A Clandestine Courtship by Allison Lane

Author:Allison Lane [Lane, Allison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency Romance
Publisher: Belgrave House
Published: 1999-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

James trotted along a narrow lane, heading for the place where John had died. If he was going to start at the beginning, then he must look at the murder site.

It had snowed heavily on Christmas Day, though it had been tapering off by the time John had gone out. But his errand must have been urgent to drive him into even a waning storm.

James frowned. The lane was hardly more than an overgrown track, providing access to remote grazing areas and a shortcut to an estate in the next shire, but it was rarely used. It would have been difficult to follow when covered with snow, so why had John been here?

His horse splashed across a stream and up a hill. A quarter hour later, he reached Brewster’s Ridge.

What a fool Isaac had been – and still was.

During his years away, James had forgotten how desolate this area was. That was the memory that had tried to intrude that day in Isaac’s office. Yes, there was ample cover, making the spot perfect for an ambush. The track was barely a yard wide and climbed steeply at this point, forcing horses to slow. Trees and rocks made it impossible to see past the next bend.

He shivered.

But though the ridge formed the boundary between estates, he could not recall who owned the next one. The families were not close, meaning that few people used this particular track. No highwayman would know this lane existed, let alone expect to find custom here on a snowy day.

An ambush meant that the killer had already been in position when John arrived, so he must have known in advance about John’s errand.

But given the weather, waiting could not have been comfortable. The man would have needed shelter. Dismounting, James tied his horse to a tree and scrambled over the hillside.

It took him an hour to find it. Tumbled boulders formed a shallow cave. Charred wood remained from an old fire, though James had no way to prove who had built it. The opening faced south, and though trees obscured most of the view, he could see the ford in the distance.

Harry and Edwin were splashing through the stream. As he watched, they jumped a hedge and galloped out of sight across a meadow.

He would bet his last shilling that the killer had huddled here, dousing his fire when John reached the ford, then taking up a position to attack.

But how had he known John would ride this way?

He must question the staff again. Someone must have heard about John’s plans and mentioned them to others, unless it was a servant who had killed him. But until he knew where John had been headed and how many people had known of the errand, he could eliminate no more names from his suspect list.

Those already gone had never been serious contenders anyway. This attack bore no marks of a highway robbery gone sour. The attempt Mary had quelled by the quarry made it unlikely that the murder was connected to John’s affairs elsewhere.

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