“The Lord and Miss Miller have you hopping?” Jack said to him as he gulped his food like a starved fox.
Liam nodded. “That they have.”
As the four of them talked in low tones, eating their late meal, Liam glanced around for anyone who might overhear their conversation. “Listen, lads,” he said, getting their attention with his fingers. “You have heard about someone trying to murder Lord Willowdale?”
Jack nodded. “It seems no one is talking about anything else.”
“Dastardly thing to do,” added Ben. “He is a lord, but he is a good enough sort.”
“I heard them talking,” Liam went on, gathering their eyes, his tone low. “Lord Willowdale and Miss Miller believe that whoever wants our master dead has planted the killer in this house.”
Ben’s jaw dropped. “How do they know that, Liam?”
“Someone hears things,” Liam said, gulping more roast. “Like, when the two of them went riding and someone took a shot at Lord Willowdale. Someoneknewhe planned to go fishing, and tampered with his boat.”
“So there is a spy in the house,” said Luke, a dour, almost silent man. “Remember the tunnels behind the walls?”
“Exactly,” Liam replied, nodding. “So we are loyal to our lord, right? I say we try to locate this spy on our own, like. He may dress himself as a footman, or a groom, and the lord and Miss Miller would never know he does not belong. But perhaps we can.”
“How, Liam?” Jack asked. “In our livery and wigs, why even I cannot always tell us apart much less know of a stranger in our midst.”
“We have to try, lads,” Liam went on, relentless. “We all trust each other, right? Perhaps as we perform our duties, we can take a look around the house. Check the cellars, the rooms no one ever uses. You can wager he will not join us here in the servants’ quarters, for then he would be caught out.”
“No,” Ben replied thoughtfully. “He would stay hidden except for times when he might be in livery. But he may not even hide in the open, as it were, in our livery. He may lurk and listen, then come out only in the wee hours when no one is about.”
“You have a valid point,” Liam agreed, munching on bread and washing the dryness from his mouth with water. “But if we can discover where this bloke has his lair, we can inform Lord Willowdale of its whereabouts. Once we get our hands on him, we can force him to tell us who hired him to kill the master.”
Jack nodded. “Count me in, Liam.”
“I am for it,” added Ben.
Luke merely shrugged and said, “Why not?”
“Excellent, lads. Now, like I said, we have to check the tunnels behind the walls. Surely he has made himself a little nest there, blankets and such, clothing. And the cellars and empty rooms.”
“What about the barns and stables?” Jack asked. “This estate has what, ten stable blocks for horses and twice that of outbuildings? The hay barns, the tack sheds, the carriage house –”
Liam shook his head. “I do not think he is lurking out there, Jack. If he was, he could not possibly know the things he does.”
“Yes, he could, Liam,” Ben said slowly. “Think of it. He hides in our walls during the day to listen but made his nest as you call it in the hay barn. Much more comfortable than a musty, spider webbed tunnel.”
“Then how would he get back and forth unseen?” Liam pointed out. “Too many grooms and servants are up before the dawn, and he would risk being seen going to the house.”
“Unless he is disguised as a groom,” Jack added. “There are almost as many of them as us.”
“All right,” Liam replied, chewing his piece of roast. “I will concede that, and if I can, I will speak to one of the head grooms. But let us, for now, assume he is in the house.”
“If Mr. O’Bannon catches us lurking in places we should not be then the game is up,” Luke told them, glancing around at Liam.
Liam silently cursed. He had forgotten how closely the butler watched them all, making sure they did their jobs properly. “Then maybe I should tell him what we are up to,” he said. “Then if he sees one of us ducking into unused rooms, he will not chastise us.”
“I think that would be best,” Jack replied, nodding. “He is so proper his arse squeaks as he walks.”
Liam chuckled. “He is also so loyal he could not possibly be our villain.”
“Uh, oh, Liam,” Ben said, nudging him with his elbow. “You have been targeted, old son.”
“What?”
