The ogre hesitated, then spat, “Don’t know—but he was here. He was pacing around, watching us dig, telling us to be careful—”
“You’d a known him if ’n you’d seen him,” the scrawny guard piped up. “He looked just like you, a black-haired, smooth-talking devil.”
“I saw one who looked like a gentleman,” one of their young fighters volunteered. “Glimpsed him when our boat crested a wave, before we came in, but I didn’t see him later.”
“I saw him, too,” Madeline said. “Earlier on, before we got to the beach. He was wearing a greatcoat, but I didn’t see him later.”
Dalziel rose. “So where is he now?”
Everyone, including the defeated men, looked around. Beyond the area lit by the flares, the night was a black velvet shroud.
Dalziel looked toward the northern end of the beach. “He didn’t go up the path. He didn’t reach the clifftop. What about that headland? Could he have walked, or swum, around it?”
“No,” Gervase replied. “And he couldn’t have slipped away to the south, either.”
“He’d be dead if he tried,” Abel opined.
“There’s the caves.” Edmond stared up at Dalziel; he hadn’t met him before. “He might have hidden in them.”
Swinging around, Dalziel stared at the deeply shadowed cliffs. “Can he get up to the clifftop through any of the caves?”
Edmond, Gervase and Abel all answered no.
Expression set, Dalziel nodded. “In that case, we search. Carefully.”
He gave clear, concise orders, setting two of their band to hold the cliff path, and two more to watch over the villain’s defeated crew; they roughly tied those of the vanquished men who might make trouble, before, in a group, the rest of them moved off.
>
Gervase led them to the entrance of the northernmost cave.
“We stay together, and search one cave at a time—no need to give him a chance to take any more hostages,” Dalziel said. “We’ll work our way down the beach, leaving two men outside to make sure he doesn’t try to slip past us, back to a cave we’ve already searched.”
It took more than an hour to search every cave.
Impossible though it seemed, their villainous traitor had somehow escaped the beach.
Leaving the last cave, trudging back up the beach, Gervase and Charles exchanged glances. They knew how frustrated Dalziel had to be feeling.
Reaching the bottom of the path up the cliff, Gervase stopped and straightened, stretching his spine. “What now?”
For a long moment, Dalziel made no answer, staring out at the waves rolling in, then he drew a tight breath. “I’ll go up and join Allardyce. We’ll search the coast and cliffs going north as far as Helston.” He glanced at Gervase.
Gervase nodded, equally grim. “We’ll head out on foot, doing the same in the other direction as far as the castle. He must have risked going around the rocks, either to the north or the south. If he’s made it to the cliffs, one side or the other, we should find him.”
That was the simple truth, yet he had a feeling in his gut that none of them—not him, Charles or Dalziel—held out much hope. Unbelievable though it seemed, their quarry had eluded them. Yet again.
Abel came up, saying he’d have his “boys” take their boats back up the coast to Helston, as well as returning the castle’s two boats. “The lads will scan the coves as they row past.”
He also offered to oversee marching their vanquished foes up to the cliffs, and then to the constable in Helston. He grinned. “That’ll put me in good odor with the authorities—might as well get something from the night.”
“You enjoyed the action, you old reprobate,” Gervase said.
“True.” Abel’s grin grew wider. “But when you reach my age, you learn to make the most of what the good Lord sends you.” With a chuckle, he stumped off to order his “boys” to their various tasks.
Taking Madeline’s hand, collecting Edmond with a glance, Gervase started up the path. Charles joined them, along with those of their band who hailed from the castle, or had homes in that direction.
They reached the clifftop to discover Dalziel and Christian had already set out. Turning, they headed along the coast, following it toward the castle.