Chapter Eleven
The early afternoon brought an open carriage to the vicarage.
Freya had spotted the coach from her window and had quickly alerted her aunt and uncle.
Meanwhile, Freya straightened her hair and the line of her dress as her aunt quickly ordered tea and rushed to greet Lady Rayland.
Freya could hear Aunt Felicity say, “How delightful! You honor us, my lady. Please come into the sitting room. You will have tea, will you not, Your Ladyship?”
“I thought it time I should call upon you,” Her Ladyship said as she sat in the most prominent chair in the room.
“We are humbled, ma’am,” Aunt Felicity repeated dutifully. Freya’s aunt turned to where Freya waited patiently. “With your permission, my lady, I would give you the acquaintance of my niece, Lady Freya Cunningham.”
“Cunningham?” Lady Rayland repeated in a tone of surprise. “I was not aware you were related to the Cunninghams, Mrs. Turner. You do mean the Scottish Cunninghams, not the English family?”
“Yes, my lady. My elder sister is married to Lord Iain Cunningham. Are you familiar with the family?”
“Somewhat,” was all Lady Rayland said, though Freya thought there was something odd that passed across Her Ladyship’s features. Something Freya could not name. Whether Her Ladyship approved or disapproved of Freya’s family, Freya did not know with any confidence.
“Did not the younger Lord Graham explain our very awkward introduction?” Freya asked, meaning to bring about an understanding without all the underlying insults.
“My son simply said he had encountered you in a tree and later escorted you here,” Lady Rayland said with a lift of her brows in a challenge.
“I climbed the tree because a bull meant to charge me,” Freya said without adding the sigh of boredom with which she viewed this conversation.
“I was preparing to climb down when the elder Lord Graham arrived. I was not expecting either your son or his brother, as I am confident Lord Aaran Graham explained when he called upon you. That was His Lordship’s intention, as I understood it. ”
“I have not spoken to Aaran,” Lady Rayland claimed.
Freya’s first thought was that His Lordship had injured himself while saving her and had hidden his pain by sending her off with his brother, but she instinctively knew, though such could not have been put past him, Aaran Graham knew duty as few did.
He would place his pain aside and search for the shooter, no matter what it cost him.
“Perhaps His Lordship thought himself too unkempt to make a call upon you,” she said in excuse, but Freya was now officially worried. “We were twice knocked to the ground.”
Aaran rode into the circle before Thom Manor and quickly dismounted. “I plan to go out again as quickly as I can freshen my clothes and speak to Lord Duncan. Tend my horse accordingly,” he instructed the stable boy who had hurried forward to catch the horse’s reins.
“Aye, my lord,”
“I will ask your master to send word if others require their mounts,” he said before he rushed up the steps to where Mr. Boone held the door open for him. “Where are my brothers and Lord Duncan?” he asked as he shoved his hat and gloves into the butler’s open hands.
“The front sitting room, my lord.”
Aaran nodded his thanks. “Ask Mr. Dideon to lay out a new riding coat and, perhaps, breeches. I must change before I go out again.”
“I will see to it, my lord,” Mr. Boone replied.
Aaran nodded his acceptance a second time and hurried across the foyer to where he could hear his brothers’ voices. He paused inside the door and waited for their attention.
Beaufort spoke first. “Are you well, Aaran?” His Lordship rose as if to assist him, but Aaran ignored the gesture of his brother’s steady hand.
Aaran’s gaze was on Duncan when he said, “The man all in black is in Kent. He took a shot at me, Boyde, and Lady Freya.”
For what felt like forever, the room remained perfectly still, and no one moved. However, as if God had snapped his fingers, they all spoke over each other.
“Permit me to assist you.”
“Where? Where did the shooting occur?”
“Was anyone harmed?”
“Did you see his features?”
“I had hoped we were done with this business.”
The last was from Duncan. While his brothers were looking around in obvious agitation, Beaufort shoved Aaran into a nearby chair, and Orson placed a glass holding a splash of brandy into Aaran’s hand. Finally, Duncan signaled for silence, and Aaran’s brothers returned to their seats.
“Explain what occurred,” Duncan instructed.
Aaran gulped the brandy down to settle both his thinking and the fear crawling up his spine.
“As I said this morning, I decided to make a duty call on my stepmother and assure myself that Boyde had left his antics in London behind. I encountered Boyde shortly after entering Rayland’s land, somewhere in close proximity to the vicarage, though I did not see Mr. Turner’s house.
