“Gavin! Colin!” Robbie rapped soundly on Colin’s apartment door as she passed.
Gavin opened the door and peered out at her. “What is it?”
“She’s gone! Birdie has taken the baby and is gone!”
Gavin tried to calm her. “She can’t just have disappeared.”
Robbie marched back and forth across the hallway carpet, hugging her chest. “She isn’t here. All of her things are gone.”
Colin came out of his rooms, shrugging into a dressing gown. “What’s this?”
Gavin explained. “Robbie says Birdie and the baby are missing.”
The three of them rushed downstairs and into Birdie’s apartment.
Lydia and Mrs. Murray, both awakened by Robbie’s screams, were close behind.
They lit a lamp and surveyed the room.
Suddenly, Lydia went to the wardrobe and flung open the door, and gasped.
“What? What is it?” Robbie was beside herself with fear.
Lydia turned to everyone. “Just yesterday I was in here straightening up. And this wardrobe was filled to the brim with baby things. I had meant to ask Birdie why she was buying so much, but then Ben got cut, and I went out to help…” Her voice faded.
Robbie continued to feel panic. “But if she did take Alice, how did she do it? Birdie doesn’t know anyone around here, and how would she have gotten all of this stuff out of here without any of us noticing?”
“And where in the hell did she think she was going?” Colin all but shouted.
They all pondered the questions.
“How long do you suppose she’s been gone?” Robbie asked.
“Hard to guess, since she didn’t come to dinner.” Lydia clucked her tongue. “My, but she must have had some plan to pull this off without any of us having an inkling.”
“And I’m thinking she probably had help,” Gavin added. “But I can’t imagine who.”
Robbie just stood there, shaking her head. “How could she do this, knowing…”
“Knowing she’s doing it to her own sister?” Lydia finished for her.
“I knew that lassie was trouble the minute she stepped into this house,” Mrs. Murray proclaimed.
They filed out of the apartment and, just to make sure, each peeked into the empty crib as they made their way toward the kitchen, where Mrs. Murray set about making tea.
Robbie collapsed into a chair. “It’s my fault.”
A cacaphony of denials filled the air.
“From the very beginning, I knew deep down in my heart that Gavin had made a mistake proposing to me, but it was such a wonderful fairy tale, and I’d loved you forever,” she said, throwing him a glance.
Gavin slid his chair closer to hers and took her hands in his. “Robbie, if there is one thing I’m certain of, it’s that no one but Birdie is to blame for this. And be comforted in knowing that had I not made that mistake, I assure you I’d be the most miserable man alive right now, baby or no.”
Colin slapped his palm on the table. “I can’t believe she actually did it. What was she thinking? How will she care for Alice? She has no funds, no other family, and certainly no way to earn a living.”
Gavin stood. “She will not get far, I promise you. Colin, after we dress, we’re going on a hunt. For a kidnapper, and a sweet, innocent baby.”
“I want to go with you,” Robbie announced, eager to join them.
Gavin turned to her. “I know you do.” He took both hands in hers, brought them to his lips and kissed them. “But we need you to stay here. There may be a message of some kind, and I want you here in case such a thing occurs.”
She knew he was right; but it was hard to sit by and do nothing.
• • •
Naturally, Gavin and Colin’s first stop was at the inn, where, because of the early hour, it was still dark inside. Gavin pulled the emergency cord beside the front door, and in a few moments, the innkeeper arrived in his nightclothes, carrying a candle. He peered up at the two of them. “Yes?”
“I’m sorry to bother you Mr. Baker, but my wife’s sister has disappeared with our baby. Have you by chance seen them this evening, perhaps boarding a coach?”
The innkeeper opened the door and allowed the men inside. He made his way to the counter where he lit a lamp. “I haen’t seen them, sirs, but let’s check the schedule, just to make sure. I could have been doing other chores at the time.”
All three crowded around the coach schedule. Gavin’s disappointment was clear when he didn’t see Birdie’s name on the list.
“Ah, but she could have used a different name to throw us off her trail,” Colin said. He turned to the innkeeper. “Are you familiar with all of these passengers on the schedule?”
Mr. Baker squinted at the names. “Aye, those were the only travelers. The Carmody family and a parson on his way to Edinburgh.”
Gavin rested his elbow against the counter. “Truthfully, I had never thought Birdie bright enough to pull something like this off.”
“I will admit she doesn’t seem capable, but, as much as I’m drawn to her, she is deceitful.”
The sun was attempting to break through the clouds on the eastern horizon. Gavin glanced across the street at the coffeehouse. Colin followed his gaze.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he asked.
With a shake of his head, Gavin replied, “At this point, anything is possible.”
They thanked the innkeeper and strode across to the coffeehouse, which, surprisingly, was open. They stepped inside, and Gavin called out, “Faith?”
