“But she was no’ there,” Tormod finished. “We searched the entire lodge and then a good way into the woods around the lodge, but there was no sign o’ her at all,” he assured them solemnly and then added, “Yet none o’ the horses were missing. She rode with one o’ the soldiers on the way out because Brodie did no’ want a cart to slow them, and there were seven dead horses there in the stalls. Only Lonnie’s was missing, so she did no’ ride away.”
“Not on her own,” Niels agreed, and then added, “But she could have left the lodge with Lonnie to return here.”
There was a moment of silence as everyone considered that, and then Tormod sighed. “If so . . .”
He didn’t finish his thought, but then he didn’t have to. They all knew the rest of what he hadn’t said. If Nessa had been with Lonnie when he was killed, and if the man had been killed by bandits as they’d assumed, then the maid had most likely been taken by them. Nessa had been a pretty little thing. If bandits had taken her, she’d probably been sorely used and then left dead in the woods somewhere. If not on Drummond land then wherever the bandits traveled after Drummond.
Shaking his head, Tormod said into the silence that had fallen, “Between Effie being poisoned and possibly dying, Victoria poisoned and dead and Nessa taken and probably murdered by bandits, Victoria and her maids did no’ make out well here.”
“Nay,” Edith murmured, but frowned and stared down at the tabletop, her mind racing as she tried to put together the bits of information those words had suddenly sent bouncing around inside her head. None of them made sense, or meant anything on their own, but she was sure they would if she could put them together properly.
“What are ye thinking, lass?” Tormod asked.
Edith shook her head, but then grasped at one bit of information that kept flashing through her mind and said, “The murders started after Victoria and her maids got here.”
Dead silence met her words and Edith glanced around to see her husband, his brothers and Tormod all staring at her wide-eyed. It seemed obvious that hadn’t occurred to them. It also seemed obvious they weren’t sure what to make of it either.
Sighing, she said, “It just seems to me that we have been asking who and why without being able to sort it out. But we have no’ once considered when it started as possibly being important, and yet why would it start all o’ a sudden like that? One day all was well at Drummond, and then the next me father was dead, me brothers dying and I was ill, and it all happened shortly after Victoria arrived. The day her maids got here, actually.”
“I had no’ thought o’ that,” Tormod said slowly.
“But Nessa is missing and Effie was poisoned too,” Rory pointed out with a frown.
“Aye, we can no’ find Nessa,” Edith said thoughtfully.
“But that does no’ mean she’s dead necessarily, does it?” Niels said now, following her train of thought.
“Nay, I suppose not,” Rory acknowledged. “But Effie is definitely poisoned and likely to die eventually.”
“When?” Edith asked.
Rory stared at her blankly.
“I mean is she showing signs of weakening?” Edith asked, and then pointed out, “Ye said the other day that she was looking better and had more color. That ye’d almost think she was getting food other than the soup ye dribble down her throat.”
“Aye, but I test her daily. She is no’ conscious and can no’ be eating,” he said firmly.
“How do ye test her?” she asked at once. It was something she’d wanted to ask since Niels had mentioned this testing business to her. Because she suspected she knew how. At least, she knew how she would test, and if Rory was testing Effie the same way—
“I stick a needle in her foot,” Rory said, his eyebrows slightly raised at the question, and then he added, “Quite deep too. There is no way she could pretend to sleep through it.”
“Ah,” Edith breathed out the word, her head going back slightly at this news, and then she turned to stare down at the tabletop again, more pieces connecting in her mind.
“Lass?” Tormod asked. “What are ye thinking?”
Edith was silent for another minute, and then admitted, “I’m thinking that twice now I’ve seen what looked like a woman in one o’ the windows o’ the upper chambers, and—”
“When?” Niels asked at once.
“The day the arrow was shot at me was the first time,” she admitted. “I landed on yer chest on me back, and just before ye rolled me under ye, I saw someone in the window o’ me room. ’Twas just a quick glance, and I only got an impression o’ the person, but now that I’m thinking on it, it could have been a woman.”
