Chapter 17
A ll through that morning, Brigid felt nervous and restless. She had no chance of getting back to sleep, but she hovered in her room for a while anyway, unwilling to run into Sandy again.
She felt as if her conversation with Sandy had somehow changed things, as if the landscape of her world had subtly shifted. But she could not quite pin down how, or why, so she tried to stop thinking about it. The feeling was unsettling, to say the least.
By the time she headed downstairs for breakfast, it was once again only her and Mary. That, at least, was a relief. And Mary disappeared after just a few moments, saying that she had some urgent household business to deal with. So, Brigid sat alone in the breakfast room, taking her time over a cup of tea. She gazed out of the window at the rainy hills and started to wish that Sandy was there after all. Perhaps then they would have been able to make some progress on their plan to rescue Finn. Sandy must surely have abandoned his strange ideas by now.
A servant knocked and slipped into the room. Brigid turned her head to look at him.
“There is a messenger here to see you, my lady,” the man said.
Brigid blinked at him in confusion.
“What do you mean?” she asked. “Surely this messenger is here to see a member of the family?”
The man shook his head. “He specifically requested to speak to Brigid Knight in private.”
Brigid’s stomach clenched. She had not told her full name to anyone here.
Sandy burst in through the door, almost knocking straight into the servant.
“I’ve seen the man waiting outside,” he said to Brigid. “I recognise him. He has some link to Edmondson, I’m sure of it. You absolutely must not speak to him.”
But Brigid did not feel fear. She felt hope. What if this was a message from Finn?
“I must speak to this man,” she insisted. “Alone.”
“Absolutely not,” Sandy said. “If you’re determined to let him in, then Tam and I will be with you at all times. There’s no knowing what the man might do.”
“I doubt he will want such a threatening audience,” Brigid said sharply. “And Edmondson won’t want me hurt until I’m in his power. I have to speak to him alone, and I’m not going to back down on this.”
Unfortunately, Tam chose that moment to burst in behind Sandy.
“Don’t let that man into the house,” he said. “He should never have been allowed through the gate.”
“I don’t care what either of you think,” Brigid snapped. “I am not about to change my mind. The two of you can wait outside the door if you like, but I will speak to this man alone.”
Sandy’s eyes narrowed. “You are stubborn, aren’t you? Very well. Show him in.”
The servant scurried off and appeared just a moment later with another man in tow. Brigid recognised him instantly from Edmondson’s camp. He bowed, but not very deeply. Brigid suspected that there was something mocking about the action. His expression certainly did not look respectful.
“We’ll be just outside,” Sandy said, glaring at the man. “Call if you need anything, Brigid.”
He and Tam left the room, shutting the door behind them with an ostentatious bang.
The messenger smirked. “Your friends are rather protective,” he said. “But they have no need to worry. I’m only here to deliver a message.”
Brigid watched the man warily as he reached inside his jacket and drew out a folded scrap of paper.
“For you, my lady,” he said, his smirk widening. Brigid took the paper and he bowed again, even more mockingly this time. Then he strolled out, ignoring the men who stood outside the door.
Brigid opened the letter as fast as she could manage, her hands shaking. She scanned the handwritten text and gasped, pressing a hand to her mouth.
It wasn’t from Finn, after all. Instead, it was from Edmondson. He reminded her that he still held Finn captive - and said that he had grown tired of waiting. Brigid needed to stop playing her little games. If she did not hand herself over straight away, Finn would die. Her time was up.
Brigid’s hands shook even harder as she reread the letter, desperately hoping that she had misunderstood.
Would the Professor really kill Finn, just to punish her?
Her vision began to darken at the edges. She gripped the arm of the nearest chair, trying to keep herself upright.
All their planning and preparation time was over. If Brigid wanted to save Finn from Edmondson - and she did, more than anything - then she would have to act right now.