“Questions?”
“About the theft.”
His expression turned defensive. “Didn’t I answer all there was to answer for ’is Lordship?”
“Yes, I’m sure you did, but my husband was quite upset at the time. After all, no one had ever stolen Sherring Cross horses before. So he may have missed a point or two. For instance, what exactly did you hear Lord MacGregor say that caused you to recognize his voice?”
“Ah, I don’t rightly recollect, Your Grace.”
“Try, Mr. Ables. Was he talking to someone else, or to himself, or possibly to the horses he was stealing? Was he mumbling or shouting or—”
“’E were talkin’ normal-like, which is why it were easy to recognize ’is voice,” Will answered, having found some confidence.
“Very good, and what did he say? Take your time, if necessary, Mr. Ables. We do want to be accurate.”
“What’s it matter what ’e said? I ’eard a noise. I went to ’ave a look-see. I ’ear the Scot talkin’, and the next thing ’appens, I get coshed on the ’ead.”
“Yes, very simple, except he might have been talking to an accomplice, might have mentioned a name. Or you might have been confused in what you heard. After all, you were wakened from a sound sleep. It’s possible you weren’t fully awake when you heard the voice.”
“Beggin’ your pardon, Your Grace, but I know what I ’eard. It were that Scot MacGregor’s voice. There be no mistake in that.”
“Then you’d recognize his voice again if you heard it?” Megan asked casually.
“Certainly.”
“Very well, just for the sake of clarity, would you tell me which of these voices you’re going to hear belongs to Lachlan MacGregor?”
“What voices?” Will frowned.
Megan nodded to one of the servants, who then crossed the room to open the door to the connecting suite. No one was seen beyond that door, just the usual furniture one would find in a very elegant bedroom.
Kimberly spared barely a glance in that room, she was watching Will Ables, whose frown had grown deeper. He still didn’t quite understand what was going on or expected of him. But when that first voice spoke from the other room, his eyes rounded and he turned quite pale.
“Was it me ye heard, laddie? If sae, speak up now an’ say sae.”
“Or was it me ye were hearin’ tha’ night, mon? Dinna hesitate. I’ve been accused o’ worse, an’ there’s naething muir I’ll be sayin’ aboot tha’, I’m thinkin’.”
“Or mayhap it was myself you heard, laddie? As it happens, I’ve a fondness for both horses and head bashing.”
“Och now, it mun ha’ been meself ye heard, wasna it, lad? Aye, I’ve a verra distinctive voice, I’m tald, verra hard tae be mistakin’.”
Kimberly was amazed herself, at the strong difference in each man’s voice, either in his tone or the thickness of his brogue. No two of them had sounded a bit alike really, which should have made it quite easy for Will Ables to pick the third voice, which she had recognized as Lachlan’s—unless he’d never heard Lachlan’s voice before.
And yet he stood there, his owl-like blue eyes about as wide as they could get, apprehension in every line of his face. And he said nothing. His very silence condemned him as far as Kimberly was concerned, because he knew he’d be condemned if he made the wrong choice.
Megan must have realized it also. Her smile was a bit on the triumphant side when she said, “Well, Mr. Ables, which is it then? Which voice did you hear in the stable just before you were attacked?”
He was so panicked at that point that he blundered badly with the question, “MacGregor’s one o’ them?”
Megan lifted a brow. “You have to ask?”
He lost a bit more color. “No, no, I ’eard ’is voice just now, I did. It’s the order, the counting—I ’ave trouble with numbers, ye see. If I could ’ave a look-see at the gentlemen, I could point ’im out—”
“Come now, Mr. Ables, that would defeat the purpose of this little demonstration, now wouldn’t it,” Megan said sternly. “Aside from the fact that Lord MacGregor is well known due to his lofty height, how else would you have been able to identify him that night unless you had heardandseen him before?”
He latched onto that remark swiftly. “Exactly,” he blustered. “I did identify ’im, so what’s the point of this, eh?”
Megan sighed. “Did I not mention clarity? Or perhaps you haven’t realized what a serious charge this is? It would be extremely unfortunate if due to no fault of your own, you were a bit confused in the matter, especially with Lord MacGregor being related to my husband—”
