Realization made Lady Annette’s face fall. She was horrified and hurt. “Oh dear,” she said. “Oh my.”
William took her hand and squeezed it. “Don’t you worry now, Annette. We’re going to get the answers. You stay here and keep looking for what can be used to awaken our loved ones. I’m going to the brig to get answers.”
“What if they refuse to answer your questions?” Annette was seconds away from crying. Her eyes had filled up with huge tears that would soon fall down her smooth cheeks.
“I will make them answer. One way or another, I will.” William sounded determined. With those words, he squeezed her hand once again and let go. He gestured to Philip and Mark, who walked with him for a few feet as he spoke. “You two go find somewhere to be. I don’t want you seen. I am hoping the captain did not tell Max and Naomi that it was you who gave us this information.”
Philip sneered. “They can’t do anything to us, sir. We’re on a boat and they have no friends.”
William shook his head. “We don’t know that. Just find somewhere to go. I believe there are a few bottles of whiskey and rum down in the galley. Help yourselves.”
Mark lifted both eyebrows. “Now that sounds like a good idea, sir. Thank you!”
Philip grinned, his face relaxing. “Thank you, Sir William.”
William nodded and left the two behind to find a crew member to take him to the brig. He hadn’t asked John about that area of the ship. He’d never thought he would need to know where it was.
The crewman led William to the door of the brig and reached to open it. William stopped him.
“I’ll do it. You go back to your duties.”
“Aye.” The man moved away, leaving William to gain control of his temper before going into the small room. He pushed down the handle and entered the room, steeling himself. It was smaller than he’d anticipated, especially since there was a table in the middle of the room, no windows and five people already in the room.
John had tied ropes around the wrists of both Naomi and Max. Naomi was sitting on a chair on the other side of the small table while Max was forced to stand beside her. Naomi looked like all she wanted to do was cry. Max looked furious. William clenched his teeth and tried to focus his eyes only on John.
The captain was in the middle of a sentence when he entered. He turned to see who had entered, but finished his sentence, nodding at William. “…Want to cry about it, young lady, but we are not going to believe you until you give us the truth. Why did you do it? What did you use? Tell us what we want to know or you will be thrown overboard.”
At that, Naomi let her tears fall. “I did nothing, Captain. I did nothing.”
“You lie!” William burst out in anger. “You are a liar. Tell us what you used! Tell us how to save the princess!”
Naomi did nothing but cry.
William turned his attention to the large, intimidating guard. “You. You are in charge of her safety! What could have made you turn against her in such a manner?”
“This has nothing to do with the princess,” Max growled.
“Is it about the scientist Burkinshire?” Captain John stood up straight to confront the larger man.
“No.”
“Then what is the answer here? Why did you attack them?”
“That Burkinshire was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He chose unwisely. It is his fault that he is in the state he is in.”
“That’s an asinine statement,” William snarled. “And one you will likely regret. You do realize, if either of these two people dies, you will be put in prison and hanged?” He turned to Naomi, leaning over the table so his angry face was closer to her. “Do you understand what I am saying, Naomi? You will be hanged! Hanged!”
Naomi just cried, her shoulders wrenching, her head lowered in defeat.
“Tell us what we want to know. Tell us now!”
She refused to say a word through her tears. William turned his attention back to Max, who seemed to be a little more forthcoming. “Tell us what was used. Tell us.”
Max scowled at William. “I don’t know what she used. It was all her. She was the one with the grudge against the king.”
William raised his eyebrows while Naomi gasped and whipped her head around to look up at Max. “That is a lie! You have the grudge against the king. You are the one who wanted to hurt him by hurting Belle. Not me!”
“Oh?” Max chuckled without humor. “Is that why you are the one who poisoned her? Is that why you are the one who poisoned the doctor?”
“I didn’t poison them!” Naomi shrieked. Without saying anything more, she lowered her head and began to sob.
“What do you have against Belle’s father?” William pressed. “What could either of you have against him? And why did you want to hurt Lady Burkinshire?”
Max and Naomi both stared at William in surprise. “How did you…”
“The Americans heard you talking,” Captain John said. “They overheard your scheming. That’s why you are here. That’s why we know it was you.”
Max snorted. “The Americans? You believe those men? They are liars.”
“You have already admitted to your guilt,” the captain pointed out.
The big guard shook his head. “No. She is the one you should be throwing overboard. I have done nothing.”
William kept himself from attacking the guard. He was almost as big and his anger would have given him more strength, but he wanted to be as much of a gentleman as he could be. His past had taught him not to act rashly. He had once been a scoundrel of sorts. He’d never plotted a murder, however, and the thought of Belle lying in her berth, unconscious and withering away, fueled his rage.
He leaned over, pushing his face toward Naomi. “What did you give her?” he hissed. Naomi pressed herself back against the chair. “What did you give her?”
