Chapter Twenty-One

Sarah Ann had seemingly disappeared into thin air.

Ben and Callum galloped half the distance to Edinburgh, stopping the few travelers they saw. No one had seen a child on a pony. Ben wanted to go the other way, to Glasgow, but it was well past midnight, and a bare sliver of a moon disappeared behind the clouds, cutting visibility to nothing. Others, Callum also argued, were checking that route.

It was several hours past midnight when they returned to Calholm, hoping to find good news. There was none, although Cameron had been found—apparently in a female guest’s bedroom.

Henry was also missing. Lisbeth guessed that he had followed Sarah Ann.

Hugh and the few remaining guests, as well as the household staff, had combed the countryside, including the castle ruins and the woods where the hunt had taken place.

Still, Ben bounded up the steps to Sarah Ann’s room, hoping that some miracle had returned her. But it was empty except for Annabelle, who meowed piteously and prowled back and forth on the bed in her own search.

He felt sick at the thought of Sarah Ann’s terror.

He hadn’t been able to save Mary May, and now he’d failed to protect her daughter. He felt helpless, impotent. Damn whoever did this. Damn himself for allowing his preoccupation with Lisbeth to distract him.

Why hadn’t he seen that Sarah Ann was still in danger? The attack on his own life had lulled him into thinking he was the sole target.

He didn’t even know where to start looking. He was in a country he didn’t know, among people he didn’t trust. His years as a lawman didn’t help now.

Only one clue had surfaced: a new groom was also missing. He’d been hired by Callum a few days ago and had had excellent references from a family in Edinburgh. No, Callum said, he had not checked the references. He’d had no reason to, after the man proved himself adept at handling horses. And now he too blamed himself.

Ben finally left Sarah Ann’s room and went downstairs. Despite the early hour of the morning, all the searchers were still up, waiting for further instructions. Lisbeth and Barbara had scoured the house once again, then gone into the kitchen to see about providing food for the tired riders. Ben studied every face over and over again and found nothing but concern. His gaze lingered on Cameron and Hugh.

“I can’t believe anyone would hurt Sarah Ann,” Hugh said, collapsing into a chair with a glass of brandy.

Ben paced several times across the room. “I’m going out to look again.”

“I’ll go with you,” offered Cameron, who was lounging wearily against a wall.

“So will I.” Hugh jumped from his seat, spilling some of the brandy.

Callum hesitated. “Wait till morn. Ye canna see anything out there now.”

“I’ll take a lantern,” Ben said. “I can’t stand here and do nothing. God, I’ll kill whoever did this.” His eyes went around the room again. “No groom did it on his own.”

Hugh spun around to face him. “What do you mean, Masters?”

“Exactly what I said. Only three people would benefit from my death or Sarah Ann’s.”

“Your death?” He looked puzzled.

“Someone took shots at me this morning during the grouse hunt.”

Everyone looked stunned.

“When that didn’t succeed,” Ben continued tightly, “Sarah Ann apparently became the next target.” And I left her alone. He would never forgive himself. And God help whoever had taken her.

Barbara entered then, followed by Lisbeth, both carrying trays of food. Duncan was behind them with a tray laden with two large decanters of spirits.

Hugh looked at them angrily. “You just missed being called murderers and kidnappers.”

Barbara blinked several times as if trying to understand. Lisbeth’s face went completely white.

“It seems Masters here doesn’t think the child is merely lost. She’s been kidnapped, or worse, and by one of us.” He threw the glass he was holding against the fireplace and whirled around to face Ben.

“I’ve made no secret I believe Calholm should be mine,” he said, “but I bloody well wouldn’t hurt a child to get it.” He strode out of the room, the heels of his boots echoing sharply down the hallway.

Ben glanced at Cameron, who straightened from the wall. “Am I a suspect, too? I have no interest in Calholm.”

“Don’t you?” Ben said with deadly softness.

The room was silent, ringing with silent accusations. Several of the guests shifted uncomfortably.

Cameron met his gaze steadily. “I think you can use this time more effectively,” he challenged.

“What would you suggest?”

Cameron looked at the two women, and Ben’s gaze followed that gaze. Lisbeth was like a statue, quiet and still and pale. Barbara’s violet eyes were wide and wounded.

“Let’s talk alone.”

Ben hesitated. “All right,” he finally said, leading the way from the room. He didn’t know what Andrew Cameron wanted. He knew what he wanted at the moment: to commit an act of violence.

Cameron walked out to the yard. Several horses were still tethered to posts in front.

“What do you want?” Ben said sharply.

