Walking Into Murder (13 page)

She was rewarded with a weak smile. “Sounds like a good deal to me,” Catherine agreed, rubbing her face against Senator’s neck.

Laura walked cautiously toward Morris. “Knife, need knife,” he muttered viciously. “Get them, I’ll get them.” He started to sit but fell back, gasping. “Damned horse. Get him too.”

Laura tried to soothe him. “Lie still,” she ordered. “I’m going to send for the doctor. He’ll take care of you soon.”

“No doctor,” he said distinctly. “All right.”

“No, you aren’t all right,” Laura replied firmly. “You are badly hurt and you must not move or try to talk.”

Morris opened his eyes. They stared up at her malevolently. “The bossy lady. Who the hell are you, anyway?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Laura soothed. “You need to rest.”

“Antonia,” Morris ordered. “Bring Antonia. Have to talk to her. Important. Very important.” His eyes were apprehensive now as well as threatening.

“As soon as I find a doctor I will look for Antonia,” Laura promised. “She can come to the hospital, I’m sure.”

Morris shook his head, which made him wince in pain. “No hospital,” he gasped. “No bloody hospital. Antonia. Just Antonia.”

“You must have known Antonia a long time,” Laura ventured, trying to understand his insistence.

Morris frowned. “Your idea of a joke? Not funny.”

This wasn’t getting her very far. Laura decided to try a more direct approach. “Not a joke,” she assured Morris. “I have no idea why you have known Antonia for a long time.” A new thought came to her, and she gave a muffled gasp. “Is she your sister? Is that it?”

Morris gave her a contemptuous look and closed his eyes. “Leave me alone,” he said. He didn’t speak again.

He didn’t need to. Laura was certain she was right and wondered why she hadn’t seen the resemblance before. Antonia and Morris looked very alike, with their blondness and their classic features. She didn’t much like Antonia but having a brother like this must have been a sore trial.

In the meantime, however,
she
seemed to be stuck with Morris. Somehow, she had to find a doctor for him. He could be bleeding to death in front of her eyes. Thomas needed medical attention too, but there was no way to get help because phones didn’t work up here even if she had one, and she didn’t know who to call anyway because she didn’t know who to trust.

She whirled at an unexpected sound, and her heart began to beat hard with panic. A vehicle was coming! She could see its dark bulk straining slowly up the track. It sounded exactly like the van Stewart and Morris had used. She could see the lights now too. What if Stewart was coming back? He might have heard her screams earlier and wondered what was going on. He might even bring reinforcements in case there was trouble.

A cold frisson of fear crawled up Laura’s spine. Now what was she to do?

The walking stick. She had to figure out how it worked, quickly. Laura bent over it, straining to see.

There was no time. The vehicle ground to a halt and she heard the sound of someone jumping out. Only one person? Excited yaps came next. Dogs! Had Stewart brought the dogs?

Laura clutched her stick with both hands, raised it high and waited.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Might I help?” The polite voice came out of the darkness below. Laura jumped; then her body sagged with relief. Dr, Banbury! It was only Adrian Banbury. What was he doing here at this time of night?

She lowered the stick and realized that she was trembling all over. The art-loving veterinarian might make her uneasy, but he was definitely her savior. This was the second time he had appeared exactly when she needed him.

“Good heavens, it’s Laura!” Adrian exclaimed when he was close enough to see her. “But what are you doing up here alone?” He closed the remaining distance between them. “I am so sorry if I startled you,” he went on apologetically. “When I took the dogs out for their last walk of the day, I thought I heard someone scream. We don’t usually get screams on the moor, so I put the dogs in the truck and came up to investigate.

“But I’m rambling. Are you all right? That’s the main point. It simply isn’t safe for a woman to be up on the moor by herself at night. And was it you who screamed?” He came up to her and took her hand, looking genuinely distressed by her plight.

