"Who would have ever thought that my wife would seduce me in the stable. You are really good for surprises," he whispered into her ear and played with a lock of her hair. Somewhat ashamed, Moira straightened up and looked into those incredible blue eyes that had captivated her from the very first day.
"Oh, I probably shouldn't have done it, but it just came over me. I've missed your closeness so much."
He lifted her chin with his hand and pressed a deep intimate kiss on her lips.
"I'm sure I'm the last person who would complain. I just didn't know what a wonderfully passionate woman I had married. I love you, Moira."
She beamed happily at him.
"I love you, too, and actually I learned all this from you."
Playfully startled, he smiled at her, and her heart warmed.
"Really?"
"Do you want me to prove it to you?"
"Well, I think we'd better continue this conversation in a more comfortable place."
Chapter 32
That very night Robert had sent a messenger to the inspector to inform him of the latest state of his
investigation and to ask him to come by the next day with a strong team. Now Moira, Samuel and Robert awaited his arrival. While the two men put their heads together over Robert's desk, trying to to come up with a battle plan, Moira stood pensively at the window. She looked up into the cloudy sky. Behind her she heard Robert tell how he imagined the arrest of Dumfrey would go. It all sounded so simple and yet she knew that it would be not without danger. It was her fault that Dumfrey's machinations had come to light so late. She had played wickedly with Robert and had almost lost the man who meant everything to her. But he had forgiven her and was now fighting for her. What had she done to deserve his love for her?
Last night had shown them both how much they loved and needed each other and she realized it was a gift from God that she had met him. Her thoughts turned to her dead parents, and she knew that they would have been very pleased with her choice. Moira turned around and as if Robert could feel the glances from her, he raised his head and looked over at her. It seemed as if he wanted to say something to her, but he was interrupted by Albert, who came into the room and announced the inspector.
"Send him in, please, Albert."
A few seconds later, the policeman appeared and greeted those present.
"My lord, you have already written to me in your letter what happened yesterday. It was absolutely right to leave this matter to us."
Robert, who felt he had to set the record straight, replied:
"Inspector Jennings, I have no intention whatsoever of withdrawing now. We will, of course, accompany you, because without me you will not find the place in the cellar."
Appeasingly, the inspector raised his hands.
"I didn't mean it that way. I already realizethat you want to be part of the game, and I welcome it.
Without you, we would still be under the assumption that he had long since disappeared. I'm assuming, that you have already thought of something?"
"That's right. We could do it like this..," and Robert began to explain his plan to the inspector.
"Seems to have been well thought out," declared the policeman, after Robert had finished with his plan.
"I'll brief my men."
"Let's go then, what are we waiting for."
Three pairs of eyes were now focused on Moira, who was getting ready to leave.
"My lady, you're not going, are you?"
That was all the inspector needed, that he should have to take care of a woman. Women had no place on the battlefield, but Moira looked at him challengingly.
"Do you mind? I made a promise to my husband that I would be there, and I will be. Dumfrey has done harm to me as well and I want to see him arrested."
Puzzled, the inspector looked over at Robert, when he only shrugged his shoulders and said,
"You don't know my wife, she can be quite stubborn", and gave Moira a wink at that.
"Okay, I get the point, but my lady, you stay in the background."
"That's what I had to promise my husband."
"Then everything is settled. You inform your men and we'll get our horses."
Robert reached for his gun belt, which was hanging on the back of his chair and strapped it around his waist. Samuel also grabbed a hunting rifle from the gun cabinet. Samuel left the room with the inspector in front and when Robert tried to follow, Moira held him back by the sleeve. Tenderly, he took her in his arms.
"Promise me you'll take care of yourself."
He pulled her closer to him and gave her a tender kiss.
"Don't be afraid. We'll get him."
Gently, he disengaged from her and let her lead the way. Moira wore a gray riding costume today, which, flattered her figure despite its simplicity. She had intended to wear his pants again, but he had decided to have that discussion last night. For nothing in the world would he have exposed her to the army of young policemen in that getup. At first she did not understand his objections, but when he showed her what her outfit did to a man, she had given up her resistance with her head up. Robert noticed how the thoughts of her alone took possession of his body. But now was not the time to indulge in such ideas. Taking a deep breath, he followed his wife outside. The troop of horsemen approached the estate and the inspector's group split up. They would surround the entire house while the commander, along with Robert, Samuel and five other police officers, would storm the basement. Moira was to stay at a safe distance from the house. When all had reached their positions and Moira was also at a proper distance, the eight men crept to the front door. Unlike the last visit, this time they went directly to the front door, because the inspector had a key with him. Without making a sound, they crept inside and down the basement stairs.
