Page 94 of Exile's Return
‘You,’ Ashby indicated Hannah. ‘Tell her what you told me.’
Hannah sniffed, but the look she cast Agnes was heavy with malevolence. ‘When Simpson was ‘urt, Mistress Fletcher…she said she’d heard me screaming, but I saw her, Colonel, coming out of this room, not from the direction of her chamber. Anyway, she’d not have heard me, not all the way over there, and then Master Henry,’ Hannah pointed an accusatory finger at Henry. ‘He told me he’d seen her in the night.’
Lies beget lies, Agnes thought, her dazed mind casting around wildly for a plausible explanation. Was it too much to hope that Daniel would come bursting through the door with sword and pistol to sweep her away?
She took a deep, steadying breath. No one would be coming to her aid. Just as it had been all her life, she was on her own.
She looked from one to the other and said in a clear, steady voice. ‘It’s true. I did come here last night. Very late, after everyone was asleep, including that useless man you left outside my room. I knew I only had a few more hours with the children and I wanted to just sit with them.’ Her voice wavered, the emotion coming naturally. ‘I pulled the curtains around the bed and I was just sitting there…’
‘Just sitting there?’ Tobias expostulated.
‘Yes, just sitting with the children. I heard the door open and I was afraid it might be —’ she stopped herself before she said “you”. ‘I…I didn’t want to be discovered so I hid under the bed.’
Tobias frowned and she sensed him wavering. Her story had seemed plausible enough to anyone who knew her as he did. ‘So what did you see?’
‘Two men — or at least the feet of two men. I dared not move to get a better view. They knew exactly where to go and what they were looking for. They were in and out in bare minutes and then there was an altercation in the corridor. Someone was hurt and that girl,’ she looked at Hannah, ‘screaming like a fishwife. I waited until I thought it was safe and came out. I had hoped no one had seen me. Sitting with the children seemed a foolish, sentimental thing to do…’
Genuine tears welled in her eyes.
Tobias cleared his throat and his shoulders relaxed. Was it possible he had begun to believe her? All she had to do was stick to her story and hope he would let her leave.
He gestured at the room. ‘So if you know where the entrance to this hidden cavity is, you had better show me now.’
‘Behind the tapestry,’ Agnes said.
Tobias turned to face the tapestry, hauling it off its rings. The ancient material ripped as it fell to the ground in a cloud of dust. He stood with his hands on his hips, studying the old wainscoting.
‘So how do you get in?’
Agnes shook her head. ‘I didn’t see.’
Tobias felt along the panelling, pressing corners and indentations, but it was Leah who found the entrance, indicating the scuffed footprints on the dusty floor.
Tobias grunted, running his fingers along the panelling until he located the catch. The entrance swung open and, stooping, he looked inside. A man of his size would never have fitted through the small opening.
He swore volubly.
‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘Something was here but it’s gone.’
He brushed the dust from his coat sleeve and sighed heavily. ‘So they got away with the gold, but they won’t have gone far.’ Hesmiled without humour. ‘My men report that they managed to put a pistol ball into one of ‘em. As for you…’
Agnes’s heart skipped a beat, and she schooled her face to remain unconcerned.
Who had they shot?Daniel was still within the castle so it must have been either Kit or Jonathan.
Please, dear God, let them get away. Don’t let them die, she thought.
Gathering herself, she looked up at Tobias. ‘You have no evidence that I had any involvement. I have admitted to being present in the room but that was as far as it went. My time here is over. I will be leaving as soon as the horses are saddled.’
Lizzie whimpered. Tobias glared at the child with narrowed eyes and she gave a strangled sob and fell silent.
He strode over to the window and stood looking down into the courtyard.
‘I think it may be safer for you to stay a little while longer, Agnes,’ he said, his voice now a soft purr. He glanced back at her. ‘It would be irresponsible of me to allow you to travel while such ruffians are still at large.’
‘I will be quite safe. My servant —’
‘Ah, yes. Your servant, Lucas, is it? What can you tell me about him?’