“I know what you think,” Drew said. “Lisbeth told me. You’re wrong. I have no intentions toward her.”

Ben couldn’t read the man’s eyes in the dark, but he heard the sincerity in his voice. “You were in Glasgow when the crates fell, then Edinburgh when a carriage nearly ran us down.”

“Our first meeting was a coincidence,” Cameron said. “Edinburgh wasn’t. I’d heard you were in the city. I arranged to meet you again. I didn’t arrange for the carriage accident.”

“You knew—”

“Only when Lisbeth told me today,” he said. “You’re right about one thing. I do care for Lisbeth. But you’re wrong about why.”

“Get to the point,” Ben demanded.

Cameron hesitated, obviously reluctant to continue. Then he seemed to come to a decision. “Will you swear not to tell a living soul what I say?”

“If it has nothing to do with Sarah Ann.”

“It doesn’t.”

“Then you have my word,” Ben said, wanting this conversation over so he could be on his way.

“I believe Lisbeth is my sister. My half sister.”

Nothing could have surprised Ben more. His silence prompted Cameron to continue.

“Her father … bedded my mother. I never understood why my father hated me as he did until he told me on his deathbed that I was not his son. He made sure I wouldn’t get anything from him except the damn title, but he’d been too proud to admit he’d been cuckolded, particularly by a commoner.”

“My mother’s sister finally told me who the man was. My mother claimed he raped her, a charge I wasn’t sure was accurate,” he said bitterly. “But then I learned a great deal about my birth father, and it could well be true. Lisbeth was the only decent thing to come from that family.”

“You’ve never told her?”

“That her father could be a rapist?” Cameron snorted. “I didn’t want to add to her pain. But I did want to make sure nothing happened to her, so I arranged the meeting with Jamie, and insinuated myself into their circle. I had a title, meaningless as it is, so it wasn’t difficult.”

The implications began tumbling through Ben’s head. “You have a reason to want to help her then.”

“By killing you or hurting the child she obviously cares about deeply?” Cameron made an impatient sound. “You’re a fool. I have eyes, Masters, even if you don’t. She loves you, and she loves that child.”

Ben let the words sink in. He knew Cameron was telling the truth. The story was too crazy not to be the truth, and everything fit, including the similarity of Lisbeth’s and Cameron’s eyes.

“You mentioned that a kidnapper might take Sarah Ann to Glasgow. Why?”

“It would have been easy enough to kill a child,” Drew said. “A pillow over her head when she was sleeping, a fall from the pony. An accident would have been easy to arrange. I think whoever took her has no stomach for killing a little girl. The only alternative was to take her, perhaps sell her to a family who wanted a child.”

“And ships sail from Glasgow,” Ben said, continuing the thought. “I should have thought about that, but Trapp said Edinburgh was more likely. It’s closer and an easy place to disappear in.”

“That’s logical, too. But I would still bet on Glasgow. And there’s no reason for you to think of it. You’ve been here only a little more than a month.”

After suspecting him for so long, Ben found it hard to trust Cameron. After several moments, he voiced his question. “But who could be responsible?”

Cameron shrugged. “I have no idea. I don’t particularly like Hugh, but I can’t believe he would stoop this low.”

Frustration clawed at Ben. Frustration and stark terror. “Tell Lisbeth I’m riding to Glasgow.”

“I’m going with you.”

Ben hesitated.

“Dammit, Masters, I know every tavern, every gambling hell, and every rogue in Glasgow,” Drew said. “I stayed there often.”

It wasn’t the best of recommendations, Ben knew, but he had little choice. He didn’t know Glasgow at all. And the hell of it was he believed Andrew Cameron. He didn’t know why, but he did. “I’ll inform Duncan—in case Sarah Ann is found, he can send someone after us—but I don’t want anyone else to know where we’re going,” he finally said.

Drew nodded. “What about Lisbeth?”

Ben shook his head. “She’s too trusting. I’ll say we’re going to search the woods again.”

“I’ll saddle the horses,” Drew said.

Ben started back to the house when a faint whine stopped him. “Henry,” he said and ran toward the barely visible figure at the gate. Drew was right behind him.

The dog was dragging himself, barely able to move, and Ben smelled the lingering odor of chloroform. The dog had been drugged, was barely conscious, and yet he had struggled home.

And Peppermint? Ben doubted that whoever had taken Sarah Ann had kept the pony.

Someone had planned this very well. That realization added to Ben’s fury. Ruthlessly, he tamped it down. Rage interfered with his thinking.

