Winterset (14 page)

Anna could think of nothing to say. She sat down on a chair, suddenly weary.

“Don’t you ever just want to forget it all?” Kit asked, his voice filled with emotion. “Don’t you want to say, ‘The devil with my duty’ and just grab for your own happiness? God knows, I do.”

“We cannot,” Anna said. “You know we cannot.”

“No, I don’t know!” Kit flashed back. “I don’t want to live this way forever. Do you? Are you satisfied with half a life?”

“Of course not!” Anna retorted. “Of course I want more. That doesn’t mean that I can have it.”

“But you can!”

“Yes, if I ignore what is right! If I think only of myself!” Anna jumped to her feet, facing her brother. “I know that is not your way any more than it is mine.”

“But what is life worth if one can never know love and happiness?” Kit shot back. “What is the point?”

“There are also honor and duty!” Anna exclaimed. “There is the satisfaction of doing what one knows is right.”

“And is that really enough?”

“Sometimes it has to be,” Anna told him, her voice tinged with sorrow.

“I don’t know if it is for me,” Kit said, then turned on his heel and stalked out the door.

The young man walked across the footbridge, his hands in his pockets. He was whistling. He was eighteen years old, and it had been a good evening. He had spent it in the tavern, laughing and talking with his cronies, and the girl who brought him his drinks had smiled at him with what he definitely thought was an invitation in her eyes. Maybe next time he would stay until closing, and he would talk to her afterward, offer to walk her home….

But tonight he had to get home. It was summer, and tomorrow would be a full day in the fields. Pops would have his hide if he stayed out to the wee hours and came home with a snootful. He didn’t care about the drinking, of course; it was his shirking at work the next day because his head ached and his eyes felt as swollen and red as tomatoes.

He staggered a little as he stepped off the footbridge, and he had to grab for the rail. He snickered at his tipsy state, thinking that perhaps he hadn’t left early enough.

Picking up his tune again, he walked into the stand of trees beyond the footbridge. As he entered the trees, he heard a sound and turned, looking behind him. He could see nothing in the darkness, made deeper by the trees now spreading above him. The moon was no longer full, as it had been the other night, when Estelle Akins had met her death.

A little shiver ran through him as he thought about her. He didn’t know her, but it seemed a shame that anyone had to die like that. He’d heard it had been the Beast, back again after all these years, thirsty for blood.

Of course, he told himself, he wasn’t in any danger, not a healthy, strapping farm lad. He could take care of himself. Still…he would be glad when he got through the trees and reached the edge of his father’s farm on the other side. It wouldn’t be long. It wasn’t as if these were the deep woods.

There was a snap behind, and he started to whirl around just as something slammed into him from behind, knocking him to the ground. His fall knocked the breath out of him, and it was a struggle even to draw air. Something hard rapped against his skull, and pain exploded in his head.

A
nna walked briskly along the path, Con and Alex Moreland on either side of her. She had driven over to Winterset this morning in the trap, but it was far easier and less roundabout to walk to Nick Perkins’ cottage than it was to drive a vehicle, so she and the boys had set out on foot from their house.

They were full of questions, as they always were, asking about this plant or that, and regaling her with stories of the plants and animals that their brother Theo had seen in his travels.

“Do you think that Perkins will let us bring the dog home with us today?” Alex asked as they drew near the footbridge over the stream.

“We’d take very good care of it,” Con added. “We could change his bandages and put on ointment and everything.”

“I don’t know.” Anna smiled at them. “I suppose it will depend on how well the dog is doing. He may not be well enough to be moved, you know.”

They reached the footbridge, and the boys stopped to look over the sides at the stream below it. Anna dawdled a little bit, too, gazing down at the clear water tumbling over the stones. As she reached the end of the footbridge and stepped off, she felt faintly uneasy. She glanced around, not sure why she felt that way. The feeling grew as she took a few more steps, and she paused, her hand going to her stomach.

“Miss Holcomb?”

“Are you all right?”

The twins’ voices came to her as if from a distance, and there was an odd buzzing in her head. She was afraid she was about to faint, and she started toward a large rock just off the path ahead, under one of the trees. But before she could reach it, a wave of pain and fear slammed into her, and she stopped, almost doubling over.

“Miss!” The boys were beside her in an instant, taking her arms and guiding her over to the rock.

In her head it was night, and she could see the rock, paler than the dark around it. She could see the trees and hear the rustle of their leaves. Her mind was muddled except for the fierce welling of panic in her chest. And suddenly the ground was coming up at her, and she was falling, and then there was a burst of terror inside her.

“The Beast,” she murmured.

“What?” Con bent closer to her. “What did you say?”

Anna raised her head. The “vision” was gone, and the pain was receding, leaving her sick and shaken.

