Perhaps the boy was telling the truth and was here to assist him. Still, he doubted that. Perhaps instead the boy was simply a better liar than he’d first given him credit for. “Pity,” The Raven said.
“I wouldn’t be so foolish.” Dougal crossed his arms over his chest.
And he’d been doing so well. A pity, the boy could have been a true ally. “Never underestimate your own stupidity, boy.” The Raven came to his feet, stepped around the desk, then leaned casually against it. “Or mine.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Dougal asked. His arms unfolded, fists clenched at his sides.
“It means I know why you’re here. Why you’re truly here.” He patted Dougal on the shoulder. “I will give you credit for trying to convince me. You definitely have some skills in that area, but your emotions give you away.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dougal said with feigned ignorance.
“Yes, of course you do. Stand up.” He slammed his hand down hard onto Dougal’s shoulder. The boy winced, but came to his feet nonetheless. “And I know you’re not alone. Shall we go and find your counterpart?” The Raven asked.
Dougal shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I came here alone.”
That could have been the truth. “Perhaps, but you didn’t arrive alone. Follow me.” And in case the boy had thoughts about disagreeing, The Raven withdrew a pistol from the hidden compartment on the bookshelf. “Come along.”
Vanessa crept in quietly after Dougal, sneaking in the front door and closing it soundlessly behind her. She waited two heartbeats before moving forward. So far no one had come running, so perhaps she had gone undetected. Dougal hadn’t appeared to notice.
She knew the boy had come to help find Niall’s family. She’d overheard him speaking with Graeme outside their sleeping car on the train. It had been clear that Dougal was racked with guilt and desperately trying to find a way to make amends. His sincerity had touched her. When she’d arrived back at Graeme’s townhome to find her husband gone and her young brother-in-law sneaking out, she had decided to follow him. She simply couldn’t allow him to walk into the dragon’s lair unaccompanied.
Surely Niall’s wife and son were here, hidden somewhere in a locked chamber. A dungeon, perhaps. This house certainly looked as if it boasted a dungeon.
She moved through the hall and up the stairs to her right. She’d check every room on every floor if she had to. She passed by one room as a maid solemnly made the bed, flipping the linens into the air and back onto the mattress. Vanessa spied a feather duster and quickly grabbed it, then sneaked back out of the room. Perhaps if she were caught, they would believe her if she said she was a new maid only just hired and hadn’t yet received her livery.
She checked three more rooms in this wing, all empty bedrooms. The other wing was darker, and, if it was possible, colder. She moved in that direction and cautiously opened the first door. This was clearly The Raven’s personal chamber, so she slipped inside and closed the door behind her.
The room was ornately decorated, with heavy carved furniture and red velvet and brocade fabrics dripping off every surface. It was easy to see that The Raven enjoyed his wealth. Not surprising, considering what she’d been told of his character. To her, the room seemed oppressive rather than opulent.
Perhaps there was a hidden chamber within this room where she would find Niall’s family.
“Penny,” she called, trying to speak in no more than a whisper. No one responded. She tried again. Again nothing.
And then Vanessa eyed the dressing closet. When she was a girl, her father had used his own to hide things from the family. Her mother hadn’t wanted him to bring his “filthy tools” in the house, so he’d kept them in compartments in the dressing closet, along with some treasures he’d found. Vanessa remembered going in there and sitting amongst his coats and rifling through his mud-caked tools. Perhaps The Raven had similar compartments.
She stepped into the dressing closet. Covering the four walls were a variety of garments: great coats, jackets, shirts, trousers, all sorts of gentlemanly clothes. She swept one side away to reveal the wall behind. She tapped, listening for a hollow sound, but there was nothing. She tried with the next, sweeping the trousers to the left to reveal the wall. She tapped, then paused, then tapped again. It was hollow. Barely detectable, but hollow nonetheless.
Vanessa looked around for some sort of lever that would open the hidden panel, but found nothing that appeared suspicious. She pounded on the wall in frustration and something clicked, then the panel slid aside. However, instead of an entrance to another room, as she’d expected, a small compartment was revealed. Inside she found a simple wooden box.
She reached in and pulled it out, then slowly, cautiously, she opened it. Inside sat two sizable stones, one blue, and the red one that she and Graeme had discovered in MacBeth’s crown. A ruby and a sapphire, each the size of her fist, and very similar to the emerald they’d retrieved from Niall. The Raven now had all of the gemstones required for the Kingmaker.
“I thought we already tried to kill you,” a male voice said from behind her.
“You did try to kill me,” Vanessa said as calmly as she could manage. She turned to face The Raven and Dougal. The former held a pistol. “But you missed,” she said sweetly.
“That’s what happens when you send a boy to do a man’s work. I won’t make that mistake again,” The Raven said.
She was pinned in the dressing closet, and The Raven stood in the doorway, blocking her exit. “So you intend to kill us, then?” Vanessa asked. Her only strategy would be to stall him until Graeme might come and rescue them, because she knew he’d come to confront The Raven eventually. She was certainly not used to being the damsel in distress, but when one managed to get oneself in such a situation, it helped to have a large and strong husband.
“Of course,” The Raven said.
“You know that if you harm one hair on either of our heads, Graeme will never give you the treasure you seek. The Kingmaker will never be completed,” Vanessa challenged.
The Raven eyed her carefully. If she wasn’t mistaken, she thought she might have seen appreciation cross his expression.
“If all you seek are the necessary stones for the Kingmaker, keep us safe, and you can barter our lives for the missing stone,” Vanessa continued.
The Raven laughed, a chilling chortle that almost made Vanessa shiver. “You are a clever one, I’ll give you that. I fully intend to kill both of you, but as it so happens, I’m late for a rather important engagement. So we must be leaving.”