at first, though I couldn’t discern his words.”Mrs.Riley shifted uncomfortably in her seat.She clasped her hands together and gave a small shrug while fiddling with her skirt.“A woman’s moan followed.It increased in volume while I stood there.And then the man said…things which really don’t bear repeating.”
Mrs.Riley clamped her mouth shut and angled herself away from him.The flush in her cheeks spoke volumes.
“Unfortunately, I must insist.”Even though he wanted to grab her and shake her until the words spilled from her throat, he forced some measure of calm to his voice.“What did the man say?”
She sat, silent and unmoving for so long she started looking like one of the portraits that hung on the wall.Only the subtle twitch of her fingers suggested she might be gathering whatever courage she needed.
And then, when he’d finally found a strange sort of tranquility in the hush bearing down upon him, she whispered, so low he scarcely heard her, “‘Yes, Evie, just like that.’Some panting followed.And then he said, ‘I could shag you forever.’Your sister moaned something I couldn’t quite hear and then it sounded as though they both reached their crisis.”
Adrian stood, frozen, his feet rooted to the carpeted floor while the world spun around him.Until he recalled the coroner’s report and everything settled back into place.A precise kind of focus followed.He let himself breathe.
“What time was this?”he asked with a cool detachment that kept his rage at bay and allowed him to keep moving forward, even when he felt as though he were being pushed back by some invisible force determined to see him destroyed.
“Roughly nine o’clock, if I’m not mistaken.”
“And did you actually see my sister engaging in the act you’ve just described?”
“Yes.”Mrs.Riley gave him the sort of pitying look that would have led to a punch in the face, had she been a man.“There was a parting between the shrubs which allowed for a glimpse of dark hair and a light-colored gown.”
“But you can’t say exactly what color it was?”
“It was dark, Mr.Croft, my visibility impaired.”
“What about the man’s face?”Adrian pressed with rising irritation.“Did you happen to see who he was?”
“As I said, it was dark and—”
“In other words, you made an assumption based upon what an unidentifiable man said.”The impulse to grab her and shake her returned.How much force would it take to crush her bones?
Alarmed by the thought, he retreated a step.Losing control made men reckless, and that had consequences.Consequences he had no intention of facing.So he steeled himself against the urge to allow his fury full reign, and considered visiting Reed’s once this call had been completed.
“I know what I saw and what I heard,” Mrs.Riley insisted, her head now set at a stubborn angle.
“And you went toThe Morning Postwith it,” Adrian murmured.
“The gossip column’s author and I are longtime friends.We met for tea the day after the ball and I mentioned the incident to her.”
“And in so doing, you condemned an innocent woman to die.”
“I wouldn’t say tha—”
“You knew of the murders committed last year, did you not?Of the labels the murderer pinned to each woman?That he remains on the loose?”
