“Whom do you heal?”
“Anyone who comes to me.”
Palmer tilted his head and studied her. “Who would that be, Miss Campbell?”
“Mrs. Campbell,” she said before she could stop herself.
“You’re wed?” Palmer perked up, suddenly very interested.
“Was. My husband died four years ago.”
“Fighting the English?”
“That’s enough, Palmer,” Iain said in warning.
“I’m merely questioning where her loyalties lie, Campbell. You are obviously a supporter of the English cause. Maybe she isn’t.”
“This is about the murders, not Mrs. Campbell’s loyalties.”
“And who would murder English soldiers but someone who does not believe in the English cause?”
Iain tilted his head and studied Palmer. Cait saw something shift in his eyes and his lips tighten, but she knew that was the only emotion he would allow to show. “Are you calling her a Jacobite?”
Unperturbed, Palmer shrugged. “That’s what I’m trying to ascertain.”
“I didn’t kill those soldiers, Captain.”
Both men considered her, almost as if they’d forgotten she was there.
“I’m a healer,” she said. “I was put on this earth to keep people alive, not kill them.”
“You never answered my question. Was your husband a Jacobite?”
“If he was, it doesn’t matter now. He’s been dead four years. I hardly think that affects your investigation.”
“He could have instilled his beliefs in you.”
Cait laughed, more angry than amused or frightened. “I’m my own woman, Captain. Whatever my husband believed, those were his beliefs, and whatever I believe, they are my own beliefs. I help anyone who comes to me for help. I don’t turn anyone away, and I don’t ask questions.”
“So you do help Jacobites? Possibly even Jacobites who are wanted for questioning by the English?”
She’d heard of the English way of “questioning,” and it wasn’t as innocent as Palmer was trying to lead her to believe. “I treat everyone who needs me.”
He sneered. “So you’re telling me you treat Jacobites? What about English soldiers?”
“Yes.”
He snorted in disbelief.
“Do you know Sergeant Halloway?” she asked.
“I’ve heard of him,” he said warily.
“Ask him. He’s been here a few times for various ailments.”
“I will, and if I find out you’re playing me false, I will return.”
“That’s enough,” Iain said so calmly that it startled both Cait and Palmer.
