“We?” Rob roared, driving the breath from Lucy’s body.
“We?” David pounced on the word at the same time. “Who besides Higgins wanted her attacked.”
“He never said.”
“But you can guess,” Rob said, stepping toward him, threat in every line of his body. David didn’t call Rob back this time.
Lucy fisted her hands to control the urge to pull him away.
“They’re willing to let you hang for killing Lieutenant Robbins, Miller. You may as well tell us everything.” David had begun to sound weary. Profoundly weary, as if the responsibility pressed in on him from every side. Rob stopped a few paces short of the chair.
“I only ever spoke to Higgins, and he never said. But I’m not a fool. I know who he works for. You saw them yesterday when you came thundering downhill to the house by Blackshaw Moor. Thick as thieves, for all he’s a servant.”
He won’t say the words to name the countess. He doesn’t have to.Lucy gave Maddy’s hand a sympathetic squeeze.
“If you hang a man that’s just a hireling and let them go, you’re no better than they are,” Miller whined.
“I’ve heard enough. We’ve gotten all we can out of this one.” David gestured to Gibbons, who gagged Miller and yanked him to his feet.
*
Rob helped Gibbonsdrag Miller to the locked storeroom. The groom guarding it stood aside. Gibbons shoved Miller in and pulled Higgins out, tying the butler to the same chair, still gagged.
“You can’t keep me here forever,” a weak voice called.Spangler.
“Be grateful you’re not gagged,” Rob told him, slamming the door shut. He walked past Higgins’s glare of raw hatred and muttered to David. “Make this one talk, or I will.”
Higgins’s refusal to respond to Clarion’s questions came as little surprise. Rob glanced at Lucy, standing wide-eyed, hand in hand with Maddy, and his heart gave a lurch. He wouldn’t want to do murder in front of Lucy, but the urge to hurt anyone who put her in danger—or so much as upset her—seethed through him.If David hadn’t let the women in here, I would choke the truth out of the man.
“Have you nothing to say? You hired a man to kidnap Miss Whitaker, and another man died. You will hang for causing his murder.”
Higgins glared at Clarion, rage and disdain dripping from his words. “You’d take the word of a thug?”
“Miller has no reason to lie. Why, Higgins? Why did you terrorize Miss Whitaker?”
Higgins’s chin rose, his lip curled. “Someone had to defend the Clarion honor. That solicitor got your father in his cups and diddled the estate out of Willowbrook and much else. Who would do something about it? You?” Higgins’s contempt for Clarion vibrated through the room.
“And who appointed you the guardian of Clarion’s honor?” the earl asked through tight lips.
David’s control is slipping. He best pull it together. The worst is yet to come.Rob stepped forward. “Miller said he knew who you worked for. We all know, don’t we, Higgins? Who ordered the attack on Miss Whitaker? You—or the countess?”
“You!” Higgins howled. “You don’t know your place. You never have. It is an affront to decent men to see you prancing around Willowbrook, lording it over your betters.” He spat at Rob’s feet. “You. Are. Not. Fit. To even speak of her ladyship.”
“Are those her words, Higgins?” Rob asked, looming over the man.
Higgins clamped his jaw shut.
“You heard my brother’s questions, Higgins. Who ordered the attack, you or my mother?” David asked, his words coming from just behind Rob’s left shoulder.
The butler held his mouth tightly shut, but the hatred in his eyes spoke volumes. After a long pause, he growled. “Brother? How low you have sunk, Clarion.” He turned his head and refused to answer the question.
“Are you willing to hang for her?” David asked, his voice just above a whisper.
The flicker of fear Rob detected died a swift death.What hold does that old witch have over this man?Higgins held his silence.
“I’ll have to ask her, then,” David said. When Higgins began to sputter and threaten, David, all aristocratic splendor, ordered him gagged. “Lieutenant Gibbons, my sister will escort you to my mother’s quarters. Kindly tell her she is summoned.”
Maddy paled, and she swayed a bit. Lucy quickly put an arm around her. David approached the ladies just ahead of Rob.
