Chapter Seventeen
One week later, Scarlett walked blissfully down the hall, her mind going back to the wonderful picnic with Alastair. They had not made love again, but they were making a lot of time for one another.
They had tried to make love once in the library, but they had been interrupted by her mother, leaving both frustrated. They decided to continue meeting in the library, but not to try to make love again.
She ran into an open door and fell back, almost onto the floor. A hand on her arm prevented her from falling all the way.
“My Lady, you must be more careful,” Ronald said, helping her stand back up.
“I am so sorry, Ronald,” she said, brushing herself off. “My mind is elsewhere today.”
He smiled and let go of her arm, assured that she was stable now.
“Well, I am sure that whatever you’re thinking about is very important”
She turned her face away in an attempt to hide her blush from him. He cleared his throat and regained her attention.
“I was actually looking for you. We have deemed it safe to search the rooms of the two servants who have disappeared. Lord Alastair wanted to know if you wanted to be present for the searches.”
She nodded with absolute certainty.
“I’d like to look. I want to see if there is anything that could connect them to Catriona’s disappearance.”
He held out his arm to her and she took it, letting him lead her to the servants’ quarters. When they arrived there a few short minutes later, they found Alastair, Ragan, and a few other soldiers searching Liza’s room already.
Alastair looked up when she entered the room and gave her a regretful smile.
“We have found nothing. It seems as if she did a fine job packing all her things.”
She sighed and looked around the room, trying to discern if there was anything out of the ordinary.
“We still need to check his room, so there still might be something we haven’t found yet,” she almost announced, although she was quickly losing hope of finding anything helpful.
She had them straighten up the room before they left it, not wanting to make the staff clean up after them.
They walked down the short hall from the maids’ quarters to the rest of the staff housing. All the groomsmen and houseboys stayed there, including Bard, while Eloise and the maids took the other end of the quarters.
“Which room was his?” she asked, Eloise coming over to show her.
“This one, My Lady,” she said, opening the door of the nearest bedroom to them.
They stepped inside and surveyed the area before checking all the drawers and the small trunk provided for the servants to keep any valuable possessions.
Scarlett carefully went over the room, looking at everything with a suspicious eye.
“My Lord, My Lady, look at this.”
Both Alastair and Scarlett turned to face Ronald, who had pulled what looked to be a letter out of the trunk. He read the name on the envelope and then looked at them.
“I am pretty sure the man we are looking for is not named Edward Holmes. It’s really Rhys Murtaugh.”
He turned the letter around in his hand to show them. Alastair took the letter from him and read the name on the front.
Rhys Murtaugh, MIB.
“MIB?” he looked at them both and asked, “Do you know who MIB is?”
They shook their heads in unison.
Scarlett took the letter from his hand and unfolded it, opening it with shaky hands. Alastair held up his hand to silence her, stopping her from reading it yet.
“Everyone inside,” he said, motioning for everyone to come inside the small room.
The last person in shut the door behind them, locking it securely before turning back to Scarlett and Alastair.
“For some sort of secrecy,” he said with a shrug.
She nodded with a small smile and began to read.
Rhys, I have every faith that you can get this task completed for me, which is why I am entrusting it to you. However, you must charge just when the time is right and not before that, or you’ll ruin all my carefully laid plans. Rest assured that I will reward you handsomely should you succeed, but the punishment will be severe should you fail. Do not fail me. Yours, MIB.”
She folded up the letter and looked at Alastair, worry in her eyes.
“I do not think this is over yet,” she whispered.
He took her hand in his and swore, “I promise I will make sure you make it through this.”
The determination in his eyes made her feel more secure, but fear lingered in her heart. They were all surprised when a loud knock came at the door. Alastair strode over to the door and unlocked it, opening it to find Bard there.
“What is it, Bard?” he asked.
Bard motioned for him to come into the hall and he did, wondering what was going on.
“My Lord, the antidote; it’s all gone. They were all destroyed by someone.” He stopped for a moment to catch his breath, then continued.
“I went to your study to leave some letters for you that had arrived, and I found the broken bottles on the floor.”
Alastair’s heart dropped and his stomach turned.
“Did they get all the bottles in the left-hand drawer?” he asked.
Bard nodded.
“What about the right? There was one in the right-hand drawer,” he whispered.
“Only the left drawer was disturbed, sir,” he replied, relief filling Alastair’s heart.
“How did they get past the guards?” he asked.
Bard shrugged. “I don’t know, My Lord.”
“Thank you, Bard. Go up to my office and make sure nothing else gets disturbed. I will not be but a few minutes.”
He nodded and took off, heading back to Alastair’s office to guard the precious little antidote they had left.
“What was that about?” Scarlett asked, coming out of the bedroom.
“Do not worry excessively, but we have only one bottle of antidote still left,” he whispered, shushing her when she became hysterical.
He grabbed her hands and called her, reminding her that he would keep her safe.
