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

“We all did.” I moved into his view. “Avery, I want to ask you something.”

I thought I saw his arm clench. “Yes?”

“It’s about the secret society. You told us some time ago that Tony, Hugh, Kendal, and you initiated the group. However, latelyI get the feeling someone else might have been involved.”

He pivoted to face me, his eyes colder than I’d seen them before. “Let Seline rest in peace, Charity. You’ll only make thingsworse by meddling in something you know nothing about.”

I felt something inside me crumble. What was hiding in that mind of his? That he mourned the passing of his sister was certain,but how many secrets had he been forced to swallow?

Piers crossed the threshold into the room just as Avery made a move for the door.

“It’s good to have you home.”

Avery cast me a quick look, his face indeterminate at best, then took a tattered breath. “I’ve brought news from Lord Kendal . . .and it’s not pleasant.”

The color drained from Piers’s face. “What is it?”

“The date for his marriage is set, and he means to have the duel before then. He sent his seconds to Rushridge with a writtenletter.”

I jerked forward. “But that is absurd—now of all times? Seline’s only been gone a few weeks.”

“It’ll be a month tomorrow since we found her, and”—Avery raised his eyebrows—“Kendal’s been waiting on this duel for fartoo long as it is.”

I whirled on Piers in desperation. “Surely you don’t mean to meet him now, after everything that has happened.”

Piers didn’t spare me a glance. “You may arrange the meeting for dawn the day after tomorrow on the green beyond the upperbranches of the River Sternway. It is sufficiently remote and secluded there. Tell Kendal I am more than ready to put thisunfortunate business behind me as well.”

I heard Avery swallow. “That’s miles on the far side of Whitecaster Hall. You’ll have to overnight in Eastward.”

“Indeed, as I intend to keep the duel as far away from Loxby Manor as I can get. We’ve had far too much death around herealready.”

Avery shoulders slumped. “Swords or pistols?”

Piers’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Pistols of course.”

Chapter 26

Waiting was never easy, and I swear that’s all I had done since I’d arrived at Loxby Manor—first for Seline, then for answersabout her disappearance. Well, now I was waiting for the blasted duel to arrive that would take Piers away from me.

Sleep proved elusive, and I woke with the servants the day Piers had arranged for his afternoon departure. As the duel wouldtake place near Whitecaster Hall, he’d planned to overnight at the Dovetail Inn in Eastward.

After an early morning spent drinking chocolate and a bit of distracted reading, I decided to pass the hours with Mrs. Cavanaghin her bedchamber. Though I couldn’t tell her about the upcoming duel and would be forced to pretend nothing had changed inthe house, it was also time I broke her self-inflicted isolation. Piers continued to worry about his mother, and consideringshe had not emerged from her room in several days, I worried too.

I entered the dark space with a candle, having received no answer to my knock. I found her sitting in a chair by her desk,her attention glued to an open drawer, but I doubted she saw anything beyond her troubled mind.

“Mrs. Cavanagh?”

Slowly she turned to face me, her eyes so still she reminded me of a doll. Though I’m certain her maid had arranged her hair beneath her cap first thing in the morning, her gnarled fingers had been hard at work, pulling and twisting. She bit at her lip, the muscles in her thin cheeks straining beneath the effort.

Finally she opened her mouth. “What is it?”

“Avery and Piers will be gone for a few days. I thought—”

“You needn’t concern yourself with me.” She scowled. “I require little these days.”

“I hoped you might allow me to read to you. I’ve missed our conversations.”

A breathy laugh stole across the room, but she didn’t object. I moved a chair beside her and took a seat where I was ableto get a closer look. Clearly the last few weeks had been unbearable.

She ran her fingers back and forth across the handkerchief in her lap before her gaze snapped to mine. “Things are not alwayswhat they seem, are they?”

I hesitated to answer, lost as to what prompted her words. “No, they aren’t.”

“The world is a vicious place, my dear—liars, thieves, murderers—you could be sitting right next to one and not even knowit.”

Uncomfortable, I shifted in my seat. “What do you mean?”

Her head seemed to hang on her neck, bobbing as if caught up in a breeze. “I suggest you leave this house as soon as possible.You never, never should have come back here.” She turned to close the drawer as a shiver shuddered down her back.

“You’re cold.”

She pushed my hand away. “Leave me be.”

I stood almost mindlessly and headed to the wardrobe. “Have you a shawl in here?”

She took a half-hearted glance over her shoulder. “I believe I left it in the connecting room.”

I made a move for the interior door, and she screamed, “No!” My feet went numb as my hand flew to my chest.

“Just hand me the blanket there on the bed and leave my presence. I shall send in due course for my maid.” She pressed thehandkerchief to her forehead.

“Piers is—”

Her eyes flashed and my breath caught.

“You and Piers.” She erupted into a coughing fit, but when I came close to assist, the venom in her eyes chased me away. “Itwas always you with him, or he never would have permitted the scandal that tore this family apart.”

I did my best to ignore her insinuations, but I knew the truth.

Her eyes widened with triumph. “That’s right. I see you’ve worked out all the details at last. He made me swear not to tellyou at the time, but I had no idea what would happen then.” Her tongue skirted across her dry lips. “He was out all night,you see, worrying about the upcoming duel. He’d acted