Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

Marina sat in her bedroom, listening to the noise in the house slowly die out. She couldn’t help but think of Leilah, who had made risky moves just to save Marina from her uncle’s abuse.

In Marina’s head she wished Leilah to have run for the Stanton Manor, finding a better work there with better payment and better conditions. More time she could spend with her husband and two daughters. Yet, she wasn’t so sure. All she was sure of that was that Leilah had no probable return to the Cromwell.

The only thing that slightly shifted her thoughts was when she heard a soft knock on her window, jolting up from her seat in the bed. It had become a habit of Griffin, so she ran to the window in hopes of somehow jumping into his arms, asking her to take her away from here.

Instead, she was highly confused to be met with a strange, ginger haired man at her window. His hands were stained black from working, possibly a coal miner, and his hair flew in all directions. Marina looked at the man, perplexed.

“My Lady, please tell me you are Marina?” the man mumbled in a whisper, desperation in his voice.

“I am indeed,” Marina hesitantly answered, unsure of the intention of the man outside her window.

“I’m Leilah’s h-husband,” he introduced himself. “You can call me P-Philip.”

The man had a prominent stutter, something Marina believed Leilah to have mentioned before. The mention of Leilah struck another bout of ache through her heart.

“Oh, Philip, please tell me she’s alright?” Marina cried out to the man in a whispered tone, being sure to look left and right to avoid anyone catching them.

The man looked at her like she had a bird’s nest on her head, confused by the words she was speaking.

“My uncle treated her so badly today, all because she stood up for me,” Marina explained, hoping to have him remember the story Leilah likely had told. Yet, his confused expression remained fixed.

“Why, my Lady, I have no idea what you s-speak of. I had c-come here in search of Leilah- she t-tends to be home hours earlier and I j-just wanted to check if she’s a-alright,” the man whispered, a bit worried by what Marina had been telling him.

The feeling of swallowing needles returned to Marina, her heart palpitating in her chest from the words of Philip.

“Had Leilah not returned home?” she worriedly asked Philip, who shook his head in reply. She could see the worry on his face to be equal to the worry he felt.

“N-no, my Lady. The girls are c-crying at home because their M-Mama hadn’t come home y-yet,” he said, looking up at her in desperation, his expression begging Marina for an answer as to where his wife and mother of their daughters could be.

“Oh dear,” was all Marina was able to mutter, thinking of the endless possibilities as to where Leilah could possibly be. None of the options felt like a good outcome.

“I’d better go to a b-bluebottle,” Philip whimpered, grabbing his hat between both hands. The expression of worry had been replaced with sheer fear. “B-but if you f-find her, my Lady, p-please ask her t-to come home.”

“I promise I’ll send her straight to you, Philip,” Marina cried after him. “I’ll make sure she returns home safely.”

Philip turned back around for a brief moment, giving her a slight bow as a thanks. Marina was left watching the scrawny man walk away, still clutching his hat like a child who had lost its mother. The sight wanted to make Marina cry.

Instead, she was quick to put on a pair of slippers and brace herself to enter the rest of the Cromwell. She couldn’t just remain on her bed after hearing Leilah had gone missing- after all, Leilah had been her dearest friend throughout the time of the investigation.

“Marina,” a familiar voice whispered. Marina was in the act of bracing herself to exit the door, but got sidetracked as she heard the voice.

She hurriedly opened the curtains, not taking a breath before she jumped into Griffin’s arms, her upper body towering out of the window to reach him. She couldn’t contain it- she could merely cry into his shoulder.

Griffin made a sound of surprise as she jumped into his embrace, but he held her silently. Marina couldn’t help but cry the night’s stress into the crevice between the duke’s shoulder and neck. He rubbed her back in an effort to calm her. It worked.

“My Lady, what is the matter?” Griffin asked, visibly concerned at Marina’s state of distress. Marina was unsure of how to answer, too many things having happened in such little time.

“You can’t be stood outside, people are moving around to much,” Marina said, grabbing his hand to pull him into her room. The duke wanted to inquire, ask what’s going on but he climbed in nonetheless. He watched as Marina, in one swift move, closed the window and curtain before proceeding to lock the door. Griffin’s eyes remained on her, waiting for her to be still before he spoke.

“My Lady?” he asked, worried at what might be happening.

“Sit,” Marina whispered. The duke complied by sitting down on the armchair near Marina’s bed. Marina sat across from him. “Be sure to speak softly.”

Griffin didn’t speak, merely looking at Marina, the questions he had not having to be mentioned. His brows pulled together in confusion, creating a rainbow shaped pattern on his forehead.

“I don’t know where to start, I don’t know where to start,” Marina mumbled, some tears still falling down her cheeks. Her hands were trembling as she unintentionally bounced her leg. Griffin took notice.

“Wherever you feel most comfortable to start, My Lady. You have my full attention,” he said as he gently placed one of his large hands upon Marina’s trembling hands. She looked up at him, his eyes giving her a sense of calm and courage to speak.

“At dinner my uncle berated me like he never had before. He called me names and promised to marry me off to the Earl of Windermere,” Marina started, her gaze slightly averted from Griffin. Although she hadn’t been looking at him directly, she could sense the disgusted look on his face at the mention of the Earl of Windermere. Marina nodded in agreement with Griffin’s disgust.

