The Vanishing at Loxby Manor, Abigail Wilson [best value ebook reader .TXT] 📗

Lord Kendal. She wouldn’t have had time to do so before, and the brooch proved she left the abbey to come this way.

I looked back at Hugh’s house, the once beautiful gardens transforming into twisting plants and gnarled shadows. Hugh Daunthad said nothing about Seline coming to Rushridge, and he’d acted so strange about the letter.

The hairs on my arms rose to attention, and I pressed my lips together. Something about Hugh didn’t feel right, particularlyafter all his sister had revealed. If Hugh was indeed hiding something, anything could have happened to Seline that night.

Chapter 12

I’d not encountered Miles’s uncle, Mr. Lacy, since my arrival at Loxby Manor. He’d been promoted to head groom while I wasin Ceylon, and the family thought quite highly of him. At least that was my impression. Few other families would have allowedhim to retain employment following the scandal with his nephew.

It never even crossed my mind to seek him out—not until Piers and I came upon him quite by accident the very day we foundthe brooch.

We’d handed off our horses to an awaiting groom and departed the stables for the house when we saw Mr. Lacy lurking in theshadow of the clock tower. A small man, subtly wrinkled by years of hard work, we found him in something of a minor battlewith a slip of paper. Catching sight of us out of the corner of his eye, he smashed the paper closed and buried it in hiscoat pocket.

There was an abject look about his eyes, a defeated curve to his shoulders. He stared off into the distance until he was confidentof our approach, his countenance gaining composure. His hands, however, continued to worry their way around the brim of hishat.

He stepped forward rather awkwardly to greet us. “Good morning, Mr. Cavanagh, miss.” He produced a wan smile, but it was impossibleto miss the uncomfortable severity of his halting gaze.

Piers introduced me at once and Mr. Lacy nodded, shifting from one foot to the other. His voice came out a touch gruff, but not unpleasantly so.

His focus was tight on Piers. “I was hoping to have a word with you, sir, about Miles. I’ve spoken to Mrs. Cavanagh aboutmy concerns more than once, but after this morning I believe I should talk with you.”

Piers spoke with authority. “If you prefer privacy, I’ll need to escort Miss Halliwell back to the house first; nonetheless,let me assure you that Miss Halliwell is a loyal friend of the family. She is more than aware of what has transpired and isconsidered the soul of discretion. We have all found her a great comfort during this trying time, particularly my mother andfather.”

My cheeks grew hot. Comfort to the family? Good heavens!

Piers went on without sparing me a glance, and I wondered what on earth he meant by such a flowery compliment. He certainlyhadn’t said such things before.

“We have no secrets from Miss Halliwell. You should remember her from when she was a child.” A smile crossed his face. “Sheused to run all over this estate.”

Run all over the estate indeed. If I did so, Seline, Avery, and he were right there beside me.

Mr. Lacy cast me a quick look, a wary one, hidden nearly completely behind a pair of pinched eyelids. He patted his jacketpocket. “I found a letter this morning, and I can’t make heads or tails of it.”

Piers lowered his voice. “A letter? From Miles?”

Mr. Lacy angled his shoulder. “The boy must have left it for me before he departed the estate. It was under some books inhis room, and I missed it until today.”

A line wriggled across Piers’s brow. “Did he mention Seline?”

“Not at all. That’s the thing. His words were rubbish really, just some outlandish ideas about moving on and such, taking advantage of opportunities elsewhere. He seemed to imply he had found the answers to all his monetary troubles.”

Piers rubbed the back of his neck. “Answers? Surely, he meant marriage with Seline, although I find that difficult to believe,as her dowry is not all that large. If I may, do you know how deep Miles is in the basket?”

Mr. Lacy raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t know the whole of it till he was here at Loxby. Miles was never constant, you know,not in any area of his life, taking positions here in Britain and abroad, playing deep. He was nigh cleared out if I had myguess.” He pressed his lips together. “When I suggested he come to Loxby, I had hopes he might settle down, but the entirenotion was a terrible, terrible mistake. My brother fairly deceived me about his character. Trust me when I tell you he wasnot the man I thought him to be. If Miles did run off with Seline, I’ll never forgive myself.”

My mind focused on the word if. Did Mr. Lacy share the same suspicions as Piers and me?

Piers laid his hand on Mr. Lacy’s shoulder. “The repercussions of your nephew’s lack of judgment are his and his alone. You’vebeen a loyal retainer for years. You could not have anticipated all that has happened.”

I stayed silent throughout the emotional exchange, anxious not to intrude on the conversation, but the word choice Mr. Lacyhad used lodged in my mind and only grew the more I thought about it. “If I may ask, earlier you used the word if when you spoke of Miles’s elopement with Seline. Why was that?”

He considered me a moment before dipping his chin. “Like I told Mrs. Cavanagh from the start, I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but I had a conversation with him the night he left. It made me question things. For one, he appeared scattered. What I mean is he was acting rather odd, rushing around here and there, thrusting his clothes into a bag. He kept repeating over and over again that he hadn’t any time, that he had to leave straightaway. The whole interaction has never sat well with me. And then this letter? It just doesn’t add up.”

Piers chimed in, “Perhaps he was only following my father’s instructions.