“Are you all right? Are you ill?” Alex, too, leaned down to look in her face. “One of us can go back to the house and get Reed or Rafe to take you back to Winterset.”

“I—just give me a moment. I’ll be all right, I think.”

“Are you sure?” Alex straightened and looked around him. Suddenly he stiffened, and he made a strangled noise.

Con and Anna turned toward him and saw him staring ahead. They followed his eyes and saw a man lying just to the side of the path. Anna drew in her breath sharply, her hand flying to her mouth. Con and Alex started forward, and Anna let out a sharp cry.

“Wait! No, I don’t think you should—” she began, but the boys were already gone.

She jumped up and hurried after them. They stopped abruptly beside the body, and Anna almost stumbled into them. For a long moment all three of them stared at the body of the man lying before them. He lay on his back, his arms and legs splayed. He was young, barely a man, and his bright blond hair spread like a fan around his head. His eyes were open and staring lifelessly up at the leaves above him. His shirt was torn across the front and arms, revealing long scratches.

There was blood everywhere—his hair, the raw, gaping wound of his throat, spilling all over his chest and arms and onto the ground around him. It was dark and sticky, pooled in some places, and the stench of it was everywhere, filling the air.

Anna stumbled back, pressing her hand tightly to her mouth. Con and Alex turned toward her, their eyes huge in their white faces. They stared at her for a moment; then suddenly Alex turned and ran a few steps away, falling to his knees and retching. Con came over to where Anna stood and sat down abruptly on the path, pulling his knees up and bracing his elbows on them, and dropping his head to his hands.

Anna swallowed hard, willing herself not to give in to the nausea that washed over her. She had to be strong, she told herself. She had to take care of the twins. But her legs were trembling so much, she thought it was a wonder she was even able to stand up.

She leaned over Con. “Let’s go back to that rock. All right?”

He nodded, and she gave him a hand to help pull him up. They went over first to Alex, who had stood back up and wiped his mouth. He looked at Anna shamefacedly.

“I’m sorry, miss.”

“Nonsense. I feel the same way myself,” Anna assured him, putting a hand on each boy’s shoulder. “Let’s sit down for a moment and collect ourselves.”

They walked back to the rock and sat down, the boys dropping onto the ground at Anna’s feet. They were silent, their eyes turning back now and again to the body that lay a few yards from them.

“What happened to him?” Alex asked at last.

“I don’t know,” Anna said.

“The Beast. That’s what all the servants are saying killed that girl,” Con said.

“That’s just a story,” Alex said scornfully, but his mouth trembled a little as he looked back at the body.

“It certainly looked as if an animal attacked him,” Anna admitted. “But my suspicion is that it was a person.”

“The same man who killed the girl?” Con asked.

“It seems likely.”

“We had better tell Reed,” Alex said, looking up at her.

“Yes, we had,” Anna agreed. “Can you boys run back to the house and get him? I—I think I should stay here with…” Her voice trailed off, and she turned to look again at the body.

Con and Alex looked at each other.

“We shouldn’t leave you alone,” Alex said doubtfully.

“I’ll be all right,” she assured him. “That poor man cannot hurt me, and I am sure that whoever or whatever killed him is no longer around.”

“It doesn’t seem right.” Con and Alex looked at each other again, and then Con said, “Alex can go, and I will stay with you.”

“No, I don’t want one of you alone,” Anna said immediately.

“But you said that he was long gone.”

“Yes, I imagine, but…”

The boys, however, had made up their minds, and they were, apparently, as stubborn as their brother. In the end, Anna agreed, and Con dropped down beside her, while Alex started off at a trot across the footbridge.

Anna leaned down and put her hand on Con’s shoulder. “Thank you for staying with me. It was very kind of you.”

“We could not leave you here by yourself,” Con told her gravely. “It is not the sort of thing a gentleman would do.”

Anna smiled. “I think that you and Alex are very fine gentlemen.”

Con gave her a smile that held a glimpse of his normal cheeky grin. “Not according to most of our tutors.”

“Then they are not very discerning men.”

“That is what Kyria says.”

They were silent for a moment, and Anna saw Con’s eyes drift over toward the body. To keep his mind off it, Anna asked, “How did you two decide that it was Alex who should go? I did not see you discuss it.”

Con shrugged. “We didn’t have to discuss it. We just…knew. I always know what Alex thinks.”

“And he knows what you think? It must be nice to have that sort of communication with another person.”

“I don’t know. Makes it hard to play a trick on him,” Con pointed out practically.

“Yes, I can see how that would be.”

Anna kept the conversation going in order to keep both their minds from returning to what lay only a few yards away from them. They talked about tutors and governesses, and Anna soon had a good idea of the educational views of the boys’ mother, the duchess of Broughton.

She did not know how long it had been when she heard a noise. She whipped around, her heart pounding, and saw Reed running toward them.