Laura almost laughed. How courtly he was! Despite what had happened tonight, the moor was probably a great deal safer at night than the city she routinely traversed to teach. “I’m fine,” she assured him, aware that her hands were still shaking, belying her words, and that he must feel them. “I’m afraid I was the one who screamed, though. And I’m not up here by myself. I’ve got two wounded men and a young friend with me.”

She stopped, wondering how on earth she could explain why she and Catherine were up on the moors with a horse that didn’t belong to either of them which had injured a man who had gone after them with a knife, as well as a man who had been rolled up in a carpet unconscious and brought to the shed to be tortured for information by the man with the knife.

The task was clearly impossible. “It’s a long story,” she apologized, “but I really could do with some help. That’s the most important part right now. We need a doctor for this man, for one thing.” She pointed at Morris.

“I should say you do,” Adrian agreed, bending over the prone body. “What happened to him?”

“I’m afraid it was the horse,” Laura explained. “He was defending my friend. The man, his name is Morris, came after her with a knife. I guess that’s when I screamed. It all happened so unexpectedly, you see.”

Catherine appeared beside her and took over smoothly. “You see,” she explained, “the horse, Senator, got loose, and we saw him heading up here. Maybe the groom forgot to latch his door, or something like that. Laura and I followed him as fast as we could, but it’s quite a long way. I guess this man must have frightened Senator – he’s normally very gentle, but he doesn’t like people who lunge at him unexpectedly. Anyway, he must have been terrified, or he would never have lashed out like that.”

“Lord Torrington’s horse, I see,” Adrian observed, stroking Senator’s neck gently. “I know him well, and I don’t consider him dangerous, not at all. What do you think frightened him so badly?”

“I wondered if the man had been drinking,” Laura contributed since Catherine seemed to have no ready answer this time. “We saw him come out of the shed just before this happened, and he seemed almost demented. He was running around with a knife in his hand, and then he started chasing us,” she added, warming to her story. “The horse felt threatened, I guess, or maybe he felt we were being threatened. Anyway, he reared and lashed out, and the man was right in front of him, trying to get at Catherine.”

“I see,” Adrian answered thoughtfully.

“Well, let’s have a closer look at the man,” he went on briskly. “Could you shine my torch on him while I examine him?”

Recalling that “torch” was British for flashlight, Laura took it and shined it obligingly on Morris. “Looks remarkably like the fellow who posed as butler up at the manor,” Adrian murmured.

“You mean
he
was a butler there?” Catherine was astonished. Laura was even more surprised. Morris must be the butler Lord Torrington had fired. She had never thought of that. Adrian’s choice of words was striking, too.
Posed as butler,
he had said. How interesting.

“Yes, I saw him at the manor a couple of times when I came up to look at the horses,” Adrian replied. “Didn’t last long, though, not even as long as the last one.” He gazed searchingly into Morris’s face and then began to examine him with professional-looking fingers. Morris groaned.

“Dr. Banbury is the local veterinarian,” Laura informed Catherine hastily to distract her. She was looking rather green. Probably she hadn’t seen Morris clearly until now. He wasn’t a pleasant sight.

“Nasty,” Adrian commented, and Laura had the odd feeling that he was talking about Morris as well as his injuries. “Not a good idea to get in front of a frightened horse, is it? We’ll have to get him to hospital as soon as we can. I’ll put in a radio call to the hospital and they’ll send someone out.”

“That would be wonderful,” Laura agreed. “I’m very glad you came up to investigate. This is the second time you’ve rescued me and I’m grateful.”

Adrian bowed graciously. “I am delighted to be of service to such a lovely lady. It is indeed my pleasure.”

He turned to Catherine. “Well, young lady,” he said genially, “I think I should take you and Laura back to my housekeeper, who adores looking after people. You’ve had quite a shock, you know. The horse can come too. We’ll stable him at my place until morning. I’ll let Lord Torrington know so he won’t worry.”

