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"Most likely," Niels agreed, but Edith noted that the suggestion made Tormod frown.
"It may even be how Effie has managed to disappear," Geordie pointed out.
"Nay," Tormod said, shaking his head firmly. "Effie could no' have kenned about these passages."
"Victoria could have told her," Edith pointed out.
"Victoria could no' have known either," he assured her.
"Brodie probably told Victoria the minute he found out about them," she assured him dryly.
"That's just it, he did no' ken about them, so could no' have told her," Tormod explained.
"What?" she asked with surprise. "But he was laird once Hamish died."
"Aye," he agreed, and then pointed out, "Fer two whole weeks ere fleeing the castle. And I would ha'e got around to telling him eventually. Probably," he added in a mutter, and then clucked with irritation and admitted, "I apologize, m'lady, but yer brother was a selfish, coddled, beef-witted idiot. I could hardly believe we were stuck with him as laird, and was hoping we would no' be. O' course, had he bothered to ask what he should ken to run Drummond, I would have told him. But he did no'. So . . . I decided to just wait until things settled down before sharing all the secrets o' this place with him."
"And would ye have done the same with us had this no' come up?" Niels asked in a deceptively mild tone.
"Hell no," Tormod said seeming truly shocked at the suggestion. "Yer a hundred times better man than Brodie was. A good match fer our lady. I'm glad to have ye and ken most everyone here at Drummond is relieved to have ye both as laird and lady rather than Brodie and Victoria. When I gave ye the key to the buttery I did tell ye I had things I must talk to ye about once I returned from collecting the bodies at the lodge," he reminded him and then gestured to the secret passages. "These were on that list."
Nodding, Niels relaxed and asked, "If Brodie did no' ken about these passages, who does besides you?"
"That's the hell o' it," Tormod said looking suddenly weary. "As far as I ken, I am the only living person who knew about these passages until just now when I told all o' you. But I swear to ye that I'm no' the one who's been sleeping in this room."
"Someone else must ken about the passages then," Edith said simply. She believed Tormod. He looked so frazzled by all of this that she simply couldn't believe he was the culprit. Besides, if he were the culprit, he'd hardly tell them that he was the only one who knew about the hidden entrances and secret passage. He'd claim he'd told Brodie who may have told Victoria who shared it with the maids. Or he might even have claimed several people knew about them. But he hadn't, and she believed him, she just wasn't sure anyone else would so was relieved when her husband nodded thoughtfully.
"Aye. So, someone must have discovered them on their own," Niels reasoned. "Mayhap Effie while cleaning."
Edith twisted her lips dubiously. "Effie did no' clean as far as I ken."
"Then mayhap yer brother Brodie accidentally found it himself while playing as a child, told his wife about it and she told the maid," Rory suggested.
She supposed that was possible. Edith had always kept a safe distance between herself and any fire. As a child, she'd been present when one of the young maids had got too close to the fireplace in the great hall. The girl's skirt had caught on fire and she'd been horribly burned before Edith's mother had covered her with a fur and smothered the flames. That incident had made her cautious of getting too close to any kind of fire or fireplace. Her brothers had never had the same problem, and as she recalled, Brodie had liked to play soldier around the fireplace, setting his little carved wooden men onto the candle ledges and then knocking them off one after the other, sometimes even throwing them into the fireplace to watch them burn. She supposed he could have leaned against just the right stone one time and discovered the secret passage.
"However and whoever discovered it, we need to search the rooms and the passages," Rory said quietly. "Effie is somewhere."
"Aye." Niels nodded and then glanced to the two passages and frowned. "We need to search each room and the passage at the same time. Otherwise we risk someone using the passage to slip by us as we are in each room."
"There are five bedchambers off the right passage if ye include this one, and there are five o' us," Edith pointed out. "We could leave someone stationed here to be sure no one slips away using the passages and the other four could go to each o' the other bedchambers, search them and then all make our way back here via the passages to be sure there is no one there either."
"Except only Tormod kens how to open the other passages," Geordie pointed out.
"Aye, but I could take Lady Edith's room," Tormod said slowly, and pointed out, "'Tis the furthest away. After a quick search, I could slip into the passage, ensure no one is in it between that room and Brodie's and then open the hidden entrance to Brodie's room from the passage."