He knew the answer was in her mind, on the tip of her tongue, and she was just refusing to answer. He wanted to grab her by the front of her dress and rip it apart, humiliating and embarrassing the woman. He balled his fists up and slammed them on the table, making her jump. “What did you give her? Answer me? We will throw you overboard!”
“You won’t get an answer from her that way, will you?” Max sounded delighted.
William could no longer contain himself. In two steps, he was in front of Max. He drew back his fist and punched the large man squarely in the jaw. Pain shot through his fingers and up through his wrist, but he didn’t care.
Max fell back, losing his balance and taking several steps back before slamming into the wall behind him.
Instantly, Captain John was at William’s side, holding on to one of his arms. “Relax, William. We’ll get it out of them.” His voice was so smooth that it sent comfort through William, who looked at him curiously. John was wearing the smallest of smiles, a devious look in his eyes.
Naomi must have noticed the look as well. Her eyes opened wide and her breath caught in her throat. She began to make frightened animal noises.
John turned the look toward her. “You seem to be more knowledgeable than your friend, Naomi. I think we will start with you.”
“I didn’t do anything!” she wailed. “I didn’t do anything. I wasn’t trying to kill her. I just wanted to hurt her. It wasn’t poison. It was just a plant!”
“Tell us what it was!” William demanded anxiously, watching Max out of the corner of his eye as the big man tried to stand without using his hands to right himself. “Tell us!”
Instead of answering, Naomi began to cry again.
“You are useless!” William cried out. “Tell us what we want to know!”
“You have to promise not to throw me overboard!” Naomi responded through her tears. “I don’t know how to swim.”
“It doesn’t matter what they promise, Naomi,” Max said. “The king is going to torture and kill us, just as I said would happen if we were caught. What’s the point in telling them what the poison was? It’s not going to get us out of pris
on or help us escape the hangman’s noose.”
Naomi’s shoulders shook as she sobbed. “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die,” she moaned.
“I suppose that’s probably what Belle would be thinking right about now, too,” William countered, making Naomi cry harder.
“You’re not going to make her tell you what the poison was,” Max said.
“It wasn’t poison!” Naomi insisted. “It was just a plant.”
“What is its name? What is its name?”
She still didn’t answer him. He let out an angry yell, slamming his fists on the table again. “Tell us!”
“It was just a plant,” she moaned. “It was just a plant. It wasn’t supposed to kill her.”
“You put her in a deep sleep,” William said. “You made it so that she can’t eat anything. She is going to starve to death. She is going to die! How could you do this to someone you were supposed to care for?”
“The king…”
“This has nothing to do with that,” William dismissed her excuse. “You did this to a vibrant young woman. Whatever your reasons were, they were the wrong ones. They were selfish and cruel. What did she ever do to you? You attacked her because she’s the daughter of someone you have a disagreement with? How could you be so cold and cruel, Naomi? How could you?”
“I…I wasn’t really thinking about…”
“You were not thinking, that is certain,” William said. “I want to know…”
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. He turned curiously and looked at Captain John.
The captain stood and went to the door.
He opened it to see Lady Burkinshire standing there. She looked at him and moved her eyes to William. Without a word, she gestured for him to follow her.
17
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.
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Bring me your results. I am going to see Belle for a moment and then take this,”
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
EVIDENCE OF FOUL PLAY
Once the door was closed, Lady Annette took William’s arm and walked with him back to the top deck. “Return with me to the cargo area, Lord William. I want to show you my manifest, my logbook of the plants I have stored on board. Captain Cernovich asked me to have one ready for him so that he would know what was coming on board. I did not bring any plants that are poisonous to humans on board this ship. That’s why I was surprised to hear the Americans say Belle and Patrick were poisoned. I don’t see how they could have gotten it from my stock, if that is the case.”
“It may not have been poison,” William conceded as they hurried over the wooden planks of the ship. “It may have been a plant with medicinal purposes that is dangerous when ingested at high levels.”
“Yes, I understand. However, if that was the case, how was it administered without the lady and Patrick knowing about it?”
William shook his head. “This I do not know, my lady.”
“I pulled you from the brig to show you something, Sir William. Something that is very disconcerting.”
“What is it?”
Lady Annette didn’t answer. They were at the door of the cargo area and she opened the door without hesitation, leaning in and then back out. She had in her hands a small stone mortar and pestle. The mortar had fine bits of plant dust still in the bottom of it. “I have not used this since I came on board. It was with my supplies, but I have had no call to use it while on board this ship.”
William took the pestle and mortar from her. He was initially surprised by how heavy it was. It was made of marbled blue stone. “You don’t know what this is?”
“Unfortunately, sir, I cannot tell. I can only say it is definitely one of my plants, which means there is certain to be a villain on the ship.”
“We already knew that, my lady. We’re just trying to determine the cause at this point.”
“Yes, of course.”
William stared down at the bits of powder in the bottom of the mortar. He lifted the pestle out and looked at the bottom of its clubbed, rounded end. The powder was soft and disappeared when William blew on the pedestal. “It’s a fairly dry plant,” he said. “Let me see your logbook.”
