The Duke's Masked Wife

247 All in one room (1)

“You know, I am starting to regret pushing for you to join the marriage club. From the moment you said I do to Alessandra I have hardly seen you. That is not a good thing,” Tobias shook his head.

“That is not true. I used to avoid you more than this,” Edgar replied.

“It is not. You used to visit at least once a week and send me a letter three times a week to keep me updated on the case. Now, look at you. You suddenly took a trip out of town and punched a relative. Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t have someone stalk you. Again,” Tobias added since he had someone keep an eye on Edgar before.

It didn’t last long as the man Tobias sent to trail Edgar was returned to the palace tied up with rope and a note in his mouth which stated, ‘Stop fucking watching me.’

“Lovely times,” Tobias muttered. “Dominic at least cares enough to send me letters. I have to say, I always thought I would be the one to punch Daniel first. He’s not allowed in the palace because the first time he met Hazel he said she looked nothing like the women I would normally pick. Who the hell says that at a wedding and to the new queen?”

“Why did you call me here, Tobias? You don’t have to step outside the palace but surely you have not missed how much it is snowing outside. It better be important,” Edgar said.

With a snow day like this, he could be home trying to convince Alessandra to share a warm bath with him but instead, he was looking at Tobias.

“Relax. I’ll send you back to your wife in an hour or two. By the way, you don’t like me bothering you but I am bothered by your problems. Desmond’s mother, Greta Barrett, has been making a lot of complaints to the palace about her son’s death and wants you to be arrested. As if that would ever happen,” Tobias grinned as he had no plans to ever throw Edgar in jail.

If Edgar were to ever be locked up he had many people to bail him out or destroy the jail. Edmund still had many connections around the kingdom though he had stepped away from his life in the palace and dealing with politics. Besides, a guard would have to be a fool to try arresting Edgar.

.....

“I’m sorry about that. I will deal with her shortly. Well, Alessandra intends to deal with her. Get back to why I am here so I can leave before the snow piles back up on the roads,” Edgar said, wanting to be out of the castle before the snow would make him have to stay here overnight like last time.

“Sorry. I am a little bit in shock that you are apologizing to me for that. Right, you don’t have to worry about me pestering you about the trouble at the border anymore. Rafael has accepted to take care of it with his men. He will be in the palace in two days before he heads to the border. It’s interesting because when I told him about the trouble at the border, he sent me a lengthy letter with plenty of curses,” Tobias balled up the letter and threw it at Edgar for him to read.

Tobias asked, “Have you heard he’s having trouble with a maid? First, you marry a woman rumored to be cursed and now Rafael has fallen for a maid. I had two women picked out for you two but now that’s all ruined. Don’t get me wrong. I like Alessandra,” Tobias pretended to wave a white flag after Edgar glared at him for mentioning another woman. “Hazel tells me your wife has you wrapped around her finger.”

“Asshole,” said Edgar.

“Hey!” Tobias exclaimed. “I just said I like her.”

Edgar held up the wrinkled letter he was reading. “I was only reading what Rafael wrote to you.”

“Seems too coincidental you only read asshole out loud. If I didn’t like you so much, I would have tried tossing you in jail or sending you off to war. Anyway, you missed a murder in town. An innkeeper will be hanged for killing a butcher and his wife. Seems like he found out about their affair and his child not belonging to him. Can you imagine finding that out after years of loving your wife and child?” Tobias tapped his cheek as he thought of what he would do in that situation.

The story Tobias spoke of sounded familiar to Edgar but he did not care enough to try remembering why.

“I don’t have to worry about it because my wife is loyal. I need to get rid of William Lancaster soon. Alessandra is worried he might still want her. It is odd how quiet he has been these days, isn’t it?” Edgar stood up from his chair.

Tobias also found it to be suspicious. “I find it intriguing how he goes silent and suddenly, the person taking the girls stops leaving trails. They are toying with us. I would bet the throne that William has a hand in their disappearance. He likes girls far younger than himself. We just need evidence to lock him up even for an hour to get something out of him.”

“My suspicion of him being the one behind the missing women is starting to fade away. A lot of the young women he took to be his wife, mistress, or whatever was handed to him by their own families to pay off debts. None of those women come out of the house he owns but none of them are the girls we found dead. He didn’t always have this wealth and power. It must be entertaining to have families hand their daughters to him. You’ve heard that he has a weird collection right?” Edgar asked.

“Yes. Of many things around the kingdom. He’s deemed himself a man for good art,” Tobias repeated what William himself once said.

“Art does not have to be a painting or a sculpture. He has a liking for rare things and that could be a person. That is why he wanted my wife. A young woman rumored to be cursed and wears a mask. He was never going to marry her, just add her to his collection of women. The game for him is collecting girls through debt. That is why I doubt he is the killer,” Edgar gave his reasoning.

William’s little game was easy to understand. He was once a man no one cared for but after he gained power, it would be amusing for him to have men ready to exchange their daughters for money. He must feel on top of the world.

Edgar had someone watch William’s people and found that William did not accept every girl presented to him. He had a certain look he wanted the young girl to have. There had to be something different about the girls compared to every other girl in the kingdom.

Edgar found the person kidnapping the girls and killing them to be different. Some bodies showed up right after the girls went missing or it could be months. Girls weren’t being taken in large numbers at a time. It was always one and as soon as that body was found someone else would go missing soon after. The girls were all different from each other from their appearance to their status. The only thing they shared was the same age group.

Their killer seemed to be looking for something from these girls and once they didn’t fit what this person was looking for, the girls were killed.

“So, we still have to watch William to uncover what happens to the girls he gets, and now we have to find a completely new suspect. Dammit,” Tobias smacked his hand on the table out of frustration. “It could be anyone in the kingdom, Edgar. That is what scares me. If it is not the creep who has a liking for collecting young women, then who?”