Chapter 24 #2
He lowered himself slightly, enough to meet the miner’s eyes.
“How are you faring?” he asked, his voice steady but softened. “Has the pain eased at all?”
The miner shifted, wincing. “A little, My Lord. The arm throbs, but I will manage.”
Tobias gave a small nod, acknowledging the effort it took for the man to speak. “Good. You are in safe hands now. Tell me what you remember.”
“The frame shook, My Lord. Then the bolts gave out. I heard them go.”
Tobias rested a hand briefly on the man’s uninjured shoulder before moving to the second man.
“And you? How badly are you hurt?”
The second miner lifted his sling slightly. “It is not broken, My Lord. Just strained. It dropped too fast. There was no warning.”
“I am glad it was not worse,” Tobias said quietly. “Thank you. Every detail helps.”
He stepped to the stretcher next. The injured man looked up at him, pale but alert, breathing carefully through the pain.
Tobias crouched beside him. “Are you in much pain?”
“Some, My Lord,” the man said. “The leg took the worst of it.”
Tobias nodded, his expression tightening with concern. “You will be seen to properly. Tell me what you saw.”
“Only the jolt, My Lord. Then the fall. I did not see who was near the frame before it happened.”
Tobias placed a hand on the edge of the stretcher, steady and reassuring. “You will be taken to the infirmary at the estate. All of you will. A wagon will be brought at once.”
He rose and turned to the foreman. “See that they are moved carefully.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
Only when he had spoken to every injured man he could see did Tobias turn back toward the horses. Weatherby was already waiting with the reins in hand. Tobias mounted, his thoughts still fixed on the loosened bolts and the missing worker. Weatherby swung into the saddle beside him.
“The man who vanished,” Tobias said as he settled into the saddle. “This must be the same man Miss Marwood and Miss Rosamund told us about in the coach. The one they saw with Silas Creed at the yard.”
Weatherby nodded. “Both ladies described him the same way. It seems too much of a coincidence for it to be anyone else.”
They rode steadily out of the mine. The sun was nearing the horizon, casting long bands of gold across the road, though there was still enough light to see the way to the village.
Tobias kept his eyes on the road. “If he left the site entirely, and he was the one seen with Creed, then Creed knows where he has gone.”
Tobias nodded. “We still have light enough to reach him.”
Weatherby straightened in the saddle. “Then we go to Silas Creed first. He is in one of the cottages.”
They urged their horses forward, the last of the daylight guiding them toward the village.
The cottages came into view at the edge of the trees. Smoke drifted from a few chimneys, and the narrow path between the buildings was quiet at this hour.
“Which one is Creed’s?” Tobias asked, slowing his horse and looking over at the clustered buildings.
Weatherby scanned the row. “He keeps to himself, but I have seen him come from the far end. The one with the narrow porch.”
“The one with the stacked firewood?”
“Yes,” Weatherby said. “That cottage was empty until the time Lady Viola came to stay. It must be the one he took.”
Tobias’s jaw tightened slightly. “Strange that her servant did not stay at the estate with her.”
Weatherby hesitated before answering. “I thought the same, My Lord. When he arrived, he said he preferred to be near the village for errands and messages. It sounded reasonable enough at the time. Some servants do not like to be underfoot in a large house. And Lady Viola said she did not need him indoors.”
Tobias considered that, though his expression did not ease. “Even so.”
“I agree. It sits poorly now.”
They rode toward the cottage together. When they reached the narrow porch, they dismounted and tied the horses to the post.
Tobias climbed the steps without slowing, Weatherby close behind him. He rapped sharply on the door, giving only a brief pause. When no answer came, he knocked again, harder this time.
“Creed,” Tobias called, his voice carrying through the wood. “Open the door.”
A faint sound of a scraping chair came from inside. Tobias exchanged a look with Weatherby, then set his hand to the latch. When no reply followed, he pushed the door open and entered, Weatherby close behind him.
