‘He’s no friend of mine.’ Jacob started to run.
* * *
Alex apologised repeatedly half the way to the island– and then subsided and simply looked sick.
‘I can’t believe I did that,’ he said. ‘I thought it was Knotte that we were looking for. Langhorne joined the search for him.’
‘You’re not wrong: we did suspect Knotte, but, dwelling on recent events, it struck me that Langhorne was the one who had most reason to try to kill Furness. He wanted to marry Lady Alice but her father wouldn’t hear of it. Langhorne strikes me as the true revolutionary in the circle. I’m sure he would feel little regret in killing a blueblood.’
‘So why marry one?’
‘I’d hazard that the combination of beauty and wealth was the lure. And I don’t like that Langhorne insinuated himself into the search. How did he hear of the hunt if he wasn’t on hand, aiming a rifle from the bushes?’ Jacob shifted to let the boom swing to the other side. Fortunately, he knew how to handle a boat even when the wind wasn’t in their favour. The wind was fretful, as was he. ‘Could he have joined the search to disguise the fact that he was the one we were looking for?’
‘That would be bold in the extreme.’
‘Our killer is extreme– he shoved a shepherd’s crook down a man’s throat– that takes a vicious temperament. We have to recalibrate what we expect from him. It still might be Knotte but I’m coming around to thinking it’s the other man.’
On Jacob’s instruction, Alex lassoed a branch and pulled them into the island so they could use a branch to scramble ashore. He’d barely tied up when Jacob clambered past him, making the boat rock violently.
‘I can’t see Langhorne’s boat,’ said Alex.
‘No.’ And that didn’t comfort him. ‘I think that one belongs to Barton– it’s from the cottage. I guess Knotte is here too.’ Which meant Dora was outnumbered.
They pushed through the beaten path to the centre of the island and found?—
‘My God,’ said Alex.
Knotte lay dead and a quick look in the tent told Jacob Barton was at death’s door. There was no Dora and no Langhorne. Jacob wanted to rail at the heavens for the horrible choices before him.
‘This is Luke Knotte?’ asked Alex.
‘It is.’ Jacob felt for a pulse in the neck but he knew the man was gone. His body held a little warmth. It was a recent wound, right between the eyes, had made a terrible mess of his face. At least death would’ve been instant.
‘Did he shoot himself?’ Alex picked up the rifle. ‘It’s been fired.’
‘That’s what the killer wants you to think. You can’t shoot yourself between the eyes with a rifle like that. How would you reach the trigger? Under the chin, I might believe it– this high at that angle, no.’ Rifles could kill with a misfire, but they were not the choice of a suicide– far too awkward to manage.
Jacob moved to the sick man. He was barely breathing but he did not appear to be in immediate danger. He had shelter, a blanket, he wasn’t being abducted by a murderer– he could wait.
‘We’re going after Dora,’ said Jacob. ‘Back to the boat.’
Alex didn’t protest. He too understood that Dora was their most pressing concern.
‘Why did she break her promise and come here?’ said Jacob, more to give vent to his fear than because he expected an answer.
‘We’ll tell her off when we rescue her, but I’m guessing it was something the boys told her, some belief that she had to go without waiting for you. She’s not the sort to wait for a man to solve her problems.’
‘No, she damn well isn’t.’
Alex pushed the boat off the shore from the branch. ‘Where do you think he’s taking her?’
‘If he thinks we’ll buy his cock-and-bull story of that campfire and not be suspicious of him, I think he’s taking her out there.’ Jacob nodded to the lake. ‘He has to get rid of his witness. He’ll sail back saying he didn’t find her at the camp, so went in search of her on the water, and found nothing. He’ll blame everything on Knotte. We won’t believe him but can we prove he is lying?’
Alex swore. ‘It’s the biggest lake in England.’
‘I am aware. But the wind is from the north-east. It’s easiest to run south. He can’t risk one of the ferries or a pleasure boat seeing that he has a prisoner, so he’ll be keeping away from the most frequented parts. He’ll sail until no one is within sight, then…’
‘Throw her over?’ Alex gulped. ‘Can she swim?’
