“Weel, since ye saw him in town, it might be a good idea if we go and see what we can see. Might even find him”—he smiled coldly—“and have ourselves a little chat.”
“I can see how that might be a good idea but I can also see how it could get someone hurt or killed. Yes, I want the man gone, but I don’t want anyone hurt in the doing of it.”
“Weel, the fairies willnae come and whisk him away,” said Robbie, who then muttered a curse when Matthew smacked him on the back of the head. “Just pointing out that no matter how one would like it all to be so gentlemanly and no one hurt and all, there will have to be some fire and lightning. Always will be when dealing with a man like that.”
“I know,” Emily said, and sighed. “But one cannot help but wish for something better now and then.”
Mrs. O’Neal nodded but said, “You get a few more years on you, dearie, and you will see the better and nicer is one of those miracles that only comes once in a blue moon.”
“We will think on what needs doing and try to get ye one of those blue moon miracles but dinnae put too much hope on one,” said Iain.
“I will not.” She looked at Mrs. O’Neal and said, “I am sorry your day of shopping was ruined. I hope we can arrange so you have another day free to do it.”
“We will take them fishing again when ye decide ye want to go and it is safe,” said Iain. “Nay many days left for fishing unless ye wish to dress up like a bear to hold off the cold.”
“I will tell you when I am of a mood to go. Thank you,” said Mrs. O’Neal.
“So he is in the town. I have to wonder if he has been there all along or only just arrived because the men he hires keep failing.” Emily frowned. “I wonder how he knows that?”
“Could be he has someone telling him or could be a survivor goes back to him.” Iain shook his head. “Would not be a bright one because anyone with a brain would ken that Albert is the bigger threat. That is a man who would shoot the messenger.”
“Oh, most certainly. Especially ones like those men. Albert is very aware of his own consequence. Everyone else is an underling and can be easily disposed of. There were rumors that some of his servants were killed for things like dropping a napkin but no one could prove anything.”
“A man who goes about killing his own kin will do just about anything,” said Mrs. O’Neal.
Emily glanced at the children who sat at a shorter table in the far end of the kitchen. They did not appear to be listening but she was sure they would find out later. It was probably not the best of talk to have around the children but there were few other times when they all sat together and could talk things out.
“Is there no law around here?”
“About a day’s ride away,” replied Iain. “They are never too interested in dealing with anything that requires they leave their town, which is near to a city compared to our little hole in the wall. No use going to them, trust me on that.”
That news depressed Emily’s spirits so much she just wanted to get away somewhere and sit, possibly by the water. No law, no just shooting the man, and no way to turn an army of armed men toward him. Everything worked against them. She wondered if that was fate at work or something far worse.
“I forgot to say but I got something that was being sent to ye. Picked it up when I went to get my horse shod.” Nigel patted all his pockets and pulled out a letter before handing it to Emily. “It looks to have been moving about for quite awhile. Dinnae ken how it got here from your sister’s place. Someone out there told them to send it to you here.”
Emily’s hands shook faintly as she took the letter. “That would have been Maggie. She and her family lived only a short walk from us. Well, what would be considered short by those who live here. I wrote to her once I knew Albert already knew where Neddy and I were. I believe this is from her actually. Which means it may take me a while to decipher it.”
“She cannae write?”
“She can write quite well but she is from England, too. Yorkshire. They have so many different ways of saying things and then her family came here and landed in Boston, so you have a New England way of talking mixed with the Yorkshire.” She shook her head. “And then she married and moved here. You really cannot understand half of what she says when she talks and when she gets excited or emotional it is truly like a foreign tongue. But we shall see. She may have had someone else help her if she felt she had something of great import to say. I think I should wait until after dinner to read it.”
“Can ye actually do that?” Iain teased as he watched how she kept looking at the letter as if she could read some of it through the covering.
“You can read it when we put out dessert in a bit, Emily. Dessert is not so distracting,” said Mrs. O’Neal.
Emily nodded and was finally able to set the letter aside. She hoped there had been no trouble at any of the other houses or any of the other people got hurt. One could never be sure about rough men willing and able to slaughter one family and burn their house. In their disappointment over failing to get what they went for they could easily have wreaked destruction on others.
* * *
Emily sat in the parlor on the settee and found herself flanked by Iain and Robbie. She carefully opened the packet that held Maggie’s letter and was amazed by the lengthy note the woman had written. Even better she had sent three of her drawings of David and Annabel. The woman had not liked Annabel all that much but Emily had always suspected the woman had been sweet on David.
One drawing of Annabel was of her sister sitting on one of the high rocks and staring toward England. Another was of David, who sat on another rock and stared at his wife. The last was of David and Neddy and, by the look of Neddy, it was from shortly before they had been killed. She handed the drawings to Iain and opened the letter.
As Emily had feared Maggie had written the way she talked, which would mean a slow read for her. She read through the condolences quickly and she could tell Maggie was brokenhearted about the death of David and explained why she had been so deeply fond of him. He had looked and acted like her eldest brother, who had been killed in a fight on the ship over. Now to know David was murdered brought it all back to her.
