Maximilian shook his head. “She came to the castle to visit only twice.”
“Then I think you can rule out a disloyal servant,” Eugenia said. “But it is almost too easy to place a man who is familiar with crime and killing inside your home, Max.”
“I can see that. And I agree with you.”
“This villain knows his way around intimately, too,” she said. “It is not easy to know the side passages and wings unless you are quite familiar with them. I still get lost.”
“That does not mix well with the idea of a stranger then.”
Eugenia shrugged. “It can if he spends all his time learning the hidden tunnels and passageways. It might be beneficial to ask Mr. Simmons if he had noticed thefts of food over the last few weeks. Our villain has to eat.”
“I can ask,” Maximilian said. “But I also know servants go into his kitchen and get food late at night. It is permitted, and I do not mind. He may not be able to track missing food items.”
Eugenia shook her head, frustrated. “It was a thought.”
“And a good one.”
Maximilian cocked his head to the side, listening. “I think I hear a horse approaching. It is coming fast.”
Though Eugenia heard only the usual sounds of horses moving about in their stalls, grooms laughing and talking as they worked, and the occasional whinny, she asked, “Someone riding in urgently? Who might it be?”
“Nigel,” he answered, heading toward the door.
Eugenia followed him, and as she passed, Mr. Oldman fell in behind her. While walking into the open outside the building, she saw it was indeed Nigel Curry who rode in. His horse was caked in lather, which indicated he had been ridden hard. He reined in sharply, bringing the animal to a swift halt with its haunches slung low.
Hurrying toward him, Maximilian did not glance over his shoulder toward Eugenia in an invitation to join him, but she followed after him anyway. Nigel slid down from the saddle, his hands still on the horse’s reins. Bowing, he said, “Your Grace, urgent news.”
“I suspected as much,” Maximilian replied, glancing down as Eugenia arrived at his side. “What is it?”
“The highwayman you injured,” Nigel continued, grinning, “is in custody in York.”
Chapter 27
Maximilian glanced around, as though expecting eavesdroppers to be hovering near. “Go on. How did he get caught? And has he said anything about who hired him?”
“He went to an apothecary’s shop to have his leg injuries seen to,” Nigel replied. “As I had already taken the corpse of his friend to the constables and told them who to watch for, they found him easily as he limped out. He was also Scottish, by the way.”
“Then the others might have already crossed the border,” Maximilian said. “Go on.”
“I had not yet left York,” Nigel continued, nodding, “they sent a constable for me. Under the threat of hanging for his crimes as a robber and for attacking a duke, he was eager to talk.”
“Did he say who hired him?”
“He told the constables that a lord hired them.”
Stunned, Maximilian glanced from Nigel to Eugenia and back again. “Alord? Did he say who it was?”
Nigel shook his head. “He did not know the lord’s name and only saw him from a distance. It appears the dead man conducted the transaction.”
Angry and frustrated, Maximilian felt the urge to hit something. He turned away, running his hands through his hair, inadvertently pulling out his ponytail. “We are so close to finding this villain, and yet, we are thwarted at every turn.”
Swinging back toward Nigel, he then asked, “Did he say how he knew when and where I would be?”
“Yes, Your Grace,” Nigel replied. “According to him, the lord approached their leader, the dead one, and offered fifty quid if they would kill you as you rode back from the Mallen estates. He was told that you would be riding alone, on that day – yesterday and that most likely it would be at sunset.”
Maximilian met Eugenia’s wide, incredulous eyes. “I still refuse to believe Mallen is behind this.”
“Your Grace?”
