“Of course, lad.”
“Also, can you take my friends from the northand ride into port today, look for a ship calledThe Roverand ask to talk to Kerry and Kerwin?Offer them your protection ifthey’ll speak at my trial about where they were to sail withAlina.”
Bryce slapped him on the shoulder.“Will do,lad.”
CHAPTER 17
True Lies
Roark walked out of his chambers flanked byScott and Ross, and descended the stairs where Bryce was waitingfor him at the bottom.
“Sorry, lad,” his uncle told him.“TheRoverwas at full sail and heading seawards by the time we gotto the docks yesterday.”
“Thanks for trying.”
Roark’s hopes, which had been tenuous atbest, unraveled further.He should’ve expected Roger would makesure the ship was gone and the crew unavailable for anyquestioning.Lengthening his spine and squaring his shoulders, hewalked into the dining hall, where his parents sat at the hightable with Roger, Lynette, Gwyneth, Donald, and Myrna.
He took his seat at a low table set sidewaysto the high table and the other low tables, where everyone couldview him, as Bryce took his seat beside Roark’s mother.
Craig, Peg, and Jenny sat at a low table withthe other house servants, and he noticed while everyone else waslooking at him and whispering among themselves, those three weresilent and studiously avoiding his gaze.
Roger stood and the hall went quiet.Heglared at Roark before he spoke, his voice thick with rage.“RoarkMacInnes, second son of Ronan MacInnes and Brianna MacKay, ward ofRoger MacKinnon, friend to Leif MacKinnon and betrothed of GwynethMacKinnon, you are hereby charged with the murder of LeifMacKinnon.How do you plead?”
“Not guilty,” Roark said.“I did not killLeif.”
Roger stared down his beak of a nose at him.“We have witnesses who will prove otherwise.”
Roark raised a brow.“Do you?”
“Craig Maxwell,” Roger said.“If you wouldtake the witness stand.”
Jenny’s father stood and walked over to thetable directly across from Roark’s and took a seat, facing theassemblage and Roark.
“Tell us, Craig, what you witnessed the daymy son was murdered.”
“I, ah, the missus and me was in the kitchen,having a bite to eat, when we heard a ruckus going on outside.Wewent out to see what was what, when we seen Roark and the pri… theservant girl, Alina, come running out of the stables, Roark’s bladedripping blood.They, ah, they jumped onto their horses, what werealready saddled up and their packs bulging, and they hightailed itoutta here, riding north like a pack of banshees was after them.Iwent to the stables, and it was there I come upon Leif, tied,gagged, and dead, a scythe sticking out of his chest.”
“Thank you, Craig,” Roger said, his voicestrained, Lynette visibly weeping beside him.
“My laird.”Craig stood.
“Not so fast, Craig.”Roark held his hand up.“First you must answer my questions.”
Craig nodded and remained standing, wringingthe cap in his hands and licking his lips.
Roark stood.“Did you actually see me killLeif?”he asked.
Carig shook his head.“But I seen you and thegirl leaving the stables and no one else right before I went in andfound him dead.”
“So, the answer is no,” Roark said.“Youdidn’t actually see me or Alina stab Leif with the scythe, wasit?”
“No.I mean, aye.”Craig swiped at the sweatbeading on his forehead.“I mean, I didna see you or Alina stickthe scythe into Leif, but you and she was the only ones comerunning out of the stables.”
“With my blade dripping blood?”
“Aye.”
“Why would my blade be dripping blood if Leifwas killed by a scythe to the chest?”
