chapter 39
Malcolm peered into the darkness as the speaker stepped closer. It was the red-headed man from the train station who'd accused Eldon of murder. At the time, he had been sure the man was insane. "What do you want?"
"'Ere, now. That's no way to talk to the only man who can help you and the miss, now is it?"
"Bree? You know where she is?" Malcolm eyed him closely.
There was no proof the man hadn't taken her himself. Maybe Eldon wasn't even involved.
"That's the name. That's what 'e called her. The pretty Irish lass from the station. Aye, I know where she is. And I know the bloke what's got her. He's a killer, he is. She don't have no chance if'n we don't help her right quick-like."
Malcolm stared hard into the pale eyes glinting in the low light. Dunson? No, wait, Dunby. Fred Dunby. With no real choice in the matter, Malcolm said, "Get in. Where are they?"
"You don't need the car. They's down there, in a carriage house." Fred jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
Malcolm steered to the side of the road and switched off the car. The other man started down the dark alley at a good clip and Malcolm hurried to catch up. He stayed a step or two behind, still not entirely convinced of the man's innocence.
"How do you know they're here?" he asked suspiciously.
"Shhh," Fred said, finger to his lips. He pointed to a weathered story-and-a-half structure. The lower side window was barred and dark, and the upper gable end a solid wall 248
An Unsinkable Love
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with worn fish-scale shingles. "I been doggin' him ever since I saw him at the station in New York. I was out there at the house watchin' when he followed the girl in the big car tonight. I wanted to find out what he was up to. Then I come across the dead fellow in the road and the big bastard lit out with the girl. He drove the blue car in there, with her. I heard her scream."
Malcolm stiffened. "What happened? What did he do?"
He felt rather than saw the man shrug. "Dunno. I heard a slap and mumbling and cursing then they went up some stairs. But I know what he's capable of. I watched him shoot an officer on the Titanic without even blinking an eye. He would'da killed me too, if I hadn't let him in the lifeboat. He said Timmy told him the other blokes found different lifeboats, but seein' how they didn't hardly let any men in the boats, and I ain't been able to find Timmy, I been wonderin'
about that too."
The memory of the Titanic officer who'd been shot, and the two bludgeoned men he'd found nearby—one a steward, the other a crony of Eldon's—flashed in Malcolm's mind. Then there was Carlisle. Fear for Bree and fury at Eldon's lethal bent sent adrenaline roiling though his veins. Malcolm reached for the door.
Fred put his hand on Malcolm's arm. "It's locked. I already checked."
He tested the latch anyway. Through a narrow gap between the doors, he saw a chain and padlock. He walked over to the corner and peered around—another barred window. As he turned back, his jacket snagged on a piece of 249
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metal. It was one of three heavy iron hinges pinning the door at the corner of the building.
Malcolm smiled grimly. He jogged silently back to the car and retrieved the custom-made toolbox from under the passenger seat. Back at the coach house, with Fred breathing nasally beside him, he used a big screwdriver to lever the pin out of the lower two hinges. He couldn't reach the topmost one, but when he tugged the doors below the metal flanges, he found the old wood rotted at the bottom. The two of them were able to pull the lower edge of the door away from the building enough to crawl through.
Inside the dark carriage house, they moved carefully around the car, avoiding trash strewn about the floor.
Scrapes, thuds and muttered curses echoed from upstairs. It was hard to hold back, but Malcolm worried he might cause Bree more injury if he ran up the stairs without knowing what he would be dealing with. The first tread of the stairs creaked loudly, and a yelp from upstairs was abruptly cut off. Malcolm gave up on caution and bolted up the rickety flight. He burst through the door at the top of the stairs—and skidded to a halt.
[Back to Table of Contents]
250
An Unsinkable Love
by Terri Benson
An Unsinkable Love
Terri Benson's books
- A Man for Amanda
- Dance Upon the Air
- Moon Island(Vampire Destiny Book 7)
- A game of chance(MacKenzie Family Saga series #5)
- Death Angel
- Loving Evangeline(Patterson-Cannon Family series #1)
- A Changing Land
- A Clandestine Corporate Affair
- A Gentleman Never Tells
- An Inheritance of Shame
- And Then She Fell
- Anything but Vanilla
- Anything for Her
- Anything You Can Do
- A Rancher's Pride
- A Stranger at Castonbury
- An Act of Persuasion
- Angel's Rest
- Be Good A New Adult Romance (RE12)
- Beauty and the Blacksmith
- Beauty and the Sheikh
- Blood and Kisses
- Captain Durant's Countess
- Cardwell Ranch Trespasser
- Cavanaugh on Duty
- Chances Are
- Cinderella and the Sheikh
- Currant Creek Valley
- Cowboy Enchantment
- Dance With Me
- Dangerous Refuge
- Dicing with the Dangerous Lord
- Down and Dirty (Dare Me)
- Ein Mann fur alle Lagen
- Emancipating Andie
- Entanglement (YA Dystopian Romance)
- Forever and a Day
- Grace Anne
- Guardian Wolf
- Her Hesitant Heart
- Her Man in Manhattan
- Highland Defiance
- Meant-To-Be Mother
- Highland Heiress
- Highland Master
- Highlander Most Wanted
- Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek)
- Kiss and Spell (Enchanted, Inc.)
- Lady Vivian Defies a Duke
- Lanterns and Lace
- Leather and Lace
- Lightning and Lace
- Lost and Found
- Meant to Be (Heaven Hill Series)
- More Flirts! 5 Romantic Short Stories
- More Than One Night
- Need A Want Companion Novel
- Night Maneuvers
- No Stranger to Scandal
- Norma Jean
- NYC Angels Flirting with Danger
- Once and Again
- Operation Endurance
- Radiant
- Real Romance
- Rock and a Hard Place
- Roman Holiday
- Sand Angel
- Scandal at the Cahill Saloon
- Scene of the Crime Deadman's Bluff
- Second Chance
- Seductive Company
- Sins and Scarlet Lace
- Stranded with a Billionaire
- Strangely Normal
- Tap Dance (Dance Series)
- The American Bride
- The Banshee's Desire
- The Banshee's Revenge
- The Devil's Heart The Chattan Curse
- The Englishman
- The Game Changer The Final Score
- The Rancher and the Event Planner
- The Reluctant Wag
- The Texan's Contract Marriage
- Translation of Love
- Urban Venus
- Want (Stephanie Lawton)
- Wanted (Amanda Lance)
- The Raider_A Highland Guard Novel
- The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress
- India Black and the Gentleman Thief
- Take This Man
- The Wiccan Diaries
- The Swan Book
- How To Be A Woman
- It Takes a Scandal
- An Heir to Bind Them
- Passion and the Prince
- More Than a Fling