Ben picked the dog up. Henry whined, his tongue lolling out of his gaping mouth. “I’ll take him in to Lisbeth and talk to Duncan. You saddle the horses.”

As soon as Ben entered the library, Lisbeth saw Henry and ran to him. The dog whined weakly.

“He’s been chloroformed,” Ben said. “He probably tried to follow whoever took Sarah Ann, and the kidnapper couldn’t afford a shot.”

Ben put the dog down, and Lisbeth knelt next to him.

“Brave Henry,” she said as she saw blood on his mouth. “I think he might have taken a bite out of whoever—”

“Cameron and I are going out to look in the woods a while longer,” he said. “The rest of you get some sleep and start looking again in the morning.”

Lisbeth glanced up at him quickly, a question in her eyes. And worry. “Drew?”

“We’ve reached … an understanding.”

Her face relaxed. “I’ll go with you.”

“I think Henry needs you,” Ben said softly.

“But—”

He took her hand, and, ignoring curious stares from the others, he touched her face. “We’ll be back … with Sarah Ann.”

Callum Trapp stood near the door by himself. “I’ll go with ye.”

“No,” Ben said flatly. “You need some rest so you can lead one of the search parties tomorrow.”

Callum started to protest, but Ben didn’t give him a chance. He started for the door, and Lisbeth put a hand on Callum’s arm.

“He’s right,” Ben heard her say.

Moments later, he and Drew Cameron were galloping down the road toward Glasgow.

Lisbeth nursed Henry, who had been taken to her room, through the night. The other guests had gone to bed, and Callum to his room in the back of the stables.

She left Henry only for a few moments to check on Annabelle, who immediately jumped down from Sarah Ann’s bed and rubbed against her legs. It was, Lisbeth thought, as if the cat sensed something wrong, as if she felt a sense of loss. Lisbeth leaned down and picked her up, taking the cat back to her own room.

Annabelle immediately stalked over to a still groggy and sick Henry and licked him, meowing softly and flicking her tail in obvious distress.

Lisbeth wished she had gone with Ben and Drew. She desperately wanted to help, to do something. She tried to reason out Sarah Ann’s disappearance; she still couldn’t believe someone would take a child. Especially someone she knew. Someone in her family. The thought sickened her.

Only Henry saved her sanity. He needed her at the moment. And Ben would be back by daylight, hopefully with Sarah Ann. Ben was wrong; she hadn’t been taken. Sarah Ann was simply lost. She had to be. Probably, the missing groom had simply quit after the heavy duties this weekend. Coincidence, that was all. She couldn’t believe it was anything more.

They would find Sarah Ann.

Ben and Drew reached Glasgow at noon, having ridden their horses nearly into the ground, stopping once to beg use of two fresh ones from a family Drew knew. Once explanations were made, the horses became readily available.

If the kidnapper had gone to Glasgow, he had a day’s head start, but he couldn’t travel quickly with a sleeping child. At best, he probably made Glasgow in the early morning hours. Sometime during the long morning, Ben started calling his companion Drew, and the two of them developed an uneasy partnership formed by common purpose. Drew directed him straightaway to Broomielaw, where most of the ships docked. They soon discovered three ships were due to leave for America on the evening tide. Another twenty had Scottish destinations.

They had four hours until the first ship set sail, time to visit inns along the waterfront. No one had seen a child, or a man resembling the description of the missing groom. Ben began to doubt Drew’s thinking. Perhaps the kidnapper had preferred Edinburgh and its numerous trains.

“The whisky dens,” Drew said. “We’ll try those next, then the captains of the ships.”

Ben nodded. If the groom had been employed to take Sarah Ann from Scotland, he would wait until sailing time, then try to negotiate a last-minute passage, which would be unrecorded at the custom office. And a frightened man might well go to a whisky den for courage after the flight from Calholm.

“We’ll separate,” he said. Two could cover more area than one. If the man was drinking, he wouldn’t take a child with him. Too many people would remember. That meant Sarah Ann could be tucked in a slum somewhere or lying unconscious in a vehicle of some type.

If the kidnapper had headed for Glasgow. It was still a big if. But Ben believed it was true. It made sense. The abduction had been well planned. Unless Sarah Ann had been killed—and he wouldn’t let himself even think that—the kidnapper had to leave Scotland as quickly as possible. Sarah Ann was too bright not to ask for help or tell someone where she belonged. The only hope was a ship, and a private cabin, where Sarah Ann could be kept sedated.

Who? The question never left his mind. Nor did the prospect of that person’s slow demise. Ben was no longer a lawman. He was no longer bound by a code of conduct.