An older woman wearing a colorful scarf over her gray hair came out from the back, wiping her hands on a towel. “Ye be lookin’ for my Faithy?”
Gavin had met Faith’s mother some time ago and didn’t readily recognize her. “Yes. We’re looking for Faith. She’s not working today?”
The woman pulled in a sigh and sat down at one of the tables. “Faithy took some time off. She waited until I was better; you see, I’ve been a bit under the weather. But now I can work, so Faithy has gone on holiday.”
A peculiar feeling tunnelled into Gavin’s gut. “Do you know where she went, ma’am?”
“Aye, we have family in Lairg, in the Highlands. She be visiting them.”
The men thanked her and stepped outside.
“I’m getting an awful feeling,” Gavin admitted.
They walked toward the livery to fetch their mounts. “Do you really think Birdie could have had Faith as a conspirator in this whole matter?”
“It’s starting to make sense. We never knew where Birdie went when she left the estate. Her answers were vague at best,” Gavin replied. “But for Faith to do such a thing…”
“It’s what I’ve been saying all along, Gavin. Faith Baker is not a good woman; she is, however, a fine actress,” he added with a snide smile. “With Birdie’s selfishness and Faith’s scheming mind, they make a formidable duo.”
“So, we’re off to Lairg.”
• • •
Robbie paced. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t write. She couldn’t do anything constructive, so she paced.
Lydia looked up from her cross stitching.
Robbie said, “I can’t believe it. I don’t want to believe my own sister is capable of such a thing. Oh, my whole life she has been a bit of a thorn in my side, but because of our differences, that’s natural, I suppose.”
“I came from a family of eleven; I’m the youngest. Truth to tell, there wasn’t a nasty person among us.”
Robbie gave her a quick glance. “How is that possible?”
Lydia put down her stitching. “For one thing, we were dirt poor. Everyone, including me, had to work to keep everything together. Guess there was no time for shenanigans.”
“I guess both Birdie and I had too much time on our hands,” Robbie recalled.
“But it didn’t turn you into a selfish woman,” Lydia replied. “Your sister, on the other hand…”
The return of Gavin and Colin from Galashiels brought both women to attention. “What did you discover?” Robbie asked, her fingers crossed in the folds of her skirt.
Gavin shrugged out of his topcoat and laid it across the back of a chair. “No good news, I’m afraid.” He told the women what he’d learned from the innkeeper.
“How did she get away without alerting anyone?” Robbie wondered.
Suddenly Mrs. Murray was at the door. “Benny here to see you, sir.”
Gavin nodded and Benny entered, his arm cleanly bandaged and his hat in his hands.
“Yes, Ben?”
“I heard ye say that Miss Birdie has gone with the bairn.”
Alert now, both men straightened. “Do you know something?”
Ben shifted from one foot to the other. “She come to me askin’ fer a box.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I didna’ ask why, I jes wanted to please Miss Birdie, so I made her one.”
“How big?”
Ben continued to study the carpet. “Big enough to pack a lot of things, but I had no notion of what she was plannin’, sir, ye’ve got to believe me.”
“Good God. Even Birdie wouldn’t try to hide a live baby in a box!” Gavin strode the room nearly rubbing the back of his neck raw.
Colin added, “No, but she may have used it to pack some of that stuff Lydia saw in the wardrobe. Birdie’s luggage was gone, wasn’t it?”
At Gavin’s nod, Colin continued. “Suppose she was in cahoots with Faith—”
“Faith Baker?” Robbie interrupted. “What does she have to do with all of this?”
Gavin went to her. “We checked the coffeehouse and learned from Faith’s mother that Faith had taken ‘a holiday’ and her mother wasn’t sure when she’d return.”
Robbie’s fingers were at her lips. “And you think she has something to do with getting Birdie and Alice away from here?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me one bit,” Colin responded.
Feeling defeated, Robbie sank into a chair by the cold fireplace. She rubbed her arms, hoping to warm herself. “Now what?” Her voice was thin.
“We were told she went north to the Highlands, to see family. It’s possible that was just something she told her mam in case someone,” Colin said, gesturing to himself and Gavin, “came asking for her.”
Wanting to reassure her, Gavin said, “It’s a place to start.”
• • •
Robbie watched as the men put some things together, and then followed them to the stable. As they began saddling their mounts, she asked, “Why don’t you take a carriage? If you find them, you’ll need to bring all of them back here.”
Gavin answered, “Not if we find them, Robbie, when we find them. And when we do, we’ll rent something to bring everyone, including our daughter, home safely.”
“In the meantime,” Colin added, “we need to travel as quickly as possible. A carriage would be cumbersome.”
As the two men rode away, Robbie wondered at the legal ramifications of this stunt of her sister’s. Surely it was kidnapping, and that being the case, Faith Baker was an accomplice. At this moment, as Robbie pressed her lips together to keep from screaming or crying or both, she hoped they would get the most that the law would give them.