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This time, they met by Niels at the top of the stairs when they'd finished. No one had to say they hadn't found anything. None of them had a culprit in hand. They gathered in a loose half circle in front of Niels and exchanged questioning looks.
"I did see someone behind Jetta," Aulay said grimly. "They came from the side, reaching to push her."
"I saw it too," Cam assured him.
"And I," Greer agreed.
Niels and Dougall nodded.
"If ye did no' find them in one o' the chambers, ye ken what that means," Dougall said quietly.
"The passages," Aulay growled.
"But only the family kens about the passages," Niels protested with a frown, and then added wryly, "And o' course, Sinclair and MacDonnell."
They'd had to tell the two men about the passages so that they could help guard Katie's room. Of course, they didn't know where the entrance was outside, or where and how to open the passage at the top of the stairs leading down to the tunnel to the caves. They only knew how to enter the passages from their respective rooms and access the entrance to the room Katie was in.
"Aye, but all o' us were below when someone pushed Jetta," Dougall pointed out. "So it was no' one o' us, and yet whoever it was managed to leave the floor without using the stairs. If ye can think o' another way to do that besides the passages, I'd be interested to hear it."
"Geordie was no' with us," Niels pointed out. "Nor Alick, nor Conran."
"Alick is hunting up more meat fer Cook," Aulay said quietly. "We expected ye to stay a couple days at least, so Cook needed more meat fer the meals. And Conran is already in position watching Geordie and Katie."
"He's in the passages?" Cam asked with interest and then pointed out, "If he is, he may ha'e seen who pushed Jetta if they used the passages to escape."
Aulay was turning to hurry back into Katie's room before Cam had even finished speaking.
Chapter 11
Geordie was still sprawled in the chair, sound asleep, when Aulay rushed into the bedchamber where Katie lay. Ignoring his brother as well as the men following him, Aulay moved to the wall next to the fireplace, and pushed on three rocks at the same time using one foot and both hands. He then stepped back as a click was followed by a section of the stone wall swinging inward toward him. Aulay waited for it to come to a halt, and then pulled it further open and stared at the empty space beyond.
"What is it?" Dougall asked moving up behind him. Seeing the empty passage, he said with bewilderment, "Where is he?"
Aulay shook his head, his expression grim. Conran was not the type to neglect his duties. He should have been right there, watching the room . . . unless someone made him leave. Turning away, he moved to grab a candle off the mantel and lit it from the flames in the fireplace.
"I'll check the passage," Dougall said, stepping up next to him. "Ye might be needed here."
"And I'll go with him," Niels added, joining them.
When Aulay merely nodded and handed the candle over, Dougall took it and then headed into the passage with Niels on his heels.
Once the two men had disappeared from sight, Aulay turned his attention to Geordie. The man's not waking at their entrance was suddenly suspicious and he moved to Geordie's side and bent to press an ear to his chest.
"Is he alive?" Greer asked with concern.
"Aye." Aulay turned toward Katie. After the briefest hesitation, he bent and pressed an ear to her chest as well. At first there was nothing, and then he heard a weak thud. He waited to hear another before straightening. "She's alive. But Rory should check them both."
"I'll fetch him," Greer offered and headed out of the room.
"Why is Geordie no' waking up?" Cam asked with a frown, moving closer to the man.
Aulay was hoping it was simply because the man was exhausted from lack of sleep. He'd been in the room watching over Kate since she was wounded. But it was possible that he'd been drugged. Returning to his brother's side, he tapped him on the shoulder firmly. Geordie moaned and reached out to push away his hand the first time, but when Aulay tapped again, he slowly forced his eyes open, and scowled.
"Aulay. What's about?" he asked, looking and sounding irritated, and then he suddenly sprung upright and glanced toward Katie.
"She's fine," Aulay growled.
Geordie slumped back in his seat with a sigh, and ran weary hands over his face, trying to wake up fully. "Why did ye wake me then?"
"To be sure ye yet lived," Aulay said dryly.
"Aye. I'm fine. I was no' the one who took an arrow to the back," Geordie said bitterly, and then frowned and glanced from Aulay to Cam and then to the open passage entrance. "What's happened?"
"Someone pushed Jetta down the stairs and Conran is missing," Aulay said bluntly.
"What?" Geordie asked with an amazement that quickly turned to concern. "Is Jetta all right? Who pushed her?"
"We do no' ken who did it. But aye, she seems fine. Rory is with her now." Aulay glanced to the passage, wondering if he shouldn't join his brothers in the dark and narrow pathway within the walls. If they ran into trouble--
"And ye say Conran is missing?" Geordie asked, dragging Aulay's gaze back again.
When he merely nodded, it was Cam who explained, "Conran was in the passage, keeping an eye on ye and Katie in case the person who shot an arrow at her tried to harm her again. He's missing now, which we found out when we were searching for the culprit who pushed Jetta down the stairs."
"Her attacker is up here somewhere?" Geordie asked with concern.
"Aye. Or they were," Aulay growled as it occurred to him that Niels was no longer watching the stairs. The culprit could be fleeing down them even now.
"Ye think they forced Conran out o' here with them?" Geordie asked, bringing his attention back.
"I do no' ken," Aulay admitted as he strode toward the door. "He--" Pausing, he turned toward the passage as Conran rushed into the room with Dougall and Niels on his heels. His first reaction was relief. It was followed quickly
by anger for the scare they'd all had. A scowl starting, he demanded, "Where the devil were ye?"
"I had to relieve meself," Conran said apologetically and then glanced around the room. "Rory and Geordie were both here with the lass when I left, and I thought I'd only be a minute, so it would be all right. The next thing I ken, Dougall and Niels were scaring the hell out o' me in the passage as I returned."
Aulay sighed and shook his head. He could hardly be angry with his brother for slipping away to relieve himself.
"Sorry, Aulay. Bad timing, I guess," Conran said now. "But is it true? Dougall and Niels said someone pushed Jetta down the stairs?"
"Aye," he muttered. "But don't apologize. I should ha'e thought to give ye breaks. I had to visit the garderobe a time or two meself last night." Arching an eyebrow now, he asked, "I do no' suppose ye saw anyone or heard anything while on yer way there, or back?"
"Nay. Well, I spotted Jetta digging through the gowns in one of the chests in the hall when I slipped from the passage entrance there next to the garderobe, but she did no' see me."
"That must ha'e been just before she started down the stairs," Cam muttered and Aulay nodded.
"Most like," Conran agreed. "She was gone when I headed back, and other than that I did no' see anyone or anything out o' the ordinary."
Aulay's mouth tightened at the news. It would have been too much to hope that Conran had seen anything useful, he supposed, and then shifted his gaze to the door to the hall when it opened. Rory entered with a sour look on his face, and Greer on his heels.
"I was just wrapping Jetta's ankle when Greer came to fetch me. What's happened now?" the healer asked irritably and then spotted Conran and the open entrance to the passage. "I thought yer presence in the passage was supposed to be a secret?"
"Aye, well, now it's no' a secret," Aulay pointed out with a scowl. "Is Jetta all right?"
"She twisted her ankle," Rory said with disgust. "She'll be limping fer a bit, but should be able to walk on it now it's wrapped." Raising his eyebrows, he then asked, "What's happened here? Who else is hurt?"
"Mayhap no one," Aulay admitted. "Greer fetched ye back to check on Katie and Geordie, and possibly Conran we thought at the time, though he is fine."
