“Except, perhaps, your sister getting pregnant and birthing yet another son. As a, if ye will excuse the language, breeder, she was always a threat.” Matthew shook his head. “Where was this grave because we never saw it and we looked all around.”
“It was on the other side of the garden. David made it flat so it would not stick up. No mounding. Even made the headstone flat but it had Neddy’s full name on it, some religious picture, a weeping angel or something, dates and country. Perhaps because the garden was so full this year it had hidden it, covered the top. I really can’t say because, living there for three years or so I was so accustomed to it I never really saw it from day to day. I also tried not to think of it often because it gave me the chills.
“Nothing much else of interest. Some gossip about the McDonald wife being very friendly with Jacob Potsdam and a few tales like that. Maggie always blames the hills. She claims it gives folk the idea that they can act like animals, too. And she is carrying her tenth child and plans to do a specific operation on her husband soon as she can find the right knife.”
“Tenth child?” said Mrs. O’Neal.
Emily nodded and grinned. “You would never know to look at her. She says she is part rabbit. But she does not look any older than she did when I met her, not in figure or face, and not even graying hair. To be fair there are two sets of twins in that number.”
“But ten children.” Robbie shook his head. “How on earth does one family care for so many?”
“And how does a woman find the time to draw such good pictures with ten kids running around?” said Iain, still studying the pictures Emily had handed him.
“Our enemy is a tricky bastard but more than that he is completely insane.”
“I think so.”
“So what does one do with a madman?” asked Duncan.
“Same thing ye do with a rabid dog,” said Iain.
“But how does one find him?”
“He will be lurking around here. There are a number of us who can watch for him,” said Matthew.
“So you will all take time from your work, your living, to hunt for this maniac? Does that not seem just a bit unreasonable?” Emily asked quietly. “Give him the opening he seeks to destroy what you have? I think he is after more than ridding himself of heirs now; I think he wants to be rid of the people who have blocked him at every turn. You have to think that every small thing you neglect, every bit of income you lose, and so on, means he wins.”
“Do ye really believe that?” Iain asked.
“I do. From what I know of dear Cousin Albert, every time he is stopped from getting what he wants he gets angry and he plans to make the one who blocked him pay. I fear we are not simply enemies any longer, we are impediments and dear Albert gets particularly rabid about those.”
Chapter Sixteen
Trying desperately not to wring her hands as she paced, Emily wondered how long it would take to find Albert. She wished Iain had listened to her. Albert was clever and dangerous. The man had no qualms about sending people out to kill people he felt were in his way but he was also more than willing to do the killing himself. Emily had the feeling Iain saw Albert only as English gentry, a breed of people who did little with their lives save spend their fortunes, money earned off the backs of others, and who would never actually fight hard for their lives. They would beg or bargain.
“Sit down, Emily. He will be fine.” Mrs. O’Neal nudged Emily into a seat.
“Iain doesn’t understand what he is dealing with.”
“He has gone after a killer. Think the boy knows that well enough.”
Emily shook her head. “Yes, Albert is a killer but, in Iain’s mind, he is also just gentry, I think. He does not have a high opinion of that group or any true respect.”
“But Iain has fought the man already, several times.”
“No, he has fought the men Albert hired to do his killing for him. That actually just proves Iain’s opinion. He hired rough men who undoubtedly thought hunting down a woman and a child would be easy work. Even if told of Iain and his brothers they would have just shrugged. Fight a group of shepherds? Ha-ha. The men Albert hired probably thought him an idiot and a coward for not doing such an easy killing himself.”
“More fool them,” said Mrs. O’Neal as she poured boiling water into a teapot and set it on the table to steep. “Those MacEnroy boys are not fools or idiots. I wager they have things figured out and will know how to end that man. I can’t think that he will be able to gather any more fools to fight for him. It often astonishes me how quickly word spreads around here about things that happen or who to watch out for.”
An ache started behind her eyes and Emily used both hands to rub at her forehead. It was terrible of her but she dearly wished Albert would just go away, permanently. She really should have let Mabel just shoot the man down like a dog when they were all at the store. It would have been justice at last for her parents and Annabel and David. Emily was horrified by that thought and yet also disgusted that she had not seized the chance and worried about the consequences later. Iain was an honest man, however, and that put him at a severe disadvantage when facing a snake like Albert.
“If he cannot gather any more men because word is out about his offer then why are you so worried?” asked Mrs. O’Neal as she poured them each some tea.
“As I said, Albert is quite capable of doing his own killing. I suspect he has some of his own chosen men with him as well. The others he hired were tossed at us to judge our strength.” Emily was certain of that now that she had thought on it all night.
“Oh.” Mrs. O’Neal slowly stirred some sugar into her tea. “You sound very sure of that.”
“I am. What Albert is doing has preyed on my mind and that is the possibility which kept churning up through all the fear and confusion. I know Iain and his brothers think I am making Albert some sort of grand, heroic figure of evil and just shrug aside all I say. Yet, it is the only thing that makes sense. I think the first attack was because they saw us and thought they could avoid attacking this place if they caught me on the road.”