“I couldn’t take it anymore, Your Grace. I had been so good at taking his vile sentences in silence but this evening it felt like he had gone several steps past the point I could bare. I started to yell back, berate him so he could have a taste of his own medicine,” Marina whispered, though her emotions prevalent in her soft tone. Griffin’s eyes grew wide, but he continued to hold her hand. He gently brushed the tip of his thumb over Marina’s fingers.

“Your Grace, I’m so, so sorry,” Marina cried as she remembered what she had done, how it was irreversible now. “I-I called him a cold murderer. How we knew that he had killed our fathers.”

Griffin tensed, his hand starting to slip from Marina’s, but to her surprise he kept his hand holding hers. She was expecting him to shout at her, throw things around, but he hadn’t. He looked visibly upset, but he remained quiet, composed.

“I’m sorry, Your Grace,” Marina cried again, thinking that if he could just yell at her, fight her on what she had done she would’ve felt better, but he didn’t. In response, he gave her a sad smile.

“That’s a bit unfortunate, My Lady,” he whispered, starting to rub her fingers with his thumb again. “We’ll figure it out, somehow.”

We? Marina was done for, having ruined any possibility of a future in one night. Griffin, however, could figure it out. Not Marina.

She stayed quiet on his statement, wanting to finish her tale of the hellish evening she and others had endured.

“He slapped me, quite hard,” Marina said with the intention of continuing, but Griffin startled her by jumping to his feet.

“Where is that worthless imp?” Griffin shouted in his whispered tone. He was headed for Marina’s bedroom door, possibly acting out of instinct. He wanted to fight uncle Josiah himself. “Dare lay hands on a lady!”

Marina had to move quickly to prevent him from stumbling into the rest of the Cromwell, jumping in front of him to block his way.

“I’ve already caused enough trouble today as it is, Your Grace. I cannot allow you to do the same,” Marina said, arms spread wide to prevent him from moving a step further. For a brief moment, he tried, moving left and right from Marina to get around her. She followed his tracks, still blocking his path until he ventured back to the armchair.

Marina sighed, taking her seat across from his once gain.

“It’s worthless fighting him, Your Grace. He always ensures to come out on top,” Marina said.

“I won’t allow him to hit you, if I had just been here I-,” he said in his fit of rage, but Marina interrupted.

“He would’ve killed us both,” Marina corrected him. “Besides Leilah…” she wanted to continue, but found herself choking on her words. This part was the hardest to explain the hardest to accept. She didn’t even know where Leilah was at this point.

“Leilah?” Griffin’s eyes widened in curiosity. Marina started to cry at the mention of her name.

“My Lady, what happened? You must speak!” he desperately asked Marina, after all, that was why he had ventured here. He was looking for Leilah.

“She hit Josiah, so hard his nose started to bleed,” Marina cried rather inaudibly, her sobs prohibiting thorough speech. She grabbed a pillow to cry into to prevent herself from making more noise.

Griffin was horrified, his body going numb for a second, his heart dropping to his shoes.

“She tried to prevent him from hurting me,” Marina got the courage to say. She kept thinking of the heroic thought that Leilah had done, unaware of the consequences it might carry. “Josiah chased her away.”

“That’s alright,” Griffin spat, rather enthusiastically. “I’d hire her, I’d treat her much better over at the Stanton.”

Marina shook her head, thinking about what Philip had come to ask her.

“Leilah’s husband was here just before you came,” Marina sobbed. “He came looking for her, she hadn’t returned home.”

“The ginger man walking outside?” Griffin asked, his voice starting to grow shaky. Marina nodded her head reluctantly, not wanting to admit that she was unaware of Leilah’s whereabouts.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Griffin said as he shook his head profusely, trying to comprehend what Marina was saying to him. “We don’t know where Leilah is?”

Marina nodded her head, still fighting to accept the fact that Leilah could be missing.

“Do you think your uncle could have done something, My Lady?” Griffin whispered, anger shaking in his voice.

“I’m unsure, Your Grace, but my uncle knows no boundaries,” Marina said, starting to pull herself together from the hundredth crying fit in one night. From now on, she needed to be strong.

“I’ll look for her,” Griffin said, starting to steady himself to jump back out the window. “I think it best if you stay in your room, my Lady, keep the door lock. I don’t trust you uncle- he had taken lives and I don’t doubt that he might do it again.”

Marina nodded, opening up the curtains and windows for Griffin the exit. He said his goodnights and took a simple leap to the grassy lawn below them.

He turned to venture in to the night, but was called back by Marina.

“Your Grace, wait,” she called. Griffin turned around, looking at her expectantly. “Be safe.”

“I promise, my Lady,” Griffin smiled. He to jog away, but was quick to turn around.

“I have forgotten to mention why I came here in the first place,” he huffed. “I was looking for Leilah. She gave me a teabag she found amongst Josiah’s belongings and I handed the teabag to Beth. Beth pinpointed some of the leaves to indeed be deadly nightshade. If we could just manage to find another teabag of similar composition in his belongings, we can trace the murder weapon to belong to him.”

“Then we have a case,” Marina gasped, her eyes widening at the realization. Griffin nodded with a smile.

“Might there be any way you can find a teabag without exiting your room?” Griffin asked, a bit jokingly as he knew it served as impossible task, yet, it lit something in Marina’s mind.

“I think there might be,” Marina replied.