He frowned. “It seems strange that Senator is saddled,” he commented. “Do you suppose Lord Torrington meant to ride him later?”

“He must have, I guess,” Catherine replied, all innocence.

Laura decided to change the subject. “I’m afraid we have another casualty to see to,” she reminded Adrian. “He’s in the shed. I think Morris must have hit him over the head.”

“He’s my dad,” Catherine explained. “We found him already up here.”

“Well, let’s have a look at your father, too,” Adrian said agreeably. “One day, however, I would appreciate hearing the real story,” he added. “You two seem to have had some astonishing adventures.”

Laura could think of no response, so she started up the hill for the shed. “This way,” she told Adrian loudly, hoping Thomas would hear and have the wits to hide the evidence they had found. How would she possibly explain the bloody clothes?

To her relief, there was no sign of the manila envelope or the clothes when they entered the shed. She wondered where Thomas had stashed them, and then she saw her bulging backpack. She shuddered. She would hand the grisly bits of clothing over to Thomas at the earliest opportunity.

“This is Dr. Banbury,” she told Thomas. “He has kindly offered to rescue us. He can arrange to have Morris taken to the hospital.”

Thomas surprised her. “Dr. Banbury and I met briefly a few days ago,” he told her. Laura noticed that he looked faintly alarmed.

“Aha! The gentleman who was looking for his daughter,” Adrian exclaimed. “It seems you’ve found her. Excellent! Mr. Smith, isn’t it?”

Catherine stared at her father. “So you did come to look for me,” she said softly. Her smile lit up her face, but then confusion replaced her obvious relief. “But then why did you say you were looking -”

Thomas cut off the rest of her sentence. “Yes, I did find her, I’m glad to say,” he replied heartily. “Good to see you again, Banbury. You’ve come along just when help is urgently needed. We are most grateful.”

Catherine and Laura exchanged a baffled look. Why had Thomas switched from missing daughter to missing wife?

Adrian’s voice distracted them. “I’ll go back to the truck and bring it closer,” he offered, reverting to practical matters. “Then we’ll get you into it.”

“Thank you, Adrian.” Laura smiled at him. She tied the walking stick to one of the straps on her pack and hoisted it onto her back. It felt very heavy.

“I’ll help you stand up,” she told Thomas. “Do you think you can walk?” He nodded, and Catherine came to help. By the time Adrian returned with the truck, they were waiting for him and ready to go.

“Will Morris be all right up here?” Laura asked worriedly. “It seems awful to leave a wounded man up here alone.”

“I’ve already radioed for help and told them exactly where to find him,” Adrian reassured her. “They’ll be here in a matter of minutes and get him right to hospital. We can wait if you like, though.”

“Let’s get Thomas into the truck and then see,” Laura answered. They helped Thomas into the front seat; Catherine clambered into the back of the truck with Adrian’s dogs, which Laura was delighted to see were a great deal smaller than Jasper and Lucy. She squeezed herself between the two men – a position that reminded her she was very sore indeed.

By the time the truck had lumbered down to the first curve, lights were already visible coming the other way. Adrian stopped to confer with the hospital attendants, and then they set off again. Laura gave a long sigh of relief. Morris at least was taken care of. And she was going to have a restorative drink if Adrian would provide one.

She shifted uncomfortably, trying to brace herself against the bumps. Adrian noticed her discomfort and gave her an inquiring glance. “The horse,” she explained. “I hadn’t been on one for forty years or more and found it a remarkably uncomfortable experience to get on one again.”

She clapped a hand to her mouth in consternation, remembering too late that Catherine had said they’d followed Senator on foot.

Dr. Banbury chuckled, but she had no doubt he had taken note of her slip. He was too polite to mention it, however. “I’ll give you some of my miracle liniment,” he said instead. “It smells terrible, but it is purported to work.”

After that, none of them tried to talk above the grumble of the engine and the crunch of tires. Laura was grateful for the silence. It was wonderfully peaceful just to sit there and try not to bounce, and to know that for the moment at least, she didn’t have to rescue anyone.