"Then you and whoever searched Brodie's room could continue on to the next hidden door, and the next, ensuring no one slips past ye and no one is in the passage," Niels said, nodding, and then smiled at Edith and complimented her. "Good idea, wife . . . Only the fifth person will be Alick. You will be safely down at the trestle tables with yer guard."
Edith's eyes widened. She'd quite forgotten about poor Alick hiding under the bed in their chamber. The young man must be wondering what the devil was happening at this point. Still, six people were better than one, she thought. But when she opened her mouth to say so, Niels silenced her with a quick kiss.
Lifting his head, he raised a hand to brush his knuckles lightly across her cheek and said, "I need to ken yer safe, wife. Else I'll be distracted with worry and may make a mistake that could get meself or Tormod, or one o' me brothers killed. 'Tis a murderer we're hunting."
Edith's brow furrowed, but after a moment, she sighed and gave a reluctant nod. It wasn't likely she would win this argument anyway. Men could be incredibly stubborn when it came to women treading on their territory, and she had no doubt Niels saw catching the killer as his job.
Besides, she didn't think they would find anything in the chambers or passages anyway. Effie would hardly be hiding in there when she had so many exits to choose from. Most of which weren't presently full of the men hunting her.
On top of that though, Edith also wanted a quiet moment to think. A good many things weren't making sense to her and she felt sure if she could just sort through them slowly and logically, she could untangle this mystery.
Chapter 15
"M'lady?"
Edith stopped pressing on the stones in the wall behind the loo bench and glanced toward the garderobe door with a frown. "Moibeal?"
"Aye, m'lady," her maid said, her tone wry. "Cameron fetched me over to see that ye were all right. It seems ye've been in there awhile and they were beginning to worry."
"I'm fine. I'll be out directly," she called with exasperation and then peered at the wall again and sighed. She'd pressed every stone on the garderobe's back wall and as far as she could tell nothing had happened. There was no click, not even a breath of sound, and certainly no hidden door slid inward to reveal the entrance to the passage from here. Neither had that happened in the first two garderobes. This was the third and last one she'd checked since leaving her husband and the others to search the bedchambers and passages above as Cameron and Fearghas escorted her below stairs.
Now, she eyed the wall and considered that there was probably more of a trick to the entrance in the garderobe than just pushing a stone. Otherwise, with so many people using it, anyone could accidentally lean against the correct stone and discover the hidden door.
But wh
at would the trick be? she wondered, reaching out to try to turn a stone rather than push it.
"M'lady?"
"I'm coming!" Edith called with exasperation. Stepping down off the bench, she walked to the door and pushed it open. Despite being happy to escape the stench of the garderobes, she scowled at Cameron, Fearghas and Moibeal as she stepped out, and then focused on her maid and asked, "What?"
"I was just going to ask ye if ye wished me to fetch one o' yer tonics," Moibeal said patiently. "The men said as how ye've stopped at every garderobe since coming below, spending an awful lot o' time in each, yet were immediately stopping at the next, so I thought mayhap ye had the flux and--"
"Nay, I'm fine," Edith said, flushing as she realized how her behavior had been interpreted by her guards. Shaking her head, she stepped around the trio and headed for the kitchens, muttering, "I need to have a word with Jaimie."
She wasn't at all surprised when all three trailed after her. The men had to, and it wasn't as if Moibeal had anything better to do at the moment. No doubt the guards had stopped her at the landing and refused to allow her to go clean the bedchamber as she normally would.
"Halt."
Edith glanced up with surprise and eyed the man who had stepped in front of her as she approached the kitchen door. Two new soldiers were guarding it today, she saw, her gaze sliding from the stern face of the man before her to his wincing partner still by the door.
"Move, Sholto," Cameron growled before Edith could speak. "Yer lady wants to enter the kitchens to speak to Jaimie."
"Tormod ordered us no' to let anyone pass," the man said firmly.
"Well, yer lady trumps Tormod," Fearghas said impatiently. "So move."
"Sholto," the second man said worriedly. "Mayhap ye should--"
"Shut up, Roy. I have this," Sholto snapped, and then propped his hands on his hips and scowled at the lot of them. "I have me orders and--"
"Sholto," Edith interrupted pleasantly.
Snapping his mouth shut, he eyed her warily. "Aye?"
"I am lady here. Tormod works fer me. Which means you work fer me. I want ye to move out o' the way." When he scowled and looked like he might refuse, Edith added, "And I suggest ye do it now or I'll tell yer wife ye were messing with the ale wench and I had to treat ye fer the drip."
