31. Chapter 31
There was no point wasting time regretting yesterday’s mistakes. William couldn’t turn the clock back and change things. It wouldn’t help Kitty if he let his fears of what could have befallen her overcome him. He needed to act fast if he was to save her.
“Do you think Mr Barrington found the letter? Is that why Miss Lacey was prevented from leaving?”
“I don’t believe so. How would he know there was a letter that could incriminate him?” said Mr Jenkin.
“Then what happened to her?”
The riding officer stroked his chin. “Perhaps she endangered his mission. Last night, I shared my suspicions that Laura’s father has been harbouring escaped French prisoners in his basement and helping them to leave the country.
That’s what the letter was about. I forbade my wife from going down there.
It didn’t occur to me to warn Miss Lacey against it too.
Do you think she took it upon herself to investigate? ”
“That would be just like Kitty.” Sacrificing her own safety to gather evidence that would convict those aiding the French. “I’ll start my search down there.”
“No!” Mr Jenkin thumped his fist down on the bedcovers. “It should be me chasing after the criminals, not you. It’s too dangerous. Let me pen another letter to summon assistance.”
“There isn’t time for that.” William met the man’s eyes.
“The woman I love is in danger, and I can’t risk more delay.
Write what you will and get Sutton to give it to Mr Warren.
He’s waiting outside the front of the house with my horse.
When I don’t reappear by the hour we set, he’ll go for help, but you can tell him who to summon. ”
“I understand, but don’t be taken in by anything Mr Barrington says.
He’ll be doing everything he can to present an honourable facade, so my accusations would seem outrageous.
Without evidence, I can prove nothing, but if he’s holding Miss Lacey against her will, then he’s afraid.
Be careful. A cornered man might make a mistake—but he’s at his most dangerous. ”
His words accelerated William’s already racing pulse. “I’ll do my best.”
“Please, save Kitty,” said Mrs Jenkin, wiping away a tear. “I can’t bear to think that my father would harm her—”
Pain tore at his heart. Neither could he. “Pray for her, Mrs Jenkin, and for me. That God will keep us safe until help comes.”
Because he had a nasty suspicion he was going to need it.
William hurried down the stairs and across the entrance hall, which was mercifully free of staff. Down another flight to the basement, and along the corridor to where more steps descended to the cellars.
Without hesitation, he sped down these and pulled down the handle of the door on his right.
To his surprise, it opened to reveal an empty room.
A wooden table and chair. A bed stripped of all but its mattress.
He prodded the ticking. Feather-stuffed.
Rather superior for the supposed Mad Cousin Silas, but on its own, not evidence of anything but a generous relation.
Was there nothing to aid his search for Kitty? He didn’t even know if she’d been down here.
He walked over to the table and ran his fingers over the surface, scooping a few crumbs onto the floor. The first sign of recent occupation.
On examining the space more closely, he spotted a fresh ink stain on the edge of the wood and a slight burn on the mattress ticking.
The sort of mark that could have been made by a smouldering cigar.
As he bent down to study it, he caught a dull whiff of tobacco smoke. Evidence of Kitty’s nighttime smoker?
As he examined the rest of the space, his gaze was drawn to something black in the far corner. A scrap of lace. From a lady’s dress. A mourning gown he knew well.
He picked up the piece of material and dropped it into his coat pocket, dread pulling at his emotions. Kitty had been here—and now she had disappeared. It was time he forced Mr Barrington to answer some questions.
Fired with resolve, he swivelled around and immediately recoiled.
Standing in the doorway with his arms folded, staring at William with an unfathomable expression on his face, was the very man he sought.
“Lord Droxford! What in heaven’s name are you doing here?” Mr Barrington asked. “I thought you departed yesterday.”
This was no time for niceties. William needed to tackle the situation head on. “I’m looking for Miss Lacey.”
“Did your sisters not tell you? She’s not here.”
Was the man going to play ignorant? “Isn’t she?”
“She left. I fear she was disappointed in love.”
Another attempt to prod him with guilt for leaving her. “Where did she go? She’s taken none of her things with her.”
Mr Barrington laid a hand on his shoulder. William shrugged it off at once. “I hate to be the one to break it to you, but a woman with no prospects, who has been left by her lover—”
“How dare you cast a slur on Miss Lacey’s reputation?”
