“Could be he has someone telling him or could be a survivor goes back to him.” Iain shook his head. “Would not be a bright one because anyone with a brain would ken that Albert is the bigger threat. That is a man who would shoot the messenger.”
“Oh, most certainly. Especially ones like those men. Albert is very aware of his own consequence. Everyone else is an underling and can be easily disposed of. There were rumors that some of his servants were killed for things like dropping a napkin but no one could prove anything.”
“A man who goes about killing his own kin will do just about anything,” said Mrs. O’Neal.
Emily glanced at the children who sat at a shorter table in the far end of the kitchen. They did not appear to be listening but she was sure they would find out later. It was probably not the best of talk to have around the children but there were few other times when they all sat together and could talk things out.
“Is there no law around here?”
“About a day’s ride away,” replied Iain. “They are never too interested in dealing with anything that requires they leave their town, which is near to a city compared to our little hole in the wall. No use going to them, trust me on that.”
That news depressed Emily’s spirits so much she just wanted to get away somewhere and sit, possibly by the water. No law, no just shooting the man, and no way to turn an army of armed men toward him. Everything worked against them. She wondered if that was fate at work or something far worse.
“I forgot to say but I got something that was being sent to ye. Picked it up when I went to get my horse shod.” Nigel patted all his pockets and pulled out a letter before handing it to Emily. “It looks to have been moving about for quite awhile. Dinnae ken how it got here from your sister’s place. Someone out there told them to send it to you here.”
Emily’s hands shook faintly as she took the letter. “That would have been Maggie. She and her family lived only a short walk from us. Well, what would be considered short by those who live here. I wrote to her once I knew Albert already knew where Neddy and I were. I believe this is from her actually. Which means it may take me a while to decipher it.”
“She cannae write?”
“She can write quite well but she is from England, too. Yorkshire. They have so many different ways of saying things and then her family came here and landed in Boston, so you have a New England way of talking mixed with the Yorkshire.” She shook her head. “And then she married and moved here. You really cannot understand half of what she says when she talks and when she gets excited or emotional it is truly like a foreign tongue. But we shall see. She may have had someone else help her if she felt she had something of great import to say. I think I should wait until after dinner to read it.”
“Can ye actually do that?” Iain teased as he watched how she kept looking at the letter as if she could read some of it through the covering.
“You can read it when we put out dessert in a bit, Emily. Dessert is not so distracting,” said Mrs. O’Neal.
Emily nodded and was finally able to set the letter aside. She hoped there had been no trouble at any of the other houses or any of the other people got hurt. One could never be sure about rough men willing and able to slaughter one family and burn their house. In their disappointment over failing to get what they went for they could easily have wreaked destruction on others.
* * *
Emily sat in the parlor on the settee and found herself flanked by Iain and Robbie. She carefully opened the packet that held Maggie’s letter and was amazed by the lengthy note the woman had written. Even better she had sent three of her drawings of David and Annabel. The woman had not liked Annabel all that much but Emily had always suspected the woman had been sweet on David.
One drawing of Annabel was of her sister sitting on one of the high rocks and staring toward England. Another was of David, who sat on another rock and stared at his wife. The last was of David and Neddy and, by the look of Neddy, it was from shortly before they had been killed. She handed the drawings to Iain and opened the letter.
As Emily had feared Maggie had written the way she talked, which would mean a slow read for her. She read through the condolences quickly and she could tell Maggie was brokenhearted about the death of David and explained why she had been so deeply fond of him. He had looked and acted like her eldest brother, who had been killed in a fight on the ship over. Now to know David was murdered brought it all back to her.
The bad news hit Emily hard. Someone had dug up the grave marked Neddy. She suspected the men had gone back the next day or sooner and in poking around found the grave marked for little Edward. Then found out it was empty. That was all Albert had needed to get himself out here to lead. She sighed and then looked up at Neddy.
“Neddy?” she called, and the boy looked at her. “Remember Maggie from home?”
“Yes. She is Abbie and Nicky’s mom. Is she hurt?”
“No, darling, she has just written me a letter. And she says right here that Abbie and Nicky say hello.”
“Can we go see them?”
“Not right now but I will think on it.” She shook her head when he lost interest and hurried out of the room.
By the time she finished the letter she missed Maggie like a limb. The woman had been claimed by Annabel, who had then swiftly forgotten all about her. The teas shared were almost always, Maggie, Emily, and David. Even though they were at their cabin and Annabel always called Maggie a friend, she had rarely had tea with them. Emily had guessed that Annabel had detected Maggie’s love for David and totally misinterpreted it.
“Well, Maggie says that someone came back to the cabin and checked it all over. In the process they found Neddy’s grave and dug it up so they know he was never in there.” She looked up to find everyone looking at her in shock. “What?”
“Ye had a grave marked for Neddy?” asked Iain.
“Did you not see it?”
All of the MacEnroys shook their heads.
Emily struggled to explain. “David decided we needed some insurance for our Neddy. If any of us got grabbed we could just say the child is dead, there’s the grave. And all that. I thought it a brilliant idea. My sister not so much. Since the boy was who was hunted, we took him out of the running. That was one reason I was so stunned that they killed David and Annabel. With the child supposedly dead and buried there was nothing to gain.”
