Page 81 of The Curse of Ill-Gotten Gains
She swayed, but gradually steadied. Penelope released Alison, who rushed to her mother’s side.
Alison peered into her mother’s face. “What happened?”
“I…I suppose I must have stumbled on a fold in the runner, lost my balance, and fallen.” Mrs. Waterhouse frowned. “My feet seemed to go out from under me, and I fell forward…and my head hurtsso!”
Penelope had been studying the runner. “You didn’t stumble. That’s what you and we were supposed to think.” She pointed farther down the corridor to the end of the runner, which lay rumpled. “It’s been jerked quite powerfully. That’s what caused you to fall.”
With her hand gingerly held to the back of her head, Mrs. Waterhouse squinted at Penelope. “Someone did this to me?”
Penelope’s lips set. “I fear so. They made you fall, then hit you on the back of your head to make sure you were incapacitated, at least for a little while.” She looked at Stokes and Barnaby. “I believe we know who, but why…?”
Footsteps climbed the stairs, then turned in their direction, and Richard and Rosalind came into view.
Walking toward them, Richard explained, “We were coming to find you to tell you our news, and we heard your voices and came to see…”
He halted and stared at Alison, who was wholly engaged in comforting her mother, then Richard looked at Rosalind.
Rosalind’s gaze had also fixed on Alison. “Alison, where’s Regina?”
Alison glanced up. “Leith came to tell me that Mama had taken a fall…” Alison frowned and looked at her mother. “I expected to find half the household here.”
Her tone rising, Rosalind prompted, “And Regina?”
“It’s all right,” Alison assured her. “I left her with Leith. We were out near the shrubbery. He said he’d walk back with her.”
Horror washed over Penelope. She met Barnaby’s and Stokes’s gazes, then looked at Richard and Rosalind. “Leith is the murderer.”
“What?” Rosalind stared at Penelope.
“Oh God!” Richard spun and raced for the stairs. “And Regina is with him.”
Stokes and Barnaby were on Richard’s heels as he rushed down the stairs. Penelope and Rosalind followed as fast as they could.
On reaching the hall, Stokes peeled away, pushed open the baize-covered door, and bellowed for his men and Gearing.
Barnaby paused only to confirm that Penelope and Rosalind were behind him, then yelled after Stokes, “We’ll start searching from the shrubbery!”
Poised in the doorway, Stokes waved them on. “Go! I’ll turn out everyone else and follow.”
CHAPTER 12
Desperately searching for some sign of Regina, Richard halted just inside the shrubbery.
He listened intently, but heard no sound, no rustle, no crackle of a leaf.
Chest heaving, dread pounding in his veins, he waited for Barnaby, Penelope, and Rosalind to catch up with him.
When they arrived, his hands on his hips, he swung to face them. “I don’t think they’re here anymore. Given the time it would have taken Alison to get to the house, Leith and Regina could be anywhere. He might even be at the stable.”
Rosalind hauled in a huge breath.
“No!” Penelope slapped a hand over Rosalind’s lips. “Don’t call out to her!”
Above Penelope’s fingers, Rosalind’s eyes widened. When Penelope drew her hand away, Rosalind whispered, “Why not?”
Beyond grim, Barnaby replied, “Because she’s walking with a murderer who almost certainly has designs on her life. Even if she’s close enough to hear, he won’t let her respond.”
“And showing him how close we are might force his hand with whatever he’s planning.” Penelope, too, was scanning thehedges and bushes all around. “That’s the last thing we want to do.”