The bad news hit Emily hard. Someone had dug up the grave marked Neddy. She suspected the men had gone back the next day or sooner and in poking around found the grave marked for little Edward. Then found out it was empty. That was all Albert had needed to get himself out here to lead. She sighed and then looked up at Neddy.
“Neddy?” she called, and the boy looked at her. “Remember Maggie from home?”
“Yes. She is Abbie and Nicky’s mom. Is she hurt?”
“No, darling, she has just written me a letter. And she says right here that Abbie and Nicky say hello.”
“Can we go see them?”
“Not right now but I will think on it.” She shook her head when he lost interest and hurried out of the room.
By the time she finished the letter she missed Maggie like a limb. The woman had been claimed by Annabel, who had then swiftly forgotten all about her. The teas shared were almost always, Maggie, Emily, and David. Even though they were at their cabin and Annabel always called Maggie a friend, she had rarely had tea with them. Emily had guessed that Annabel had detected Maggie’s love for David and totally misinterpreted it.
“Well, Maggie says that someone came back to the cabin and checked it all over. In the process they found Neddy’s grave and dug it up so they know he was never in there.” She looked up to find everyone looking at her in shock. “What?”
“Ye had a grave marked for Neddy?” asked Iain.
“Did you not see it?”
All of the MacEnroys shook their heads.
Emily struggled to explain. “David decided we needed some insurance for our Neddy. If any of us got grabbed we could just say the child is dead, there’s the grave. And all that. I thought it a brilliant idea. My sister not so much. Since the boy was who was hunted, we took him out of the runn
ing. That was one reason I was so stunned that they killed David and Annabel. With the child supposedly dead and buried there was nothing to gain.”
“Except, perhaps, your sister getting pregnant and birthing yet another son. As a, if ye will excuse the language, breeder, she was always a threat.” Matthew shook his head. “Where was this grave because we never saw it and we looked all around.”
“It was on the other side of the garden. David made it flat so it would not stick up. No mounding. Even made the headstone flat but it had Neddy’s full name on it, some religious picture, a weeping angel or something, dates and country. Perhaps because the garden was so full this year it had hidden it, covered the top. I really can’t say because, living there for three years or so I was so accustomed to it I never really saw it from day to day. I also tried not to think of it often because it gave me the chills.
“Nothing much else of interest. Some gossip about the McDonald wife being very friendly with Jacob Potsdam and a few tales like that. Maggie always blames the hills. She claims it gives folk the idea that they can act like animals, too. And she is carrying her tenth child and plans to do a specific operation on her husband soon as she can find the right knife.”
“Tenth child?” said Mrs. O’Neal.
Emily nodded and grinned. “You would never know to look at her. She says she is part rabbit. But she does not look any older than she did when I met her, not in figure or face, and not even graying hair. To be fair there are two sets of twins in that number.”
“But ten children.” Robbie shook his head. “How on earth does one family care for so many?”
“And how does a woman find the time to draw such good pictures with ten kids running around?” said Iain, still studying the pictures Emily had handed him.
“Our enemy is a tricky bastard but more than that he is completely insane.”
“I think so.”
“So what does one do with a madman?” asked Duncan.
“Same thing ye do with a rabid dog,” said Iain.
“But how does one find him?”
“He will be lurking around here. There are a number of us who can watch for him,” said Matthew.
“So you will all take time from your work, your living, to hunt for this maniac? Does that not seem just a bit unreasonable?” Emily asked quietly. “Give him the opening he seeks to destroy what you have? I think he is after more than ridding himself of heirs now; I think he wants to be rid of the people who have blocked him at every turn. You have to think that every small thing you neglect, every bit of income you lose, and so on, means he wins.”
“Do ye really believe that?” Iain asked.
“I do. From what I know of dear Cousin Albert, every time he is stopped from getting what he wants he gets angry and he plans to make the one who blocked him pay. I fear we are not simply enemies any longer, we are impediments and dear Albert gets particularly rabid about those.”
Chapter Sixteen
Trying desperately not to wring her hands as she paced, Emily wondered how long it would take to find Albert. She wished Iain had listened to her. Albert was clever and dangerous. The man had no qualms about sending people out to kill people he felt were in his way but he was also more than willing to do the killing himself. Emily had the feeling Iain saw Albert only as English gentry, a breed of people who did little with their lives save spend their fortunes, money earned off the backs of others, and who would never actually fight hard for their lives. They would beg or bargain.
“Sit down, Emily. He will be fine.” Mrs. O’Neal nudged Emily into a seat.
“Iain doesn’t understand what he is dealing with.”
“He has gone after a killer. Think the boy knows that well enough.”
Emily shook her head. “Yes, Albert is a killer but, in Iain’s mind, he is also just gentry, I think. He does not have a high opinion of that group or any true respect.”
“But Iain has fought the man already, several times.”
“No, he has fought the men Albert hired to do his killing for him. That actually just proves Iain’s opinion. He hired rough men who undoubtedly thought hunting down a woman and a child would be easy work. Even if told of Iain and his brothers they would have just shrugged. Fight a group of shepherds? Ha-ha. The men Albert hired probably thought him an idiot and a coward for not doing such an easy killing himself.”
