“I don’t know. The squire’s there. And he brought a man with him, and some of his other men from down south. I don’t ask.”
“How many?”
“In the house, I don’t know. There be three, out there.” He jerked his head toward the way they’d come and squinted at a spot mottling Farnsworth’s coat. “I reckon you’ve met them already.”
Farnsworth nodded, and Fox finished gagging the old man with his neck cloth.
They went out the back way, and came round, sliding along the stable wall, keeping low in the thick weeds.
Farnsworth signaled and slipped off, heading toward the backside of the house where he’d meet up with both MacEwens.
Fox inched his way toward the inner court. Across the courtyard, he saw hired servants unloading the cart. Three of them huddled near the door. Another was on her knees in front of it.
Picking the lock. Fox pulled his hat down, and crept below the first story windows to join them.
Perry followedKincaid into the house, her hand in her pocket. A short, ill-kept vestibule led into the kitchen where a low fire burned, and a pot swung from an iron chimney crane.
Her skin rippled and a touch on her back made her startle, sending her into a panic.
When she turned her heart calmed.Fox.He’d made it safely through the woods.
She swept a gaze over him and all of the nerves in her arms and her legs tingled. Blood spotted his neck cloth and her gaze raced over him again. He wasn’t injured. Someone had shed blood on him though. He’d had to fight.
“You’re here then.” A servant looked up from her place in the corner, mob cap pulled low and fat jowls drooping to join the layers at her neck. She must be the cook Edie had spoken of.
“Old Rose,” Edie said in a breathy tone.
The servant leaned on a tall central worktable, edging around it.
Edie was frightened too, though she’d insisted on coming, because, she’d said, Old Rose would need saving.
“We’re to help with the dinner tonight,” Lady Jane said.
“Edie,” the cook whispered. “You shouldna be here. He said they be coming. You be taken up with him, the old fool, and then what’s to become of your mam. You shouldna be part of this.”
“I’m not. I’m here for you.” Edie set her basket on the table and went to the old woman, hugging her. “I’m taking you home for good.” She patted the old woman’s plump arm. “Yes, and I am. He’s gone too far.”
Fox and Kincaid moved around the perimeter of the room, listening at doors and opening them to peer into corridors and pantries. Fox came out of one closet gripping the collar of a tiny kitchen boy. Rose swept the shaking child up in her arms.
And she did it noiselessly, Perry noted. The boy was equally silent and the conversations were whispered. The only sound was the creak of the wind hitting the windows. This was a house living in fear deeper than what she was feeling this moment.
“Where is the Squire, Rose?” Fox asked.
She slid her eyes toward one of the doors. “I don’t know.”
“What room did he tell you to stay out of?”
“I’m the cook. I stay out of all of the rooms.”
“Your master will hang as a traitor,” Kincaid said. “Those protecting him will, too.”
Her eyes widened.
“A traitor?” Rose said. “What’s that? To hear tell, any smuggler is a traitor to the King.”
“True,” Fox said, “but besides the King, he betrayed the people of Clampton. Scruggs is locked up. Dragoons are rounding up everyone in the village.”
It was the lie they’d agreed on.