Creed stood from the table at once, his expression unreadable, his posture stiff as though he had been caught in the middle of something.
Tobias stepped forward, his voice controlled but unmistakably firm. “I want the truth. A man left the mine after the lift frame was tampered with. You were seen helping an unknown person into a coach in the village. You will tell me what you know.”
Creed did not answer. He folded his arms and stared at Tobias with a calm demeanor that only served to sharpen Tobias’s anger.
Weatherby stepped forward. “You heard his lordship.”
Creed’s jaw tightened, but he still said nothing.
“You know why we are here,” Tobias said, taking a step closer. “Again, a man vanished from the mine. You were seen with someone who matches his description. You will explain that.”
Creed’s eyes flicked toward the door, then back to Tobias. “I help many people with many things, My Lord. That is my position.”
“Your position,” Tobias said, “is to serve Lady Viola. Not to escort strangers out of the village shortly after there has been a deliberate act of sabotage.”
Creed’s expression shifted, the faintest trace of disdain crossing his face. “If you cannot keep order in your own mine, that is hardly my concern.”
Tobias seized Creed by the front of his coat and drove him back against the wall. The impact shook the table beside them. Creed’s head struck the plaster, but he still refused to look away.
“Speak,” Tobias said.
Creed stayed silent.
Tobias tightened his grip and slammed him back a second time, harder than before. The coat bunched in Tobias’s fists. Creed exhaled with a sharp sound, but his expression did not change.
Weatherby shifted his stance, ready if needed, but he did not interfere.
Creed spoke without raising his tone. “You may want to think before you lay hands on me, My Lord. I am Lady Viola’s steward, as you well know, and her father is the Earl of Hartmere.”
Tobias froze.
Creed continued, “You will be relying on the earl soon enough.”
Tobias released him at once, the shame rising fast. He stepped back, his breath unsteady. He was aware of Weatherby watching him.
Creed straightened his coat. “That is all I have to say.”
Tobias turned and walked out of the cottage without another word. The door struck the frame behind him as he pushed through it.
You lost control, he thought bitterly. You swore you would never do this.
He reached the bottom of the steps and stopped as Weatherby came out after him, closing the door firmly behind them.
Tobias started walking toward the horses, each step harder than the last.
This was not only Viola. This was the Stanhopes.
All of them.
Weatherby fell into step beside him as Tobias mounted his horse with a force that betrayed everything he felt. The light was fading quickly now, the road ahead growing harder to see.
“We will need lanterns before long,” Weatherby said quietly. “There should be some at the small storage shed by the outer fields. The workers keep them there for evening rounds. I can ride ahead and fetch two while you settle your reins.”
Tobias gave a short nod. Weatherby urged his horse forward, disappearing down the lane for a moment before returning with two lit lanterns swinging from their handles. He handed one up to Tobias and secured the other to his own saddle.
They rode in silence for several minutes. Tobias tried to keep his thoughts in order, but the weight of the day pressed heavily against him. Cecily was safe. That alone eased something deep within him. But the mine, the tampered frame, the missing man, and Creed’s evasions all demanded answers.
He could not act without proof. Not with Viola still at the estate. Not with the household already unsettled. He had to tread carefully until he knew exactly what he would do.
Weatherby stayed close but did not speak, giving him the space he needed.
Only when the cottages were far behind them did Tobias trust himself to break the silence. He turned slightly in the saddle, the lantern casting a steady glow across the road.
“I will get to the bottom of this,” Tobias said. “You have my word.”
Weatherby nodded once. “You will, My Lord.”
Tobias looked ahead again. “There is much to consider. I cannot move on until I know the truth. But I will not let this rest.”
He tightened his grip on the reins, feeling the resolve settle deeper.
The road ahead was dim, but the path he needed to take had never felt clearer.
He would uncover who had done this, and why.
And when he returned to the estate, he would ensure that nothing threatened the fragile peace he had begun to rebuild.