Page 55 of Murder at Somerset House (A Wrexford & Sloane Mystery #9)

S lowing his horse to a walk, Wrexford rose in his stirrups and surveyed the ruins of the abbey set on the hilltop, the tumbled stones of the cloister and the surrounding buildings just visible above the tops of the trees.

“There looks to be a cart path leading up to the site,” pointed out Norwood. “My guess is the rendezvous spot is the belltower, as it’s the most distinctive landmark.”

“I agree.” The last glimmer of twilight was fast fading into darkness.

However, the night sky was cloudless, allowing the glimmer of starlight and the waxing moon to soften the shadows.

The earl studied the surroundings a moment longer.

“We’re here way ahead of the appointed time.

Still, I think it prudent for us to leave the horses here, hidden in the glade of trees, and make our way on foot to reconnoiter and make sure that we’re the first to arrive. ”

Norwood, too, was assessing the surroundings. “There looks to be a shepherd’s footpath winding up from the left. If we cut through the woods and approach that way, the remains of the outer building will provide cover.”

Wrexford nodded in agreement.

They dismounted and led their horses deep into the leafy shadows, far from the cart path.

“This way,” said Norwood after they had tethered their mounts, gesturing for the earl to follow him up past a jut of granite between a cluster of pines.

They made their way with the light-footed stealth of experienced soldiers through the woods, crouching low once they reached the tall grasses to hide their silhouettes from view of the cart path.

“I brought a small spyglass,” said Norwood, once they reached the first ruin of the outer buildings. “There may be enough ambient light for it to be useful.”

He raised it to his eye and made a slow sweep of the grounds ahead. “It seems clear to me, but you take a look.”

Wrexford took his time to search the shadows and then handed it back. “Let’s find a good vantage point from which to keep watch.”

They located a set of stone stairs behind the remains of a wall close to the belltower. “Excellent,” said the earl as he gazed down the slope. “We have a good view of the cart path and sloping meadowland on either side. They can’t take us by surprise.”

Norwood checked the priming of his pistols. “How do you want to proceed? It’s set as a rendezvous, so they won’t be arriving together. Do we wait for them both to arrive? Or seize the first fellow and force him to lure the other one into the trap?”

Wrexford gave the options only a short consideration.

“There is more of a risk in allowing them to rendezvous before we attempt to apprehend them,” he said, thinking back to the mistakes of his previous attempt to capture Le Loup and his co-conspirator.

“I say we take whoever arrives first and use him to our advantage.”

“Agreed,” responded Norwood. “Now, all we have to do is wait.”

As the hard-packed dirt road veered closer to the marshland and the softer footing turned treacherous, Eddy slowed Lucifer from a thunderous gallop to a gentle trot.

“Oiy, are you still there?” she called, only half in jest. Given Wrexford’s head start, it was imperative to pick up every possible second. And the earl’s stallion could run like the devil.

“Oiy.” Raven sounded awfully shaky, but added a note of bravado. “Can’t he go any faster?”

Lucifer gave an aggrieved snort.

“Not in this stretch. The footing is too perilous,” she replied. Raven had directed Eddy to take a shortcut. It had gained precious miles, but the going had been a little rough. “How long until we can cut over to the Kent Road?”

“Maybe a half mile,” he answered, after spotting a pond to his left. “From there it’s a straight gallop to the Dover Road. Once we reach it, the abbey isn’t far.”

“Be ready to hold on tight!” warned Eddy. “I’m not stopping to collect you if you fall on your arse.”

And then, true to her word, Eddy spurred the big black stallion to a pace that threatened to rattle Raven’s teeth free from his jawbone.

“Someone is coming.”

Wrexford heard it, too—the thud of iron-shod hooves on the rocky cart path. Easing the hammers of both his pistols to full cock, he crept down the stairs and took up a position in one of the nooks of the crumbled belltower.

“Find cover to my right, so you can keep watch for the other varlet.” He had caught a glimpse of the rider, and from the arrogant set of the silhouetted shoulders he was sure it was Le Loup. This time, he vowed, the miscreant wasn’t going to escape justice.

Norwood nodded in understanding and slipped away into the shadows.

A minute passed … and then another. The earl heard the horse come to a halt.

Silence. Followed by slow and careful footsteps.

It appeared they were right in guessing that the rendezvous point was the belltower.

