Chapter 15
A lfie stared at the bare patch of earth as Mrs. McConnell gave her apologies again and again and the foreman spluttered excuse after excuse.
The stacks of stones still sat at the top of the crag waiting to be used. Now, however, there was a gap like a missing tooth between two of the stacks. Below the gap, a path cut through the foliage as the tumbling rocks had carved their way down towards where he and Dominick had been standing.
One of the beams that had supported the rocks was missing, although stepping a few steps closer to the edge revealed it to be tangled in a gorse bush just a few feet down the rocky slope.
“Alfie…” Dominick called out warningly.
For once, Alfie listened, leaning heavily on his cane as he backed away from the drop below. It had taken Dominick some time to find the cane after the rockfall had finally ceased, but Alfie’s nerves were so frayed from their experience, he wouldn’t have been able to walk far without it, never mind climb back up to the folly to find out what in God’s name had happened.
“My lord,” said Mrs. McConnell, her clear voice breaking through his thoughts. “I cannot apologise enough. I assure you, my husband and I have always taken great pride in the safety of our construction process. I have no idea how an accident like this was allowed to happen and I will ensure it does not happen again.”
“What did happen,” asked Dominick lowly. Alfie recognised the danger in his tone. If Mrs. McConnell was a man, she’d stand a good chance of being dangled over the side of the crag until Dominick had his answers.
Mrs. McConnell hesitated, likely sensing the danger as well. “I’m not sure. One of the workers noticed a problem with the scaffolding on the back side of the structure. It was all hands on deck seeing to that. No one noticed the hillside giving way under the rocks until a man on the top of the scaffold gave a shout. By then it was too late. I can only apologise again and thank God neither of you were harmed.
“We’ll be dealing with this immediately, I assure you. No one goes home this evening until all remaining rock piles are secured further from the edge. I will be closely observing the work myself to ensure the piles are structurally sound and no longer at risk of collapse.
Alfie wanted to snipe that her husband had been the engineer, not her, but that was far too cruel a thing to say aloud. In the end, no one had been hurt and he wasn’t so callous that he was going to lash out at a grieving woman over his fear of what might have been. Besides, she hadn’t been in charge of the site when the rocks had been stacked so precariously. That had been her husband and he’d more than paid for his sins.
He pursed his lips, but could find no more to say than, “See it done.”
Mrs. McConnell nodded at the dismissal and headed off, no doubt to berate the workers for allowing such a thing to happen. Janie hesitated before following, but it appeared her loyalty to her new mistress was greater than her concern for the health of her lord. Just as well. Alfie was in no mood to soothe someone else’s nerves when he was so close to losing hold of his own.
Looking back at the empty space where the rocks had once stood, he hadn’t noticed the tension in his shoulders until it eased as a familiar presence joined him at his side.
“What do you think?” Dominick asked.
“I think we were bloody lucky not to be killed.”
Dominick hummed. Alfie ached to reach out, wanting to take hold of his hand, needing the simple comfort of Dominick’s grip in his, but there were too many people around to risk it.
“What else?” asked Dominick.
“I don’t think it happened the way she said it did.”
“I don’t either. If the ground had given out, wouldn’t it look like the ground had given out?”
Dominick was right. Alfie might be new to country living, but he knew mud, and he knew what it looked like when it gave way.
The yard at the workhouse had been nothing but mud, and he could remember how they’d all watched with interest one particularly rainy spring as it had washed away, bit by bit, under a corner of the outhouse, until the entire thing had collapsed, falling into the stinking mess below. Fortunately, neither of them had been inside at the time. Another boy hadn’t been so lucky.
“Thinking of the privy?” Dominick asked at Alfie’s grimace. “Half of that was hanging in open air before it went.”
While there was likely some difference between when filthy London mud and good Scottish ground would give way, Alfie would’ve expected it to favour Scotland. Yet the earth where the missing stack had been was entirely intact. All the supporting beams, save the one that had tumbled with the rocks, were still in place and ended at least two feet short of the edge of the crag. However, there was a large divot in the earth at the very edge where the missing beam had been.
Alfie pointed with his cane. “What do you think caused that? It almost looks like someone leveraged up the beam.”
Dominick nodded. “Could be.” He glanced over his shoulder, then squatted down, getting his hands under the end of the nearest beam and lifting it just slightly. The remaining stones on the pile wobbled.
“ Nick ,” Alfie hissed.
Dominick set the beam back down and wiped his hands on trousers far too expensive to be treated that way, old habits not yet forgotten.
“It’s heavy,” Dominick admitted. “But I think I could do it. One big heave.”
He mimed lifting the end of the beam up and over his head, then pushing it away from him, up and over the edge. Alfie could envision the far end of it digging into the ground, then the rocks atop it sliding as Dominick’s end rose, their momentum carrying them off the crag and crashing down onto the path far below.
And anyone unfortunate enough to be standing there.
He shivered. The rocks hadn’t fallen on their own. It hadn’t been an accident. Someone had tried to kill them.
But who? One of the workers? Mrs. McConnell? Janie ? Each option seemed more unlikely than the last.
He looked around the site for any alternative. The clearing wasn’t large, but the folly was already well over twenty feet tall. If the workers were all on the back side of it dealing with the scaffolding as Mrs. McConnell had said, they wouldn’t have been able to see the rock piles at all. It would’ve had to have been timed perfectly, but if someone had been waiting just beyond the treeline where the clearing turned back to forest, they wouldn’t have been seen as they sprinted out, lifted the beam, and sent death tumbling down towards them.
Alfie stared into the woods, hoping to spot something, but all he saw was leafy shade that grew darker and darker the harder he stared.
“We shouldn’t discuss this here.”
“No,” Dominick agreed. “Someone might overhear. I think I know a place they won’t, though. Will your leg carry you back?”
Alfie leaned on it, wincing at the twinge. “Do I have a choice?”
“I could carry you,” Dominick offered.
Alfie’s mouth dropped open at the absurd suggestion. “Absolutely not.”
Dominick grinned. It was thinner than usual, but he was clearly trying. “Sure. On my back, your sword at the ready like a cavalry officer riding into battle.”
Then his grin dropped and he leaned in closer to Alfie. “Take my arm at least, once we’re in the woods. And keep the sword ready, just in case.”