The two of us then encountered Lady Freya who was exploring some of the sites that her aunt had suggested that were found on Rayland’s land.
I made the introductions, as Boyde initially thought Lady Freya should not have been on Rayland’s property. ”
He paused briefly to guard his words. Aaran did not want anyone to disparage the woman, so he avoided the tale of the bull, at least for now.
“While we were conversing, someone shot at us where we stood on a prominent rise, supporting a large oak tree. The person was below us, so the bullet hit the side of a bench, which is situated under the tree, lodging itself in the oak. I sent Lady Freya back to the vicarage with Boyde as her escort and trailed the shooter back to Rayland’s manor house. ”
“Did you view the shooter, Aaran?” Duncan asked solemnly.
“No, sir. I instinctively took Lady Freya to the ground to protect her, but Boyde said the man was dressed all in black and the brim of his hat covered his face.”
“Not someone out shooting at game then?” Thompson asked. “Though the shooting season should be over in March.”
Aaran added, “I followed the bent over grass and I attempted to mark the first footprint. Benjamin, I had hoped you could use some of that plaster you said others are using in their surgery so we might make a form of the man’s boot print in the grass.
You said something about resin, wax, and gypsum. ”
“You were listening,” Thompson said with a grin.
“Duncan is always speaking of how you know things the rest of us do not,” Aaran admitted. “Therefore, I consciously listen.”
“Whatever I do likely will not be perfect,” Thompson fretted, but he seemed pleased with Aaran’s compliment.
“I was simply hoping we might verify your previous supposition regarding the man being smaller than we first thought,” Aaran explained.
“I understand,” Thompson said with a nod of acceptance. “Permit me to send for the necessary supplies.” Aaran’s brother rose to speak privately to his servant.
“Who else should go with you?” Orson asked.
“Nothing personal towards any of you,” Aaran said without looking to any other than Duncan, “I believe it is best if only Duncan, Benjamin, and I call upon Rayland. At least this first time. Thompson is Rayland’s neighbor and Duncan is both my father and the original target for the attack.”
“Are you confident the shooter returned to Rayland’s manor?” Beaufort asked in concern.
“I followed the markings to the back of Rayland’s barn. There are multiple footprints there and the tracks were blurred in with the others.”
Beaufort frowned. “I will go also. While Thompson plays good neighbor with Rayland, I will make plasters of the other footprints so we might compare them. I shan’t call in at the house.”
“What will your brother Boyde have shared about today’s events with his parents?” Orson asked in cautious tones.
“I cannot say with assurance,” Aaran admitted, “but we must learn if the first attack on Duncan originated with the marriage of Rayland to my stepmother and if Her Ladyship is involved. Also, Rayland? As well as Boyde? I could see Lady Rayland’s anger against Duncan for my replacing Boyde in the line of succession as a reason, but…
” Aaran admitted. “Could there be another cause?”
In a little less than two hours, Aaran, Thompson, and Duncan were being shown into Lord Rayland’s study.
Thompson had explained to Beaufort how to mix a little of the resin with the liquid and the other materials.
“Smart of you to use the rocks to outline the print,” Thompson had observed when they all had had a good look at the print.
“We will leave them stuck in the plaster because the liquid will likely spread out on the ground. The rocks you used will serve as a box or form.”
“If you do not object,” Beaufort said, “I mean to follow the line you say the man took. It is not that I doubt you, but another set of eyes are always useful in such matters. Then I will retrieve the form, that is, if it is dry enough to lift. If not, I will return for it later in the day, closer to dusk. The sun is not as strong as in summer, but it is a bit warmer today.”
“I hold no objections,” Aaran assured. “I initially feared the shooter meant to follow Boyde and Lady Freya, but he surprised me with where the trail led.”
“What brings you to my home today, my lords?” Rayland asked without offering them a drink or indicating they should sit. Typical for Duncan, His Lordship sat anyway and motioned Aaran and Thompson to do likewise. Rayland had no choice but to join them.
Duncan spoke for them. “As you are Thompson’s nearest neighbor and now husband to Lord Graham’s stepmother, we felt it only appropriate to call. We are all in Kent to celebrate Thompson’s upcoming nuptials.”
“I had heard of your marriage plans, my lord,” Rayland said simply. “I offer my best wishes.”
Thompson said, “As I was longer removed from Kent than I expected, I was not initially aware of your marriage to the former Lady Graham. I apologize for my late words of congratulations.”