someone was in pain. Next came a man’s voice with an unpleasant, smug sound. “You don’t like that, do you? Well, you’ve only got to tell me what I want to know…”
Two quick steps took Gavin to the living room. At first he couldn’t see Norah, just a very large man who seemed to be leaning against the wall. Then he realized that the man was holding Norah’s wrists and crushing her slender body with his huge one. “Come on, tell me,” he demanded, pressing harder and forcing a gasp of pain from her.
A red mist seemed to come before Gavin’s eyes. For a moment he felt capable of killing, but he controlled himself and tapped the man on the shoulder. “Excuse me,” he said politely, and when the man turned Gavin jerked his knee up swiftly. It was over in seconds. The man fell, clutching himself and cursing.
“Look after her,” Gavin ordered Peter, who sprang to support Norah. He took the man by the ear. “It’s the police for you,” he said.
Through his pain the intruder managed to give a vicious grin. “I don’t think so. Ask
His words ended in a howl, as Gavin gripped his ear and dragged him outside. What followed was short but extremely satisfying and finished with the stranger driving off, holding the steering wheel with one hand and trying to staunch the blood from his nose with the other. Gavin tidied himself up as much as possible and went back inside. Norah was lying on the sofa, clutching her ribs. Her face was very pale. “Are you all right?” Gavin demanded abruptly.
“Yes, thank you,” she said weakly. “Thank heavens you came.”
“Do you know who he is?”
“He said his name was Jake Morgan. He says his falcon was stolen, and he’d heard that it might be here. I told him to go to…” Norah hesitated, her eyes on Peter “…to go away.”
“I can imagine. Now I’m going to call the doctor.”
“Nonsense,” she said brightly. “I’m fine. I was only a little breathless, and it’s over. Peter, it’s time you went to bed.”
The boy seemed unwilling, and it was obvious he was concerned for her. But Gavin could see she was putting on an act for his benefit, and it was fast becoming a strain. “Go on,” he said to his son. “I’ll look after Norah.” Peter looked up at him. “She’ll be safe in my hands, I promise.”
Reluctantly Peter departed. As soon as the door had closed behind him, Norah fell back against the cushions. Her face was gray. “You madwoman,” Gavin said harshly. “Why do you take such risks?” The sight of her pain hurt him. Even worse was the thought of what might have happened if he hadn’t arrived home. “I’m calling a doctor whether you like it or not,” he said, picking up the phone.
“All right. Thank you.”
He summoned the doctor, who said he was on his way. When he’d put the phone down he said, “And now I ought to call the police.”
“No, Gavin,
“I doubt it. He’s a nasty piece of work. He won’t let it be over. I’m surprised he didn’t search the place.”
“He did,” Norah told him. “I told him he was free to.”
“And he didn’t find Perry?”
“I moved Perry this morning.”
“Where?”
“Friends of mine who often help out at times like this.”
“Have I stumbled on an underground railway for escaped birds-‘escaped’ in quotes?”
“Something like that. This isn’t the only sanctuary in these parts, and we all help each other out.”
“Evidently he suspected the truth?”
“I’m afraid so. That’s what he was trying to get me to tell him.”
“Did you actually deny that you’d had Perry?” Gavin asked curiously. It was hard to imagine her telling a direct lie, but even harder to imagine this passionately protective woman endangering those she’d sworn to defend.
“I told him I wouldn’t dignify his suspicions with an answer,” she said.
“Neat. But I doubt it’ll satisfy him. You know you’re getting into deep water, don’t you?”
“Listen, Hunter, I will not return Perry to that man. You saw his way with something weaker than himself.”
He had, and it had scared him for her sake. But what had scared him even more was the strength of his own reaction. The sight of Norah in pain had done something devastating to him, making him feel that no punishment was bad enough for the man who could hurt her. All nonsense, of course, because she’d brought her troubles on her own head. But that was logic, and increasingly logic played no part in his dealings with this woman.
“You’d better get to bed,” he said, roughly to cover his sudden confusion. “I’ll bring the doctor up.”
He helped her to her feet, but she refused his help as she climbed the stairs, although he could tell she was in pain. The doctor arrived half an hour later. Gavin directed him upstairs and waited below until he came down.
“One slightly cracked rib. Apart from that, just bruises,” he said cheerfully. “She’ll have to be more careful on these stairs.”
“Stairs?” Gavin echoed.
“Falling downstairs. She could have been badly hurt.”
“Yes,” Gavin said grimly. “She could.”
He tried to tackle Norah on the subject when she came down next morning, but without success. She simply refused to discuss it, insisting, Micawber-like, that the matter was over and there was nothing to worry about. It was hard for Gavin to make an issue of it when Peter was about, listening.
A couple of days later an urgent call forced Gavin to drive to London to sort out a complication with the bankers. He returned in the early evening. While he was still a hundred yards from the house the front door was pulled open and Peter came flying down the path toward his father’s car. Gavin stopped and opened the passenger door. “What is it?” he demanded urgently, but Peter simply stared at him wild-eyed. “Peter, you must talk to me. What’s happened?”
Peter gave a kind of gasp, then blurted out, “
“What about a policeman?” Gavin asked urgently, thanking heaven that his son had found his tongue at last.
But his relief was premature. Peter managed to say “policeman” once more in a desperate voice, but that was all. Luckily Mrs. Stone had appeared and was waiting on the doorstep. She looked upset and disapproving. “The police were here an hour ago,” she told Gavin in an agitated voice. “They’ve arrested Norah and taken her to the police station.”
Gavin was half out of the car, but at this he got back in. “Where is it?” he demanded in a taut voice.
Mrs. Stone told him and Gavin restarted the engine. Peter had settled himself in the passenger seat, but Gavin opened the door. “I don’t want you at the station,” he told his son. “You stay here.”
Peter looked at him, his jaw set and determined in a way that reminded Gavin uncannily of his own father. But for the moment he had no attention to spare. His mind was full of dread for Norah. “You’ll help her best by letting me get on with the job,” he said, and Peter left the car at once.
As he drove he raged: stupid woman! She’d brought this all on herself and it would serve her right if he left her to stew in her own juice. But even as he thought it, he stepped on the gas.
At the station he found himself talking to an exasperated police sergeant. “Yes, we have Miss Norah Ackroyd here, and the only reason we know her name is that she’s well known because of the sanctuary. Not one word has she spoken since we brought her in, not even when she was charged. She wouldn’t even notify her lawyer. Still, you’re here now. Perhaps you can make her see reason.”
“I-yes,” Gavin responded, gathering his wits. He’d been wondering if he’d be allowed to see her, but since he’d evidently been taken for the lawyer, he’d use any method that worked. “What exactly is the charge?”
“Theft. A Mr. Jake Morgan has produced evidence that she’s harboring a peregrine falcon that was stolen from him, and that she’s concealing it from him.”
Gavin snorted in what he hoped was a convincingly contemptuous manner. “Evidence!”
“We’ve got a man who admits leaving it on her doorstep,” the sergeant said. “But it’s not in the sanctuary now, and she won’t say where it is.”
