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“I’ll come,” said a small voice. Emma—formerly Fanny—peeked around the corner. “I want to do it. If I go, I can make sure she believes you when you say Abi died.”
“Emma, no,” Jaqueline replied, shaking her head. “I cannot allow you to—”
“Yes,” said Will over her. He ignored the glare she directed at him and faced Emma. “It will be very dangerous—you might even be killed,” he warned. “But with your help, we might be able to overcome her. Do you know how to fire a gun?”
“No, but I can carry one for you.” She glanced at Jacqueline nervously. “I can handle a knife well enough. I stabbed a man once. I know what to expect, and I’m not afraid to do it. If there’s a chance to save my sister and my friends, I want to try.”
Will looked to Jacqueline. “We need all the help we can get. Even if all she does is provide a distraction, it will serve our purpose.”
Knowing it was pointless to argue, she forced herself to nod. “What of Sally?” she said tightly. “I don’t trust her. If Boucher truly has her sister…”
“I’ll speak with her and determine whether or not she comes. If I believe her a threat to the success of our plan, we’ll say she was killed during last night’s attack.”
“Let me talk to her,” said Emma, again surprising them both. “When she answers, I’ll know if Boucher really has her sister.”
Jacqueline peered at her for a moment and then nodded. “Yes. I believe you would. Go now—don’t tell her about our going to see Boucher yet. We will be along in a moment, and you can tell us what you think.”
Emma disappeared around the corner.
“I’m sorry,” said Will. “I know you want to protect her, but we cannot push Boucher too far. The death of one is believable, but both?”
“I know. I like it not, but I, too, see the logic in having her accompany us.” She steeled herself. “If Emma should be hurt or, heaven forbid, die, at least it will be while attempting to protect her family.” It was immediately apparent that this answer was unexpected. “Emma knows what Boucher will do to her sister if we don’t stop her. She has a right to try to prevent that from happening.”
He took a step forward, narrowing the gap between them. “We will stop her.”
She hoped so. Because if they didn’t, everything she’d built and everyone she’d come to love would suffer the consequences.
When they returned to the dining hall a few minutes later, Emma came up to them and nodded. “I believe she’s telling the truth about her sister. But I’d be careful. Don’t tell her anything besides that we’re going to lie about Abi.”
“Thank you,” said Will. “Did she ask why you wanted to know about her sister?”
“I asked her why she betrayed us,” answered Emma. “She told me about Marian and said she was sorry for having made a deal with the devil, but that she’d had no choice.”
“There is always a choice,” Jacqueline said, looking over Emma’s head to where Sally sat staring at them. “Thank you, Emma.”
With Will at her side, she gathered everyone and explained about the letter, omitting for the moment the names of those who would accompany herself and Will. There was no point in causing the girls any more upset than was already warranted.
“Another attack is imminent,” she warned. “Trust that Boucher will not honor her promise to spare you. Therefore, each and every one of you must be prepared to fight and…” She swallowed, her throat suddenly bone-dry. “And, if necessary, kill.”
Will stepped forward and took up her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Understand now that it will be necessary,” he said firmly to those listening. “Your lives mean nothing to these murderers beyond the gold they’re being paid to end them. If you have a chance to kill one of them, you must do it.”
He gestured for Loxdon, Richards, Thomas, Gerald, and Peg to join him at the front. “These people are my good friends. More may come to help during the attack. Unless one of these people is able to identify them, you must assume they are the enemy.”
“Richards,” he said, ushering him forth. “I want every child above the age of ten to be given a knife from the kitchen. Show them some basics and make certain they know how not to accidentally wound themselves. Peg, you will instruct teachers and older girls in how to handle and fire a pistol. Thomas, Gerald, and Loxdon will prepare the room for…”
A sea of ashen faces lay before Jacqueline as her staff and students absorbed his instructions, as the reality of the danger sank in. Fierce love for them mingled with her hatred of Boucher, leaving in its wake a potent, savage desire to watch the light die out of the woman’s eyes as it had from Fairford’s.
She’d let Will think her compliant for the sake of keeping the peace between them. Though years had passed between the present and the events that had shaped her into what she was now, Jacqueline couldn’t forgive Boucher. The woman’s continued atrocities against helpless children and vulnerable young women would not allow it.
Will had justified her killing Fairford as a crime of passion, but if she killed Boucher—and she would, at the first opportunity—he’d be unable to deny the truth. That the woman he thinks he wants to marry is a cold-blooded murderer…
Though her heart railed at the thought of losing Will’s love, she resigned herself to it. The odds were stacked against them anyway, and some things were more important than personal happiness. Whatever the cost and by whatever means, Boucher must die before she could hurt or kill anyone else.
…
Will let his gaze roam the room, meeting the eyes of every man, woman, and child briefly. The teachers, though frightened, would die defending their charges. The girls themselves showed a mix of terror, uncertainty, and determination.
He stepped back as everyone began separating into groups and the men started shifting the trestle tables, tipping them onto their sides to act as walls behind which the defenders could shelter.
