Dark Assassin

Hester straightened her shoulders and mounted the steps to the front door, head high.

The bell was answered by a red-eyed parlor maid, and Hester told her that she was here to see Mrs. Argyll on a matter of great importance and urgency. Hester guessed from the girl's appearance that Argyll had already been arrested.

"I'm sorry, madam, but Mrs. Argyll is unwell," the maid began. "She isn't receiving today."

"I was in court yesterday," Hester replied. "What I have to say will prove Mr. Argyll's i

The parlor maid's eyes opened wide, then she stepped back and invited Hester in. She was flustered, happy, and still frightened. She left Hester in the withdrawing room, the only place even remotely warm from the embers of the previous nights fire. Such domestic duties had been utterly neglected that day.

Ten minutes later Je

"Good morning, Mrs. Monk," Je

Hester had to force herself to remember Rose Applegate's humiliation in order to say what she must. She was certain now that it had been Je

Je

"Yes, it is true," Hester replied. "I went into court believing, as did my husband, that Mr. Sixsmith was i

"Then you succeeded," Je

Hester looked at her. Was any of that hurt or outrage real? Or was she showing that emotion to mask the sense of victory she must feel now the prize was almost in her hands?

"None at all," Hester admitted calmly. "It is the fact that we were mistaken that is of importance. Your husband was not guilty, and I am almost certain that we can prove that."

Je

Hester hoped fervently that Sixsmith was not in the house. Was she taking a stupid risk? It was too late to retreat now.

"But you don't believe him guilty, surely?"

"How… how can I not?"

"Because you know without any doubt who it was that asked you to write the letter to your father, and since it was Sixsmith who paid to have him killed, it is impossible to believe that it was not also Sixsmith who arranged to have him be in the stables," Hester replied.

Je

"You are in love with him," Hester continued. "Yes, I know. So much is apparent. But however infatuated you are, it does not excuse the deaths of your father and your sister, and the shame of a suicide's grave for both." The anger and all her own old pain poured into her voice until it shook. She had to gulp for breath and try to steady herself. "You may not have known at first, but don't tell me you don't know now.'"

"I don't!" Je

"Terrible?" Hester challenged her. "It is terrible that Sixsmith could be guilty of killing your father, but not that your husband is? I think that judgment betrays your loyalties rather clearly, Mrs. Argyll!"

"You accuse me!" Je

"Of course I do. It was you who swore on oath that it was your husband who made you write the letter that lured your father to his death. You could not mistake such a thing. It had to be a deliberate betrayal of both your husband and your father! What does Sixsmith offer you that is worth that?"

Je

"Is he such a lover?" Hester went on, allowing her own past helplessness to drive her anger.

"How dare you!" Je

"I know love and hate, and the price you pay for each," Hester replied. "I know death, and I've seen better men than you've ever known give their lives for what they believed in. I've seen grief and war and murder. I've made more terrible mistakes, and I've loved till I thought I'd die of it. I've let people down because I've been weak or shortsighted, but I've never deliberately betrayed anyone. You betrayed your father, your sister, your husband, and Rose Applegate as well. Was that really worth it just to lie with Aston Sixsmith?"

Je

Hester climbed to her feet slowly, hand to her burning cheek. "I see that it wasn't," she observed.

Je

Hester was prepared this time, her own hand ready, fist closed. "Sixsmith murdered the assassin," she said. "Shot him and left him to be crushed and buried under the cave-in. And don't bother to argue that. It was what gave him away. He described the man as he was when he was killed, not when Sixsmith said he paid him. It was his only mistake, but it was enough. It'll save your husband from the rope. Or is that not what you want to hear?" That was an accusation with the bitterest contempt.

"I don't want any of it!" Je

Hester did not bother to argue. "He murdered your father and your sister, and he's going to murder your husband. Is that the sort of man you trust to look after you, not to mention your children? If you've got any wits left at all, you'll save yourself while you can. Your husband's going to be freed, whatever you do, and Sixsmith will hang."

Je

Hester forced herself to smile, but she knew it was a cold, uncertain gesture. "Are you prepared to wager your life on no one finding evidence, now that they know where to look? More than that, are you sure your own future is safe with a man who will kill when it suits him, who betrayed the man who employed him and trusted him by taking his wife and who set him up to hang for a murder he didn't commit? Look who is dead! Are you sure you are not the next, when your usefulness to him is over, or he finds a younger, prettier woman who isn't weighed down with another man's children? Or could it be that your children are heirs to the whole Argyll inheritance? Could that be your value to him? And if you marry him, whose will it be then? Toby's, dead, too! And Mary."