“Ian! Thank goodness you are here!” Lady Rennington gasped. “We were sure you would come but— Oh, it is dreadful!”
His insides contracted in terror. Not Izzy! Not that!
Josie’s voice was more measured. “She has gone, Ian. Disappeared.”
Oh, thank God! Not dead, then.
“When?”
“Saturday.”
“So she has two days’ lead on me. I shall catch her up.”
“But we have no idea where she has gone… whether she left Durham at all, and if so, which road she took,” Lady Rennington wailed.
“She will not be hard to find,” Ian said. “Her carriage is very distinctive.”
“That is just the problem,” Josie said. “She has not taken her own carriage, nor her maid or manservant. She has taken one small box of clothes and simply vanished.”
5: Choices
“Come inside and tell me everything,” Ian said.
This was easier said than done, for Lady Tarvin and Mrs Edward Harfield met him in the hall, so that he had four ladies fluttering anxiously around him. To be fair to Josie, she was not a flutterer, but the other three tested his patience to its limits. Then they decided they had to show him to his room at once, even though all he wanted to do was to find out about Izzy. But eventually they were all seated in one of the multitude of misshapen parlours with which the Priory was endowed, someone pushed a glass of wine into his hand and he settled down to hear the story.
“There is no trace of her,” Lady Tarvin said, with a worried expression.
“Quite vanished,” Mrs Edward said.
“She went to see a friend—”
“—and simply vanished!”
“Her manservant has been looking for her—”
“—but not a trace!”
“Perhaps Josie might tell the story,” Ian said mildly. “From the beginning, if you please.”
The others subsided. Josie sipped her wine, then set the glass down with precision on a side table.
“Izzy arrived on Friday,” she began. “She was very upset, naturally, and seemed… a little on edge at dinner. She broke a wine glass and cut her hand.”
“Ruined her lovely gown,” Lady Tarvin put in. “Blood all over it.”
“That stain will never come out, not from white satin,” Mrs Edward said.
“I am not interested in gowns,” Ian said. “Please continue, Josie.”
“Mama talked to her and she seemed… more settled. On Saturday morning, she borrowed a pair of horses and went into Durham, to visit a friend, she said.”
“What friend is this?”
“She said only that we would not know her. She left her carriage at the Queen’s Head, and went on foot to the house.”
“With her manservant?” Ian said, suddenly alarmed. “She did not walk unaccompanied?”
“No, Samuel was with her. She stayed about an hour at the house, a most ramshackle place, according to Samuel, then she sent him back to the inn, with orders to send the carriage back to the Priory. Brandon was to pack up one box for her, as she was going to stay with her friend for a few days. Samuel was to stay at the Queen’s Head to wait for the carriage to return. Izzy would send someone to collect the box. Which she did, someone Samuel described as either a manservant or he could have been a gentleman, but a down-at-heel one, his face as weathered as a farmer. He told Samuel and Brandon that they were to take the carriage back to the Priory and stay there, for they would not be needed.”
