‘I … I …’

‘Whose tongue has puss got now?’ He leant in closer. ‘It was a blessing for poor Riley to be put out of his misery. It made me feel wretched just looking at his sorry face.’

‘You killed Riley because he was Tom’s friend?’

George tutted and shook his head. ‘Now, now, Miss Arnold, I took you for a moderately intelligent woman. I never said I killed Riley. He killed himself. The coroner said so. You need to be more careful if you don’t want to find yourself up before the judge on a charge of slander. Anyway, it was best all around. Having him reveal my debts to my father would have been far too tedious.’

A surge of adrenaline rallied Lou. She had found his soft underbelly. ‘What would your father say if he knew what you got up to in the back room of The White Lion now?’ She waited a second for the flicker of realisation in George’s eyes before adding, ‘If you ever harm a single Mandeville, I will see to it that your father finds out about your gambling debts and that you are ruined.’

George laughed again. ‘Angry words, Miss Arnold. But you need a little thing called evidence to back up a threat like that.’

‘How about a signed statement revealing your debts and details of a fictitious mine in South Africa. I’m sure a few men in Northampton, as well as your father and the police would like to see –’

Before she could finish, George’s hand was around her throat. ‘How dare you threaten me!’

She tried to push him away, but she was no match for his strength. She kicked out, but it only seemed to spur him on. He pressed his body against hers, pushing her so that the door handle dug into the small of her back.

‘If I were to silence you tonight, nobody would be any the wiser,’ he said.

‘Someone else holds the proof. If anything happens to me or a Mandeville, they are under instructions to deliver the evidence directly to the police and your father.’ It was a lie, of course, but she had to say something or accept that George was going to snap her neck and leave her slumped behind the curtain where nobody would find her until the morning.

George’s fingers tightened around her throat. She twisted from side to side, but it did no good. She tried to cry out, but the sound wouldn’t come. Even hitting him had no effect. He fumbled at her clothes, lifting her skirt, forcing his knee between hers and parting her legs. Oh no, oh God no …

‘Since you love your precious Mandevilles so much, I’ll leave your bones here for them to pick over. Once I’ve had my fill.’

He forced his lips over hers, his hand clawing at her underwear. His tongue rammed into her mouth. She did the only thing she could, she bit down, hard. George stumbled back, clutching his mouth. Lou held her throat, gasping for breath, the iron taste of George’s blood on her tongue.