Page 57 of The Gift of Patience
Soon after, he found his brother who was sitting in a rocking chair, doting upon the new baby with Faith sleeping nearby. He crept quietly over to greet his nephew.
“Congratulations, Brother. I cannot yet claim he is the most handsome lad I’ve ever seen, but I’m certain he soon will be.”
“Would you like to hold him?”
“That will have to wait until later. Much though I hate to disturb you, there is an urgent matter that must be dealt with.”
Westwood raised his brows, but rose with his son in his arms and placed him in the bassinet near the bed by his mother.
They exited the room quietly and went down the stairs to the study.
“You are not even supposed to be here, so I suppose I should have realized something was amiss sooner.” He slid into his favourite worn leather chair.
“I think your mind has been rightly somewhere else this day.”
“Indeed. And my relief that Faith and Benjamin are healthy has consumed my thoughts.”
“You named him after Father.” Ashley smiled as he went to the side table and poured them both a healthy measure of brandy. He handed Dominic a glass and then toasted. “To Faith and Benjamin.”
Dominic raised his glass and then drank. “Now, tell me what the urgent matter is.”
Ashley repeated much the story he had told Patience. “We were set upon just on the other side of the village by Devil’s gang. Gunfire erupted when Renforth refused to release Devil.Fielding shot the gun out of the leader’s hand as he cocked and began to pull the trigger. That’s when all hell broke loose.”
He took a drink.
“When all of the chambers were emptied, and the smoke had cleared, the gang fled quickly, but then we discovered Rupert was dead.”
Westwood looked up sharply. “Why was Rupert there?”
“He and Sir Horace found us on our way down the drive and refused to leave. Renforth had just warned them off when the gang came out of the woods, masked, on horseback, like highwaymen.”
“And how is Sir Horace?”
“Shocked to the bone. He did not speak a word. Farmer Jones happened by with his cart and helped me bring the body back to the icehouse. Greening took Fagge home.”
His brother ran an exhausted hand over his face. “That was certainly an unexpected turn of events. Do you believe it was one of the gang’s stray bullets that hit him?”
“Actually, no. Whoever shot him did it on purpose.”
“How can you be certain?”
“Because Rupert was beside me and he was shot in the back. He was silenced.”
“It appears so.” Dominic leaned his head back against his chair. “This is certainly not what I wish to be doing right now. Would you write the report with all of the details exactly as you remember them, including a sketch of where everyone was at the time?”
“Certainly.”
“Dr. Harvey said he would stop by this evening to check on Faith and the baby, so I will ask him to take a look at the body when he arrives. It would have been much better had Rupert been caught in the crossfire.”
“I imagine whoever shot him believes that will be the assumption. In fact, it might be better to play on that instead of announcing our suspicions.”
“Do you think it will make them more careless?”
“We can only hope, but if we declare a verdict of murder, then they will know we are seeking them.”
“There are no guarantees with the inquest,” Westwood warned. “I can delay a little, but this needs to be resolved quickly.”
“Understood. We best pray our trap works. It just became much more serious. The leader was willing to murder to keep his identity hidden. And at least we know that it’s someone who associated with Rupert.”