Wrexford allowed Le Loup to come to the base of the belltower before revealing himself.

The Frenchman’s eyes flickered in surprise.

“Lord Wrexford,” he drawled. “Like a bad penny, you keep appearing in places where you are not wanted.”

“You threatened not only my country but my family. For that, I would chase you down to the ends of the Earth.”

“It seems that I underestimated you.”

“Arrogance has a way of clouding one’s judgement.” The earl held his aim steady. “Kindly toss aside the pistols I see bulging in your coat pockets. And I warn you, if you make a false move this time, I won’t miss.”

“Actually, it’s you who will be dropping your weapons.”

Wrexford suddenly felt the cold steel of a gun barrel press up against his skull and did as he was told.

“My apologies, Wrex. I sincerely wish it hadn’t come to this.”

“But you just couldn’t drop the bone clenched between your teeth,” snarled Le Loup. “Pull the trigger and be done with it, Norwood.”

“Why?” asked Wrexford softly.

“ Grace à Dieu , kill him and be done with it!” exhorted the Frenchman, his voice sharp with impatience.

“Not quite yet,” said Norwood. “As we were once comrades-in-arms, I feel that the earl deserves an answer.”

“Oiy, pull up!”

In reaction to Raven’s urgent order, Eddy slowed to a halt.

‘It’s there, on the crest of the hill.” He pointed out the dark silhouettes of the abbey ruins, the ancient stones twinkling with glimmers of starlight. “There’s a cart path forking off from the road—”

“Too dangerous. We’ll be spotted way before we reach them.” Eddy thought for a moment, then leaned forward to whisper something in Lucifer’s ear.

The stallion raised his head and swung it side to side, snorting a series of inhales and exhales.

“What’s he doing?” whispered Raven.

“Searching for Wrex.”

Lucifer suddenly bared his teeth and tugged at the reins, his hooves kicking up clots of earth.

“Wrex is in danger,” exclaimed Eddy. “Find him,” she said to the agitated stallion, adding a string of lilting Celtic words. “And quickly!”

Raven quickly slipped down from the saddle. “You don’t need me as baggage. Our best chance of saving Wrex lies with each of us using our skills to best advantage.”

“What do you plan to do?” she asked.

“Dunno yet. But I’ll find some way of raising holy hell!”

Eddy watched him disappear with wraithlike quickness into the tall grasses, then clucked her tongue and urged Lucifer onward. “Quietly,” she whispered. “And then, when I give the word, run like the devil.”

Aside from the ruffling of the breeze through the trees and the elemental hum and buzz of summer night sounds, the abbey grounds were quiet as a crypt.

Wrexford altered his stance as Norwood moved around to face him.

Le Loup pulled out one of his pistols. “I don’t trust him,” he growled.

“Patience,” counseled Norwood. “There are two of us. He is going nowhere but the grave. However, I would prefer to allow him the dignity of a civilized coup de grace once we are done with our chat.”

“How noble,” said the earl, not bothering to disguise his contempt.

Norwood’s smile faltered, but only for an instant. “You asked me why, and I shall give you the courtesy of an answer.”

Wrexford didn’t give a rat’s arse for his former comrade’s self-serving answer, but he held his tongue. At some point he would make a move—likely a futile one, but he had no intention of going meekly to his Maker.

“It’s really quite simple,” continued Norwood.

“I dislike being poor and dependent on patrons for my position in life.” A pause.

“It galls my sensibility, as I’m far more clever and talented than the overfed oafs who possess power and influence in Society simply by virtue of being born into an aristocratic family. ”

“Life has hardly been unfair to you. Your grandmother was a Grenville. Don’t whinge for sympathy from me,” said Wrexford. “If you feel so strongly about having the freedom to forge your own destiny, why didn’t you go to America and make your own fortune?”

“Easy for you to say.” Norwood’s expression hardened. However, the smug smile was back in an instant. “I, too, have a question. How did you know about this rendezvous?”

“A little bird told me.”

“Come, come, Wrexford, no need to be ungracious in defeat. I—”

“What’s that?” Le Loup suddenly turned to the woods and raised his weapon. “I hear a horse.”

“It’s just the wind in the trees,” said Norwood, but he, too, flicked a glance at the shadowed glade.

Seizing his chance, Wrexford lashed out a kick that knocked his former comrade to his knees and then dove for the cover of a nearby rock outcropping just as a spectral black shape burst free of the trees and came thundering at them.

