Through The Leaded Glass (29 page)

Alex wanted to punch it off. “What about
Lawrence?”

“
Who?”

“
The freeman who told me a curious
and opportune tale, then vacated his home on my lands without
collecting his reward and has come to live here. Surely you
remember him.”

“
A man I commend for his good
sense, though I would have waited until I’d taken your gold.”
Farley sat down and stretched his legs.

“
You deny you plotted against me
with him?”

“
Such a harsh accusation, Alex.”
Farley waved his steward over for a cup of wine. “With implications
I don’t like. Why would you think so? Unless, perhaps Shelton isn’t
the harmonious home you proclaim it to be.” He cocked the cup in a
mock salute. “Which should make it easier to find others to support
my claim against you.”

“
You’re blinded by jealousy, not
lost in grief. I had nothing to do with Calista’s death, nothing to
gain. Think about it, Simon. Why would I waste my efforts on an act
punishable by hanging when I can, and do, best you within the
confines of the law at every challenge?”

“
Because you wanted to take
something I cared of from me.”

“
I want nothing of yours and if you
were thinking rationally, you’d know that. However, I might know
who did.”

Farley flew to his feet and flung the cup into
the fireplace. “I knew it—”

“
No you don’t. Sit and listen.”
Alex pulled up a chair and sat, swiping a hand over his jaw. He
wasn’t looking forward to sharing this information, but if the two
incidents were related, he needed whatever information Simon had.
It only made sense that whoever had taken William would do anything
to make Alex’s life hell. “There’s a madman in my home.”

“
And his name is Alex.”

“
Do you want to find Calista’s
killer or will this feud you have with me color your actions? For
the last time, I didn’t kill her.” He pulled Calista’s necklace
from his purse. “Here. For you. To prove it.”

Farley took the jewels, then sat down, his
cockiness gone. “If you didn’t, then who—”

“
That’s what I’m telling you,
Simon. Someone attempted to steal my son. Items have been stolen
from my keep. Animals taken. Someone wants my downfall. I believe
he killed Calista to make it look as if it were me.”

“
A convenient story.”

“
Think, Simon—would I endanger my
own son? My only heir? You know me better than that. I simply don’t
care enough about you to put my life, my family’s name, at
risk.”

Farley rested his forearms on his knees and
looked into the flames. “But if not you, then who?”

“
That’s what I have to discover. I
need you to think who might have wanted her dead. Who would have
had the opportunity. You do Calista’s memory no good by refusing to
see the truth.”

Farley tapped his steepled fingers as the
burning wood crackled and hissed. Alex could see the thoughts
tumbling through his mind; Farley was always looking for an
advantage.

“
Damn, Alex, you’re right. You had
no reason to murder her.”

“
Exactly. But someone else does.
Someone who has a quarrel with me. I’d thought it was
you.”

“
I’d never kill Calista to ruin
you, Shelton. You, too, are also not as important to me as she is.
Was.”

“
I know. That’s when I realized it
wasn’t you. I’d held out the hope because you were an easy target,
but even you would never go to such lengths merely to see me hang.
Nor would you have much to gain other than the satisfaction of
having, at last, bested me.”

“
Then who would gain by your
death?”

“
I don’t know, yet. But tell me how
and why you got Lawrence to come here.”

Farley shrugged. “I didn’t do anything. He
came, asking to work a parcel of land. I was glad to find someone
unhappy at your home so I agreed without pressing for
answers.”

“
I think it’s time to do that,
don’t you?”

Farley nodded and directed his steward to find
the man. “It’s time to get to the bottom of this. So that I can
then bury you in the lists legitimately.”

Same old Simon, refusing to surrender. Alex
let the insult pass. He was more interested in what Lawrence would
tell them.

***

Tristan set down the pynade Cook had made and
brushed his hands against his tunic. Sticky fingers from the sweets
bothered him as much as sitting around did. But Alex had asked him
to oversee the place in his absence, so here he sat.

It wasn’t all that much of a hardship, if he
were truthful. Especially since Carol, Cook’s daughter, was in the
room could also account for his restlessness. He needed to get back
to his own holdings before the servant girl made him
mad.

Yet still he stared at her, willing her to
turn to him. Willing her to lay with him. He’d been trying that
approach of late, for pretty words and soft looks hadn’t done the
trick. But neither did that.

He didn’t know why he cared. It wasn’t as if
there weren’t other willing women. Hell, he often left his own home
because
there were too many petty squabbles between his
current and previous favorites.

He shook his head. He should stay away from
women. They were more trouble than they were worth. But Carol… He
caught a glimpse of her profile, delicate yet with a stubborn set
to her chin. She had to know he stared; he couldn’t do much else
when he was near her.

She glanced at him and her cheeks flushed. Ah,
yes, she knew.

But then she left.

Tris sighed and drained the rest of his wine.
Women. He didn’t know why he cared. Look at what Alex was going
through, all because of a woman.

“
Lord Hambledon.” Benton walked
into the hall. “There is a merchant asking for Lord
Shelton.”

Tris set down the mug. Time for business. He
tossed a bag of coins to him. “Here Benton. Give him this and bring
in the package he bears.”

“ ‘
Tis no’ good enough, m’ lord.” A
short little man wearing spectacles and odd tunic and hose strode
into the hall. The hounds scurried to his side, their large bodies
jostling the man and the bulky package he held. “Lord Shelton needs
t’ be gettin’ this right away. He paid for it t’ be done as quick
as possible.”

Tristan stood, towering over the man who
reached only to his chest. “I understand, however, the earl isn’t
here. You’re to leave it and I’ll give it to him upon his
return.”

