Page 66 of An Outlaw’s Desire

Lord Montgomery had heard Pitt’s confession. After the meal, Lady Montgomery had taken Clarine, Justin, and Fenton to the garden, and Pitt had accompanied his lordship to the solar. She’d sat beside Pitt while he’d spoken in great detail of his association with Sherborne. As Pitt’s words had poured out, her anger had risen until she’d scarcely been able to contain it.

Thankfully, because of Blythe’s letter to Lord Montgomery, Fenton was now safe, and with the written account Pitt had agreed to provide, the sheriff and his lordship would have even more evidence to ensure Sherborne was prosecuted in London for all he’d done.

What would happen to Pitt, though, remained unclear. She could only hope his lordship would be merciful when deciding Pitt’s fate.

Blythe had told of seeing the wink of light in the passageway. His lordship had decided ’twas best to limit who witnessed what was revealed behind the wall, so besides herself, only Lord Montgomery, Pitt, and Harlow were present.

Blythe crouched and pointed to the stonework. “See the missing mortar? The flash of light came from there.”

“Pitt, cut away the stone.” His lordship handed over a dagger.

Pitt’s throat moved with a swallow. He clearly understood the trust Lord Montgomery placed in him by giving him a weapon. Surely, such trust meant things would work out all right for Pitt?

When he knelt beside her, she smiled and nodded in encouragement. He unsheathed the knife and dug the tip into the mortar. Little by little, it crumbled away.

A stone tumbled from the wall and landed by her feet. A moment later, another broke free. A sour smell wafted.

“We need more light,” Blythe said.

His lordship and the man-at-arms drew nearer. She took Harlow’s torch and brought it closer to the wall.

With a few more hacks, Pitt had cleared a large enough area to reveal what looked like gathered cloth.

Oh, God. “Is that…?”

“One moment.” Pitt dug into the stonework again, and soon a large section tumbled away. The cloth appeared to be a cloak. Once it had been a fine garment embellished with embroidery. Now it hung in tatters.

Revealed by the gap Pitt had made was a large silver buckle, attached to a rotting leather belt. The buckle had fallen against the stone and had caught the torchlight.

As the belt crumbled, Pitt reached in to catch the buckle. His hand bumped part of the cloak and with a thump, a sheathed sword fell to land just inside the hole. A cloud of dust wafted.

At the same instant, part of the cloak disintegrated…and revealed the bones of a human leg.

Chapter Seventeen

“God’s blood,” Lord Montgomery murmured.

“Pitt!” Blythe whispered.

Pitt’s heart hammered. What—who—had they found?

The belt buckle wasn’t of modern design, but it didn’t look ancient, either.

He handed the buckle to Lord Montgomery.

“’Tis from a man’s belt,” his lordship said.

Pitt gestured to the torch Blythe held. “May I? I will try to get a better look.”

She handed the flaming reed over, and he carefully removed the sword and laid it by the wall then maneuvered the torch to cast more of its light into the opening. Regrettably, he couldn’t get the reed inside—not without causing further damage to the cloak or even the skeleton. He didn’t want to destroy the means to identify the poor soul.

In the flickering light, toward the back of the cavity, he saw what appeared to be a satchel. He leaned in and carefully brought out the bag, which appeared on the verge of disintegrating. Items clinked inside.

“Set it on the floor,” Lord Montgomery said. “Let us all see what it holds.”

Pitt tried to keep the bag intact, but as he lifted the flap, the rotting leather broke apart. He removed the items inside: a rolled parchment; a game board made of wood, metal, and leather; a carved wooden dog, a leather bag that rattled; and a smaller bag that faintly chimed.

He dumped the contents of the smaller bag into his palm: a delicate, gold-link necklace made to gleam at a lady’s neck. More gold than he’d ever held in his hand.