“And the second time?” Geordie asked.
“Yesterday on the way back from the market,” she admitted. “As we started into the bailey I remembered what I’d seen the day the arrow was shot at me and I leaned out around the shield to look toward the window.”
“Aye, I remember,” Niels said quietly. “I pushed ye back behind the shield.”
Edith nodded. “But in the quick glimpse I got, I thought I saw a woman there again.” She shrugged as if it wasn’t important, and added, “But again I only got a quick look.”
“So, ye’re thinking Nessa is here somewhere?” Tormod asked grimly.
“That or the woman I saw was Effie,” she said on a sigh, quite sure they would reject it at once.
“Nay,” Rory said firmly as she expected. “I told ye, I poke her feet with a needle twice daily. And I poke it deep, Edith. She could no’ feign sleep through it.”
“Effie has no feeling in her feet,” Edith told him baldly.
“What?” Rory asked sharply.
“Are ye sure?” Niels asked.
Edith nodded. “Victoria told me so herself. ’Tis why she brought Nessa to help her. Effie has no feeling in her feet and her legs are weak—she can no’ walk far or stand long. It makes doing her job difficult.”
Cursing, Niels started to rise, but Rory caught his arm.
“Wait,” he said. “Think on this, brother. Why would Effie kill everyone? Had she stopped at Edith’s father and brothers, I might believe she was trying to give Victoria all that Brodie promised her when he talked the girl into marrying him. But then she would hardly kill Victoria and Brodie. And now that Victoria is dead, she gains nothing from killing Edith.”
“Victoria, and not Effie, could have been the one who was truly poisoned by accident,” Tormod said solemnly, and explained, “Victoria did no’ care fer ale. Mayhap Effie put the poison in the ale, thinking Victoria would no’ drink it.” His mouth tightened and he added, “And I’m sure Lady Victoria would no’ have drunk it had she had something else, but Brodie rarely considered others and did no’ this time. There was nothing else for Victoria to drink.”
“So she drank the ale,” Edith murmured with a nod. That made sense, she supposed, but there were still pieces that didn’t fit, she thought, and then glanced around as Niels suddenly headed for the stairs. Tormod and Geordie were hard on his heels.
When Cameron and Fearghas stood and moved to stand behind her, Edith got up to follow as well, but she was moving much more slowly. So was Rory, she noted as he fell into step beside her. She was silent for a moment, aware of Cameron crowding her from behind. He was right on her heels, eager for her to move more quickly so that they could get to where the action was, but Edith ignored him and as she started up the stairs with Rory, said, “Ye do no’ think ’twas Effie.”
Rory grimaced. “Perhaps ’tis just because I have been nursing her for so long, trying to get her to live that I do no’ want to believe it, but nay. I do no’.” He glanced at her sharply then and said, “And you?”
“I do no’ ken,” she admitted. “There are still things that do no’ fit.”
“What do ye mean?” Rory asked with curiosity.
“Well, Effie could be awake, and she could have enough knowledge o’ poisonings to be behind those deaths,” Edith acknowledged.
“But how could she ha’e got down to the kitchen to stab Cawley without anyone noticing her?” Rory suggested.
“Aye,” Edith said on a sigh. “And I find it hard to believe that Effie could hold the bow steady enough to shoot an arrow so straight. Aside from her feet being numb, she had the palsy in her hands and arms. ”
“It was no’ her,” he said with relief.
“Ye were afraid ye’d been working so hard to keep a murderer alive,” she said with understanding.
“I would ne’er have forgiven meself,” Rory admitted as they stepped onto the landing.
Edith nodded, and then glanced up the hall as Niels strode out of the room Effie had been put in, his face set in harsh lines.
“She’s gone,” he announced grimly.
“Gone where?” Rory asked with surprise. “She was in bed when I went below to break me fast and someone would have noticed had she come down the stairs.”
“She must be up here somewhere then,” Geordie growled.