Chapter 54
Chapter Fifty-Four
Sebastian woke with a headache, a sore throat, and a sore hand. He lay staring up at the silk bed hangings as the events of the night seeped back into his consciousness with sickening clarity.
What was he doing lying in bed when Isabel remained in the hands of a madman?
He sat up, coughing, and cast a disparaging glance at his bandaged right hand.
‘Sebastian?’
He turned his head and smiled at the sight of his sister in the chair beside his bed.
‘Connie?’ His voice sounded hoarse, and the act of talking caused him to cough.
She stretched and smiled. ‘The good lord in his wisdom built you tough, Sebastian Alder.’
‘What time is it, Connie? How long have I been asleep?’
Connie glanced at the window where daylight clawed its way around the folds of the curtains.
‘At least eight,’ she said.
‘I’ve lost hours!’ Sebastian said.
‘Harry put together a search party, Bas, but they came back an hour ago—no trace of the coach in the dark. Where are you going?’ she added as Sebastian swung his legs out of the bed.
‘I’ve got to rescue Isabel.’
Sebastian stumped around the room, trying to find where Bennet and Pierce hid his clothes.
He gave a groan of exasperation and sank into the chair and buried his face in his hands.
‘I’m an idiot, Connie. I underestimated Freddy’s capacity for evil.
’ He looked up at his sister, seeing the distress in her face. ‘Where’s Harry?’
‘Downstairs. When I last saw him, he had his breakfast plate piled high.’
Sebastian nodded. ‘Tell Harry I’ll be down in a few minutes—and can you find Bennet? I’ll take him along as well. I’ll need Pharaoh saddled and ready as soon as possible.’
‘M’Lord, you’re surely not thinking of going after the man yourself?’ Pierce chided him from the door.
‘Clothes, Pierce. Now! Where’s Bennet?’
Pierce opened his mouth to utter another protest but Sebastian fixed the man with a cold glare.
‘Mr. Bennet is with young Mr. Alder, sir,’ Pierce replied.
Still half dressed, Sebastian threw open the door to Matt’s bedchamber. His brother, deathly pale, appeared to be asleep. Bennet sat in a corner, polishing Matt’s boots.
‘Get the pistols, Bennet.’
Bennet’s eyes gleamed. ‘Action, sir?’
‘I hope not, but I need you. Snap to it, Bennet, I’m leaving now.’
As Bennet scuttled from the room, Matt turned his head on the pillow.
‘Bas? Give me a few minutes, I’ll come with you.’
Sebastian crossed to the bed and put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. ‘You’re not going anywhere.’
Matt screwed up his face in pain. ‘Damn it. Why did he shoot me, Bas.’
‘I should never have put you in so much danger, Matt. You rest easy, I’ve got to go.’
Matt plucked at his sleeve. ‘This is my fault. I let him dupe me into going in search of the bloody saddle. Somehow, he made it sound like it was all my idea. I heard everything he said, Bas. I don’t think anyone could have guessed how evil he truly was.’
Sebastian shook his head. He knew. He had seen evil firsthand. Inez had not died easily.
He cursed himself for passing out. A bit of smoke, that was all, and now Isabel was in the hands of a man who had killed once.
Was every woman he loved doomed to suffer?
‘We’ll talk later, Matt.’ He turned and, pulling on his jacket, ran from the room.
In the daylight, the route taken by the fugitives proved easy to follow. A coach driven like the furies was after it attracted plenty of attention, even from those who should have been in bed. It soon became clear that Freddy was heading for the Wash and, no doubt, a fishing boat to the continent.
More fool Freddy for taking such a readily recognisable coach and pair, Sebastian thought grimly.
The search party stopped at an isolated inn, partly because it seemed an obvious post for the fugitives to pause in their headlong flight and partly because they were tired and hungry and their own horses needed resting.
Despite the ample bandaging, his hand hurt, and an exhaustion he had not felt since his army days tugged at his mind and body.
Obedient to their request for haste, the landlord obliged with a hearty meal that the men set about with a vengeance. Sebastian questioned the man about the coach.
‘A gentleman and two ladies? Aye, they stopped here about nine this morning. Stayed about an hour. I counselled ’im to stay longer but he were set on ’is way. Didn’t even change the horses though they was done in. Them poor beasts.’ The landlord shook his head.
Sebastian checked his watch and caught Harry’s eye. If Freddy had left this place around ten and it was now midday, they were now only a few hours behind him and, if he was now travelling slowly with tired horses, they could well overtake him by late afternoon.
‘And the ladies... Did they appear to be well?’ Sebastian asked
The landlord frowned. ‘Well, now you mention it, one of ’em seemed poorly. Himself all but had to carry her in.’
Isabel! Had that fiend hurt her?
‘What do you mean?’ he asked in a neutral tone.
‘Well, he had his arm around her, holdin’ her close. Couldn’t see her face. She kept the hood of her cloak up.’
‘Did you serve them food?’
‘Aye, but he wouldn’t let me in the room. Insisted it was all set out afore the ladies alighted.’
‘Did he say where they were bound when they left here?’ Harry asked.
‘Well, I’m guessing it would be Lidiford on the Wash,’ the landlord said with utter certainty.
The men stared at him.
‘How can you be so sure?’ Harry asked.
The innkeeper shrugged. ‘I saw him talkin’ to young Bob over there.’ He pointed out of the window at a swarthy lad, mucking out the stables. ‘Bob’s from Lidiford way. He’d know all the fishin’ villages on’t Wash.’
Three sets of forks clattered onto empty plates.
Shouting instructions to Harry to settle the account, Sebastian, with Bennet scuttling in his wake, all but ran from the room.
‘Young Bob’ confirmed that he had advised the fine gentleman that he’d find a boat at Lidiford that would be willing to take him across to the continent if the price was right.
The three men swung into the saddles of their barely rested horses and, putting their heels to the beasts, regained the road. Through the rain and the mud, they followed the tracks of the coach in the direction of the sea.