Page 58 of Death at Fournier Downs
“Ida saw you returning to Haverfield dressed as a man and it was only a matter of time until she found out it was you in that coat and hat, isn’t that right?” Hugh pressed, wanting to unnerve her. Distract her. Audrey knew his intention and joined him.
“You followed her to the cottage when she was next summoned,” Audrey said, realizing that Andrea likely had not even knownwhothe midwife had been supposed to meet. “You sneaked up behind her, like you just did with the duke, and struck her down.”
Philip continued to lay quiet and still. What if he was dead? Audrey’s throat cinched tight.
“And today, you left that missive in the letter box for your brother to lure him here and make certain he did not ruin your future for a second time,” Hugh said, to which the doctor muttered his shocked denial, that his sister would never do such a thing. His disavowals trailed off into silence when his sister did not deny Hugh’s version of events.
“But you did not plan for the duke and duchess to be here. And now, a Bow Street officer. Also on their way are footmen from Fournier House, a coroner, and the magistrate. Andrea, release her. It is over.”
“No,” she said, her voice trembling. “You are correct. It is too late.”
“How do you get away with this?” Hugh asked, spreading his arms. “She is aduchess.”
“A lover’s quarrel,” Andrea said, her voice pitched high and breathless. “The duke found you together and…and he pushed her over the edge and shot you. Joseph, get the gun.”
“Andrea, stop,” the doctor pleaded.
“Get it!”
“No! I cannot. I will not. Please, you must give this up. No one will believe you.”
The maid was shaking now. Her hands might be sweating. She wore no gloves. Perhaps the knife’s handle would slip from her grip easily. Audrey considered how she might be able to manage such a thing when the maid guttered a laugh.
“Oh, but they will. Especially when they hear all about how the duchess was once sent away to an asylum for the insane. When they find out she’smad.”
Hugh’s eyes clashed with Audrey’s. Her heart all but stopped. How had Andrea learned the truth? Did the servants at Haverfield know? Or had she gone through the baroness’s things and found papers from Shadewell? The ground underneath Audrey’s heels seemed to crumble, and with a limited twist of her head, she realized where she stood: right upon the edge of the quarry pit.Now. She had to act now—or never get another chance.
“So,” Hugh mused, attempting to sound nonchalant, even though his eyes blazed with fear. “You kill a duke, a duchess, two countesses, and a Bow Street officer. It sounds like a losing hand of cards.”
“This isn’t funny!” she screamed.
Using Andrea’s momentary distraction, Audrey gritted her teeth and jabbed her elbow back, into the maid’s ribs. Her hold slackened, and Audrey tried to disentangle herself, but Andrea shoved her, hard. Audrey’s heels slipped. She windmilled her arms, attempting to regain balance, but within a split second, she knew it wasn’t going to work. It was too late. The open air claimed her and sent her plummeting below.
ChapterTwenty
“Audrey, no!” Hugh’s heart tore in two, and his entire world slowed to a stop, as she disappeared over the edge of the open pit.
In the next second, a million thoughts attacked, though one rose to the top to torment him: he’d failed. He’d failed her.
Hugh lunged for his flintlock on the ground. Andrea still had the knife in her hand, and having regained her footing, she now ran toward her brother. The doctor had his hands up, shouting for her to stop, to see reason. Hugh aimed for the maid and for the first time in five years, he fired at another human being. His stomach dropped when the maid screamed and fell, the ball of lead having found its target. He ignored Millbury’s cries of anguish and rushed to the ledge of the pit, his blood slowing in anticipation of the sight that would greet him. He dropped to his knees and forced himself to look. The painful cramping in his chest released when he saw Audrey on a narrow ledge about ten feet below. She moaned and tried to roll over.
“Audrey, no! Don’t move!” he shouted, and when the duchess’s eyes opened and found him above her, he shuddered with relief.
“Stay where you are, don’t move!” he shouted again. “I’m coming for you.”
Millbury was hovering over his sister, already treating her right arm, which was bleeding heavily. As Hugh scrambled for the opening in the cliff’s edge that he and the duchess had descended a few days before, he found he did not care if the woman lived or died; she had murdered three women, two unborn children, and now, she had attempted to kill Audrey. If she did not die here and now, she would hang, and she would deserve nothing less.
Discarding any more thoughts for the doctor and his sister, Hugh shucked his coat and hat and started to descend the steep, craggy ledges. Audrey had landed on one that would not be easily reached. He assessed the best route to where she now sat, rubbing the back of her head, and wincing in pain.
“Did I hear a pistol shot?” she asked, her back pressed tightly against the quarry wall.
Hugh reached for a narrow ledge and jumped to it. He shinnied across, toward a second step, this one only slightly wider.
“Andrea isn’t dead. Yet,” he replied, pulling himself up onto another jutting rock. Sweat coated the back of his neck, and he refused to look down. “Are you injured?”
“Just my ankle.” Then, more urgently, “How did you find out about Renfry?”
“I made the same mistake Andrea did—I accused Millbury, and he set me straight.”