Lady Annette disappeared through the door for a moment before reappearing with the thin logbook in her hand. She gave it to William, trading the book for the mortar and pestle, which she set down on an iron chair next to her. She watched in silence as he fingered through the logbook. There were short explanations of each of her plants on each page.
“Why did you not show me this log before we started going through all those books? This would have narrowed it down a bit, don’t you agree?”
Lady Annette nodded. “I am afraid I did not remember the logbook requirement until the Americans said something about it.”
William frowned. “The Americans knew about this logbook?”
Lady Annette looked embarrassed. “No. The short one asked me why I didn’t keep track of my plants and keep a log of what I had on board. That is when I remembered it.”
“Oh, Annette.” William couldn’t help but feel a bit amused.
She smiled at him. “I am sorry, my lord.”
“Do not fret.” He shook his head. “Find these plants in your books and determine if any of them would put a person into the kind of deep sleep Belle and…” He looked down at her. “Patrick are in at this time. If you find a match, check your plant. Bring me your results. I am going to see Belle for a moment and then take this,” he handed her the book and picked up the mortar and pestle, “to see Naomi and Max. One of them will tell us which plant was used, if I have to go to extreme measures for the truth. With you here trying to find the answer, we will find out one way or another.”
“Yes, my lord.” Lady Annette nodded. She placed one small hand on his forearm, preventing him from turning away. “Give my love to the princess. I know that she cannot hear you, but it will make me feel better. After all, this was my plant that was used.”
“You had no knowledge. Do not let me catch you feeling guilty about this.”
Lady Annette smiled at him. “You are a good man, Lord Montgomery. I am glad you are on this ship. If not for you, the princess may not have had such a strong advocate. She and my husband may have been lost in the throes of death.”
William placed his hand over hers and smiled at her. His mind was racing with old shame and guilt. There were too many things he would not have wanted Lady Annette to know about his past.
The Lady noticed his cheeks flushing slightly and wondered what he was thinking. He patted her hand and she let him go, watching as he hurried back toward their sleeping cabins.
She turned to go back into the storage room before rethinking it. She sat on the chair where William had placed the mortar and pestle, opened the logbook and began to scan through the various plants. With regret, she noticed she had not mentioned many details pertaining to each plant, just the number that corresponded with the box they had been placed in before being put in the layered trunks with a short description of what they looked like.
She had been hoping the containers she had created for the plants would suffice on the trip. They did not allow for much growth, but the plants would not be seeing the sun for the weeklong trip anyway. She could only hope that they did not die during the time it took to get them to New Bedford. If they did, perhaps they would provide seeds so that she could start again. There was not enough room for her to bring each plant out and give it sunlight every day. She feared they would all be dead by the time she got to America, except for the ones that did not require daily sunlight, but only oxygen to sustain them for a period of time. Some of them were roots, others were flowering plants. A few of the herbs she had could last in darkness for up to two weeks. Her own experiments had proved this to be true.
Her frustration mounted when she noticed the stack of books on a nearby chair. The captain and George had not put her books away properly. She
was slightly irritated. She stood to retrieve them when an idea passed through her mind. She was going to need to go back through the books once again, matching up the plants she had on board to the ones found in the books. The books had more detail and would give her the effects of each plant she had.
It was going to take a bit of time. She needed help. She blinked slowly as an idea dawned on her.
She would get the Americans to help.
She opened the door to the galley a short time later. The two Americans were sitting on chairs, their feet up on the table. They reacted to her presence quickly, swinging their feet down and sitting up straight.
“My Lady.” Philip cleared his throat and stood up to bow slightly as the waist.
“Mr. Wilder. Mr. Harrington. I need your help.”
Mark stood up and rounded the table to be closer to her. “Yes, my lady?”
She noticed that he was swaying just a bit. “Oh dear. I was going to ask you two to help me look through my plant books to compare them to the ones I have in storage here. But it may be difficult if you have been consuming alcohol.”
Philip snorted. “It will only be difficult because Mark here doesn’t know how to read.”
Mark grunted, looking at his friend. “Who said I can’t read?”
“I just thought that would be difficult for you, considering you’ve had very little schooling.”
“Living my life has taught me plenty, thank you.”
“I didn’t say anything about common sense, my friend.” Philip’s voice was teasing him. “I’m talking about the actual act of reading. It just seems to me it might be not one of your best traits.”
Mark frowned at him. “You really are the worst person to travel with, Philip.”
Philip laughed.
Lady Annette looked from one man to the other and shook her head. “You men are the first Americans I have met. I do hope they are not all as ornery and prone to bickering as you two.”
Mark stood. “No, madam. We are friends. This is just us. Did you need our help with something?”
Regency Romance: The Marquess’ Curse (The Fairbanks Series - Love & Hearts) (CLEAN Historical Regency Romance) Page 11