Le Loup took dead aim at the charging stallion, but a rock came flying out from one of the nearby ruins and struck him between the shoulder blades. The Frenchman staggered and twisted away, just in time to avoid a lethal blow from the stallion’s flailing hooves.

Wrexford reacted in a flash. Darting out from behind the rock outcropping, he scrambled to reach his own weapons before Le Loup could attempt another shot at Eddy and Lucifer.

Just another step —

He saw Le Loup pivot, face contorted with rage. The Frenchman’s second pistol was now pointed straight at him.

BANG!

Le Loup’s eyes widened in shock as a bullet hit him square in the chest and knocked him to the ground.

The earl snatched up his weapons and whirled around to confront Norwood.

“I’m unarmed,” said his former comrade, tossing his spent pistol to the ground.

“I’ve no intention of shooting you.” Wrexford waved Eddy away, hoping she would understand he didn’t want her to show her face.

“I prefer to let justice take its proper course.” As their eyes met, he didn’t so much as blink.

“But I confess, I won’t shed a tear when I watch you dance the hangman’s jig. ”

“Oh, my dear fellow, I’m not going to hang.” Norwood smiled. “You’ve totally misjudged my actions. The truth is, I’ll be hailed as a hero.”

With a flourish, Norwood pulled a document out of his pocket.

“You see, I cleverly discovered a French plot to steal this document. At great personal danger, I took the bold initiative to reach out to the dastard and pretend to be a traitor, so that I could apprehend him in the act. However, I was forced to shoot him in order to save your life.”

“And you expect that Banbury tale to fly?” asked Wrexford.

“Here’s what really happened. You sold out your country for blood money, but the appearance of reinforcements—” He gestured to the shadowy presence of Eddy and Lucifer.

“—made you fear that Le Loup would be captured and give your secret away. So you shot him and now think you can avoid facing the consequences of your treason.”

A laugh. “It’s my word against yours, and my grandmother’s family is very influential in the government.

” A shrug. “Even if there are doubters, do you think the powers-that-be will want the embarrassment of telling the public that they’ve been nursing a viper within the innermost sanctums of power. ”

Wrexford said nothing, knowing Norwood was right. He had no tangible proof. The only one capable of contradicting his former comrade’s story lay conveniently dead.

“By the by,” added Norwood, “who rode to your rescue? I assume it’s your crony Sheffield?”

“Get out of my sight,” snapped Wrexford with a warning wave of his pistol. “Before I decide to write my own tale of lies.”

Norwood paused to remove a packet from inside Le Loup’s coat and slide it into his own pocket before snapping a mocking salute. “Have a pleasant ride back to London.”

Wrexford drew a series of shaky breaths, needing several long moments to calm the emotions roiling inside him.

“W-Wrex?”

He turned to face Eddy and Raven.

“A-Are you angry with us?”

“Angry?” He shook his head. “Angry doesn’t begin to describe my feelings—”

“I don’t give a devil’s damn if you’re angry.

” Raven lifted his chin, as if readying himself for a tongue-lashing.

“A second pigeon arrived from Herr von Münch with the news about Mr. Norwood, so we knew that you were in mortal danger. M’lady had gone to see the Sheffields, so it was up to us.

We did the right thing, and nothing will convince me otherwise. ”

“Oiy,” said Eddy with the same unflinching tone.

Wrexford covered the space between them in two quick steps—and then dropped to his knees and pulled them into a fierce hug. “Bloody hell, you scared me half to death!” Another ragged breath. “But I’ll ring a peal over your heads later. Right now I simply want to savor this moment …”

His cheeks were suddenly wet with tears, but he didn’t give a damn. “And give profound thanks for the power of Love,” he finished. “Love for my family and all the things that matter in life.” Truth. Justice. Honor … the rush of thoughts tangled in his throat, too elemental to put into words.

Overwhelmed, Wrexford closed his eyes and allowed the thud of their hearts beating in harmony to flood him with gratitude.

“Lucifer is family, right?” said Eddy, looking up with a watery smile as Wrexford finally loosened his embrace. “He, too, helped save the day.”

“So are your pigeons,” said Raven. “Even though they are awfully smelly.”

Wrexford chuckled and gave them another hug. “Speaking of pigeons, let us find our way home—and quickly. The rest of our family will be worried about us.”