Page 36 of In Want of a Suspect

“Homeless dogs and stray children. Promise me you’ll be careful.”

“Don’t fret. Their bark is usually worse than their bite.”

“Lizzie.”

“I promise.”

“Oh, am I interrupting?”

Caroline had fallen back to ride abreast of them, allowing Jane, Louisa, and Bingley to move a good ten strides ahead. “Not at all,” Lizzie lied, putting on a fake smile. “It’s uncommonly pleasant for early spring—don’t you agree, Mr. Darcy?”

“Indeed,” he said with a cough. “We ought to go riding more often.”

Lizzie tried not to feel delight at Caroline’s obvious suspicion. For someone whose brother had been cleared of murder because of Lizzie’s efforts, Caroline didn’t like her very much.

Then again, that likely had something to do with Lizzie investigating Caroline for said murder first.

“It is nice to see you both,” Caroline said, sounding so genuine that Lizzie didn’t trust her for a moment. “And I am sorry that we won’t be able to join you tomorrow evening.”

“What’s tomorrow evening?” Darcy asked.

“Oh, have I put my foot in it? I assumed you received an invitation. Dinner tomorrow, at the Bennets’. Louisa and I have a previous engagement, and I just hope Charles won’t have to cancel at the last minute.”

Lizzie winced. She’d forgotten to pass along the dinner invitation, of course. But how could she be expected to remember trivial things such as dinner invitations when she was on a case as important as this? “I—”

“Of course,” Darcy said suddenly. “Is that tomorrow night? You’ll have to forgive me, Lizzie—I had completely lost track of the days.”

“It is understandable, and there’s nothing to forgive,” Lizzie said, not glancing at Caroline. “We have been very busy of late.”

“It is regrettable that you cannot join us, Caroline,” Darcy added. “It seems as though we are always missing each other these days.”

“Hmm,” was all Caroline had to say to that. Lizzie bit her lip so she wouldn’t grin, but as it turned out she was too quick to celebrate, for the next thing out of Caroline’s mouth was, “I hope your mother wasn’t planning on going to too much trouble on our accounts, Lizzie. It was kind of her to extend an invitation when we are all barely acquainted.”

“I assure you, my mother takes great pains in all the dinners she hosts,” Lizzie told Caroline. “No matter the guests.”

“Oh, she is too much! But she must not overtax herself, the poor dear. I am sure she will make such a charming mother-in-law one day. She’s quite attentive. And alwaysso involved.”

Lizzie would happily have throttled Caroline, if she could have reached her without unseating herself from Violet.

Darcy merely blinked. “I’m sure I don’t understand your meaning, Caroline.”

Before Caroline could further insult Lizzie’s family, a horrible shriek rent the air, causing Violet to pause midstep and flick her ears. A shocking silence echoed throughout the park, but only for a moment as another cry split the air and then, it seemed, everyone began to whisper or shout or call out at once.

At first, Lizzie couldn’t pinpoint the exact location from which the shriek had originated, and she looked about, trying to spot the source of commotion. When a third scream permeated the air, Lizzie’s head swiveled to the left. A footpath and hedges lined Rotten Row, and beyond that stood clusters of bushes, their leaves brown and dead, and copses of thick trees that almost—but not fully—obscured the view of the Serpentinein the distance. The screams were coming from beyond the riding track, where a woman stood at the edge of a very large bush.

Lizzie urged Violet in her direction.

“Lizzie, wait!” Darcy called out; and in no time at all he was alongside her, and then he’d pulled past her. Violet needed little encouragement to follow his horse and Lizzie held on as best she could. A few other concerned riders followed, but Darcy was the first to reach the screaming woman, a maid, judging by her uniform. Her mouth was wide open in horror, and her skirts were streaked with mud. As Darcy reached her, he gracefully leapt from his horse, and the maid clung to his arm, pointing behind her and babbling something incoherent.

Lizzie pulled back on the reins and followed the woman’s pointing finger.

Partially obscured by a ring of shrubbery, a woman lay upon the cold ground.

Lizzie couldn’t see her face, but she could tell something was very wrong with her. She was too still, and she looked crumpled, as though she’d fainted. But Lizzie guessed that by the maid’s screams, this was no faint.

“Stay back,” Darcy warned her as she clumsily dismounted, but Lizzie paid him no heed. Getting off Violet was far easier than getting on, and as soon as she had feet on solid ground, she ran past the sobbing maid and followed Darcy to where he crouched beside the woman. She heard him swear under his breath and then he turned and stood, trying to block her view.

“Is she...?” Lizzie asked, trying to look beyond him.