Drew, with only the slightest hesitation, agreed to his suggestion that they separate. Both remembered Callum’s description of the groom: a small man no more than five feet tall, a sometimes jockey, with dark hair and pale blue eyes, and a nervous demeanor. Ben had seen him only once around the stables, but he knew he would recognize him. Drew didn’t remember seeing him at all.

Glasgow had exploded as an industrial city during the 1800’s, and its streets were dirty, its air clogged with smoke. The large number of working men, including those who worked in shipbuilding along the Clyde River, crowded numerous whisky dens. Ben visited three before wondering whether finding one man was an impossible task. He and Drew had given themselves one hour, then they would meet and visit each departing ship.

Ben found the man at the fourth drinking establishment. The moment he entered, a slender man kicked over a chair in his haste to leave and started at a run for a back hall.

Ben dove after him, catching him before he went more than a dozen feet. The groom crashed to the floor, yelling as he did. The whisky den was half full and the drinkers, some of them ugly drunk, surrounded the two men.

“He be tryin’ to rob me,” the groom cried out desperately in Scottish brogue. “A foreigner.”

Mutters rippled through the room and two men approached.

“Let ’im go,” one burly man said.

Ben had brought his pistol with him, tucking it into his belt. In one easy movement, his right hand pulled it from under his sheepskin coat as he dodged a fist. His other hand kept its grasp on his clawing, wriggling prisoner.

“Stay back,” he ordered.

More than a little stunned, the mob moved back. But the muttering grew louder, and Ben saw one man duck out the front, apparently going for help.

“Get up, Baxter,” he told the groom. He put the man between himself and the crowd, pointing the barrel into the man’s side. “Where’s my little girl?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the groom said sullenly.

“Then why did you leave Calholm suddenly?”

“Me and Trapp … we had a disagreement.”

Trapp hadn’t said anything about that.

“Ye don’t see no kid, do you?” the groom said. He pleaded to the others. “’E’s a crazy American. Help me.”

But one of the men had been listening. “What’s tha’ about a bairn?”

“My daughter,” Ben said. “She was kidnapped yesterday, same time this man disappeared. She’s four years old.”

“I dinna do anything,” the groom whined. “There’s no lass here.”

“What did you do with her?” Ben said, twisting the groom’s arm until the man screamed. The den’s customers moved in closer.

“I dinna do nothing,” the groom repeated plaintively.

“Where is she?” Ben asked again, tightening his hold on the man’s arm. In a moment, it would break. The groom realized it and started whimpering.

“I swear—”

“Where is she?” Ben said again, and this time his voice was like death. “Tell me now or I’ll break your neck as well as your arm.”

The groom screamed. The men started closing in again.

Ben turned the gun in their direction. “I’m very good with this, gentlemen,” he said coldly. “There are six bullets, and I won’t miss with any of them.”

Tension radiated in the room, and Ben knew it was a matter of seconds before the mob rushed him. He cocked the pistol.

“Found the bloody piece of dung, did you?”

The question came from the doorway. Everyone turned toward the sound. Drew sauntered in with the self-assured arrogance of a true aristocrat. Resentment flashed across faces, but no one made a move toward him.

“And what has the bastard to say for himself?” Drew said with lazy insouciance.

“He’s a bit reluctant to talk,” Ben replied.

Drew turned his attention to the crowd. “Do any of you have use for baby snatchers?”

The mutters turned angrier. “Ye mean ’e really took a bairn?”

“Aye,” Drew said.

“’E said this American took ’is money.”

“This American and I have been riding through the night to find him and the wee lass he took.” Drew’s hazel eyes were as hard as agates. “We think he was going to take her on a ship to America.”

The leader who had demanded the groom’s release stepped closer. “Ye give him to me and my fellows for a while. We’ll get wha’ ye want to know.”

The groom looked around desperately, then slumped in Ben’s hold. “My sister’s keeping her. Two blocks away. I weren’t going to hurt her.”

“A Scot,” one of the workers said disgustedly, swinging a fist into the groom’s stomach.

Baxter sunk to the floor.

“The address,” Ben said.

The man spat out something, and one of the workman stepped forward. “I know tha’ place.”

“We’ll keep him fer you,” another said. “You go see about the bairn.”

Ben hesitated.

Drew nodded. “They’ll keep him,” he said. “I’ll go with you.”

Ben turned back to the groom. “Who planned this?”

Baxter whimpered. Drew stepped forward, putting the heel of his boot on the man’s stomach. “Who?”

There was a hard promise to the voice, and the man trembled. “Trapp,” he said finally.

“The trainer?” Drew asked.