Then they listened, but not a sound was heard. Robert led the troop into the wine cellar. He pointed with his finger to the hidden door in the wall and bent down to look under the shelf in front of it. This time there was no light to be seen and he immediately had a bad feeling. He quickly rose, groped for the mechanism that would open the door and gave the law enforcement officers behind him a signal to stand by. Quick as a flash, he flicked the switch, the door opened a crack, and Robert immediately pulled it open so that the policemen behind him could rush into the room with their weapons drawn. But the disappointment was great. The room was empty and there was no trace of Dumfrey.
"Damn it, this can't be true. He's always one step ahead of us," groaned Robert angrily.
But the inspector reassured him: "He can't be far ahead yet. The candle here is still warm and the wax is not yet dry. Stuart, light this lamp here, so that we can get a little more light."
"How did he get away? The house is surrounded."
"Sir, take a look at this."
One of the guards had grabbed a tapestry on the opposite side and was now uncovering a narrow corridor behind it.
"Well, I think there's your answer, my lord. Stuart, Weller and Fetherton, grab a couple of lamps and find out where this passageway goes, but watch out, we don't know what surprises Sir Dumfrey might have in store for us. Roger, get Lady MacIntyre over here. I want her to take a look at it."
Robert and Samuel, who were now looking curiously over the inspector's shoulder, could see that he had found a note on the desk at which he was standing. Samuel lit the candle and now they could see clearly that it was an old letter.
"Is there anything important in it?", Robert wanted to know and the inspector handed him the letter, so that he could read it himself.
"I think this should make a few things clear."
Robert looked around. The room was not particularly large. Apart from a bed and a night table there was only a wing chair, which had also seen better days and the desk, before which they stood now.
On this piled up quite a few letters and documents, which the inspector was already looking through. Otherwise, there was nothing in the
room worthy of closer examination. When Moira appeared, he could see her disappointment. He had promised her that everything would be over today and now Dumfrey had slipped through their fingers again.
"My lady, please come over here and look at this letter."
The inspector handed her the old document and Moira's gaze darkened as she held it in her hand. Astonished by the lines, she looked at the Commander.
"It is a letter from my father to Dumfrey. I did not know that he had had any trouble with him at that time.
It says quite clearly here that he's giving Dumfrey a pass about the sale of the land at the cliffs and that he should refrain from further visits in this regard. Why was Dumfrey visiting us the night of the fire anyway?“
"I'm sure he'll explain that to us when we catch him, but it's likely he's changed tactics based on the letter. Since we found the jewelry from the safe at his place, we can assume that he tricked your parent into inviting him to dinner and then put his diabolical plan into action. He will have been looking for an opportunity to disable your parents, then rob them and set the fire as a cover-up. I found some more interesting papers here. See for yourself."
He moved slightly to the side so that Moira could have an unobstructed view of the table. Robert and
Samuel also came closer to see what interesting detail the inspector was referring to.
"These are all my father's promissory notes", Moira marveled.
"Yes, but it is always the same text about the same amount, also the signature appears to be you father's, but if you look closer, it looks slightly different each time. I think we have the proof that Dumfrey forged your father's promissory note and based on the signature from the old letter he practiced until he was able to copy it so perfectly that you would not have noticed it."
"Then it was all a trap? And I being an idiot immediately believed him. I didn't have the slightest doubt that the appearance could not be real. What a fool I was, I should have at least considered it."
Inwardly agitated, she tried to reconstruct the individual meetings with Dumfrey, but she was
interrupted when she felt Robert behind her, who put his hand tenderly on her shoulder. He seemed to understand what was going on. She was about to say something when she heard hurried footsteps coming from the secret passage and immediately the three uniformed men appeared.
"What did you find out?"
"The corridor ends in a bush near the road. It is well hidden and not visible from the driveway . His horse must have been standing there, because we have found traces. Unfortunately, we could not determine in which direction he rode off."
"Damn. This man has more luck than he deserves. I don't know how he realized we were coming, but now he's definitely warned and will never come back here again. Let the others know, we're breaking up here."
Robert couldn't believe his ears and reared up in front of the inspector.
"Jennings, you can't do that. He is getting away from us. Dumfrey couldn’t have gone far, and we should be scouring the area."
