Page 87 of An Affair at Stonecliffe

He nodded and started to turn away, but Annabeth put her hand on his arm. “Wait. What’s going on? I heard everyone running about, and you look...”

“Noelle is gone.” He’d been trying to preserve a false front of confidence for Annabeth’s sake, but he couldn’t keep himself from blurting out, “I can’t find Gil and Noelle. Or Diggs. I have no idea where they are.”

Annabeth sucked in a breath. “Carlisle!”

“I have everyone combing the house and grounds for them. I must find her. But I don’t know what to do. Where else to go.” He sank onto the bench beside her. His insides were churning; he’d never felt so helpless. “Annabeth, what if Diggs has killed them? What will I do? I love her. And I never even told her.”

“I imagine she knows. I could see it in your eyes every time you looked at her.” Annabeth gave a little chuckle at his surprised glance. “I know both of you did your best to hide it, but I was certain anyway. I just wasn’t sure whether you had realized it yet.” She laid her hand on his arm. “Noelle’s not dead. Nor Gil. And you will find her.”

“I have to find her.” He jumped to his feet, shoving his hands into his pockets, and began to pace. “Where the devil would Diggs have gone? Why did he take her? Why did he not wait and try again in secret instead of doing something so obvious? Everyone believed him; we thought Nathan did it.”

“Nathan is going to recover,” Annabeth said fiercely. “Maybe Diggs realized that he hadn’t killed him and decided he’d better leave before Nathan could tell you what really happened. Or perhaps he made another attempt and Noelle caught him. Maybe he did or said something that made her realize the truth, and he knew that—”

“That he had to kill them,” Carlisle finished harshly.

“No! He knew that he had to get them away so they couldn’t tell you. But there’s nothing to say he killed them. Surely Diggs must be aware that he cannot escape after kidnapping them. Eventually he’ll be caught, and it will only go worse for him if he’s murdered them. He could have decided to use them as hostages so that you’d let him go free, maybe even pay him a ransom.”

“I don’t understand how he could have done this. Or why. What could he hope to gain? He gets nothing from the trust.” He shook his head. “Someone else must be paying him; that’s the only explanation I can see, the only profit there could be for him. And they must be paying him damn well to be worth losing my business.”

“He wouldn’t lose it if you never knew he was the one doing it,” Annabeth pointed out. “And he would be receiving payment from two sources. In the beginning, he might even have thought you’d be happy to have Noelle out of your life. She was, as I remember, something of a thorn in your side.”

“She was indeed.” For a moment, a faint smile touched his lips, but it quickly fell away. “I’m going to search the cellar.” As he turned away, Potter ran toward him from the back of the house.

“Sir!”

“Did you find Diggs?” Carlisle went forward to meet him, hope and fear surging in him in equal measure.

The footman shook his head as he drew in a breath. “No, sir, but I found—I went to the stables to ask if they’d seen him, and Grisham said he—Diggs, I mean—came in earlier this evening and took the pony cart. He’s gone, sir.”

“The pony cart?” Carlisle stared. “Not a horse?”

Annabeth came up beside him. “A pony cart would be a handy thing for carrying a child.”

“It would. When was this, Potter? When did he leave?”

“That’s the thing, sir. He took the cart hours ago. Before everything happened.”

“I see.” Carlisle let out a long breath, his eyes suddenly so cold and fierce that the footman took an involuntary step backward. “He’d already made plans to take Gil away, and Nathan must have interrupted him. Where did he go with this cart? Show me,” Carlisle said to Potter.

“I don’t know, sir. I came straight back to tell you. But,” he added hastily, “I told Grisham to try to follow the cart’s tracks. He’s out there now with a lantern.”

Carlisle ran, throwing open the door and taking the shallow steps in a single leap. He raced to the stables. They had never seemed so far away before.

The head groom was waiting for him, lantern in hand. “My head lad followed the tracks. They went that direction, to the back of the garden.”

“Give me your lantern.”

The groom blinked as Carlisle grabbed the lantern and started off. “But, sir...don’t you—”

Carlisle paid no attention, intent on following the trail before him. Thank God it had rained recently. When he reached the back entrance into the garden, he saw the ruts were a little deeper, and he paused to examine the area. The cart had obviously sat here for a time; the pony had left several droppings. There were also a number of footprints, some of a man’s shoe and others the smaller indentations of a woman’s feet.

His shoulders relaxed fractionally. Noelle was with Diggs, but clearly she was walking, so he had not yet killed or drugged her, and there weren’t any signs of a struggle. Gil had doubtless been carried and was riding in the pony cart—why else take the thing? The tracks of the vehicle, now with footprints added, ran straight ahead toward the woods. Of course. Diggs had taken them into the trees, where tracks could easily be lost and hiding places abounded.

Carlisle’s heart squeezed in his chest. He took off at a run toward the woods.

CHAPTER THIRTY

THE BRANCH NOELLE wielded hit Diggs with a satisfying crack, but he had managed to throw up his arm to protect his head. She pulled back to strike again, but before she could swing, Diggs plowed into her, driving her to the ground. He reared up astride her and Noelle brought her knee up with all the force she could muster. Diggs let out a screech, clutching at his privates. From the side, Gil threw himself against Diggs, and the man toppled over.