“We don’t own any valuables,” Paul said tightly.“Thieves know better than to rob parsonages.Whoever did this was after something else.When we made our inquiries in Stratford, we tried to hide our location from people who don’t know us.But a parsonage isn’t hard to find.I assume this is related.”
Which might explain Minerva’s fury, if it was about the children.
“You think Elton is looking for the orphans?”Rafe asked.It was the only thing that made sense, but Upton was an educated man.His opinion mattered.
“Yes,” Damien spoke first, confirming what they all feared.“We need to remove the women to the manor.If he’s this desperate, he’ll resort to hostages next.”
“The intruder was looking for papers,” Minerva reminded them sharply, pushing from Paul’s arms and gesturing at her desk.“Did Elton seem the sort to read?”
“Dryden signed the register for them.He might simply be searching for the parish ledger.It’s unlikely he can read any documents he might find, but we can’t take chances.”Rafe glanced around the cottage for anything he might have missed.The contents were modest but well-kept and tasteful.It helped to have wealthy friends with excess furniture, as Rafe well knew.And Paul was a carpenter who could repair anything.“Verity will be glad of your company.”
That Minerva did not argue as she stomped off to pack clothes proved how shaken she was at this invasion of her new home.
Rafe turned to the other two men.“Are we certain this is about the children?”
“Not completely,” Damien admitted.“But I’m seeing no other motive for a document search.Elton is a thief.He’s after coin, one way or another.If we accept that he might read, is it possible he thought the orphans might be sold and was searching for clues to their whereabouts?”
Paul’s mouth flattened angrily.“It’s possible.The world is full of despicable people who buy children for virtual slaves.I fear there is more to the matter, though.He wouldn’t need documents to sell children.My concern is that if we take the women to the manor, that we may be taking them straight into the villain’s arms.”
That silenced them briefly.Rafe pondered what he was saying, then shook his head.“Easier to secure the perimeter if we’re all at the manor.Then we set up another perimeter upstairs, guarding the women and children.The attic has far fewer accesses than the inn or the entire village.”
Paul didn’t argue, but Damien scowled as he paced.“I don’t know if I can persuade Brydie and Kate to stay at the manor.Women have odd notions about propriety.They’re very independent.”
“Tell them Kate’s children will be safer remaining at the manor, and that I need you to be my eyes and ears with the gentry, but you refuse to abandon them.They won’t shirk their duty.They’ll have to come with you.I want Paul and Minerva there too, but they are better equipped to keep an eye below stairs.”Where Paul’s mother insisted on living, even if she was great-granddaughter of an earl.
“I’ll tell Brydie my Christmas gifts to the children rely on her and Kate consulting with Lavender,” Damien decided.“Lavender needs the business.That should tilt the scales, I hope.And if I say I’ll see that their chickens and pony are fed, they’ll have no other excuse.”
“I am glad I’ll never meet you in a courtroom, and should I ever have an estate requiring a trust, I’ll be glad to have you write it up.”Rafe pounded Damien’s shoulder and sent him off to round up the Calhoun sisters.His inn would suffer without them, but Fletch, Parsons, and Cooper could manage.Maybe.
“If you’re certain nothing has been taken, I’ll go back to searching cottages.”Rafe knew the futility but he was incapable of doing nothing.He snapped his fingers for Wolfie to heel.Wrapping his broad paw in the dog’s fur helped soothe his confusion.
“I’ve lost my sense of security.”Paul rubbed his jaw unhappily.“I’ll install new locks here and on my workshop.If Elton jammed your cash box open with my hammer and awl, then chances are good he did the same here.He may have been hunting for the registry, but I learned early on to hide it.If he thought it contained information on the orphans, we don’t have it, but he doesn’t know that.”
“We’ll keep the new hardware busy at this rate.”Rafe donned his cap and strode out, pondering whether Jasper had wits enough to drum up business for his hardware by breaking old locks.
Parsons had been a convict.The conditions in the Antipodes were cruel.Over all those years of deprivation, he would no doubt have learned a few villainous tricks.Where had his new employee been this morning?Supposedly, sleeping, since he’d been assigned to guard the inn last night.Except he’d been sleeping instead of guarding.Damnation.MaybeParsonshad robbed the cash box?But then, what had happened to Elton?
Rafe stopped at the inn to secure all his own locks.He informed the staff they wouldn’t be accepting new guests until after the holiday and that they had the day off.Not that the old women had families to go to, but they seemed content with each other’s company.Warning them to keep the doors locked, he left them deciding what kind of pudding they’d like to fix for themselves.He’d have to buy them a fat goose for Christmas dinner.
In his absence, Brydie and Kate had taken over his kitchen to prepare a noon meal and bake the dough Brydie brought over from the bakery.Waste not, want not had been their motto for too long.At least they’d agreed to stay where he could keep an eye on them—until Damien persuaded them otherwise.
Rafe sent Wolfie patrolling the inn halls.The dog was better at hunting rabbits, but just his size might terrify intruders.Disregarding his new employee’s privacy, he checked on the room he’d assigned to Parsons, finding him sawing logs as if he hadn’t slept in a week.As a soldier, Rafe knew the exhaustion of stress.He still couldn’t trust that the man hadn’t robbed him—except it was Elton who was missing.
At noon, Fletch finally rode in with the post.After handing his horse over to the stable, he stalked in with only a few letters in his hand.If he’d had a mailbag, he’d left it with Oswald at the mercantile.
“I didn’t see the reason to pay Oswald’s postage for personal mail I spent a day retrieving and for which he’d only reward me a few measly pennies for delivering.”Fletch tossed the letters on the counter.
Rafe would work out that excuse another time.Besides a letter from his own parents, the post contained a letter to Willa—and none for Cooper.Rafe had been hoping Cooper’s family would have responded by now.
“Do we ask Cooper to open Willa’s correspondence?”Rafe asked, poking the folded paper with his thick finger.
He didn’t know where Cooper had got to.He wasn’t an employee, so Rafe couldn’t expect him to linger if he had better things to do.He couldn’t even ask that Cooper stay until Willa’s murder was solved.A judge would have to demand his appearance as witness should the killer ever be identified.That wasn’t Rafe’s responsibility.
Disregarding propriety and probably the law, Fletch slit the seal and unfolded the letter.He examined it front and back, frowned, and handed it to Rafe.“This person in Bath appears to be asking Willa if the children have arrived yet, and if Willa could keep them a while longer.There appears to be some delay in transport.”
Rafe skimmed the feminine handwriting and noted the signature:B.Bee or Boo?Probably Bee.He was starting to imagine the Turners’ mysterious relations as fraternal twins with freckles and unruly blond curls.He was out of his friggin’ mind.
“Or they didn’t wish to disturb anyone’s holidays with two grief-stricken tykes,” Rafe said cynically.“But this does mean someone out there knows about them.”The return address was only B and B, Clement Circle, Bath.