“Forgive me. I assumed that was why she refused me. Out of mortification.”
The man was shameless, twisting the truth to suit his own purposes. William clasped his hands together in front of him. He must not lose his temper. “My intentions toward Miss Lacey are honourable.”
“If that’s the case, then I’m truly sorry.”
The false sympathy grated on him. He tried another tack. “Where is Cousin Silas? I thought he lived down here.”
“Gone.”
“Oh, come, come, Mr Barrington. There is no need to play games with me. We both know you never kept an insane relative down here.”
The older man heaved a sigh. “Alas, you have me there. When Laura concocted such a story, I felt honour-bound to support her. If you had learned of her indiscretion in meeting Mr Jenkin at night, it would have given you due cause to walk away from the match. I did not realise my daughter was so lost to what was in her best interests that she would marry him. An oversight on my part.”
A clever answer, but it didn’t fit with the signs of recent occupation that William had noticed. Nor with their suspicions that escaped French prisoners of war had been living here.
“Why was Miss Lacey in this room?”
Mr Barrington’s eyes grew large. He would have made an excellent actor. “In here? Are you sure?”
William fished around in his pocket and pulled out the scrap of lace. “This matches the edging on her black dress.”
A flash of annoyance passed across the other man’s face, but it was gone so fast he would have missed it if he hadn’t been watching for a reaction.
“Dear me. That is worrying news. I had no notion she had been down here. How very unfortunate.”
He waited to discover what story Mr Barrington would concoct.
“I confess I’ve not been honest with you.” That went without saying, but it didn’t mean he was going to speak the truth now. “I’ve made a terrible mistake trusting Blake.”
Was it a good sign that he was ready to point the finger at his manservant? William doubted it.
“Don’t think too harshly of me, but I didn’t pay enough attention to what was happening under my nose.
” The older man swept a hand around the room.
“This has always been Blake’s domain. Officially, he was my butler, but he rarely played that role.
He used to be a prize-fighter, and I took him on as my personal guard soon after moving here because I feared being attacked by smugglers.
But all the while, he has been colluding with them. ”
William was losing patience. “What has this got to do with Miss Lacey?”
“Just this morning, I came in search of Blake when he didn’t answer my summons, and I found this room as you see it. Empty. He’s gone, Lord Droxford.” He lowered his tone. “I suspect he has been helping French officers escape the country. If Catherine interrupted them…”
What was the man up to, telling him all this? Was he trying to gain his trust? “Have you sent word to the Transport Board or called in the local militia to go after him?”
Mr Barrington had an answer for everything.
“I admit I was hoping to keep it quiet. It does not reflect well on me. But if Miss Lacey’s life is in danger, it is a different matter.
Blake must have realised the game was up and fled with the escaped prisoner of war he was assisting.
We should summon the preventive force and pursue them. ”
The same men who had attacked Mr Jenkin.
“There is no time to waste. The tide will turn soon, leaving us little chance of catching them. Catherine may yet be alive, but not for long. I expect they will toss her overboard once they are at sea. A sad case of drowning is so much easier to explain…”
The truth underlying his words left William cold. Was this how Mr Barrington planned to get rid of Kitty? If he went with him, would he meet a similar fate? He suspected a trap, but he dared not raise the alarm. Besides, what was the point of escaping if he lost the woman he loved?
He came to a snap decision. “We should leave at once.”
Mr Barrington gave a sharp nod and hurried up the stairs and out of the house. William followed him through the garden, onto the cliff path, and down the steep slope to the cove.
He prayed he would find Kitty—and that Anthony would come with help in time to rescue them both.
Kitty gritted her teeth to stop them from chattering. The dampness of the sea cavern seeped into her bones. Water splashed over her feet as she stumbled in the gloom.
It was a miracle she was still alive. When Monsieur Loutrel had held a pistol to her head, she had thought her life was over. Trust Hugh to use it as an excuse to press his suit on her again. As if her love could be bought with threats.
But maybe a bullet would have been preferable to this—being left to die alone. Because as the minutes ticked by, the water rose over the bottom of the cave in which Blake had abandoned her, and at high tide, there would be no escape.