'Well, ye see, it's like this-'
'Do be quiet, Bernard.'
Meggie looked beyond Bernard Leach's right shoulder to see Lord Kipper standing just inside the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, wearing riding clothes, holding a single lit candle in one hand.
'Eh, she woke up, milord.'
'Yes, I see that she did. You may go keep watch, Bernard. Oh, by the way, did you kill Thomas?'
Bernard Leach grunted, not looking at Lord Kipper.
'Did you, Bernard? While he was sleeping? While it was so easy since he was helpless, at your mercy?'
Bernard Leach darted a look at Lord Kipper, then his eyes slid away again. He was shaking his head, back and forth. 'Oh no, my lord, I jest couldn't do that. Known him all his life, little Thomas. A fine boy, an excellent man. Only her, my lord, only her, and here she is. Not Thomas, I'll never kill Thomas. I'll jest not do it.'
Lord Kipper sighed deeply. 'We will speak of this later, Bernard. Go keep guard.'
Thomas was alive. Meggie was so relieved, so very grateful to Bernard Leach that she would have given him everything she owned. Because he'd refused to kill Thomas even though Lord Kipper had ordered him to.
Bernard Leach nodded and took himself out of the room. It was a single room, rude, bare boards forming the walls and ceiling. A cottage of some sort, likely abandoned given the filth she now saw. It was dawn and gray light was seeping through the dirty windows. Years upon years of dirt.
'Where is this place?'
'Actually, you are in a storeroom just behind my stables. No, don't think you'll be rescued. No one ever comes here, particularly the men searching for Jenny MacGraff. Why would they? I am Lord Kipper, you know.'
'Why do you want both Thomas and me dead?'
Lord Kipper shrugged. 'I realized yesterday when Thomas and your father went around to ask each of us why we believed someone was trying to kill you that everything was collapsing about me. Someone, sooner now rather than later, would realize it had to be me.'
'Someone?'
'Yes, Libby, of course. Even though I have her in my bed again, I knew I couldn't completely trust her to keep quiet if she did realize what I was doing. She's got an odd streak of honor. It only shows itself on rare occasion, but I really couldn't take the chance.'
'I don't understand. Why did you think Libby in particular would realize the truth?'
He only smiled at her. 'It's been a very long night, a night that has kept me quite on edge. I'm really not used to that. But the night is over and soon all this will be as well.'
Meggie heard a noise. It was a soft moan, just a soft whisper really, the sound of someone barely conscious, moving around just a bit. Meggie tried to sit up, but her shoulder hurt very badly and she fell back. The dizziness hit her again, hard, made her feel as if she were floating for a moment. When the dizziness finally eased, when she saw him clearly again, Lord Kipper no longer looked remotely beautiful. His eyes looked dark and flat, he looked a bit mad. Lord Kipper, the person responsible for all this misery. At least it wasn't either of the mothers, thank God.
She licked her dry lips. 'Who was that?'
'That was Jenny MacGraff.'
Did Jenny discover what you were doing and you were afraid she would tell everyone?'
Lord Kipper laughed. He pinched out the candle because the room was filled with the dirty light filtered through the filthy windows. 'Jenny MacGraff is incapable of finding out anything, as you mean it. No, she is merely a simple merchant's daughter. She knows nothing, she is nothing. Nothing at all. Well, she is reasonably pretty and clean, her brain not too dulled by her breeding, and that does surprise me. No, she didn't discover anything. I merely wished to kill both of you together, when all the damned searching was finally over. I even plan to bury you together. I think that is quite fitting.'
No, she wouldn't let his words freeze her, terrify her into madness, she wouldn't, but the paralyzing fear was there, deep inside her, taking hold, growing, getting stronger. Thomas knew she was missing. He would figure it out. She just had to stay alive. She had to use her wits. What were wits anyway? She had to try. Meggie drew a deep breath, said, 'I don't understand, Lord Kipper. Why the two of us? Was William right? For some reason, you don't want either of the men of the house to be married?'
'William was close enough, actually too close, which surprised me, and perhaps, even remotely worried me. Yes, it was just a matter of time until the truth was out. But now, your time, my dear, has finally come to an end. As has Jenny MacGraff's.'
Thomas wanted to kill the man who was shaking him so hard he knew his brains would fly right out of his head. He knew it was a man; the bastard had big hands and he was strong. Nausea rose in his throat, momentarily choking him. His belly was on fire. And then there was the damned voice that nearly sent him back into oblivion-too loud, too loud, that voice.
'Thomas, dammit, wake up! Someone struck you. Oh please, Thomas, open your eyes!'
Finally, giving it up, Thomas managed to open his eyes. He stared up at William.
'Stop pounding me or I will kill you.'
'I have to pound you. Wake up. You must wake up, Thomas. Now.'
Reason seeped back into his brain. He said, his voice raw, his words slurred, 'What's wrong?' What the devil had happened to him?
'You're what's wrong, dammit. There's blood on your head. There's this cloth on the floor that smells like something vile and sweet-some sort of drug. No, Thomas, get yourself together. Meggie's gone. Do you want me to get Reverend Sherbrooke?'
'Yes. No. Just a moment. Help me sit up. Oh God, Meggie. She's gone? How is that possible?'
'It's the truth. She's gone, I just told you that.'
His head ached like the very devil, but now who cared? Nothing mattered but Meggie. Gone? Someone had come into the White Room, struck him, and taken her? Then he knew, of course. It was because of yesterday at tea, because he'd scared the person responsible into acting immediately.
'Damnation. What time is it?'
'It's just past dawn. I was awake, just couldn't go back to sleep. I've been thinking and thinking about all this, and I wanted to see if you were awake so we could discuss it. God, Thomas, and here you were unconscious and bloody and Meggie was gone. What shall we do?'
'I'm going to dress. Get Meggie's father. Quickly, William.'
William was out the door on a dead run, slamming it behind him. Thomas managed to pull himself out of the bed. He stood there a moment, realized he had blood on his head and face, and walked to the commode. He gingerly washed the wound with the cold water in the basin. At least now the blood was clotted and wouldn't run down his face anymore.
He closed his eyes a moment, Meggie's laughing face in his mind's eye. Oh God-she'd been taken, right out of their bed, and it was his fault that it happened. He hadn't been vigilant, taking not a single precaution, even though he'd known he'd stirred the viper's nest. Maybe she was already dead, maybe shot again, hurled over the cliffs. No, no, dammit. He had to stop it. She was alive, he knew it to his soul.
Why hadn't the person killed or taken him as well? Had the person who'd struck him believed him dead and just left him be in the bed? Why take Meggie?
Thank God William had come.
A few moments later the door burst open and Tysen Sherbrooke ran into the room, Mary Rose and William at his heels. Thomas had just fastened his breeches. He sat down to pull on his boots. He said, cold, calm, in control now, 'I was struck down while I was sleeping. Meggie was taken. During our afternoon tea yesterday, someone said something that was close enough to the truth, so that person was forced to act immediately. Now, I think I know who it was and why he's doing this. I think William does, too. Let's go see my mother and Aunt Libby.'
'No, Thomas, I don't know, not really.'
