There were times, Jack thought, when meek, mild and shy worked in his favour in regards to Belle. This would have been one of them.
Dempsey smiled and sat on the couch. Again with no choice, Jack took an armchair and was slightly appeased when Belle perched on the arm in the perfect position for him to wrap an arm around her hips. Therefore he did this without delay.
“Sorry to say,” Belle put in, “but I was eavesdropping. Small house, hard not to do,” she told Dempsey.
“What he says does affect you, my love, and it is your house,” Jack pointed out.
She looked down at him and whispered, “Right, of course.”
Jack gave her h*ps a squeeze and looked back to Dempsey. “Why don’t we continue?”
Dempsey nodded and did just that.
“As I was saying, although Bennett moved on, Caldwell did not. So, when Brenna Addison saved that child from drowning –”
Jack’s arm got tight around Belle’s h*ps even as he leaned slightly forward and whispered, “What?” at the same time Belle whispered, “Oh my goodness gracious.”
Dempsey’s brow furrowed. “Brenna saved a child from drowning. She nearly drowned herself doing it. It was one of the reasons she was so beloved. Didn’t you know that?”
Jack shook his head. “I paid little attention to the legend.”
“I hadn’t heard that either,” Belle said softly.
“I know you two are aware of the similarities in their story to yours, of course. But I thought you knew all of it. And all of it is near to identical to your own. Including Caldwell pursuing Brenna because of her beauty and popularity but also in order to win her in an effort to best Bennett. He made it clear after drinking heavily and bragging in pubs that he was keen to show Bennett his prize. That prize being Brenna.” Dempsey’s eyes moved to Jack. “I’m relatively certain this sounds familiar.”
“It does, indeed,” Jack agreed, his voice low and annoyed but he wasn’t annoyed.
He was uneasy.
“Although I can see why you’d think Caldwell is reincarnated in Cole,” Dempsey carried on, his eyes moving to Belle and giving her a gentle look before they shifted back to Jack, “I hope you can see why I believe this isn’t true. The initials are the same. The marital treatment is the same.” He again looked to Belle and muttered, “Sorry.”
“Please don’t worry about it,” Belle replied quietly.
Dempsey nodded then his eyes went again to Jack. “But the behaviour, as I understand it, is your brother.”
It was. Absolutely.
And this could mean that it was Miles who pushed Belle down the stairs. He’d lived at The Point all his life, grew up there. He knew every inch not only of the castle but of the land surrounding it. He could get to and in the house without being detected. He could get out the same way.
His brother. His own f**king brother.
“We need to talk to Miles,” Belle said and Jack looked up at her to see her looking down at him as she continued, “We need to ask him to let Cassandra touch him.” Then her head tilted sharply to the side as her eyes moved over his face and she asked, “Jack, are you okay?”
Miles would not do that. There wasn’t a chance in hell.
And he was most definitely not okay.
“We’ll talk later, love,” Jack muttered and looked back to Dempsey. “Is there more?”
Dempsey shook his head. “Not now. I thought it important to share my theory with you without delay so you could be aware your brother posed a possible threat. I’ve been loaned some papers, books, diaries, etc. and I have more reading to do, a few more people to talk to and if I find anything, I’ll contact you.”
“Next time, call,” Jack ordered and Dempsey’s lips quirked.
“Did any of the stuff you’ve read talk about magic? Witchcraft? Anything like that?” Belle asked at this point.
“None at all,” Dempsey answered then finished, “so far.”
“So I wonder how that third ghost…” she didn’t finish likely because she didn’t want to cast her mind back to losing their child and how she did.