Page 32 of Betrayal from Beyond
Together, the men carried the mechanism inside, and Kara and Niall followed. She peered into the wagon as they passed, noting a crank, a hooked gear, and a spoked handwheel.
The building here was close to finished. Men scrambled over walls, lining them with carved wooden panels. Ahead, though, they could see the large entrance to the tower, a marvel of arched buttresses and incredible stonework.
In the area before the entrance, a large man had made himself a desk of planks over stone plinths. He looked up from it and heaved a sigh of relief as the men entered with their burden. “Well, thank the Almighty, here you are at last. Come on, lads. Get a scramble on and get that upstairs and installed. How are we to finish the storerooms if we cannot get supplies up there?”
“That will be him, then,” Kara said brightly.
The man had already returned his attention to the spread of designs and documents on his makeshift desk.
“Good morning!” Kara approached first. “Are you constructing a winch, by chance?”
The man looked up. “Repairing one,” he answered. “There’s an opening in the entrance roof for lifting heavy supplies, but the winch keeps seizing. I’m replacing the largest gears.”
“Mr. Robert Preston?” Niall asked.
The gentleman looked back down at his schedules, lists, and plans. “Yes?”
“I am Niall Kier—”
The man’s eyes widened as he straightened again. “The newly made duke? Of…” He frowned. “Sorry. I forgot the title.”
“Sedwick. And this is my duchess. We would like a word, if you please.”
“No time.” The man waved a hand. “Apologies, but we’ve got a long way to go before this tower is finished and we are severely behind schedule.”
Kara stepped in. Preston was nearly as large as Niall. He had a long nose with a crook on the end and thick, unruly eyebrows. She thought Miss Martin had given a good description of him. Not a workman, but not quite a gentleman, either. She recognized in him the air of a good foreman—organized, fair, and stern when he needed to be.
“We’ve just come from Mrs. Sarah Hanlin,” she said, getting straight to the point that she suspected would move him.
Preston looked up at once. “Is all right with her?”
“She is fine.” She paused. “For now.”
The engineer froze. Gripping his pencil tightly, he straightened. “Someone has finally got the headmaster in their crosshairs?” he asked.
“Indeed, they have,” Niall said grimly.
Preston shook his head. “I warned her, time and again. This will be the end of the school, then. Well, she can come to me, if she needs to—and she knows it. Buthecan rot in hell.”
“Mrs. Hanlin said you might be able to help us,” Kara said. “She said you would wish to. We are looking for Tom Hawkins.”
The engineer stared. He ran a gaze over them both, clearly perplexed. “What’s he done now?”
“He’s done nothing, himself,” answered Niall. “But we suspect he might be harboring someone. Someone we very much wish to find.”
Preston’s face went slack. “Not Petra?”
Kara nodded.
This time, the man threw his pencil and let loose a long string of curses. “Forgive me, ma’am. I had wondered why he hadn’t been around these last weeks, but I never guessed it would be down to her. Damn it all to hell! The harridan! Why will she never leave Tom be?”
“She’s in dire straits this time,” Niall told him.
“She always is,” Preston said. “Tom gets into enough trouble on his own, but with her at the helm? It’s many times worse. She’s going to get him killed one day.”
“He wouldn’t be the first,” Niall said darkly.
Preston gave him a sour look. “I grew up with the woman. You don’t have to convince me she is a monster.” He raised a brow. “Why are you looking for her?”