“Someone broke into my study and found all but one bottle, and destroyed them. Brigid is close to completing more of it, and Malachite Expanse has the mineral it needs that we can pull it right out of the ground should it come to that. But it will not.”
He leaned in and kissed her softly, breaking the kiss and resting his forehead against hers.
“Ronald and Ragan will escort you to your room and watch over you there. I will send our mothers up to keep you company. And Melody as well.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead and called out to Ronald and Ragan, letting them know what their duties were.
“I will come up there later to see you,” he whispered before they whisked her away to take her to her room.
Alastair watched her go and then growled softly, determined to find out how this person was always ahead of them, causing so much danger and worry. With one last look at the bedroom, he asked the remaining staff to tidy up the room a bit and then they could go have the rest of the day off.
Then he stalked towards the stairs to the kitchen and up to his office.
A few hours later, Bard had helped Alastair straighten up the office, ensuring that one of the vials was indeed safe. Alastair walked around the office, trying to figure out how someone would have gotten in. He had become very paranoid and had stationed guards at the door of his study to prevent any unwanted guests from getting inside.
He knew that it was painfully obvious that something worth guarding was in there but for his peace of mind, he had them outside the door.
TSo that begged the question: how did they get into his study? The only secret path he knew about was the one down to the pier.
Curious, he walked over to the large bookshelves in the office, testing books and pulling at them to see if they would open a secret door. When none of the books triggered the door, he was almost disappointed. Tamping it down, he continued to search.
He noticed that one of the large tapestries that hung on the wall was stuck on something. Slowly he walked over to it, pulling the tapestry up and looking beneath it. In shock, he stared at the door that lay behind it, the tapestry stuck on the door knob. With one hand, he pulled the tapestry loose from the knob, the other pulling the door open.
It swung open with a loud creaking sound, a dark, dank hallway staring back at him.
Bard walked back into the study at that moment, halting abruptly when he saw the secret door open wide. Quickly he shut the study door behind him, walking briskly over to Alastair once that was completed.
“Where does it go?” he asked, peering down the hall as best he could.
Alastair shrugged and suggested, “Let’s find out. It will give us a better idea of how they were able to get in and out of my office so quickly.”
Bard nodded in agreement and Alastair grabbed the candle he had on his desk; he and Bard headed down into the darkness.
“The door was quite loud when it opened so I am unsure of how the guards did not hear the door open. As a matter of fact, they did not hear the bottles break either,” Alastair said, curious now as to why they didn’t hear it.
“This study door is quite thick and it can be hard to hear through the door. Even I have trouble hearing your call sometimes,” Bard pointed out.
Alastair agreed, the rest of the trip down the tunnel made in silence. The tunnel turned and twisted, at one point becoming steep enough that both men had to hold onto the wall to keep from slipping. The ground was nothing more than dirt, so it was not the most stable flooring.
When at last they reached level ground, they finally met the end door on the other side of their tunnel. Alastair tested the lock and found it was unlocked. He pushed it open and they stepped out into the maids’ quarters. Alastair turned to examine the door and he found that it blended into the wall, being decorated in the same wall finishing.
“Well, now we know how they had been able to get around without being seen,” Alastair murmured.
“Yes, sir,” Bard replied, staring at Alastair in what he could only perceive as slight astonishment, at the door he should just come out of.
“I knew about the passage down to the pier, but not this one.” Bard turned to face Alastair. “Do you think your father knew about this tunnel?”
Alastair shook his head and then shut the door, turning to face the door fully. When he heard the last click, he examined the door, looking for how to open it from the side.
It blended in so well to the wall that one truly could not even see there was a door there at all. However, if one knew about it, one could see where the wall met the edge of the door and one could feel the slight breeze from the tunnel coming in from underneath the bottom of the door.
After a minute of careful examination, he could not find a knob or keyhole of any kind to get it open, leaving him frustrated. He leaned back against it for a moment, then said to Bard, “I cannot figure out how to get this open from the side. Let’s get Ronald and Ragan and see if they can figure it out. Afterwards, we will have them seal up the door so it cannot be used.”
“Yes, sir,” Bard replied, “I know that Ronald was out patrolling, but Ragan is with Lady Scarlett and Melody, in Lady Scarlett’s sitting room.”
“All right.” Alastair nodded, pushing himself up off the wall. When they both heard the latch click and the door popped open behind Alastair, he smiled.
“Now we know, Bard,” he said, opening the door fully once again. “I will wait here. You get Ronald and tell him that we need to seal this door. Luckily, there are not too many maids about right now since it is almost time for dinner. That should give them all the privacy they need to get it sealed without anyone finding out.”
His smile faded and he sighed with frustration.
“Now, however, we will have to search the entire castle to see if there are any more secret tunnels anywhere else.”
A frown creased his brow. “We all know that we will find at least one more.”
“Agreed, My Lord,” Bard said, heading off to get Ronald. “Agreed.”