The Vanishing at Loxby Manor by Abigail Wilson (grave mercy .TXT) 📕

“You brute.” I reached out to pop his arm as I’d done a thousand times in my youth, but I sobered all too quickly, memoriesflashing into my mind. Long strolls in the garden. The day he kissed me in the alcove. And then that letter. I would not beso foolish this time.

He, too, shifted his position in his chair before turning to the door, his expression changing. “Avery, what impeccable timingyou have.”

Avery strolled into the room and flopped into the large wingback chair across from us. “Would you expect anything less? Nowwhat’s all this about? I must tell you, I’ve got a devilish headache.”

The two brothers looked to me.

“It’s about the day Seline disappeared.”

Avery flicked his fingers in the air. “What of it?”

“Would you mind explaining who else besides Lord Kendal was with you when Seline came upon you in the meadow?”

He glanced up at the crossbeams in the ceiling. “Just a couple of friends—Hugh Daunt and Tony Shaw. The four of us had something important to discuss.”

“And you saw nothing of Miles Lacy that night?”

He shrugged. “No, why would I?”

“What did Seline say when she arrived?”

He tilted his head back against the chair. “Nothing all that remarkable. She said she’d come to speak with Kendal, and thenhe took her aside as she requested. Curst if I know what she was jabbering about.”

“You didn’t hear a word? Not a solitary one?”

“No. She just let in on Kendal for several minutes and then flounced off.” Avery pinched the bridge of his nose. “Listen,as much as I’d love to stay and chat with you two lovebirds, this headache needs a dark, quiet room, and straightaway. I’llbe happy to answer anything else you can dream up tomorrow morning, when I’m up to snuff.”

Irritated by Avery’s insinuation, I gave a pert nod.

He sprang to his feet. “G’night, Piers, Charity.”

Piers and I waited until the sound of his footsteps disappeared, and the imaginary rope of curiosity drew us both forward.I lowered my voice, a curious spark of interest christening my words. “He’s hiding something. Did you see how quickly he hadto get out of here?”

Piers dipped his chin. “Like a scared rat.”

Chapter 6

Avery was nowhere to be found the following morning, not in the house or about the estate. In fact, I didn’t see either brotheruntil Piers came upon me at the back gate of the rose garden in the afternoon.

He was a bit flushed when he appeared around the corner, and I wondered if he’d been running. A natural at evasion, he ignoredmy questioning look and motioned down the incline toward the River Sternway, tempering his voice. “Care for an afternoon stroll?”

I hesitated at first, then gave a vague nod, still a bit intrigued as to what brought him rushing this way. I could keep myemotions at bay. “Any word of where Avery got off to?”

He shook his head. “Baker says he left quite early. Apparently a letter came for him last night from Hugh Daunt.”

“Hmm, so you don’t think he’s avoiding us?”

Piers ushered me onto the narrow gravel path with a flick of his wrist. “Not exactly, yet at the same time I wonder what wasso urgent to take him from home at such a time. He could have easily found another way of putting us off.”

The sun hung low in the sky, warming our backs while painting long shadows over the eastern slope. A slight breeze ran its wide fingers across the grass and tinted the air with the sweet scent of wisteria. I glanced over at Piers. Though I’d dreaded his presence at the house, it also seemed so natural that he should be here beside me, that we should be deciding between us what was best to be done about Seline.

“What do you think Hugh, Tony, and Lord Kendal were doing meeting Avery so late at the abbey? Seems a remarkably odd choiceto me.”

“Very odd, no doubt. Of course Avery has been friends with those first two since he was in leading strings, but Lord Kendal—thatname was certainly a surprise.”

A bird swooped low over the path, and I watched it glide for a moment on a stray gust of wind, the very embodiment of strengthand peace.

“I’ve been doing a bit of thinking about the night Seline left. As I said before, there was a light out my window, which hadto have been the very thing that set her off.” I paused to catch his gaze. “From what she said before she left my room, sheknew who would be at Kinwich Abbey, in effect, who had brought the light. I can only assume it was Lord Kendal she was after.She had just finished telling me she would only marry a gentleman with a title.”

“My mother’s words, but I see Seline adopted them as her own.” He kicked a stone with the toe of his boot.

Piers paused at the woods’ edge, placing his hand against a tree. “I am beginning to fear you’re in the right of it though. After your questions in the drawing room, I decided to do a bit of questioning of my own. First thing this morning, I spoke with my man in the stables. Berkeley said he’d heard from Mr. Lacy that Miles was called to Mr. Cavanagh’s room the morning of Seline’s disappearance and was planning to leave early the next morning. He, too, thought the elopement extremely unlikely. He didn’t know Miles well but said he was never one to take responsibility for anything. I wasn’t able to speak with Mr. Lacy directly, as he accompanied Avery to town, but I intend to do so.”

I was forced to focus on my steps as the path took a dip. “Then if Seline didn’t go to Gretna Green with Miles Lacy, whereon earth is she?”

He countered my question with a cunning look. “If Avery’s description of what happened at the abbey is to be believed, onlyone person can possibly know for certain what happened to Seline once the