Page 19 of Highland Sword
Silence hung between them for a heartbeat. Morrigan didn’t want his pity, however. She motioned to him to continue. “And you think this… relation of mine can help?”
“In past cases, by the time the accused radicals have arrived in court, Wemys and others like him were long gone, squirreled away in a new place, with a new name, and with a new plan to ruin some other group of trusting idealists.”
“And you say he is now willing to testify on your client’s behalf?”
“I believe he is.” Aidan plucked a remaining petal from a nearby rose. “He promises to tell the truth.”
“But you said he didn’t set up the Chattans himself.”
“He didn’t. But he knows who did. He can provide names and dates and where the agent provocateur was sent after the arrests. Wemys’s testimony will be crucial.”
Morrigan had no doubt Aidan Grant was a capable barrister.
“When I met your… met Wemys, he said he didn’t care to be sent to the Cape colony in Africa,” Aidan continued. “He asked me to protect him in return for his testimony. Now, however, I know it was because he’s dying. I think he’s known it for some time.”
Morrigan recalled the momentary shudder that ran through her when Isabella mentioned cancer. She knew it was not a good way to die. But that was before she knew the devil himself lay in that bed.
Aidan’s grey eyes focused on her face. “I’m asking you to let him be. Let him live until his sickness takes him.”
“I’m not an assassin, Mr. Grant.”
“I saw the way you attacked that pell in the training yard.”
Morrigan wasn’t sure if his words were spoken in seriousness or in jest. “Assassins kill without passion. And as you now know, I do have a temper.”
“Tell me why you were following him in Inverness.”
Morrigan considered but then dismissed the possibility of an evasion. She doubted the barrister would let her be until he had a satisfactory answer. She shrugged. “I thought I recognized him. I wanted to be sure.”
“Do you hold him responsible for your father’s death?”
“No,” she replied truthfully.
“Then why the dagger? Why try to kill him?”
“That’s what you thought?” Feint, sidestep. “I was walking in a deserted alleyway in a dangerous seaport town with no escort. Don’t you think it reasonable to be ready for any possible threat?”
“You could have explained this to me when—”
“Explained to you? To a stranger?” Parry, lunge. “You attacked me, sir.”
“I knocked the knife out of your hand.”
“In my eyes, you were a brute, showing up suddenly from behind, physically assaulting me.”
“You nearly unmanned me.”
“And you caused this.” She pointed to her mouth and chin.
He jerked a thumb toward his swollen eye. “I didn’t come by this banging my head against the wall.”
Morrigan and Aidan glared at each other.
“How convenient. Just the two I hoped to find.”
They turned in unison, surprised by the sound of another voice. Isabella stood, medical bag over her shoulder, near enough to have heard their discussion.
“Is this true, Mr. Grant? You are responsible for the bruise on Morrigan’s face?”
