“I know.” Edward murmured, returning to sit beside her. “But she can at least rest in peace with her name cleared.”
“I think I should like you to stay while I read Jemima’s letter, if you wouldn’t mind?”
“Read on.” Edward replied, settling back against the chaise to wait.
Chapter Twelve
“Are you alright?” He asked several moments later as she sat staring blankly at the fire, the unopened letter still held in her hand.
Eliza snapped out of her daze and studied the familiar scrawl on the parchment. It was full of bravery, encouragement and love, encouraging Eliza to go into the future with the expectation of happiness. She shouldn’t look back with regrets or think of Jemima or Papa with any regret or bitterness in her heart. To do so would mean she was no better than Scraggan. Typical for Jemima, even in death she was trying to tell Eliza what to do.
Eliza shook her head ruefully and glanced at Edward.
“She was set up by Scraggan.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. Has she told you what happened?”
She glanced down at the letter for several moments. “Rogan sent her a message saying that they had kidnapped me. They gave her a meeting place to be at if she wanted to see me alive again. Apparently she sent me a note, asking me to meet her but I didn’t arrive.” She hiccupped. “I didn’t get the note Edward.”
“So Eliza went to the meeting place thinking she could barter what she had for you.”
Eliza nodded slowly. “When she arrived there were five other men there, but no Rogan. A carriage had already been stopped and the occupants killed. Someone appeared behind her and gave her a small bag of coins. She took it off them without thinking; she says she couldn’t really see what it was and the man disappeared into the trees before she could say anything. Then everything was thrown into confusion as they were suddenly arrested. She was arrested for killing the man she was standing over, and stealing the pouch of coins she held.” She turned luminous amber eyes to Edward, not attempting to hide her anger.
“They set her up.”
“Although there is little we can do to bring her back, with the letter giving us her version of events. The information she has left us gives us more than enough to clear her name.”
“We can try.” Eliza murmured softly, refusing to allow her emotions to be raised in hope.
“The sooner we can bring
Scraggan to justice, the quicker peace will settle on all of us.” He murmured softly, picking up her hand and holding it carefully in lieu of drawing her into his arms.
She was still staring down at the letter in her hand, a thoughtful frown on her face. Briefly he wondered what else the letter contained but accepted that it was private to her and she would tell him in her own time, if she considered he needed to know.
“Here.” She murmured, handing him the parchment.
“Are you sure?” He replied, taking it from her cautiously.
He was about to unfold the paper when a loud, high-pitched scream broke the silence.
“What the hell?” Grabbing her wrist in his, he clutched the parchment in his hand and ran from the room, dragging her close behind.
At the far end of the long corridor he saw Dominic and Sebastian running towards them and together they all ran towards the back of the house and the origin of the screams.
“Do you know who it is?” Dominic snapped, slamming the door to the servants area open with a bang.
“It sounds like it is coming from the kitchens.” Eliza gasped, trying to ease her arm out of Edward’s relentless grip.
The screams continued, only broken by the person attempting to take a breath.
“Sir, quickly!” A shocked maid gasped from the doorway before she disappeared back into the kitchens.
Within moments they were all standing at the end of the long servant’s corridor that spanned the length of the house. A middle aged woman with wild eyes stood at the far end, staring into one of the rooms; her hands clutching her wild mass of hair.
“What is it woman?” Dominic snapped, striding towards her, a frown of concern on his face. He knew instinctively which room the woman was looking at and wondered why nobody had told her there was a body in the room.
“For God’s sakes will you shut up?” Dominic growled; his voice practically a shout when the woman continued to wail.