“The fault is mine,” Nora interrupted, her voice tight. “I was talkin’ to me sister. I wasnae watchin’ her.”
“Where did ye last see her?” Helena spoke up. She was pale and had, at some point, unloaded all the bags and boxes of things to some other poor unfortunate. Now, her hands were free, closed tightly over the head of her cane. Her knuckles stood out white.
“At the doorway to the garden,” Nora responded, swallowing. “I was talkin’ to Margaret. I had me back turned, and when I looked back, she was gone.”
“And this was ten minutes ago? She cannae have gone far,” Helena decided. “Men, split up. Search the market thoroughly. Speak to stall owners. Look underneath the stalls. Somebody must have seen her. There arenae many small girls wanderin’ around the market unattended.”
“What if she wasnae unattended?” Margaret spoke up.
A horrible silence fell over the group. Nora turned slowly to face her sister.
“What did ye say?”
Margaret’s jaw tightened under all the stares, but she pressed on.
“What if Laurie didnae leave of her own accord?” she continued, meeting Nora’s eye with a visible effort. “Somebody could have taken her.”
Helena sucked in a ragged breath. “Who would risk such a thing? They’re takin’ Laird MacColl’s sister and Laird MacCrimmon’s cousin. That would be war from two clans at once. And for what?”
Nora said nothing. She could think of many reasons why someone would want to take Laurie. Creighton had plenty of enemies, and Hunter undoubtedly had his own, too.
If somebody took Laurie, what would they do? Hold her to ransom? Threaten us?
Or would they kill her, to send a message?
She shuddered at that thought, squeezing her eyes shut. Laurie was Creighton’s heir. If she were dead, he’d have no heir, and everybody knew that a clan without an heir was in a risky position indeed. Only one life lay between them and chaos. Even a little girl as laird would be better than nothing.
But that wasn’t the worst part, not by a long, long shot. No, the worst thing is that Laurie would be dead. Dead!
“Surely nobody would hurt Laurie,” Nora heard herself say. It sounded like a prayer and a hope, rather than something she believed. Nausea coiled in the pit of her stomach, bile crawling up her throat. For one awful moment, Nora thought that she really might be sick.
“Of course nae,” Helena said, with a briskness that she could not possibly feel. “I daenae think that she has beentaken.”
This comment was punctuated with an angry glare at Margaret.
Margaret said nothing. Nora bit her lip, heart thumping. Helena wasn’t angry at Margaret; she couldn’t possibly be. It was the situation, the fact that Laurie was missing,missing…
Nora’s eyes fluttered shut. Nobody was moving. Despite Helena’s orders to search the market, the soldiers stood where they were, swaying faintly. The man who’d accompanied her and Margaret looked as though he were going to be sick. She felt sorry for him.
It’s nay different from being a healer,Nora thought, digging her teeth into her lower lip.Ye arrive on the scene. Ye take it all in. Ye come up with a plan in yer head. Then ye take charge.
She opened her eyes and found Helena and Margaret both looking at her. Waiting.
“Here is what we will do,” she said firmly. “We’ll begin a search. Ye, go to the gate and begin workin’ back from there. Speak tothe guards and ask if they have seen a wee lass go through the gate. They may nae have noticed with all the people goin’ in and out, but it’s worth a try. Make them aware of the situation, and tell them nae to let any girls of Laurie’s age out of the gate until we check to see who they are.”
“I’ll do that,” the MacCrimmon man said instantly, and sprang off at a jog. Nora turned to Helena.
“Go and find Creighton. Tell him what’s happened. Maybe Laurie got bored and simply wandered off to find her brother.”
Helena nodded tersely and hobbled away.
“Margaret, ye ken many of the stall owners here, aye?”
“Aye, some of them.”
“Talk to them. Find out what they’ve seen. The rest of us,” she glanced over at the remaining MacCrimmon men. “We’ll search the stalls. We’ll call out for Laurie, and we’ll see if we can find her. She cannae have gone far, but we have nay time to waste.”
There was a chorus of murmurs and agreements. Margaret hurried off, and the rest of them slowly spread out. Now more of the crowd were taking notice, watching curiously as the MacCrimmons and Nora moved through them, calling and craning their necks, crouching down to peer under stalls.
