Isabelle cursed. Marshall’s eyes flew to her. Isabelle nodded once, answering his unspoken question. Yes, she was all right.
“So glad you’ve descended from on high to join us, Yer Grace,” Sally mocked. “I’d begun to think I wouldn’t have the pleasure of making your acquaintance, but now that you’re here, there’s something I’d like to discuss.”
“And what would that be?” Marshall mused.
“Do not play stupid with me!” Spittle flew from Sally’s lips. Her nostrils flared. “I’m going to make it real clear for you, Monthwaite. Drop your gun, or I kill your sister.”
Isabelle heard the sickening sound of Sally’s pistol cocking.
Marshall held his hands out and slowly bent his knees, placing the gun on the floor.
“Kick it,” Sally demanded.
Marshall shoved the pistol with his foot. It spun away under a table, out of reach.
“And now,” Sally said through tight lips, “we’re going to have that discussion. Or, to be more precise, you’re going to do some discussing. I’m going to listen, and so are these ladies. And so help me God, don’t you dare pretend you don’t know what I mean.”
Just then, another man burst into the greenhouse — lean and hard in appearance, his face had the rugged look of a man much used to working out-of-doors. Panting, he pressed one hand to his heaving chest and raised the other. “Sally,” he gasped, “stop this madness!”
“Thomas!” Sally beamed at the newcomer. “I was going to come home to you again, my love, just as soon as it was all over.”
“It’s over now, Sally,” the man proclaimed. “You made your point with the mare, though I wish to God you hadn’t done — you know I wouldn’t have wanted you to,” he chided. “There’s no need to harm anyone else. Put down the gun.”
Sally shook her head; a strand of hair clung to her sweat-sheened cheek in a graceful curve incongruous with the mad gleam in her eyes. “I can’t, Thomas. Don’t you see? I’m doing this for you, dear heart, for us!” She nodded fervently, then returned her attention to Marshall. “Even better,” she announced with a triumphant lift of her chin. “You can say it in front of these ladies and Thomas. Do it!”
Isabelle’s eyes went back and forth between Sally and Marshall. At last Marshall ducked his head in a gesture of capitulation.
When he lifted his head again, his dark eyes were filled with anguish. “I’m responsible for the death of the mare and her foal.”
Isabelle inhaled sharply. That wasn’t really true. He was just saying it to appease Sally, wasn’t he?
“I cooked the herbal medicine,” Marshall said. “I made a mistake, and it went wrong.” He shook his head slowly. “I was scared and ashamed, and I let Mr. Gerald take the blame. For that, I am sincerely and utterly sorry.”
A cold, hard weight settled in Isabelle’s stomach. It was true, all of it.
Marshall held his hands out, palms up. “I understand why you are angry. But if you’d just listen — ”
“You ruined his life!” Sally snapped. “When I met him, my Thomas was on a labor gang of criminals, instead of practicing an honest trade. D’you know how hard it’ll be, with that hanging over us?” A strangled sound came from her throat, and it took Isabelle a moment to realize the woman was holding back furious tears. “But I’ll do it, Thomas,” she swore passionately. “I’ll stay by your side through thick and thin, just like a good woman should, no matter how this lyin’ bastard has spoiled things for us.”
“Sally, please put down the gun,” Thomas begged. “You’re not helping me none this way!”
Isabelle watched the young woman in horrified fascination. She shook visibly with the force her anger and hurt, her countenance as terrible as an avenging angel.
“Will taking Lady Naomi’s life somehow make it all better?” Marshall reasoned.
Sally sniffed. She wiped her cheek with the back of her hand holding the gun. She shook her head. “No,” she said in a quieter, calmer tone. “But taking yours will.” In one smooth motion, she raised her hand, then lowered her arm and pulled the trigger.
The gun’s rapport slammed against Isabelle’s eardrums. Marshall collapsed to the greenhouse floor.
Naomi screamed, and Thomas bellowed.
Isabelle barely registered what had happened. She seized one of the heavy jugs Marshall used for mixing plant food from the workbench and ran. With the murderous shot still ringing in her ears, she brought the jug crashing down on the crown of Sally’s head. The woman fell in a heavy heap with her arm still around Naomi, pulling her down to the floor, too.