He peered down at her, swaying on his feet. The dark bruise and swelling on his head appeared stark against his pale flesh, tinged with orange under the light of the lamp.
“Where have you been, Thea?”
Chapter 7
Drunk, Freddie squinted down as his sister gaped up at him.
“What are you talking about?” she demanded, pulling free from his grip. “Are you spying on me?”
Shaking his head slowly from side to side, he felt the whiskey swamp him, blurring his vision. He saw two of Thea’s face, which then merged into one until splitting into pairs again. “No. Jest came to see if you were all right. What do I find? Your abigail has no idea – where you are.”
“If you must know,” she snapped, walking past him to her door, “I went to the lake for a while. It calms me.”
“Calms you.” Freddie nodded owlishly. “’O course it does.”
“Maybe I need to escort you to your rooms,” she said, grabbing his arm. “Come along, brother mine.”
Freddie let her tow him down the hallway to the corner, where she turned them right. His own chambers stood midway down them, and Thea opened the door, pulling him inside. Michael, his valet, stood with his hands clasped behind his back as though waiting for him. He bowed low as they entered.
“Michael,” Thea said, finally letting go of his arm. “Lord Willowdale has had a bit too much to drink this evening. Will you make certain he gets to his bed to sleep it off?”
“Of course, Miss Miller.”
Freddie gawked as Thea stormed out, firmly closing the door behind her. “Did she just –”
“I am quite certain she did, My Lord. Now if you will just let me help you to undress –”
Despite the alcohol in his blood, Freddie slept only fitfully. He dreamed of being shot, of Thea drowning. He saw the terrified faces of his parents staring down the barrel of a rifle. Waking, drenched in sweat, his head pounding, he stared into the darkness of his bedchamber. Not wanting to wake his valet, Freddie padded barefoot to the window. He gazed up at the moon, his head aching, now certain in his own mind that someone had indeed tried to kill him.
“But by God, I will give you a run for your money,” he muttered.
Pouring himself a glass of water from the pitcher on the nearby table, Freddie drank it, thirstily. Returning to his bed, he tossed and turned for a while before finally drifting off to sleep. This time, he slept deeply and did not dream.
“I want to take a look at that post from the dock,” Freddie announced to Thea at breakfast the next morning.
Her fork hanging halfway to her mouth, Thea stared at him, her pale brown eyes wide. “The – post?”
He nodded and wiped his lips with his napkin. “Let us say, just for a moment, that whoever shot and killed my horse yesterday was indeed trying to kill me, then perhaps your accident was not an accident at all.”
Her fork dropped to her plate with a clatter. “Are you thinking that maybe someone deliberately cut it?”
“Knowing your proclivity for spending time there,” he replied, “yes.”
Biting her lip, Thea leaned an elbow on the table and set her chin on it, her brows furrowed. “I suppose that might be possible,” she said slowly. “When do you plan to look? I want to be there.”
“Right after breakfast.”
Thus, with a few footmen, his steward, Charles Noonan, and Thea, Freddie marched down to the dock. The broken post lay near the shore, and Freddie crouched down near the end that had been in the water. A tension inside him, he had no knowledge existed, loosened as he gazed at the round piece of dark wood. Clearly rotten from being submerged in the lake, it showed no sign of having been cut.
He stood, and glanced at Thea. “Just an accident,” he said simply.
Thea nodded, stepping closer to the post to stand beside him. “I am glad, though,” she said softly. “I mean, it might narrow down our list of suspects if we know he only targeted you.”
“That is very true, sweet sister.”
Freddie glanced at Charles. “I would like you to see to getting the dock repaired so it is safer from now on. Then I need you to join me in my study. We need to figure out who might want me dead.”
Charles bowed. “I will see to it immediately, My Lord.”
