Excerpt: Heart of Silver

“Why did you have to leave Kit,” she asked out loud. “Why did anyone thing they had the right to take you from us?” Silence was her only answer. “I miss you. You can have my heart if that’s all that’s keeping you from returning to me. It feels as though someone’s ripped it out already.”

She jerked upright when harsh laughter echoed from all around her, ready to vent all the built up rage and sorrow at Kit’s murder at the person who had dared interrupt her and violate her solitude. Then she smelt it: sulphur and brimstone strong enough to overpower even the lilies that had previously dominated the air with their scent. She looks around wildly, trying to determine the source of it and then spots him. Not a particularly ominous vision at first; just a pair of well tailored trouser legs with a pair of immaculately polished shoes underneath. She couldn’t see the rest of him hidden by the coffin as he was.

Loath as she was to use his body and its resting place as a shield, Frankie really didn’t feel comfortable crawling underneath the coffin to get a better look at him nor getting to her feet without a solid object between them. Especially considering the door was locked and the funeral director had been gracious enough to leave the key with her so that she wouldn’t be disturbed without prior invitation. Which this man most certainly did not have.

She climbed slowly to her feet, skirts falling away with a faint rustling noise. The intruder was tall and handsome, impeccably dressed in the latest fashion with a silk top hat set at a jaunty angle on his shining auburn hair. He was leaning indolently against the door frame, a wry smile on his face and a cane tucked under his arm.
“Get out,” she snapped at him before she was even aware she’d actually spoken. The smile twisted into a pout and he pushed off from the wall and began to walk towards her, cane and boot heels clicking against the floor as he moved.

“So rude,” he said in a voice of rich velvet. “No common pleasantries to inquire as to who I am or what I might be doing here. Just a blunt dismissal. Get out indeed. Charming my dear, utterly charming.”

“I have no need for common courtesy here,” she bit out. “This is a private viewing for family and guests only. You have requested no invitation and thus none has been issued. You are unwelcome and this is a gross invasion of my privacy. I insist that you leave at once before I am forced to call the manager!”

He ignored her demands and simply strolled up to the edge of the coffin and peered down into it briefly. She suddenly tensed, wondering if he was planning to touch it in anyway. She couldn’t stand the thought of this man laying hands on any part of her brother. But he kept his hands to himself and quickly turned his eyes back to her.

“Fine, you don’t want to know who I am. I can understand that. You are grieving after all. I can even forgive your abdominal rudeness towards a stranger who wishes you nothing but goodwill. But don’t you want to know why I’m here?” He leant forwards and she tensed again as the open flaps of his coat came dangerously close to brushing against the edges of the coffin. “Don’t you even want to know how I got in? Without alerting the kind gentlemen who run this establishment and protect your solitude? And through a locked door?”

She swallowed hard. “I presumed you stole in by such means as to evade detection,” she said. “And that you entered the room by picking the lock or some other villainous act.” But the story rang false even to her. He let out another peel of harsh laughter, so at odds with the rest of his appearance. He started stalking around the coffin, edging closer to her. She wanted to back away but couldn’t stand the idea of leaving Kit’s side, leaving him exposed to this man’s presence.

“True, that is a possibility my dear,” he said in a voice far merrier than his laugh. “But it is far from empty in the rest of the building. Surely someone should have spotted me. And as for yourself, you could not have been so lost in your grief that you failed to notice such attempts to fiddle with the lock or the door opening after a successful attempt at such.”

There wasn’t much Frankie could say to that. He really did have a point. So instead she said nothing and just edged a little further around the coffin as he continued his approach.

“Sir,” she said, her voice strained as he finally came around to the same side as her, level with Kit’s feet. “I must insist that you come no closer. Whether you are a thief or not if you continue to approach me I will scream.”

“And what makes you think you screaming will do a blind bit of good?” That comment froze her cold, but he did stop. “But if you insist. There, no closer. Perhaps now you will consent to do me a favour. Honour one of my requests.” He smiled at her, a charming smile that made her skin crawl. “That is the polite thing to do, is it not? Common courtesy. That is what I wish to return to. Basic introductions, requests as to why I am here and what I want as opposed to just telling me rudely to leave. Do you think you can do that my dear?”