Jane felt her worry turn into outright fear. Her chest tightened as she considered what might have happened to the cook. With the blizzard raging outside, the cook couldn’t have fled the castle. “We have to do a more thorough search, then.”
“What are you saying, Cousin?” Timothy demanded.
“I’m saying that two people going to search a few rooms won’t be enough. Not with a murderer in the castle,” Jane said desperately. “Berta might have been hurt. Or worse.”
“Well, at least you’re not foolish enough to accuse the poor woman of being the killer herself,” Timothy grumbled, his eyes narrowing on Gabriel.
“Berta would not even harm a fly.” Agnes burst into tears.
The groundskeeper patted her shoulder awkwardly and started speaking what sounded like comforting words to her in German.
Jane’s heart squeezed painfully. She didn’t know which was worse. The fear of being next on the killer’s list, or the grief of watching helplessly as innocent people disappeared. “Does anyone remember the last time they saw Berta?”
“She helped me to wash my hands after…after I found Herr Kramer in his bed,” Agnes said between sobs. “Then she said she would make breakfast for us and sent me back upstairs. It was only after being in the parlor for some time that I realized she had not come to alert us that breakfast was ready. Oh, we must find her before it is too late.”
“You’re right. We have to search for her,” Jane said, nodding in agreement.
“Are you mad?” Timothy asked, his voice a high-pitched whine. “We can’t go running about this dark, old castle with a killer on the loose. Poor Marta’s on her bloody own.”
“It’s Berta.” Jane couldn’t believe how cowardly and cruel the man was being. “If you were the one missing, you’d want us to look for you.”
“That’s different. I’m not a bloody servant,” Timothy said indignantly. “Besides, I was married to von Westen’s sister. I’m one of the family. These servants should be taking orders from us, Cousin, not giving them.”
“What is wrong with you?” Jane asked in disgust. “How can you say that?”
“Servants are to serve,” Timothy retorted. “Berta served her purpose. I say we go down to the kitchen and eat the meal she worked so hard to make for us. Then we come back upstairs and barricade ourselves in the parlor until help arrives. What do you say, Gabriel? Makes sense doesn’t it?”
“I say any man who leaves a woman to fend for herself isn’t much of a man at all,” Gabriel said, getting to his feet. “Agnes and Jane are right.”
Jane looked up at Gabriel in amazement. His reaction was totally unexpected. From the way he typically acted, she had been sure that he was cocky and selfish. Out for himself at the expense of others. Right now, though, she was witnessing a side of him she had never seen before. Never even thought was possible. How on earth had Gabriel Ross come out of this nightmare looking like the brave, selfless leader of the group?
Seeing Gabriel in this new light just complicated her feelings for him. When the accusations had started flying around earlier she had, for the briefest moment, wondered if she could really trust him. What if he had been right and the killer was in this very room? That made Gabriel a suspect as much as anyone else. That brief moment of suspicion had given her pause. If he was dangerous, going to bed with him would eventually prove to be a huge mistake. But she had to trust her initial instincts, which were telling her that the killer was somebody outside the parlor. Somebody who wasn’t yet known to them.
“Who do you think you are to talk to me like that? I’m practically a von Westen,” Timothy said haughtily, dragging her from her thoughts. “You’re just a jumped-up errand boy.”
“You want to eat the food that woman made, but you don’t want to save her. I’d rather be an errand boy than a coward, Tim.” Gabriel stalked over to the door, rifle in hand.
His words fueled her resolve, and with her legs shaking at the prospect of searching the darkest corners of the castle Jane got to her feet and followed after him. “We should split up.”
Gabriel turned to look at her, his gaze unwavering. “What are the odds of you hanging back and letting me handle this?”
“You’re the one who said we can’t stand by and let a woman fend for herself,” she returned.
“When I said that, I meant that the men should handle this,” he said.
“Oh, go to hell with that,” she said sharply. “I’m not sitting on my ass while I can do something.”
“I’m serious, Jane. This is dangerous.”
“You’re not the boss of me just because we slept together,” she said, lowering her voice as she glared at him.
His jaw clenched and it took him a second to reply. “You’re not leaving my sight.”
The growly way he spoke made her go weak at the knees. Gabriel turning all strong and protective was an incredible surprise, though she refused to let on. “Then we can search together.”
“That is an excellent idea,” the manservant cut in. “We can split into groups of two and search.”
“You have all gone mad,” Timothy thundered. “I’m not going on this search.”
“Then you can stay here in the parlor,” Jane said. “Alone.”
Timothy’s face went pale. “Alone? No, surely not. I shall go in search with Emmerich. He has a gun, after all.”
“If we need more weapons, why don’t we use some of the ones hanging on the wall downstairs?” Jane suggested.
“I say that’s a capital idea,” Timothy said.
“For once I agree with Tim,” Gabriel said. “Good idea, Jane.”
For some reason, though she hadn’t been seeking Gabriel’s approval, the minor compliment still made
