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Chapter 22
Rafe could feel his head pounding as he approached the woods. It had been six years since he had come here, and the last memories of the place were not good. He had been successful in not thinking about Richard’s dead body since his last nightmare, but now it was coming back full force.
He could see his friend on the ground, covered in blood and clearly dead. Rafe was half-expecting to see himself covered in blood when he looked down. But his hands were clean, and his clothes were pristine.
It didn’t really make him feel any better.
Hayward had said this would be a good way to recall buried memories, and while Rafe was becoming more and more dubious the closer he got to the woods, he wanted to see if it would do anything. Maybe he would remember something he hadn’t before by going through that day with what he did remember.
But he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the truth. There were at least a dozen men who had been there, and Rafe knew he could trust the servants to not commit murder. Besides, the only ones with rifles were his family, Richard, and Hayward. He knew, for certain, that Sebastien and his father hadn’t killed Richard. They’d had no reason to.
Which left Hayward, and Rafe had dismissed that almost immediately. In spite of his annoying behaviour and attempting to cause discord between Rafe and Richard when he could like he was a little boy, he wouldn’t kill his cousin. Hayward had been the most distressed over Richard’s death. What would he hope to gain from it? That didn’t make sense.
Which meant either the shot was an accident, and Richard had just been caught in the way, or someone who hadn’t been a part of the hunting party had taken advantage of the situation and shot him. The latter sounded ridiculous, but it wasn’t too much of a stretch. It was less of a stretch than Richard being shot accidentally. If that was the case, why hadn’t anyone owned up to it?
It was murder, for certain. Rafe just hoped he could figure it out soon. Between Millinchip and Asante, he was a little closer to the truth. Now he just had to find out who it could be.
Hayward came around from behind a tree as Rafe approached the woods. He gave Rafe a nod.
“Blackmore.”
“Hayward.”
“Are you ready?”
Rafe looked beyond the trees, his heart racing. He took a deep breath.
“I think so. I’m not sure I can go through with this.”
“You’ll be fine. We won’t be here any longer than you can handle.”
“Maybe I should have brought Charlie and Victoria with me.”
Hayward arched an eyebrow.
“Why Victoria? She doesn’t need to be here.”
“She’s good at keeping me calm just by being close by.” Rafe waved a hand. “Once you get married, you’ll understand.”
Something flickered behind Hayward’s eyes. Then he gave Rafe a tight smile.
“It won’t take long. We can walk through what happened, and then we’ll go. Nothing to it.”
“Are you sure this will work?”
“I’m pretty sure it will.” Hayward beckoned him to follow. “Come on.”
Rafe could feel his palms growing sweaty. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. Perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea, after all. He should go back and think of something else.
He shouldn’t have come out here alone. Charlie should be present; he knew how to keep Rafe focused. And Victoria would be able to keep him from panicking.
That was what he needed before he entered the woods.
Also, why was he going in with Hayward, the man who had attempted to seduce his wife away? He had to be insane to be doing this with someone who wanted him out of the way.
Hayward had almost disappeared into the trees when he realised that Rafe wasn’t following him. He turned back.
“Are you coming?”
