The Rightful Lord (The Saga Of Wolfbridge Manor Book 3), Sahara Kelly [english novels for students .TXT] 📗

“Someday she’ll break beneath your patient questioning, Evan.” Gwyneth sighed as she hit a soggy patch. “Let’s get home quickly. My feet are cold now.”

So they hurried as the sun set and dusk brought longer shadows to the fields covered in snow. The lights of Wolfbridge glowed bright and soon they were both inside in front of the fire.

“Jeremy, this is for you.” Gwyneth produced the letter and handed it to him, telling him how it came to be at Mrs B’s.

He frowned. “That’s most odd. I wasn’t expecting anything from anyone, and who would address something to Mr Jeremy of Wolfbridge?” He opened it and held it in front of him, reading the contents.

His face turned white.

Chapter Eighteen

“God, Jeremy, what is it?” Evan rushed to his friend’s side. “Are you all right? Is it bad news?”

Gwyneth was stunned for a moment, then joined Evan. “Here, sit down. You look frightful, as if you’re going to faint.”

Gabriel came in and hurried over. “Water. He needs a glass of water.”

“What the…” Royce peered around the door, then strode in. “Let the lad breathe.” He took Jeremy’s arm and led him to a chair. “Sit,” he snapped, giving Jeremy little choice as he shoved him down with a firm hand on his shoulder. “Brandy.”

His command was quickly obeyed, and Gabriel rushed back to Jeremy’s side with a splash of the rich liquid. “Here, Jeremy. Drink this…”

Evan picked up the letter which had fallen from Jeremy’s hands. He glanced at it, then sucked in a breath, handing it to Royce.

“Devil take it…” The hissed curse made them all pause. “You’d all better sit down. Where’s Harry?”

“Here.” He joined them. “I heard a fuss.”

“More than a fuss.” Royce handed him the note. “Read this. Aloud.”

Harry frowned. “All right.” His eyes narrowed as he looked over the paper. “Dear Jeremy, I hope you liked your present. She was a sinner and deserved her punishment. Remember - those who sin must die. And those who lead others into sin must also be punished, for they are damned to eternal agony in hell.”

“What the…” Evan stared at him.

“I have no idea.” Harry looked confused.

“Before you arrived Harry, a young woman was badly beaten and, I suppose you could say, delivered to Jeremy. We couldn’t save her,” Gwyneth explained quietly. “She was someone he’d known in the past.”

“And there were no clues as to who perpetrated such a crime?” Harry’s face was grim.

“None.” Gabriel sighed. “After her passing, we sort of let it go. She had a sister, but we could not locate her to notify her. It was very sad indeed, and very hard on Jeremy.”

“We wondered if the man she had divorced might have been responsible. A banker or something. Orloff, was it?” Gwyneth shrugged. “But honestly? At that point, we wanted nothing more than to have our Jeremy back. It seemed the only thing to do was to try to put the tragedy behind us. Dredging up past sorrows doesn’t necessarily help heal the present ones.”

“And I tried to let it all go as well.” Jeremy stood, his colour returning. “I should have known that something as violent as that would not fade away.”

Harry looked at Royce, then back at Jeremy. “Not being familiar with all the circumstances, I hesitate to venture an opinion, but…I would be willing to wager that whoever this is means to continue the attacks, and it looks like our Jeremy here could be involved somehow?”

“Agreed,” bit out Royce. “We should have looked further into the matter, I suppose…”

“But you all wanted to spare me,” Jeremy said, lifting his head and staring at them all with sad eyes. “I appreciated it. It helped, being with you all, and yes, I was willing to push it all away. I didn’t want to think of how terrible it must have been for her.”

He gulped, a harsh sound that made Gwyneth’s heart ache for him. She rested her hand on his arm. “Now that we have been so horribly reminded, what would you recommend as our best course of action?” She turned her gaze from Royce to Harry and back. “You two have more experience in dealing with a variety of people during your careers. War is violent. And here we have a violent act against a woman, and somehow Jeremy is part of it.”

Royce ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t like the sound of that note.”

“Why?” Gwyneth asked.

“It sounds as though whoever killed that girl, did so for some obscure reason—maybe a religious one.” Harry’s voice was hard. “That isn’t casual violence. That is madness.”

“I agree,” Royce nodded. “I don’t like it at all.” He looked at Jeremy. “I think we must sit down together, Jeremy. And you need to tell us everything you recall about your time with Susanna Brockford. Everything. There may be some small thing that will give us a clue as to the identity of this killer. Clearly whoever it is knew Susanna, so there’s a chance you might know them…”

Jeremy closed his eyes for a moment. “I hate that thought. That someone I know could be capable of such a terrible deed.”

“Nobody likes that idea.” Gabriel spoke gently. “We’ll find out who it is, Jeremy, never fear. We’re a family, and families look after each other.”

Gwyneth’s eyes stung with tears at Gabriel’s words. He was right. They were a family of sorts, each ready to shoulder another’s burdens, lend a hand when needed and just be present during a crisis, especially like this.

After a few moments, Harry sighed. “Right then. Where do we start?”

Jeremy rose to stand by the fire, warming his hands. “I will tell you everything I know.”

And he related the details he’d shared