The Aftermath

Chapter twenty four

Jessamine hurried to the address that Elijah had left on her door step with a note attached.

Jessamine Cushing-Sharpe,
Please come and meet me at the address attached as soon as you can as we are having a small problem with Allerdale Hall. More will be explained upon your arrival I hope you will come soon.
With love Elijah Blackwood.

She wondered what the problems were. Were the problems serious? Was someone hurt?

Jessamine was happy to not be at home, as soon as she had gotten home she had hurried straight to her room and shut the door behind her not wanting to speak to her mother, so she was relieved to find a reason to leave the house. Even if it was late and she was tired, or that it was a somewhat concerning reason that she had to leave for in the first place.

The carriage rolled along the streets speedily yet steadily. Jessamine kept the curtain drawn back from the window and watched the rest of the world go by in a blur of dark colours. Soon the carriage had pulled up to a townhouse and wondered where she was as Elijah lived on the other side of town.

Quickly she scurried forward towards the door and knocked as loudly as she dared to on the old red door. She was there for less than a minute before an exhausted looking Elijah opened the door. His soft hair sticking out in all sorts of directions as if he had been tugging at it and his eyes had dark circles underneath them. Jessamine had never seen him look unwell like this before, it alarmed her.

"Elijah are you okay? What are you doing here?" Worry lacing her words.

"I'm fine don't worry about me at all, just come inside and I will explain it all. Oh and as for where we are, we are at my good friend Jonathan's house he is also my business partner so he will be accompanying us to England... but residing somewhere else" he hastily added ushering her inside. There wasn't much in the corridor other than a hat rack that seemed bare, only one top hat balancing on one of the broken arms.

They walked in silence up the stairs all they could hear was the creaking of the wooden floorboard upon the staircase. Before Elijah opened the doorway that had appeared before them he stopped and looked at her for a few seconds before proceeding to speak. "Before we go in I just want to say Jonathan is..." He seemed to be racking his brain for a word. "Well it doesn't matter you will see for yourself" he ended with then pushed the door open to reveal a room with papers and books littered across the floor, the shelves and cabinets were also littered with different objects. Upon closer inspection the wall had multiple bullet holes which shocked Jessamine, she couldn't figure out why Elijah and Jonathan were friends they seemed polar opposites. Jessamine soon spotted who she presumed to be Jonathan sprawled across an arm chair on the far side of the room he looked just as tired as Elijah or even more so.

Barely glancing at Jessamine he closed his eyes before saying anything. "So Elijah I see you have returned with the lady that you betrayed me for" a slight tug of a smile was playing on both of their lips.

"And I worried your mood would have improved over the last three minutes" sarcasm dripping from Elijahs voice.

"You would be in a not so good mood too if you hadn't slept for 46 consecutive hours" he really was exhausted Jessamine thought. She wondered what was going on and why she had been brought here almost as if Jonathan had read her mind he Continued with what he was saying. "Your fiancée is probably wondering why you called her here at such short notice would you care to explain as I am extremely tired and wish to cease from talking" and with that he stopped talking and draped his arm over his face in a dramatic fashion. Jessamine had realised she hadn't spoken at all from stepping into the house.