Under The Moonlight

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Staring up at the ceiling, Andrew groaned in intense boredom. It just wasn't natural for him to be bedridden for such a long period of time with nothing else to do. He sat up straight when he heard muffled voices coming from the hallway.

''You must leave immediately, sir,'' Mr Fulham told the other person in hushed tones, making Andrew strain to hear more.

''Are you going back on your word?" the other man asked, suspiciousely.

''I will not have anything to do with your plans and I want my wife to stay out of this as well. You are not welcome here and you can take your women with you.''

''Then you will just be another obstacle in my way, Fulham. And I cannot allow you to deter me from my unfinished business. Step aside or your wife will become a widow in a matter of seconds.''

Andrew heard a faint click of a gun. The safety was off. Did this man intend to kill Mr Fulham?

Getting out of bed, Andrew rushed to the door, ignoring the lightheaded feeling in his head from the abrupt movement. Just as he turned the knob, voices from downstairs echoed along the hallway as the visitors entered the house. Heavy footsteps retreated away from Andrew's door when he had wrenched it open, finding only a pale-faced Mr Fulham staring at the far end of the hall, a haunted look on his face.

''Are you alright?" he asked the physician who jumped nearly ten feet in the air in fright.

''He-he... he... I...'' Mr Fulham stuttered, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

Andrew grasped the older man's shoulders. ''Speak up, man!" he demanded. ''Who was that man who threatened you?"

The physician gulped. ''That was Mr Smith, a physician like myself. He wanted me to keep you longer so that he could check up on you but then... I saw the pistol... in his hand when he was coming up to your room...''

Mr Smith? Could it possibly be the same man whose daughter was Cordelia? If so, then that would mean... he was the one trying to kill him.

''Which way did he go?" Andrew asked, digging his fingers into the poor physicians' shoulders as though the answers would come from out faster by doing so.

''I don't... he jumped out that window.'' he pointed to the open window at the end of the hall. That maniac had jumped off a  two-storey building.

Pursing his lips, Andrew released his death grip on the physicians' shoulders and stepped back. If Mr Smith was the man trying to kill him, then he needed to get out of here and take the Fulhams with him. They wouldn't be safe if they stayed here.

''Andrew?" he heard an angelic voice call his name. He smiled as Jasmine hiked up her skirts and hurried over to him. ''Are you feeling better?" she placed a palm over his forhead to feel his temperature.

''I am but I fear Mr and Mrs Fulham are in danger, Jasmine,'' he took her hand in his, gazing intently into her blue orbs. ''Mr Smith was here and he had tried to kill us,''

''What?" James and Charlotte exclaimed simultaneousely. Rosaline frozen in shock.

''Let's discuss this downstairs,'' Andrew said, realising no one paid attention to the petrified physician.

''And we have much to discuss indeed,'' Charlotte added.

James finally saw this as the opportunity to tell them all about what he had discovered in the Smith's home. They had all gathered in the drawing room and the Fulhams seemed so distraught with the whole situation. He showed Andrew the letter written by Cordelia and the others read it over his shoulder.