Honeychurch Hall 05-Dangerous Deception at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison

Author:Hannah Dennison [Dennison, Hannah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472128485
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2018-11-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

I was woken abruptly by the sound of someone hammering and shouting outside.

‘Kat!’ yelled Piers. ‘Open the damn door!’

I lay there, furious. It wasn’t even half past seven!

‘Kat! I’ll break this door down if you don’t open up right now.’

Still I lay there motionless, but then – to my dismay – I heard the jangle of keys and a click as the front door opened. I’d forgotten about the spare key under the plant pot.

I leapt out of bed, dragging on a towelling robe, and paused at the top of the spiral staircase. ‘Have you any idea what time it is?’

Piers stopped at the bottom of the steps as I glowered down. ‘Kat – please!’

Stubble covered his chin and his hair stuck up on end. I noticed that apart from a Barbour jacket, he was wearing the same clothes as he’d worn yesterday, which seemed unsuitable for such a wet and windy morning. But it was the look of sheer despair that made my anger vanish.

I hurried downstairs.

‘What’s wrong? What’s happened?’

‘Why didn’t you answer the phone last night?’ he demanded. ‘No, don’t tell me. I suppose he was here.’

‘Who?’

‘Paddington – but it doesn’t matter. I don’t care.’ He seemed distraught.

‘What’s going on?’

‘Father is missing.’

I swear my heart stopped beating. Had my mother met up with Aubrey after all? I was in a dilemma. She had specifically told me she wanted their relationship kept a secret.

‘How do you know?’

‘Because his horse came home without him on it.’

‘He came off?’

‘Father is one of the best horsemen in the country. He wouldn’t just come off.’

‘I’m sure he’s probably walking home right now.’

‘No, you don’t understand.’ An expression of such agony crossed Piers’s face that for a moment I pushed aside my confused feelings for him and my jealousy of Cassandra.

‘What do you mean?’

‘This was yesterday!’ he exclaimed. ‘Not this morning.’

‘You mean late last night?’

‘Why would you say late last night?’ Piers said sharply. ‘Do you know something?’

‘I just assumed that … I assumed that since he was at the BearFest, he must have ridden later in the day.’

‘Yes, yes!’ Piers cried. ‘I know all that.’

‘Have you looked—’

‘What do you think I’ve been doing?’ he snapped. ‘I’ve been combing the country lanes for hours. I didn’t realise that something was wrong until I went to check on the horses.’ He raked his fingers through his hair, making it stick up even more. ‘I always check on the horses before I go to bed. Cromwell’s door was wide open. He was inside and still fully tacked up.’

‘Oh. I see.’

‘One of the stirrup leathers was missing …’

‘Oh, I see,’ I said again as the full meaning of a missing stirrup leather began to sink in. It was little wonder that Piers was concerned. If Aubrey’s foot had caught in the stirrup iron and the safety catch on the stirrup bar had accidentally been closed or jammed, he could have been dragged until his body weight inevitably forced the safety catch to open. The thought was horrific.

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