Adrian seemed to understand. Not until he had them ensconced in chairs by a warm fire with a small tumbler of brandy for her and for Thomas, as well as a frothy cup of hot chocolate for Catherine, provided by his housekeeper, did he ask any questions. “Now,” he said, “what were you and Catherine really doing up on the moors with the horse? You are both excellent storytellers, but I still know a story when I hear one.”

Catherine looked insulted, but Laura laughed. “I thought we were quite creative,” she answered, “but I guess I gave us away by mentioning that I’d ridden Senator. In fact, we were trying to help Catherine’s father. He’d been hit over the head and taken away, we assume by Morris, though I’m not sure why.” She stopped, trying to think what else she could say without giving too much away - or alarming Catherine, who still knew nothing about the missing and presumably dead cook, the masks and various other pieces of the complicated story.

Thomas came to her rescue. “I’ve been told you have a fine collection of paintings, Banbury. I would love to see them one day.”

Adrian looked annoyed. “I will be happy to show them to you, but first I would like to find out what two unsuspecting women were doing on the moor at this hour of the night. I gather they were looking for you, but I might ask what you were doing there.”

Thomas nodded agreeably. “I fear I annoyed Morris, and he lashed out at me when I was in the barn at Torrington Manor. Or perhaps I frightened him. He’s a volatile fellow. At any rate, he picked up a stick and clubbed me. Rather a nasty blow. I’m afraid I passed out for a time, and the next thing I knew I was up at the shed and these two were trying to ward off Morris themselves.”

He shook his head gravely. “Why he took me up there I cannot imagine, except that I have begun to think the man is mad.”

Laura was impressed. What an accomplished liar the man was! Much better than her. A pretty good actor, too. Was that all part of his job?

“We saw Morris taking my dad away in the van and we didn’t have a car, so we rode up here on Senator to help,” Catherine contributed with the blandly innocent face Laura was coming to know.

Adrian looked baffled. “There’s no doubt Morris is volatile,” he agreed. “But I would never have thought him capable of this!”

“I hadn’t known he was Antonia’s brother,” Laura put in, just to see how the others would react.

Thomas looked at her with respect; so did Catherine. Adrian’s reaction was different. “Yes, I suspected they were brother and sister as soon as I saw him,” he replied with an almost condescending nod. “I am rather a student of faces and they have the same classic features, same fair hair and blue eyes – and the same deficits of character.”

His voice became harsh. “Antonia certainly can’t be trusted. She puts on an excellent act as the lady of the house but -” He stopped abruptly, as if ashamed of revealing emotion.

“I noticed that, too,” Laura observed. “She does seem to be acting all the time. She’s good at it too.”

“Too good, I fear,” Adrian agreed.

Laura remembered Maude’s remarks about the other man Antonia had seduced. Could he have been Adrian? He would be no match for her, with his old-fashioned notions about women.

Catherine yawned hugely and covered her mouth with her hand. Laura wondered if she had done it on purpose to suggest that the interview come to an end. Regardless, the yawn gave her a perfect opportunity to move on.

“I think I had better get Thomas and Catherine back,” she told Adrian. “Thomas should probably see a doctor, and Catherine is exhausted. So am I, for that matter. We don’t have these sorts of adventures normally.”

“I trust you will avoid any more of them,” Adrian said reprovingly. “From what you have told me, the situation with Morris could get unpleasant, and I hope you two will let Catherine’s father handle any further developments. I shall of course look into things myself, as I know most of the people involved, but I assume you and Catherine will have the sense not to become any more entangled.”

How incredibly pompous the man could be! Laura held on to her temper and merely nodded, trying to look serious. Thomas, she noted, was trying not to laugh. His levity was irritating, but she was glad to see some of his normal insouciance returning. He hadn’t sounded like himself without it.