Home>>read Shadow of the Hangman free online

Shadow of the Hangman(22)

By:Edward Marston


‘My anxiety is all the more intense now that I know what you kept from me. I care for you. These past few days have been heavenly. I have felt true happiness at last.’ Her tone hardened. ‘Now I learn that my happiness could be snatched away any moment because you tempt Fate so wilfully.’

‘Hear the full story and you’ll not fret quite so much,’ he told her.

‘I’m not fretting, Paul – I am driven to distraction.’

Getting up from his chair, he bent down beside her and took her hand between his. He then gave her an attenuated account of the plot devised by Micah Yeomans, explaining how it had been discovered and frustrated. Paul pointed out that he and his brother were well able to perform difficult feats and had done so many times before.

‘We took a coil of rope with us, you see. That later became the staircase that allowed us to descend to the ground. All that Peter and I had to do was to tie it around a chimney and climb down it.’

‘What if you had fallen?’

‘Then we would not be having this conversation.’

‘No,’ she said, tartly, ‘I’d be talking to the undertaker instead.’

She got up abruptly, walked to the window, pretended to be looking through it and took out a handkerchief to dab at her eyes. Paul went after her and put both hands on her shoulders. He whispered endearments in her ear but they were met with a cold silence. He eased her around to face him.

‘If you knew how many times Peter and I have done this sort of thing,’ he said, airily, ‘you wouldn’t have a moment’s disquiet. We were born to it, Hannah. We are natural acrobats.’

‘You’ve frightened me.’

‘I hoped that you’d be impressed, my darling.’

‘What is impressive about someone falling to his death?’

He spread his arms. ‘But I didn’t fall. The evidence stands before you.’

‘Stop taking this so lightly,’ she reproached. ‘I’m serious, Paul.’

‘I know.’

When he tried to hug her, she stiffened and pushed him away. He offered her an apology but she was well beyond its reach. Hannah was fully roused.

‘You told me that your brother is married,’ she said.

‘That’s true – to a dear lady named Charlotte.’

‘Did he tell her what he was intending to do last night?’

‘Probably not,’ he replied. ‘Why upset her when there was no need? Peter would have told her afterwards when the danger was past and she could see that he was unharmed.’

‘You were not unharmed by that tussle in the warehouse. I saw the marks on your body. They were hideous.’

‘I explained that, Hannah. I had an accidental fall.’

‘You might well have had another last night and I would have been left alone to mourn you. It’s possible that Charlotte would have been mourning your brother as well. I didn’t realise that the pair of you were such madcaps.’

‘Some women might find that appealing,’ he contended.

‘Well, I am not one of them, Paul.’

When he tried to embrace her again, she stepped back out of his reach. He was perturbed. After the intimacy they’d shared, rejection was painful. Every time they’d been alone together before, she’d been warm and receptive. In the hope of winning her over, he offered a compromise.

‘You are right, Hannah,’ he admitted. ‘I should have told you.’

‘I’m glad you accept that.’

‘In future, I promise, I’ll be more considerate of your feelings.’

‘That would not come amiss.’

‘Next time,’ he vowed, ‘I’ll warn you if I have to face danger. You have my word of honour. Will that content you?’

‘No, sir,’ she said with biting anger, ‘it will not. You insult me by suggesting that it would. I’ll not stand idly by when you tell me that you are embarking on something that might conceivably end in your death. What kind of woman do you take me to be? Because she is married to your brother, Charlotte has no choice but to suffer whenever her husband walks towards danger. I am under no such compulsion regarding you.’

Rocked by her fury, all that he could do was to gesture his remorse.

‘There will never be a next time,’ she stipulated. ‘If you truly want me, you must give me proof of your love by giving up these daring adventures. I am in earnest, Paul. Put me and my needs first,’ she went on, her voice acquiring a searing edge, ‘or you may take yourself out of my life for ever.’

Paul felt as if he’d fallen from a rooftop and hit the pavement hard.





While her husband took a leading role in the various investigations that came their way, Charlotte Skillen was no mere bystander. Unusual as it was for a woman in her position, she, too, worked at the gallery as part of what had become a thriving detective agency. Her role was largely clerical, the main elements in it being the listing of the various clients and the upkeep of a record book of criminals with whom they came into contact. As she sat at the desk that morning, she tried to ignore the sounds of gunfire from the upstairs room where Jem Huckvale was teaching someone how to discharge a pistol with a degree of accuracy. Having listened to Gully Ackford’s description of Simon Medlow, she added some details she’d gleaned from Peter. Though she had never seen the man, she was now confident of recognising him from the pen portrait she’d been given.