It's Always Been You by Victoria Dahl

Author:Victoria Dahl
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2011-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Kate tore frantically through the new stack of papers that had been delivered to her shop that afternoon. Door locked and lamps blazing against the dusk, she spread them out over her countertop and searched every page, every word for any hint of the investigation. Gerard was alive, she knew that much. The “vicious assault” against his person had been described in detail in the papers months before.

She’d been terrified at first, and then horribly confused. She hadn’t been named as the attacker. Not exactly. Instead, Gerard had happily spread a fantastical tale about a late night attack on the plantation, the night after his father’s death. He’d never seen his assailant, and could not say who’d struck the brutal blow. But his young stepmother, so recently widowed, had gone missing that same night. He was “deeply concerned” about her disappearance, especially considering the timing.

He hadn’t exactly damned her, but he’d skillfully painted a picture that could reveal her to be a villain or a victim . . . and it all depended upon his next words about her.

Despite her utter dismay, Kate was hardly surprised. Gerard had always been clever. Frightfully so. He’d framed this story so that he could damn her or save her. He now held the power.

The first bundle of papers that Mr. Cain had collected detailed the attack and the first days of the search for the missing Mrs. Gallow. Gerard had pleaded with the good English folk of Ceylon for help in the search. But that had been months before. He wouldn’t have left it at that. So Kate scoured the papers in front of her, terrified she’d find nothing, and equally terrified for news.

Her eyes caught on a familiar name and stuttered to a halt. Her name. And Gerard’s. A quick note that Mr. Gerard Gallow had sailed to India after finding evidence that Mrs. David Gallow had been seen there. The ambiguity had become less neutral and more suspicious. “Mr. Gallow refuses to address the question of whether Mrs. David Gallow was in distress during her journey or whether she fled Ceylon willingly.”

So Gerard had followed her to India. And if he found where she’d been in India, then he might follow the trail here. More worrying yet, though she’d written to the solicitor in London who’d asked so many questions about Hamilton Coffees, he hadn’t responded. She’d written again and received no response. It felt wrong. It felt . . . threatening.

Had Gerard hired that man to find her? And for God’s sake, what would that mean?

Her hands flew over the papers as she traced the lines, checking for more news. There was none, but these papers were still months old. Kate needed more information. She needed more clues. Perhaps Gerard had given up his search. Perhaps he’d already moved on to maligning her name, accusing her of things she’d never done.

You wanted him dead. . . .

That hadn’t been true, but she’d still felt terror at his words, because

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