“
But he needs it
now
.” The
fierce glow in the little man’s eyes died out and his shoulders
drooped as he looked at the object on his wrist. “My instructions
were to deliver it to him and no other.”

If Alex had wanted the window so badly, he
wouldn’t have left Tris here to receive it. “Instructions from
whom?”

The man’s eyes widened. “Uh, well… why, Lord
Shelton himself. Yes. Himself. He wanted it t’ arrive t’ day, an’
here ‘tis.” The little man started pacing, the dogs following his
every step. “I’ve done what I was supposed to do. Now you have to
do your part. Find Lord Shelton so he can give this to Kate before
it’s too late. Is that so hard to understand?” The man stomped his
foot. “I can’t do everything myself. I don’t have the time to sit
around waiting. There are others who need my help.” He thrust the
linen-wrapped package at Tris. “There has to be free will, you
understand? I can’t hand it out to each person; they have to grasp
it for themselves. Make it work for them. So I’m going to trust you
to do the right thing by delivering this to Lord Shelton
immediately and trust that he’ll do the right thing with
it.”

With that, the man spun around and strode from
the hall, the hounds trailing after him as if he were their
mother.

Tris looked at the package, then at the hounds
who whined at the threshold when the man bade them stay, then at
the man himself. The one whose speech had changed halfway through
his sermon.

He motioned for Beatrice. “Have Joan wake the
lady Katherine.”

If what he was holding was what he thought it
was, Kate would want to see this.

Moments later, however, Joan’s scream rent the
air.

Tris jumped to his feet and, joined by
Beatrice, Benton, and a pack of servants, ran into Kate’s
room.

Joan was pointing at the bed.

“
God’s blood!” Tristan set the
package against the wall and tore through the pile beneath the
bedclothes though he knew he’d find nothing. As with that sheep, he
wouldn’t find what he sought.

It was a ploy to gain time to remove Kate from
the room. First William, now her. Alex was going to be
devastated.

He picked up the cup by the bed. It held a
small drop of cooled mulled wine. Tris sniffed it, but the heavy
scent of cloves masked whatever it’d held. “Did you bring this to
your lady?” he asked Joan.

“
As usual, my lord.” The maid
pointed to the chest against the wall. “I placed the urns
there.”

Tristan sniffed both urns, but, could detect
nothing. That didn’t mean, however, there wasn’t something
there.

“
Beatrice, I want extra guards on
William. Benton, you stay with me. You—”he pointed to another
man—”send a man to Alex and one to Marston. We’ll require Lord
Caversham’s aid. And someone go find that merchant who delivered
the package. The rest of you, start checking every corridor and
chamber.”

Once the room cleared, he started looking for
an entrance to a sallyport. There had to be one somewhere. No one
could have slipped down the stairs and out the door with an awkward
burden when Alex had tripled the guards.

He moved the heavy chest, but the wall behind
it looked normal, no line marking a secret passageway. Where the
hell could it be? How had the bastard gotten her out of
here?

He was about to search the room when he saw
Alex and Herald cresting the hill. He called down to a squire in
the yard to ready his horse and bolted from the room, charging the
guard to let no one enter on pain of death.

Then he ran to his horse and rode through the
portcullis almost before the gatekeeper could open it. There was no
time to lose.

Chapter
Twenty-Six

Alex rode Herald hard, wishing Lawrence’s head
was beneath the animal’s hooves. The man had had no answers save
that he’d no longer wanted to live on Shelton land. Any other time,
Alex wouldn’t complain, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that
Lawrence was somehow tied up in this.

Then Tris came hurtling toward him on
horseback and Lawrence’s answers were put aside. Tris wouldn’t
leave the keep without a very good reason.

Or a very bad one.

“
Kate’s missing, Alex!” Tris yelled
above the din of the hooves. “There must be a sallyport in her
chambers!”

“
No!” Alex felt the bread from this
morn rise in his throat. Not Kate! “And William?”

“
We increased his guards. He’s
safe.”

But for how long?

Alex slapped the reins and kicked Herald on.
The spirited animal didn’t fail him. Ears flat out, tail streaming,
muscles working hard, Herald devoured the distance to the
keep.

Once through the gate, Alex was swinging from
the saddle and halfway up the tower stairs before Herald had
stopped prancing and tossing his head.

Tristan reached the hall as Alex got the full
story from Stephen. “Organize the search like we did for William.
And, Tris, come with me.”

Alex took the stairs to her room two at a
time, trying to forget how he’d done the same thing just last night
under far different circumstances.

The room was just as he’d left it—except she
wasn’t there. He gripped the door, trying to keep terror at bay. He
had to be strong to find her.

And then he saw it.

The arched shaped linen wrapped
package.

Tris reached the room just as Alex picked it
up.

“
The merchant delivered it this
morn.”

Of course he had—just when Kate wasn’t here to
receive it.

Alex cursed and set it down. He’d find her.
And then he’d give it to her and she would be safe. More than he
wanted to be with her, Alex needed to keep her safe. If that was in
her time, then so be it.

“
How did he get her out of
here?”

Tris picked up the cup. “Probably a sleeping
draught. And a sallyport.”

The plastered walls showed no sign of a one.
The stone wall—the
outer
wall—was the most logical place, so
Alex ran his hands over the stones, gouging the mortar, his nails
ripping, searching for the one that’d unlock a secret passage.
“Frederick never told me of one in this chamber.”

“
It’s the only explanation that
makes sense because the guards never saw anyone leave. You brother
might not have known.”

True, though Frederick had known the rest of
the keep as if he’d built it.