“There’s more, isn’t there?” Logan said. “I know ye better than to think ye didn’t get someone to talk.”
“Ye know me well, don’t ye, MacLain?” Caldwell said without a smile. “One of the constables who found her was talkative. For a price. The gent now has enough blunt to sate his taste for cheap liquor for a month.”
“Please tell us what you’ve learned,” Amelia said.
With a look of clear reluctance in his eyes, he hesitated for the span of a few heartbeats.
Amelia held her voice steady. “I need to know, Mr. Caldwell.”
With a half-hearted nod, he fished a fortune-telling card from his pocket. “A watchman at the hotel discovered her before dawn.” He held out the card. “This was found near her body. She may have held it when she fell from the window.”
The Lovers.
Amelia swallowed hard against her revulsion. “How macabre.”
“There’s more.” Caldwell turned over the card and placed it on the bar. “I can’t make out all the letters, but it appears someone scratched a word into the surface.”
Amelia took the card to the window and held it up to the glass. Pulling in a breath, then another, she studied the markings. Sunlight brought the crudely etched letters into relief.
Dear God.A bitter taste rose to the back of her throat.
“It’s faint, but I can read it. It says…” She choked out the word. “Betrayed.”
Chapter Eighteen
Betrayed.
A horrible sense of dread swept over Amelia.
Had Helen believed they’d led the killer to her?
“The lovers.” Logan leaned closer, examining the fortune telling card. “By hellfire, what was the woman thinking?”
Amelia tapped a finger against the card. “There’s no way to know if she intentionally selected that card, but I suspect the choice was deliberate.”
Caldwell nodded his agreement. “Had she been betrayed by a lover?”
“Perhaps.” Searching for other markings that would bring Helen’s message into focus, Amelia lifted the card into the light again. “Or perhaps she meant a man and woman taking part in deception.”
Had Helen assumed Amelia and Logan were lovers who’d betrayed her for their own interests? Or was the card intended as a warning? Was someone they trusted in league with Paul’s killer?
Logan’s brow furrowed. Had he read her suspicions?
“One thing’s for certain,” he said, taking the card from her hand. “She did not take her own life. The woman was hellbent on getting away from this place.”
“Away from her killer,” Amelia agreed.
“She damned near made it,” Caldwell said. “Now, ye’d be well advised to take Amelia away from the city to somewhere the killer won’t be able to find her.”
“Out of the question.” She’d hiked her chin, strengthening her tone in adamant refusal.
“The hell it is,” Logan countered. “Finn’s making sense. I know just the place.”
Amelia planted her hands on her hips and looked him square in the eye. “I will not leave.”
Logan plowed his long fingers through his hair. “I’ll take ye to my family home. My kin will keep ye safe.”
“I see no need to leave the city. I have confidence in your abilities.” Seeing the conflict in his dark eyes, she considered her words carefully. “I know you are determined to protect me... to keep the vow you made to my brother. But I cannot hide forever. The devils who killed Paul want the blasted treasure. They’ve already found Helen. Even if I evade them for a time, when I return, they will be waiting.”