“Aye,” the groom said.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just needed money.”

Ben looked at Drew, then at the men surrounding the groom. He wanted to get to Sarah Ann. And then Callum Trapp.

“We’ll keep him here for ye,” one of the men assured him.

Drew looked at the man who said he knew the address. “Are you sure you know the way?”

“Aye,” he answered. “Maeve Lackey lives there, entertains men occasionally. She said she had a brother who was a jockey. Jockey,” he added jeeringly at the fallen man.

“Let’s go,” Ben told Drew and the other man, who introduced himself as Jack Dundee.

Dundee moved quickly through the dirty, smelly streets of the riverfront, followed by Drew and Ben. Ben kept thinking of Sarah Ann, her terror at waking in a strange place, at losing everything and everyone she’d come to know.

He wanted to kill Callum Trapp. He would kill him with his own hands. But what was the trainer after? Was he working for someone in the household?

They reached a dilapidated brick building. The street in front was swirling with slops hurled from windows. They ducked one such pail of contents. Cooking smells mixed with the other odors, and Ben felt he might be sick.

Dundee turned to him. “Maeve has a room on the first floor. To the left.”

Ben led the way to the door, his hand on his pistol. He didn’t know if anyone besides Baxter and Trapp were involved. He tried the door first, but it was locked and he pounded on it.

“’Old your ’orses,” said a woman’s voice from within. “I’m comin’.”

The door opened a crack, and Ben pushed it wide open, ignoring the indignant cries of a slatternly looking woman dressed only in a dirty, flimsy nightrobe.

“Where is she?” he said.

“Where is who? What right you got coming in here?”

“You have my daughter. That’s my right,” Ben said coldly. His eyes searched the room. He saw a door and went to it.

The woman sought to hold him back, but he easily shook off her hand as he opened the door to a tiny room. A small still form lay huddled on a dirty bed.

He reached the small lumpy bed in three strides and knelt next to it. Sarah Ann was sleeping deeply. A half-filled glass sat on a rickety chair next to the bed, and he sniffed it. Laudanum.

Ben lifted Sarah Ann, cradling her in his arms. He didn’t know gratitude could be so painful. “Forgive me, Sugarplum, for leaving you alone.” He leaned down and lightly kissed the dirty beloved face, closing his eyes against the force of emotion sweeping him. He saw a drop of water on her face; it took him a moment to realize it was a tear from his eyes.

“Is she all right?” Drew asked.

Ben nodded. “I think so.”

“What should I do with her?” Drew indicated the woman who stood hunched against the wall, eyeing the door that was guarded by Jack Dundee.

“I dinna do nothing,” the woman said. “My brother said the brat was orphaned. I wa’ doing a kind deed, I was.”

Ben looked down at Sarah Ann’s dress, now dirty but still obviously of expensive cloth, and then back at the woman. “You’re a liar.”

“Ye ha’ no right—”

Ben ignored her and turned back to Sarah Ann. “Sugarplum,” he whispered. Her eyes remained closed.

“When did you last give her some of that?” he asked the woman, indicating the glass.

“I dinna gi’ ’er anything.”

“Then your brother?”

She shivered. “He’ll kill me.”

“Baxter isn’t going to be in any position to kill anyone,” Ben said. “When?” The question was like a shot.

“An ’our ago,” she finally whined. “He arrived and told me to look after ’er for a while. That’s all I know.” Her bravado seem to fade with every word.

An hour ago.

That meant Sarah Ann would probably be asleep for several more hours. Ben wanted to see those blue eyes, to assure himself that no damage had been done. Damn Trapp.

Damn Scotland. He would never forgive the country, nor himself for bringing Sarah Ann here.

Ben stood. “I want to get her back to Calholm,” he said. “I want to face Trapp.”

“So do I,” Drew said harshly. “What should we do with this woman?”

“Take her with us to her brother and call the constables. Let the law take care of them. We’ll need their testimony against Trapp. If I don’t kill him first,” Ben said.

Drew smiled, a cold smile that surprised Ben. Drew Cameron seemed to make an art out of congeniality. Ben was seeing another side now, one that intrigued him. There was a recklessness that Ben recognized. He’d tried to tame his own; Cameron hadn’t. He merely disguised it.

But none of that mattered. Ben wanted to take Sarah Ann home, to a place she knew and where she felt safe, even though he wondered whether she would ever feel safe again.

Annabelle was at Calholm, though. Annabelle and Henry and, he prayed fervently, Peppermint.

And Lisbeth.

Everyone and everything Sarah Ann loved.

And their enemy.