Page 99 of A Whisper at Midnight

Tilda realized Hadrian must have had a vision downstairs. Perhaps more than one. He seemed confident that Joanna had pushed Martha. And now he was asking if Joanna had helped with Louis’s murder. What had he seen?

“I—” Joanna closed her eyes. “He began to make noise. We couldn’t have him yelling the house down.”

“I am going to stand now, and your husband can help you up,” Hadrian said. “Do not try to run. We are going to fetch the police.”

Hadrian rose and stepped back from Joanna who opened her eyes. She appeared defeated.

Pollard took his wife’s hand and helped her to stand, his features a mask of disbelief and distress. “What have you done?” He dropped her hand as if he’d touched a hot iron.

“Louis Chambers was ruining everything,” she snapped. “How were we to launch this store when he couldn’t pay what he’d promised?” She fixed on her husband, her eyes wild. “He would have bankrupted us, and you were content to let it happen.”

“I wasnot.” Pollard’s bushy brows pitched in anger. “I was working to bring Oliver into the business.”

“You allowed Louis to forbid it!” she shrieked. “I had to try to convince Louis. Did you know he even attempted to seduce me? Disgusting, lecherous jackanapes.”

Pollard’s shoulders slumped. “I didn’t know.”

“Because I didn’t tell you.” Joanna exhaled. “What would have been the point? I knew you wouldn’t stand up to Louis. He needed to be stopped.” She glowered at her husband.

“So you visited Martha to ensure she kept your secret?” Tilda asked.

“She asked me to come, said she needed money. She wanted to exchange a brooch for money.” Joanna scoffed. “I told her to see a pawnbroker, but she said she’d tried, and he accused her of stealing the brooch. I have to agree with him. Can’t imagine why a chit like her would have something as expensive as that.”

“So instead of just refusing her, you pushed her?” Hadrian said, his tone slightly elevated. He briefly pressed his hands to his temple, and Tilda assumed his head ached from whatever vision he’d seen downstairs.

Pollard gestured toward Hadrian. “My lord, you still haven’t sat down. Are you still feeling ill?”

He’d felt ill? Tilda’s pulse had calmed in the last few minutes, but it picked up speed again as worry for Hadrian coursed through her. She moved to his side, angling herself toward him, and gently touched his back. “Do you need to sit?” she asked softly.

“Not at the moment, but thank you.” His gaze met hers briefly, and she saw the agony behind all the emotion simmering in his eyes.

“Why don’t we go downstairs?” Tilda suggested. “Mr. Pollard, do you have a seating area where we may await Detective Inspector Teague?” She would dash out to Leach and ask him to fetch Teague.

Joanna released her arms and turned on her husband. “You can’t let them send for the police! He’ll arrest me. I haven’t done anything wrong! I’ve only tried to protect our business, our livelihood!”

Pollard appeared anguished. “Joanna, I think you need to sit down. Or lie down.”

As he moved to take his wife’s arm, she jerked away and darted toward the stairs. Tilda followed in pursuit. But a third of the way down the circular staircase, Joanna slipped. Her arms flailed as she pitched forward and tumbled down several stairsuntil she hit the railing. If it had been a straight staircase, she would have fallen all the way to the ground floor.

“Joanna, my love!” Pollard rushed to his wife’s crumpled form.

Tilda descended to stand just above them. “I think she hit her head.”

Pollard rotated his wife so that her face was revealed. Her eyes were closed, and she appeared unconscious.

Hadrian joined Tilda. “That seems almost poetic,” he whispered.

Tears fell from Pollard’s eyes onto his wife’s cheeks, and Tilda felt rather sad for him. He seemed to have been completely unaware of his wife’s underlying violent nature.

Joanna’s eyelids fluttered open. “Edgar?” she rasped as she focused on her husband.

“I’m here, love. Are you hurt?”

She nodded but winced. “My head. And my ankle.”

“I’ll carry you downstairs,” Pollard said.

“I’ll help you,” Hadrian offered.