Chapter Three:
The whine of horses close by brought me back from my thoughts; they were close by and dreadfully frightened. Following such was the sound of a struggle. Groans and anger echoed about me.
“What is going on?” I whispered, walking through the garden towards the noise that had distracted me as the sky began to darken. A storm was coming.
Lightning reflected off the knife that being held tightly in a dark figure’s hand. The figure grabbed the other’s throat. It was then that I heard the voices. It was James and Matthew.
“There is no use fighting me, James. I am going to kill you whether you like it or not,” Matthew sneered. I was so close that I swear I could feel the words going through me.
“Release me, Matthew, please,” he begged, holding the dagger as far away from his chest as possible; or so it looked.
The dagger was coming down towards him, closer and closer. Soon, the knife would be in my fiancé’s chest, and he would die. Thinking this, my breath turned raspy from fright and the cold air that surrounded the three of us. The storm was getting worse.
“Stop it!” I screamed, but my scream was covered by the rolling thunder. The next bolt of lightning lit up the darkness enough for me to see the men’s expressions. Matthew was infuriated while James was frightened so badly that his face was white.
It began pouring down rain as cold as ice, which stung as if I had just been cut with the dagger the man was holding. Suddenly, the knife began to slide out of James’s hands, causing a smile of pleasure to form at the corners of his mouth.
“Matthew, I promise I will not tell!” my fiancé screamed.
“It is too late for that.”
A scream rang from my mouth as the knife came down. It punctured his heart causing me to feel nauseous and faint. I know the sight drained the color from my face. It also brought back a memory to be forgotten.
The look of surprise that filled his face can only be explained as shock before he began to fall. He landed in a heap at the other man’s feet. As his blood mixed in with the falling rain, a smile of satisfaction spread across his face. It was as though his mission had been completed.
I began to back away so that he would not see that I had been watching this hideous scene, but I did not move fast enough. The look of pleasure left his face and in its place came a look of enrage and shock. My breath got caught in my throat and my heart skipped a beat.
The next thing I knew, he was charging towards me with the dagger in his hand once again. It gleamed from the bolts of lightning that were scattering across the night sky, and the blood had been washed away from the ice-cold rain. I did the only thing I could think of to do I darted out of sight.
“Come back here, Miss Pendleton,” he sneered, chasing after me.
“Leave me alone!” I screamed over my shoulder as I continued to run through the garden towards the entrance to the manor. Do you know how hard it is to run in a floor-lengthened dress through the rain? Not very easy. I proved that when I stepped on the end of my dress and fell to the ground with a thud. He tackled me.
“Let me go, Matthew. Please, and I will not tell anyone what I have seen,” I gasped, fighting him.
“I cannot take that chance, Mary Jane. You are too great a danger to let live.”
“Please.”
“You know,” he stated, ignoring me. “I really like you.”
“Then do not kill me.”
“I have to now that you have seen.”
“No, you do not.”
“Well, answer me this. If I do not kill you, how can I keep you from telling anyone that I murdered your fiancé?”
I was silent, not knowing how to answer his question. I knew that he would refuse to just trust my word so there was not much I could say or do.
“I could kill you very easily, you know…now…this moment. You could scream. But who would hear you? Then there is the fact that you could fight me. But I would win. So by talking, all you are doing is wasting your breath. If you value your life, then, I suggest that you be silent so I can think of what to do with you.
“Well,” Matthew said now to himself. “I have two choices. I can either allow her to live or to be killed. If I kill her then I could make it look as though the two killed each other…but then if I permit Mary Jane to live…I would have to take her with me.”
Oh, no, go with him or be killed? Someone must really hate me. Either that or curiosity really did kill the cat.
“Taking you with me would not be so bad…that is if you are willing to cooperate,” he then said to me.
“Someone help me,” I muttered under my breath. “Or knock me out of my misery.”
“I heard that. You are coming with me. I am sure I can find some source of pleasure in you.”
“What?! That is absurd, and you are crazy!”
He covered my mouth with his hand since I screamed. “One more scream like that and I will kill you without a second thought.” He paused. “And do not you dare try to get away for if you do I will slaughter you.”
That was when I bit his hand so hard that I tasted blood. The man cried out in pain and surprise before slapping me across the face so hard that my head seemed to vibrate. I felt dizzy and wanted badly to throw up. Fortunately, though, I was still able to comprehend what was happening.
This murderer rose in advance to carrying me in his arms to a carriage that was located in the wooded area close to our location in the garden. He placed me in it and I closed my eyes, not resisting.
I mean think about it. What could I do? Matthew Bromley had a knife and would kill me if I even made a move towards trying to escape. I was trapped with him in this murder. He had committed the crime while I had seen it. It was as though I had killed him myself. I felt just as guilty.
Moments later, Matthew climbed into the carriage beside me, ordering the driver to drive on. And that is what the driver did. Only he led the horses past the body of James Leroux. It lay there soaked in blood and the rain and I saw his face. My at one time betroth had his eyes and mouth wide open with fright.
As we left the Leroux Manor property, I realized one thing. I would never forget this night or his face or how I felt. How did I feel you ask? I will tell you. I felt empty like I had no soul.
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