Page 63 of A Matter of Murder

“Mama! Mary said—”

“Girls,” came Mr. Bennet’s stern voice. “Not at your sister’s table.”

“Well, this is unacceptable. If you’re going to take responsibility for him, you can’t just fob him off on the nearest maid whenever you grow bored.”

“We were going into the village, and Mama said—”

“Then you should have brought him back to me or Darcy!”

“I’ll ring for someone to bring him up,” Jane said hastily. “He’s likely down in the kitchens.”

Mr. Grigson came and promised to fetch the dog at once, which mollified Lizzie somewhat. However, the butler returned quickly, wearing a serious expression. “I apologize, madam,” he said to Jane. “But we’ve been unable to locate the dog. He’s not belowstairs, and none of the staff I’ve spoken with have seen him since shortly after breakfast.”

Panic shot through Lizzie and she stood. “What about the maid Lydia said she gave him to? Do you know who it was?”

“Where are you going, Elizabeth?” Mrs. Bennet demanded.

“To find my dog!”

“The maid in question was Agnes,” Mr. Grigson said. “And she said she placed him in the servants’ sitting room, but he’s no longer there.”

Darcy joined Lizzie. “Don’t worry, we’ll find him.”

Lizzie was already walking out of the room. She raced upstairs to her bedroom in case someone had put the dog there. “Guy?” she called out as she opened her door, Darcy on her heels. “Guy, come here, boy!”

But her room was empty.

“I’ll check mine,” Darcy said, taking off in the other direction. Lizzie followed, and stood in the doorway of Darcy’s room as he searched, but it was abundantly clear that the dog wasn’t there, either.

Lizzie clenched her fists. “Where could he have gotten off to?”

“He’s likely sleeping in some comfortable corner somewhere,” Darcy said, coming to place a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry.”

Normally, Darcy’s touch would have brought her some comfort, but panic was rising up in her. “We need to search the house and the grounds. Darcy, what if someone let him out and he’s outside, wandering around, completely lost?”

“We’ll find him,” Darcy repeated. “Come on.”

Downstairs, Bingley was waiting outside the dining room. “Any luck?”

Darcy shook his head, and in short order, Bingley and Mr. Grigson began to arrange an organized search. The gardener and groom and two footmen were sent outside to search the grounds while inside three housemaids were appointed to search the downstairs rooms. Mr. Grigson informed them the kitchen staff was searching the lower level, and he instructed several maids and valets to go upstairs and begin searching room by room.

But Lizzie couldn’t sit still. The more time that passed, the tighter her chest felt. She knew that with more than twenty people searching, they were likely to find him. But a darker worry overshadowed everything, and she pulled Darcy into the foyer and halfway up the stairs, where no one could eavesdrop on their conversation. “I can’t shake this feeling. What ifshetook him?”

Lizzie could tell by the pained expression on his face that Darcy had been contemplating this as well. “If she did, I’ll wring her neck myself.”

“I’m so stupid,” she said. “I’m everything that anyone has ever accused me of—headstrong and unreasonable and foolish and naive—”

“Where is this coming from?” Darcy asked, sounding alarmed. “Lizzie, you’re not—”

“I am! Because she wrote me a threatening letter saying what exactly she’d do if I didn’t show up at the appointed time and place to do as she wants, and I ignored it, and then when shefigured out where we’d gone and sent another note, I ignored it! And I asked you to ignore it, and I put my family at risk, and now Guy is missing!”

“Stop,” Darcy told her, so sternly that it startled her. “First of all, we don’t know whether she is even involved—”

“How could she not be? She—”

“And second of all, you’re not to blame. Besides, her last letter said to await her instruction, did it not? So why take Guy? Why not send instructions?”

“To get me to do what she wants,” Lizzie said miserably. “And Darcy, I know he’s just a dog, but—” Her voice broke.