“Reed!” She jumped to her feet, and Con leaped up and ran toward his brother, meeting him just this side of the footbridge.

Reed lifted Con up, giving him a hug, then set him down and hurried on toward Anna. His arms opened as he neared her, and, without giving it a thought, Anna rushed into them, throwing her arms around his chest and holding on for dear life. Suddenly, after all the time that had passed since they reached the body, she found herself crying.

Reed held her close, stroking her back and murmuring soft words of sympathy. The meaning of them scarcely registered with Anna, only the feeling of comfort. She had no idea how long they stood that way. She was aware only of the strength and warmth of his body against hers, enfolding her, protecting, comforting…. She felt his lips press against her hair and heard the murmur of her name.

There was the sound of a horse’s hooves, then splashing as it crossed the stream. Reluctantly, Anna and Reed pulled away and turned to face the arrival.

It was Rafe McIntyre. He pulled to a stop and dismounted, and Anna saw that he wore a belt with a holster into which a pistol had been thrust. After tying his horse to a low branch, he strode over to them.

“Kyria sent a groom with a message to the doctor and the constable. I reckon they’ll be here pretty soon.” He tipped his hat to Anna. “Ma’am. Con.” He ruffled the boy’s hair and pulled him against his side for a brief, hard hug. “You all right, son?”

Con nodded. Rafe gave his back a pat and nodded toward the body. “I’ll go take a look.”

Anna made a sound of dismay, reaching out her hand toward him and shaking her head. Rafe paused and gave her a faint smile. But she could see in his eyes something she had not noticed before, something hard and world-weary.

“Don’t worry, ma’am,” he told her. “I’ve seen a good many of them before now.”

He turned and walked over to the body, leaning over it, then carefully dropping down on one knee beside it.

Reed turned to Anna. She wished that his arms were still around her, but she pushed down the treacherous thought.

“Did you recognize him?” Reed asked.

“I don’t know his name. I think—I think it is one of the Johnsons. There are several cousins. Their fathers are farmers.” She looked away, feeling again the queasiness she had experienced when she looked at the body. “The way he looked—I am not sure I would have recognized him even if I had known him well.”

“Don’t think about it,” Reed advised, taking her arm gently. “Just let it go.”

“I’m not sure I can.” Anna passed a shaky hand across her forehead. “I fear that I shall be seeing…that whenever I close my eyes. Oh, Reed, I so hate it that the boys saw him.” She looked over at Con, who had wandered back to the footbridge and was sitting, gazing down at the water.

“There was nothing you could do,” Reed told her. “I will talk to both the boys. And Rafe will, as well.” He glanced toward the other man, who had finished looking over the body and was walking back toward them. “Rafe was in the war in America. He has seen worse things than I can even imagine. He will help them.”

Reed turned toward Rafe inquiringly as he reached them. “What did you find?”

“There’ll be a hell of a lot more talk about your ‘Beast,’” the other man said dryly.

“It looks like an animal attack?”

Rafe shrugged. “That’s what it’s set up to look like. But the only animal involved here is a man.”

“Are you sure?” Anna asked.

“Those aren’t the marks of any animal I know. Only thing that big is a bear paw, and I don’t think you have many bears lurking around here. Besides, he was laid out there. It looks…staged, like he was arranged this way for someone to find. To see.”

“But why?” Anna asked.

“Now, that, ma’am, I don’t know. People do things that surpass all comprehension, I’ve found.” He turned to Reed. “I’ll stay here while you take Miss Holcomb and Con back to the house.”

Reed nodded. “Yes. Thank you. I will return as soon as possible.”

He took Anna’s arm, and they started toward the footbridge. “I should have ridden over, as Rafe did, I suppose. That way I could have brought you a mount. After what you experienced, I am sure you are very tired.”

“My knees are a trifle shaky,” Anna admitted, summoning up a faint smile. “Oh, Reed! That poor boy! His poor parents. It doesn’t bear thinking of.”

“No.”

They joined Con at the footbridge and crossed it, heading back to Winterset. It seemed a much longer way returning than it had been walking over that morning. Anna was glad for the support of Reed’s arm.

When they reached Winterset, Reed led them inside and up the stairs to Kyria’s sitting room, where she and Miss Farrington were sitting with Alex, anxiously awaiting their arrival.

“Anna!” Kyria cried when Anna and Reed walked into the room, and she jumped up to rush over and enfold Anna in her arms. “You poor dear. Come sit down with us. I’ll ring for some tea, shall I? And then perhaps you would like to lie down.”

“Take good care of her, Kyria,” Reed said. “I am going back to wait with Rafe. Send the constable and the doctor on as soon as they come.”

“I will,” Kyria promised, looping an arm around Anna and guiding her over to the sofa.