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

We descended a row of wide stone steps, which narrowed around a circular pond and disappeared between dense hedgerows. I’dheard Lord Kendal’s garden hailed on more than one occasion to be something quite special, but I couldn’t remember exactlywhy.

I narrowed my eyes, straining to see down the curvy paths that split in all directions. No budding flowers or manmade ponds, simply greenery as far as the torchlights could illuminate—so much like the tea plantation in Ceylon. A prickly chill filled my chest and my legs began to feel heavy. Where precisely did Kendal mean to take me?

The bushes grew taller the farther we walked, plunging the path into feathered darkness. I thought I heard Kendal swear underhis breath, and strangely enough, his doing so comforted me. Kendal slowed his steps as he came to the same conclusion I had.Piers and Honora had found a way to be alone.

Chapter 20

What a strange garden.

Each turn in the thick hedgerows brought another path exactly as the last.

Then I remembered. All the greenery, the winding paths were a maze. Whitecaster Hall was known for its small, intricate mazeat the back of the property. I’d heard Seline describe it years ago.

One last corner and we came across a moonlit statue of Venus. Lord Kendal seemed hesitant to walk any farther from the house.“I thought perhaps Piers Cavanagh had come this way, but he’s nowhere to be found.”

I rubbed the chill from my arms. So there was to be no pretense between us. I glanced once more behind me. “I’m not certainwhich way they went, but rest assured, I know Mr. Cavanagh to be an honorable man. I doubt he came this far.” Granted, wehad.

“Honorable.” Lord Kendal laughed. “I beg to differ on that point.” Then his face grew quite still as he drew a circle withhis finger in the air. “Was this some sort of arrangement between the two of you? You distract me while Cavanagh takes a turnwith my fiancée?”

“Certainly not.”

“Then what are we doing out here, Miss Halliwell? Because I don’t believe for a second you needed a whiff of fresh air.” He spoke calmly enough, but his eyes were like daggers in the darkness. “Did Seline send you?”

I hesitated to answer as a stray gust of wind sent the leaves on the bushes quivering. A whisper of caution? Perhaps. I’drehearsed what I might say over and over again in my room, but nothing could have prepared me for the expression on Lord Kendal’sface or the way it would make me feel.

I stumbled over my next words. “I-I did wish to speak with you about . . . well, Seline, but not in the way you suppose.”

He picked a dried leaf from the sleeve of his jacket. “I have nothing further to say about Seline.” He made no move to leave.

“I—” This would not be easy. Lord Kendal and I were practically strangers, yet at the same time we shared a connection throughSeline. Standing there alone, buried in the heart of the maze, caught in Kendal’s dangerous glare, I knew I could not fobhim off with a manufactured lie. I let out a long breath. The truth was always best. “Seline never came home after your societymeeting at Kinwich Abbey.”

The moonlight betrayed the scowl that took shape on his face. “What do you mean she never came home?”

“Just what I said. A rumor has been circulated that she is ill, but the truth is she’s been missing since that night.”

His mouth slipped open, his eyes growing wild as he searched the bushes for answers.

I stepped forward. “There was a letter found in her room stating she had run off with Miles Lacy, that they were bound forGretna Green.”

His head tipped back slightly, followed by a pointed huff. “But that is—”

“Impossible.”

“Well, yes. Miles Lacy is here this very night in my stables, and trust me, I’d know if Seline was with him.”

“It is my understanding that you were the last person to speak with her the night she disappeared. And it was an argument.”

He dipped his chin. “When do we not have an argument?”

“If I may ask, what was she angry about? I’m attempting to piece together everything that happened that night, and your pointof view is vital if I’m to figure out where she has gone.”

He crossed his arms. “So you think I might have something to do with her disappearance?”

“That is not what I said, but surely you see that I must question everyone, particularly the person she specifically wentto see that night.”

He raked his hand through his hair. “The little minx thought she had me at last. Her excitement was palpable.” He cast mea sideways glance. “She liked to hold little secrets over us—all of us. Hugh, Tony, Avery. No one was left out of her littleweb. Of course Hugh always thought he was different—that she was being honest with him. He’d scored some sort of promise outof her. I, thankfully, had not been blessed with such a burden.” His gaze flicked to mine and held. “Believe me when I tellyou, she did not know about Honora that night.”

I played with a stray leaf on a nearby bush as I pondered his story. “You said she thought she had you. What do you mean?”

He shrugged, but the lines on his face only deepened. “She had a plan to trap me into marriage. She seemed to think she’dfound out something about my upcoming curricle race, something she could use against me.”

The exchange I’d overheard at the abbey echoed in my mind. “I believe the word you are looking for is sabotage.”

His eyes rounded. “Curious little thing you are. Now who told you such a farradiddle?”

“I overheard a conversation that seemed to suggest—”

“Oh, you did, did you?” A smile crossed his face, but it wasn’t a comfortable one. “And you really think, as a member of theFour Horse Club and a notable whip myself, I need stoop so low?”

Arrogance, it seemed, was like a second cousin for Kendal, and it flashed its