Page 50 of Fatal By Design
“She did so without your knowledge. She hid it in something you treasure. Something you take with you everywhere and would never be rid of.”
Her mind galloped as she tried to determine what item he could mean.
“A shell,” Mr. Henley hissed in her ear. “She said it is in your shell.”
The small hairs along Audrey’s arms stood on end and a low whirring noise filled her ears.Her shell. The nautilus shell James had given her?
“Ah yes, you understand now, don’t you?” Mr. Henley said. “Good. Now, let us go get it.”
He urged them forward again, but Audrey dug in her heels. With Greer possibly waiting in the bedchamber, she would not bring this man close. She would not risk her maid’s life. Not even when the barrel of the flintlock pistol pushed harder into her waist.
“It isn’t here. Not at Greenbriar.”
“Thenwhere?” he demanded.
Her mind went blank. And then, her mouth formed an answer: “Fournier Downs.”
It was a lie. The shellwashere, just inside her bedchamber, in the writing box she took with her everywhere. Just as Millie had told Mr. Henley. The ring was hiddeninsidethe shell? Audrey couldn’t comprehend it. And for the moment, the discovery did not matter. She only had to get this man as far from Greenbriar and the people here as possible. Good heavens…Cassie could be on her way to her own bedchamber. She might be ascending the stairs any moment.
“Then we will go to Hertfordshire,” Mr. Henley said, and turned roughly, back toward the main stairs. “Do as I say. Cause a scene, and your sister will meet the same end as her maid. Is that understood?”
Audrey nodded, her head jerking tightly as a sickening concoction of terror and relief flooded her. Millie was alive, but he had killed Celine. The driver, too. For the ring?
The stairs were blessedly empty. Cassie must have gone in another direction to her room, or perhaps not to her room at all. They approached the front door and a footman stationed there. Mr. Henley had already hooked Audrey’s arm, and though the hard point of the pistol disappeared from her hip, she knew the weapon was still a danger. She tempered the inclination to struggle and shout for the footman’s help. But Mr. Henley had a pistol, and he’d already killed two people—servants, at that. So, Audrey smiled thinly as the footman bowed and opened the door for them to pass through.
“A turn around the gardens sounds like a lovely idea,” Mr. Henley said with false politeness as they passed. And then, the door was shutting behind them.
“Where is my sister?” Audrey asked as they walked not toward the gardens, but the long drive. There was no one about, and with most of the servants at the lake, they would likely go unobserved as they walked away.
“You will see her shortly,” was all he replied as he increased their pace. He was taking no chances, and the returned poke of the pistol proved it.
Despite everything, relief that she would see Millie momentarily buoyed her. If, of course, he was telling the truth. Considering how readily and easilyshehad lied regarding the nautilus shell’s location, she would take his words with a grain of salt. It was possible he, too, was simply telling her what she wished to hear in order to get her to cooperate.
“Where are we walking?” she asked as their pace grew increasingly harried. They were now out of view of the main house, surrounded by woods on one side and lawns on the other. The knolls of the grounds obscured a view of the lake and the other guests there.
Mr. Henley did not reply, and Audrey, breathless as she was from the rapid pace and the edge of panic, didn’t repeat her question. He had arrived at Greenbriaron foot? He had also likely not applied at the front door, but simply walked down to the lake. His missing conveyance would have been of concern to the footman posted at the entrance door.
Finally, as sweat began to trickle down her back and gather on her brow, he directed them off the main drive and into a stand of trees. The trunks of the mixed whitebeams and firs were widely spaced—wide enough for a coach and a pair of horses to wait, obscured. A man sat ready in the driver’s box; he acknowledged them with a nod as Mr. Henley shoved Audrey toward the coach. When he opened the door and jostled her up inside, she tripped on the hem of her skirt. She landed on her knee but caught herself from falling flat by grasping the bench cushion. When everything stilled, she was met with her sister’s fearful eyes and tear-streaked face.
“Millie?” She heaved herself up off the floor and onto the bench. Her sister cried out, but a gag muffled her. Rope bound her ankles and wrists. Her auburn hair was a loose mess, her cheeks and eyes red and puffy, her gown wrinkled and dusty.
“Go,” Mr. Henley barked to his driver as soon as he’d dropped onto the bench across from them. The driver cracked the reins, and the coach jolted forward to clear the tree cover.
Audrey removed the gag from Millie’s mouth and her sister’s sobs unleashed.
“Oh, sister!” she gasped. “I am so very sorry. I didn’t want to tell him. I would never have, but they had Reggie and—”
“Enough with your blubbering,” Mr. Henley said harshly. He had his pistol out fully now, the weapon aimed at them. He glared at Audrey, all affability gone. “She remains bound.”
“Don’t you think that will look suspicious if we meet anyone on the road?” Audrey replied. “The magistrate, Sir Ridley, perhaps? He is due back to Greenbriar today,” she lied through her teeth. “Should he wish to speak to us, and my sister is trussed up like a sow—”
“Very well, untie her. Just shut up.”
The charm he had showered upon the regatta party had vanished. Callous impatience now transformed his previously handsome visage into something ugly.
Audrey worked at the knots binding Millie’s wrists, then bent to untie her ankles. The ropes had left raw marks on her skin and frayed her stockings, evidence that she had been tied up for much of the past few days.
As the driver took them down Greenbriar’s lane at a frantic clip, rocking them wildly, Audrey turned her attention to what would happen once Mr. Henley realized he had been tricked. It would be hours to Fournier Downs. Half the day, at least. She had succeeded at drawing him away from Greenbriar, but she and Millie were still in danger.
