“Please let me,” the earl continued. “I need something useful to do.”
“Exactly,” Eli grinned. “Let’s see what we can find out.”
A nagging thought that had irritated Rob off-and-on all night rose to the surface. “Wait. There’s something I have to do first.” He left them on the steps and strode back to the stable yard on long, increasingly anxious steps, determined to speak with Aaron Miller.
In the end, it didn’t matter. Miller had disappeared.
*
The workmen gatheredaround Lucy when she brought up luncheon at midday.
More than one voiced the same questions. “What’d the major find down at the bridge? Has he gone after Miller?” Underneath those, another lingered, “Is Mr. Benson going to live?”
Lucy held up a hand for peace. “Sir Robert sent Ellis Corbin to alert Mr. Morgan to organize a search before he and his brother went down to the bridge. They aren’t back yet. That’s all I know about that.” She told them their beloved innkeeper still slept, but more peacefully, and that the doctor was encouraged by signs of movement. “There’s little we can do for him except keep going on about our business.”
Martin Abbott, the men’s de facto leader, reiterated her words. “Aye, men. Let’s get back to work and finish this. We’ll be needed down at the bridge soon enough.”
Lucy put a hand on Abbott’s arm briefly. “Thank you.”
He touched his forelock. “We’ll handle this, Miss Whitaker. You take care of folks down at the house.”
Lucy paused by the kitchen garden and stooped to pull weeds, glad to have something useful to do. Abbott’s confidence aside, Lucy actually felt helpless. Emma refused to leave the sick room. Agnes kept everyone fed. Farley remained steadfast.
Her thoughts churned over what had happened. Sir Robert—Rob as he had become in her thoughts during the long vigil—had been adamant that he had inspected the bridge and found it sound not long before. She couldn’t think who wished to harm her, to harm her visitors, to harm Willowbrook itself. The name Spangler had hung in the air since the accident, but no one said it out loud, and Lucy couldn’t imagine his motivation.
In any case, she felt excluded from the effort. What most needed to be done had been appropriated by Rob and his brothers. She said brother to the men, but there were two of them. She watched them march off to inspect the damage and was struck forcefully that Major Sir Robert Benson had been flanked by both of his brothers, momentarily at some sort of truce.
Her hand stilled. David and Rob had avoided eye contact in the immediate crisis and seemed determined to be civil, but they fooled no one. She couldn’t ignore the sparks between them, and Willowbrook—herWillowbrook—lay at the bottom of it.
She thinned a row of carrots, dissatisfied with that tidy conclusion. Something deeper and darker existed between those two men, one of whom she held in long-standing affection and the other… She sat back on her heels.How do I hold Robert Benson? Respect? Something more? He isn’t the villain I took him for. Perhaps Eli can keep the peace between them.
She rose and brushed her hands together to remove the garden soil before wiping them on her apron.
She walked to the front, put a hand to shade her eyes, and peered down the lane, her wait rewarded when three figures came around the turn and emerged from the wooded drive. David and Rob appeared to argue. Eli walked silently to the side.So much for a truce.
She stood her ground until they approached. All three carried pieces of wood, which they stacked neatly on the drive in front of the house.
“Well?”
“There are clear signs of sabotage. Someone meant to do harm,” Rob said harshly, nodding toward the boards.
“We agree on that much, at least,” David added, shooting a glance at Rob. “The bigger question is, who did it?”
“Aaron Miller, surely.” Lucy glanced from one grim face to the other. “You ordered a search.”
“The largest question is who hired him, and for that, we can’t wait. Spangler has been allowed leeway for too long. He thinks he’s invincible.” Rob glowered at David.
“I agreed to summon him.” David glared back. “Eli and I will question him. I merely said you shouldn’t jump to the easy conclusion.”
“Who the hell else?” Rob shouted.
“None of it makes sense. If you can find Miller, he might have information.” Lucy’s stomach churned at the tension in the air.
“If.And I can’t leave here while Da lingers upstairs.” Rob climbed the steps, frustration written in every tense line of his shoulders and jaw. Lucy moved to let him in the house. David left them, and Eli trooped in behind him, both faces etched with resolve.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Another burst ofhope occurred midafternoon, when Old Robert opened his eyes, blinked at Emma, and croaked, “Hurts.” Farley managed to get a bit of laudanum in him as Emma sobbed into Rob’s shoulder.
