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Harry nodded and requested a lantern. Lander gave him the one he was holding, and he followed Cato, who was heading toward the forest to the west.
“Did you poison her?” he heard Drew ask behind him.
“Poison?” Magnus asked incredulously. “Who? Bridget? Why would I poison Bridget? I have no wish to kill her.”
Harry’s eye was sharply on Cato as the dog sniffed the ground in bursts. Now that he was not riding fast, he had time to think but he could not allow himself to. Thinking would open the door to fear, and that was a certain hindrance.
Cato barked, seeming to have found something. He picked it up in his mouth and brought it to Harry. It was a string of Bridget’s pearls. Harry placed it in his pocket before allowing his gaze to sweep his surroundings, finding no sign of anyone or anything around them.
Cato continued sniffing the ground as Drew asked Magnus another question. “Why did you purchase a property here?”
“I bought it sight unseen because I intend to build a brewery. My solicitor advised me to invest in the business.”
“I still do not believe you,” Drew declared. “You employed Miller and—"
Cato barked before picking up what he had found and bringing it to Harry. He knew she was leading him to her the instant he saw her glove. Spurring his horse, he tore through the woods, frantic to find another clue.
Harry saw nothing on the ground, not another glove, a shoe, not anything. He slowed and looked around, recognizing where he was; on a path that led to the old brewery. Thinking that she might be there, he rode to it. Cato barked in the distance behind him but he did not turn. He had already made his way to the brewery.
Drew’s hoofbeats came as Harry dismounted. With a pistol to his back, he made Magnus walk in ahead of them. If there was a trap waiting, it would find him first. They found nothing in the brewery, not even in the cellar that had served as Miller’s prison.
Cursing as he never had before, he ran out and made his way back to the path he had come. To his surprise, Cato was a few feet from where he had left him, and something glimmered near his paws. Harry picked up Bridget’s earring, realizing he had gone the wrong way.
Deciding to completely trust Cato, he was led out of the woods and in the direction of the new brewery. They found another glove, and about fifty yards from it was a shoe, the clue that convinced him to search the new brewery.
He arrived from the direction that faced his office, and a light shone from within. As he had done earlier, he made Magnus walk in front of him after asking Drew to remain outside and keep watch.
“I swear to you, Your Grace,” he said as they walked to Harry’s office, “I did not take her. I do not know what is happening.”
Harry stopped at his office door. “Go in.”
“Your—"
“Now.”
Magnus walked in, and Harry followed a second later. The red of Bridget’s dress was the first thing he saw, and his body stiffened. She was on a chair, tied in the same manner that Miller had. Unthinking, he rushed to her.
“Stop right there!”
The familiarity of the voice froze the blood in his veins. Harry looked toward his desk to find Gerard sitting behind it, a pistol in his hand, aimed at Bridget.
Chapter 37
“Take another step and your wife won’t see tomorrow,” Gerard warned.
Harry was briefly paralyzed by his discovery. Gerard, the only person he had ever trusted before his wife, was the master behind his woes? “I cannot believe this,” he gave voice to his thoughts.
“Impossible that I have her?” Gerard asked with a laugh. “Or impossible that I ruined your business and turned your tenants against you?”
Everything!Harry took another step, rage taking the place of shock.
“Ah, ah!” Gerard aimed at Harry’s chest. “If your wife does not die, then you will. Although, I would prefer it if she died.”
“Why?” Harry demanded, his gaze fixed on Bridget. Her hair was loose, her dress torn in some parts, and her mouth gagged by a ball of linen he suspected was Gerard’s cravat. Her eyes were clear, however, and they were telling him that she trusted him.
“Why not?” Gerard drawled, rising. “Let me ask you, Harry. How does it feel to see your loved one in the face of danger?”
“You killed Miller.” His eye and ears rigorously observed his surroundings as he spoke to Gerard. Magnus was in a corner, and was surreptitiously shuffling to the door. Whether or not he was an accomplice, he was fleeing now.
