Samuel looked at her sideways. “That’s not what your contract with him suggests.”
Fanny looked at her brother with a sinking feeling. If Samuel knew, then Father knew. She was surprised he hadn’t given her another scolding, even if she was too old for them now. “How did you—”
“A better question to ask is how Wilks got his slimy fingers on your private papers?”
She didn’t say but closed her eyes. “Wilks showed you the contract. What did he ask of you?”
“Wilks asked me for nothing, but I take it he and his father are attempting to blackmail you over it, given their behavior toward you last night.”
She nodded quickly. “I am to meet with Wilks today before he and his father leave, to retrieve the contract. I have no doubt he’ll present me with a list of demands for his silence and a bill to pay. Don’t worry, I can handle him myself.”
“You don’t know yet? Devil take it.” Samuel looked about frantically. “You must speak to Dawes before your meeting with Wilks takes place.”
“Why? I don’t need his help or any man’s.” Fanny stared at her brother. He was usually the least excitable of all her siblings but not at this moment.
“You do now,” Samuel pulled her off the path to whisper, “The only thing Thwaite and Wilks have is an empty threat.”
Fanny gripped her brother’s arm. “How?”
“Ask Dawes. I can see now why you might want to keep him around.” Samuel grinned. “Most proper gentleman wouldn’t be able to pick a pocket as easily as he did last night and get away with it.”
“Picking pockets!? No, he couldn’t have done that.”
“Saw it with my own eyes.” Samuel nodded enthusiastically. “Very impressive. One day I must ask him to show me how it’s done. You know how I love charlatans and thieves.”
Fanny looked around for Jeremy too, now, but he seemed to have fallen far behind in the procession leading back to Stapleton Manor. She turned back to Samuel. “I can’t see him. Can you?”
Samuel, much taller than Fanny, rose up on his toes. “No, I can’t, actually. Strange. I wonder what’s become of him.”
A feeling of dread settled in her stomach. What if Wilks had found him to finish what he’d started last night?
She had to find Jeremy immediately. She glanced around again and saw that everyone on their walk had caught up.
Since there was no sign of Jeremy, she grabbed her father’s arm when he drew level to find out what he knew. “Papa, what has become of Mr. Dawes?”
“He’s behind,” Father said, looking back then, too. “Now, where the devil has that boy disappeared to? He was just there a moment ago.”
She craned her neck, but she and Father were the last in the procession now. Samuel had fallen back into the line with everyone else. “When exactly did you see him?”
Father scratched his jaw. “I’m sure we spoke in the woods. He asked about the age of a tree, of all things. Perhaps he paused to rest there.”
Fanny pressed her lips together momentarily. “I’ll go back and fetch him. I’ll join you all for luncheon shortly.”
“Don’t be too long.” Father pointed to the horizon. “That’ll be a nasty storm I should think when it finally arrives.”
“Then I’d better hurry and find him.” Fanny hitched up her skirts and rushed back along the path until she reached the trees. It was dark and gloomy inside the woods now, thanks to the approaching storm, and Jeremy might have gotten himself turned around. She should have kept a closer eye on him. The city-bred actor hardly knew his way around the manor and gardens, let alone a dark wood.
“Mr. Dawes,” she called and stepped deeper into the gloom, listening intently for an answer. “Jeremy Dawes, show yourself.”
Silence.
Taking one last look at the approaching dark skies, Fanny continued into the wood, glancing left and right of the trail. Jeremy had been wearin
g a moss-green coat today, which would make him exceptionally hard to see against the color of the forest surrounds.
Fanny had gone halfway back to the Hawthornes when she finally spotted him.
He was sitting upon an old tree stump to one side of the path. Legs crossed. Posture relaxed. Unworried by his isolation.