“Emma...?”
Then he nodded. “Aye, and it seems that she must have said something to someone...the police are here. We need to leave!”
Wherever he had been, he was exhausted. We both were. None of it mattered as I grabbed the jacket and my bag.
Brodie continued to listen at the door. He shook his head, then glanced past me to bedroom and the window in the far wall that faced out to the back of the building.
“This way,” he whispered. I followed with the hound right behind me.
He was able to force the window open, check the alley, then grabbed my hand. He gave me a leg up and I was scrambling out the opening with Brodie immediately after. Then he grabbed my hand. I caught a glimpse of Rupert as he leapt out the window and followed as we ran down the alley.
I did hate that we had to leave what was left of my aunt’s very fine whisky.
Just beyond the theater, Brodie waved down a coach.
“Do ye have the fare?”
I nodded and he pulled the door open as the coach pulled alongside. I climbed inside, the hound just behind me. However, Brodie did not follow.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
He shook his head, he would not say.
“Ye need to go—you know where,” he said then, that dark gaze intense. “And dinna give the driver the address until yer well past the district.”
I did know where—Sussex Square, and very badly wanted him to come with me. We would find a way through this together. But I knew just as well that he would not.
“How do I find you if I should learn something important?”
Again he shook his head, then reached for my hand. His was warm, while mine was icy cold. I was afraid and I hated being afraid. Not for myself, but for him.
“I will find ye. Trust me.” He gave a signal to the driver and the coach lurched away from the kerb.
Damn bloody stubborn Scot!
I knew exactly his meaning when we parted, he wanted me to go to Sussex Square.
I had not wanted to involve my great-aunt. Still, I knew that he was right. Sussex Square was almost a fortress, occupied by a woman whose ancestors included one of the first kings of Britain. And in spite of her age, she was quite formidable. If one of her own was threatened, I would not have put it past her to meet the‘enemy’at the gate with a sword.
It was late in the evening when I arrived, the driver slowing to a stop at those massive gates.
“Are ye certain, sir?” he called down from atop the coach.
Sir? I almost laughed, and then assured him that this was the address. He then swung the coach through those gates and up the drive to the front entrance.
Sussex Square had been our childhood home for my sister and me after the deaths of both parents. To say being raised by our great-aunt was somewhat unconventional was a mild understatement.
My sister and I were provided with the finest of private educations, a year in Paris, summers at Old Lodge in the north of Scotland, as well as winters at our great-aunt’s chateau in the south of France.
In between, there were the adventures that included hunting in the woods; masquerading as pirates, complete with a pirate ship on the green at Sussex Square; horse-backriding; and participating in our great-aunt’s somewhat eccentric adventures. Those had included card readings and séances, with an odd assortment of friends and acquaintances that included several peers of the realm, the Queen’s favorite cousin, and a notable admiral or two.
We thought it all quite normal. Didn’t everyone have a pirate ship in the garden?
As a result I had learned long ago to expect almost anything when returning to Sussex Square.
That included her preparations for safari, which she was embarking on the following month.
As a young girl, our aunt had also lived for a time in the West Indies, as her father had been appointed governor of one of the islands for a time. There had been countless stories of her adventures on the island. Hence the pirate ship from our own childhood.