“More fool them,” said Mrs. O’Neal as she poured boiling water into a teapot and set it on the table to steep. “Those MacEnroy boys are not fools or idiots. I wager they have things figured out and will know how to end that man. I can’t think that he will be able to gather any more fools to fight for him. It often astonishes me how quickly word spreads around here about things that happen or who to watch out for.”
An ache started behind her eyes and Emily used both hands to rub at her forehead. It was terrible of her but she dearly wished Albert would just go away, permanently. She really should have let Mabel just shoot the man down like a dog when they were all at the store. It would have been justice at last for her parents and Annabel and David. Emily was horrified by that thought and yet also disgusted that she had not seized the chance and worried about the consequences later. Iain was an honest man, however, and that put him at a severe disadvantage when facing a snake like Albert.
“If he cannot gather any more men because word is out about his offer then why are you so worried?” asked Mrs. O’Neal as she poured them each some tea.
“As I said, Albert is quite capable of doing his own killing. I suspect he has some of his own chosen men with him as well. The others he hired were tossed at us to judge our strength.” Emily was certain of that now that she had thought on it all night.
“Oh.” Mrs. O’Neal slowly stirred some sugar into her tea. “You sound very sure of that.”
“I am. What Albert is doing has preyed on my mind and that is the possibility which kept churning up through all the fear and confusion. I know Iain and his brothers think I am making Albert some sort of grand, heroic figure of evil and just shrug aside all I say. Yet, it is the only thing that makes sense. I think the first attack was because they saw us and thought they could avoid attacking this place if they caught me on the road.”
“But they wouldn’t have gotten the boy and, from what you have said, the boy is the one who is most important.”
“Yes, it is important that he get rid of Neddy.” She lightly rubbed her chest over her heart. “My, it hurts even to say it.”
“That it does. Sweet little boy even when he gets bossy or stubborn.”
Emily smiled. “I know. Anyway, it is vital that he remove the heir. I am just a pest. I think the man may want me dead because I tried to cause trouble for him. I know His Grace listened to me. I have no idea if that cost Albert or not because Annabel and I were already on the run.”
“Do you think the authorities are after him in England?”
“That would be lovely but we cannot know for sure. Albert could be thinking that, as a close relation to the boy, he could use whatever authorities he found here to help him get hold of the boy after he got rid of me. Once in control of Neddy he would then have the time to make certain the child’s death looks like an accident or an illness. There are too many ways that could be done.”
“There certainly are, true enough. Let us hope Iain gets the bastard.”
* * *
Iain secured his mount to the hitching post outside the tavern. A fancy name, he thought, for a place that was just like every other saloon he had ever been in. His brothers dismounted and did the same. They were not certain they would find Albert in the saloon but it was decided it was the best place to start looking. What he would do when he found the man was something he was still not sure of. It would be good to just shoot him, as Mabel had wanted to, but that would require a lot of explaining. There might not be any real law in the area but there were a few people called on regularly to settle such things and he was not on the best terms with any of them. He had ne
ver thought being a landowner could be such a contentious job.
As they walked in the girls in the saloon all perked up. Iain suspected a couple of his brothers would slip away now and then to enjoy their favors if there was no sign of Albert. He just hoped they did not all decide to entertain themselves at the same time. Instinct told him he should not allow any of them to be alone until Albert was no longer a threat.
He went to the bar, ordered a whiskey, and then turned around to survey the men gathered in the place. As he sipped his drink his gaze caught on one particular man. He was tall, well-dressed, and had blond hair. At the table sat four other men, all well-dressed, and hard-eyed. He suspected they were Albert’s handpicked guard, the one Emily had spoken of, and would bear close watching.
Now that he was here, within reach of the man, Iain had no real idea of how to go about ending the threat he was to Emily and Neddy. He had a little more understanding of how she had felt when Mabel had offered to shoot him for her. When no immediate threat was there it became too much like cold-blooded murder. He wondered if there was any way to get the man to draw on him and if he was fast enough to beat that draw.
“Wish he was facing our way,” said Matthew. “Cannae be shooting a man in the back, even a bastard like him.”
“I was just thinking the same,” replied Iain. “Got a better understanding of why Emily said no to Mabel’s kind offer.” He sipped some more whiskey as Matthew laughed.
“Maybe you could draw him into a game of cards.”
Iain looked at Duncan, who stood on his left and slowly nodded. “Could try that. Lot of men get heated over a game of cards.” He frowned. “I just dinnae think I have the gaming skills though. Never much took to gambling. Didnae have the money to test myself.”
“And we have no idea how skilled he is,” said Matthew.
“I have heard it said that the English gentry are all hardened gamblers.” Iain frowned. “Never heard whether many are good at it or not. Mostly ye just hear about the ones who gamble away all the money, put the manor house into hock, and so forth. But some must be good, aye, and with our luck, he would be one of them.”
The Scotsman Who Saved Me Page 19