"What do you want me to do? The guy is long gone and without any clues, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. I’m sorry, but we're breaking off."
Dumfrey looked around in a hurry. That had been close. It was just a coincidence that he had left the
corridor the moment he heard the horses of the police. But now they knew his secret and it was impossible for him to return. Once again the lord had proven to be a problem but this time he had gone too far and the revenge would be his. Hastily he drove his horse forward. Every minute counted.
The police knew what game he was playing, but he only needed a small head start to realize his deadly plan. After that he would disappear without a trace for a long time to build a new identity, and then he would return for Moira as her second husband take over the inheritance of her husband, who unfortunately had died young. Dumfrey's eyes lit up at this notion, the plan was ingenious and he knew exactly what he had to do to finally get rid of Lord MacIntyre and get his hands on Moira for himself.
All he needed, was a little head start.
Chapter 33
Disappointed at the failure of their mission, Robert, Samuel and Moira rode back with the policemen.
Suddenly, Robert reined in his horse and stuck his nose into the wind.
"Do you smell that, too? Something's burning!"
The pack stopped immediately.
"My God, that's coming from the direction of the orphanage," Samuel shouted in horror and dashed off with his horse before the others could follow. The closer they got to the house, the stronger the smell of burning became. First clouds of smoke formed in the sky. Samuel was right, there was another fire on
Moira's property. When they arrived at the orphanage, they were horrified to see that one wall of the house was already ablaze. Desperate cries for help rang out to them from within. They had to hurry.
Robert jumped from his horse and shouted over his shoulder to Moira that she had to take care of the
horses and stay away from the fire with them. Then he ran toward the fire with Samuel, who called for his wife.
The policemen took the saddles off the horses, spread out around the house and tried to fight the fire with saddle blankets. Samuel and Robert hurried to the front door.
"Why aren‘t Eileen and the children out of the house yet? There's still no fire yet."
"Maybe the door is stuck. Look at that, the bastard's put brushwood all around the house. It's burning like tinder. We have to hurry. Soon the flames will reach the front as well."
When the two of them reached the front door, they saw why the occupants of the house had not fled.Two wooden boards had been jammed into each other in such a way that the door was blocked.
The two immediately set about removing the boards. The flames were already creeping closer and
higher. When the door was exposed, Robert tore the stacked brushwood from the door with his bare hands. From the inside the cries for help grew louder and the fire also increased in intensity. The smoke was black and thick and made breathing difficult, but Robert and Samuel did not give up. In the meantime Jenning's men had rushed to help and were beating the fire with their blankets. They could not prevent the heat of the flames shattering the windows and gave the fire more food as the curtains ignited from inside. In the meantime the two husbands got the door free and rushed in. Moira, who was watching the scene from the sidelines, became frightened and anxious when she saw Robert storming into the house.
She was afraid for him, but she also knew that he would do everything he could to get Eileen and the
children out of the house safely with Samuel. She tried not to think of what would have happend if they had shown up just a few minutes later. It seemed to take an eternity before she could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Coughing and gasping for air, her husband and Samuel took Eileen and the children to safety. She was relieved to see that they were all well, because the three adults led the crying children away from the burning house. The inspector's group was still trying to fight the fire, but it seemed that they were losing the battle. Moira was about to go in a wide arc around the house to join the others, when she felt the barrel of a pistol in her back. Abruptly she stopped and was about to turn around, when she heard Dumfrey's voice behind her.
"Now you slowly get on your horse and come with me."
Panic seized her. How could she escape from his grasp without him putting a bullet in her back. Hastily she looked around. Neither the policemen nor Robert seemed to have seen him. Was the man crazy?
Why did he put himself in this danger? All it took was for one of the men to catch sight of him, or did he not care? She had to stall somehow and so she gathered all her courage and asked him: "What are you going to do?
If they see you, they will catch you."
"They won't if you mount your horse and come along.“
"I will not go with you!"
Moira had not
expected the sudden violence that Dumfrey now displayed. With a jerk, he turned her around to face him, and looked down at her with evil glittering eyes. Trembling with rage quivering, he spat the words at her.
"I didn't work for two years on this plan, set fire to your parents' house and poison your husband's uncle, so that now everything would be over. Your husband has been a thorn in my side since he arrived and you had the task to keep him away from me. But you failed and now you will come with me. You will marry me as soon as I put a bullet in your spouse's head. Actually, he deserves a slower way to die but I'm running out of time. He won't even know I've blown his lights out. So let's move forward now."
When Love grows doubt Page 22
