Scraggan interrupted, the words practically bursting from him. Clearly the man was an egotist.
“We weren’t trying to kill them, we just needed to know what information they had and didn’t realise they were connected to you until we saw you together in Devon. Then it all fell into place and I knew just how you were going to pay.”
Peter frowned, and stared thoughtfully at the man before him. He let the silence stretch out, knowing that Scraggan wouldn’t be able to prevent himself from boasting further about his crimes.
Sure enough, he soon broke the silence.
“At first I ordered the men to arrange your riding accident. I’d hoped you’d suffer more injuries, but it wasn’t enough. We watched you for long enough to know she meant a lot to you. It didn’t take much to make our presence known to her at her aunt’s house and get her running. We knew you would give chase.” Scraggan sniggered, clearly proud of his ability to scare people.
“We knew where you both were, right up to the day she got a job in Derby. My men were better than yours and tracked her all the way inland. They were under instruction to sit and wait, and if she appeared in public they were to make their presence felt. It worked because you couldn’t find her, could you, Peter? You practically overturned every stone, searched every house, and you hadn’t got a bloody clue where she was. Every time you got too close, my men appeared and frightened her back indoors. It was all very clever, really.”
“But why put so much manpower into keeping her in Derby? I mean, you knew she hadn’t got any valuable information on her, so why not return to Cornwall and get on with your life?”
“Because that bloody idiot’s uncle messed things up when we paid him to kill your sister. You deserve to suffer,” Scraggan snarled.
Peter froze, and stared coldly at the man before him. He tried to keep the shock from his face. “Rupert?”
“Aye, that’s him. I paid him and that strange friend of his a high price to kill your sister, but they got greedy and didn’t think I would mind.”
Peter held up a hand as he tried to absorb the latest revelation. “Isobel,” he repeated dully, wondering if Scraggan was just taking a stab in the dark and was trying to claim another family near miss as his own, just to try to twist the knife.
“Would have killed two birds with one stone if Rupert and his friend had done what they were supposed to and killed the woman who was not only Dominic Cavendish’s wife, but your sister as well.”
“You paid Rupert to murder his niece!” Peter’s stomach churned at the devastation that had swept through the family. “Were you also behind the men who beat up Dominic that night?”
Scraggan smiled gleefully and thumped his chest. “Yes, they were mine! They were told not to kill him, just make him suffer. I didn’t want him dead. I wanted him alive to spend the rest of his days grieving for the woman he had watched die. I traded Rupert and DeLisle seats on a frigate out of Cornwall for her death.”
Peter fought the urge to curse. “You picked the wrong people to help you with those two, Scraggan,” he said, stunned to learn just how deeply Scraggan’s malice ran.
He was disturbed by the sheer evil now standing before him, and wondered if there was going to be a way out of this after all. He daren’t tear his gaze away from Scraggan and check on Jemima, although he was painfully aware that she had yet to speak. Since Scraggan’s appearance on the path behind them, she hadn’t moved a muscle.
“What about Sebastian? Were you behind his attempted murder too?”
Scraggan studied him carefully for a moment but regretfully shook his head. “No, I thought about it, but someone else beat me to it. It seems that you and the Cavendish mob have more than your fair share of enemies who want you dead. I didn’t need to do a thing on that one, although I did have a chuckle when I read the broadsheet the next week telling us about the near-death experience of his woman.”
Peter knew he had to be careful and not antagonise Scraggan until he was ready. “You have been busy. But why chase after Eliza with so much determination? I mean, you had the pick of the two of them, so why follow her?”
“Because, the longer the sisters stayed in hiding, the more I realised that they held something on us and wanted to keep it a secret. Someone in the village has been telling tales about us and I need to know who. When Eliza ran, we sent men after her to try and get the information off her, but unfortunately the men failed at first, so I sent Rogan up to Derby to oversee the running of the operation. He told me that he ordered the men not to kill her but just follow to see why she was heading to Padstow. I was waiting in Padstow to question her personally, only she changed her mind and went to Derby to try and save her sister instead.”
“It’s a lot of effort to go to in order to find out if someone has any information on you. You must have been up to a lot, to be so worried.”
“I’m not worried; I just don’t like leaving loose ends, and I should have dealt with these two the first time they stepped out of their house just after their father died.” Scraggan’s voice was filled with remorse at his lack of foresight.
Still struggling with the information Scraggan had given him, Peter was an instant too late and watched in horror as Scraggan lunged forward. The smaller man was sure-footed on the slippery stones, yanking heavily on the loose folds of Jemima’s cloak and unbalancing her.
Peter grabbed at he
r but clutched at thin air as Jemima was dragged swiftly toward the edge of the cliff. Scraggan turned to glance back at Peter tauntingly.
Jemima screamed and clung to Scraggan’s thin wrist as he pushed her closer to the edge. She glanced down and cried out at the sight of the white froth as it hit the jagged rocks below.
“I think everyone should get a second chance, don’t you? Seeing as my men failed to do a proper job the first time round, I think I had better make certain the job is done right.” His voice was evil as he pushed Jemima toward the edge.
She struggled to find purchase with her feet on the slippery rocks. If Scraggan let her go, she would fall to her death. She lifted panicked eyes to Peter, silently pleading for help, only to freeze as his next words shattered her world.
“Do your worst, Scraggan,” Peter snarled, shooting Jemima a dispassionate look. It took every ounce of bravado he possessed to utter the words. Inside he was tied in knots at the sight of the woman he loved being held over a deathly drop, but there was nothing he could do. If Scraggan let go, Peter would never reach her in time to stop her falling to her death.
He knew it was a gamble, but Peter’s only option was to do the exact opposite of what Scraggan wanted, at least until Jemima was safe.