Geordie shook his head at once. “Katie has dark hair, and Simon fair. They could no’ have been mistaken for Dwyn and me. Weare the opposite. She is fair and I am dark.”
“Oh, aye,” James Innes said with realization. “Then why kill the man?”
“That is the wonder,” Geordie murmured, going back over matters in his head, before glancing to Aulay and asking, “Ye saidKatie and Simon left directly behind Dwyn and me?”
“That’s what the men on the wall said,” Aulay assured him. “Katie was seen coming out o’ the keep behind ye and Dwyn, andshe and Simon rode out five or mayhap ten minutes after ye and Dwyn did, but no more.”
“So, she fetched him for the ride,” he said thoughtfully, and then glanced toward the window as the sound of the men on thewall shouting greetings, and the thunder of horses on the bridge, came through the window.
Aulay walked to the window to peer out. The angle he was at allowed Geordie to see the way his eyebrows rose and the smilethat pulled briefly at his lips before disappearing. Turning back, he announced, “Saidh and Greer, Dougall and Murine, Nielsand Edith, and Conran, Evina and her cousin, Gavin MacLeod, are riding across the bridge with their escorts. The MacKays andSinclairs are with them.”
Geordie knew they were returning for the wedding. He hadn’t expected them to come to Buchanan first. Meeting them at Inneswould have shortened the journey for them, but he said, “Ye should go greet them and tell them what’s about.”
Aulay nodded and headed for the door, but as he reached for the handle, Geordie added, “Ask Katie to bring up water and aclean linen for me. I would wash Simon’s blood off me. Make sure ’tis Katie.”
Aulay’s hand dropped from the handle without opening the door and he turned to Geordie, one eyebrow raised.
“She was in here stripping the bed to remake it when I came to fetch Dwyn to take her to the waterfall,” he explained, answeringthat silent question. “She’s the only person who kenned where we were going.”
“Well, she is no’ a very good maid, then,” James Innes informed him dryly. “The bed was stripped, but no’ made when we gotye up here. The linens just sat there on the bed. Rory and I had to make it quick while Aulay waited, holding ye in his arms.”
“Ye think she told Brodie where ye were after he killed Simon,” Aulay said on a sigh, and then shook his head. “Ye canno’blame her if she did. She would have been terrified.”
“I do think she told Brodie I’d taken Dwyn to the waterfall,” Geordie agreed quietly. “But I do no’ think Brodie killed Simon.I think she did.”
“What?” James gasped with shock.
Aulay merely stared at him, his eyebrows high on his forehead.
“She’s the only one who kenned where we were, and the only one who could have told Brodie. But she would have needed a horseto reach the man to give him that information.” When Aulay remained silent, he said, “Simon said he and the soldiers followedthe path of the men in the woods to the border of Buchanan land. Which border?”
“MacGregor,” Aulay answered without hesitation.
“That’s two hours on a fast horse,” Geordie said thoughtfully, and then nodded. “Simon’s horse could do it in less time witha wee lass like Katie on his back.”
“How long were ye at the falls?” Aulay asked, stone-faced.
“We left after the nooning meal. Dwyn went up to continue packing, you and I talked a bit and then ye took Jetta above stairsfor a nap. That’s when I decided I should take Dwyn and show her the falls. I went up to fetch her at once,” he told him.“And ’twas nearing time for the sup when I decided we should head back to the keep, so we were at the falls for . . .” Hepaused to think briefly, deducting the time he thought had passed before he’d gone up to fetch Dwyn, and the time he’d thoughtthey had left before the sup when he’d suggested they leave, and finished, “Mayhap four and a half or five hours.”
“Enough time,” Aulay said, looking disappointed at the realization.
“Wait a minute,” Dwyn’s father protested with disbelief. “Ye’re suggesting that little maid who brought ye back killed yersecond, a big burly soldier, so that she could use his horse to ride out and tell Brodie where to find you and me daughter?”
Geordie nodded and pointed out, “It’s more believable than that it took her four and a half or near five hours to calm thehorse and ride him back to where Simon was killed.”
James Innes frowned at that, but then shook his head. “Nay, it does no’. If she wanted Brodie to kill ye, why would she bringye safely back to the keep?”
It was Aulay who said, “Because she did no’ want Geordie dead.”
“She just wanted to get Dwyn out o’ the way,” Geordie finished, and then added, “How do ye think she got me on Simon’s horse?”
“What?” James asked with surprise.
“Dwyn could barely drag me through the woods on a plaid,” he pointed out. “Yet Katie claims she somehow got me across Simon’shorse’s back and returned with me.”
James frowned and said uncertainly, “Well, maids are stronger than ladies.”
“Dwyn climbs trees and wrestles dogs to the ground who are bigger and heavier than herself. She’s no’ a weakling,” Geordiesaid firmly.
Laird Innes was silent for a minute, and then asked, “Why would the maid want me Dwyn dead?”
“No’ dead, just out o’ the way,” Geordie muttered wearily.
“Do ye really think she cares if Dwyn is dead or just out o’ the way?” Aulay asked, and then pointed out, “If what ye’re thinkingis what happened, she killed Simon for a horse.”
Geordie’s mouth thinned.
“Ye did no’ answer me question,” Laird Innes said now. “Why would she want me Dwyn dead or out o’ the way?”
“Because I tupped her,” Geordie admitted after a hesitation. But when his father in-law
