There was no question about the fact that Henry had written this note.
But it was impossible. Seeing these words in Henry’s handwriting—it was almost like hearing them spoken in his friend’s voice. How could Henry have sent a debt collector after him? How could Henry have wanted to ruin his courtship with Lady Valeria?
He looked up at his friend. “I don’t understand this,” he said. “Why would you do this?”
“I didn’t do it,” Henry insisted. “This is crazy. I’ve been helping you track him down! Why would I do that if I was also helpinghimtrackyoudown?”
“Because you wanted to help control our search,” Duncan said. “You wanted to make sure you were here when we caught up to him, so that if this conversation took place, you would be a part of it. I knew you’d been acting strange. Ever since we said we were going to find Crowle and put a stop to what he was doing, you’ve been different. I should have recognized that there was something suspicious about the way you were acting.”
“I just thought he was upset on my behalf,” Thomas said quietly. “I thought he was worried for me, and that he wanted to help me.”
I thought he was my friend, in other words.
“Am I allowed to leave?” Crowle asked.
“You will be,” Thomas said. “I want to know if you had any other interactions with him, besides the receipt of this note.”
“This is ridiculous,” Henry snapped. “I don’t have to stand here and listen to these accusations.” He turned and headed toward the door.
Thomas was too shocked by everything that had happened to go after him or to try to stop him. So, it seemed, was Duncan, for they both simply stood and watched as Henry left the room.
Then Duncan started. “We can’t let him leave!” he said. “He’s the one who’s been behind all this! Quickly, Thomas, go and bring him back!”
Thomas ran to the door. The foyer was empty. He hurried across and threw open the front door of the Manor.
Henry was nowhere in sight.
He must have run. It was the only possible explanation. When he had realized that Thomas and Duncan knew what he had done, he had taken flight.
Thomas turned and hurried back to the sitting room, where Crowle sat waiting, looking very agitated, indeed.
“You had better tell us everything,” he said darkly.
“You won’t hand me over to the constables if I do?” Crowle asked.
Duncan looked at Thomas. “It’s your decision,” he said.
“But you promised,” Crowle said. “That was my condition for showing you that note. Are you going to go back on your word?”
“No one owes you anything,” Duncan said firmly. “Lord Woodsford has every right to turn you in if that’s what he wants to do, no matter what you might have been promised.”
Thomas nodded. “We can’t very well let him walk away,” he said. “The constables should at least know what he’s been doing so that no one else falls victim to his schemes.”
“Are you serious?” Crowle blanched. “It’s as you said! I’ll be hanged! You can’t do this to me.”
“You won’t be hanged,” Duncan said. “We’ll be clear with them that Lord Harlston was the real culprit behind everything. But in order to make sure that the blame lands where it ought to, you need to make sure you tell us everything.”
“I have told you everything,” Crowle said.
“Have you?” Duncan asked skeptically.
“What else?” Crowle asked. “What else do you want to know?”
“Had you ever received a note like that one before?”
Thomas looked at Duncan. “What are you getting at?” he asked.
“Well, think about it,” Duncan said. “He just receives an anonymous note and decides to act on it? He isn’t at all concerned about where it might have come from? It doesn’t seem to me like someone who was experiencing that for the first time. It seems to me as though he must have gotten similar notes in the past, so that he wasn’t surprised to receive this one.”
