Days of Gold (25 page)

“And how did you learn all of this?”

“I stayed with them for a night.”

“Did you?” Edilean asked, her eyes lowered as she poured Cuddy some more beer. “And you saw Tabitha?”

“Thank you,” he said, taking a deep swallow of the beer. “I did. That picture you drew of her looks just like her. If you were a man, you could take to the road doing portraits.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Did Tabitha have on any jewelry?”

“Not that I remember.” His head came up. “Wait! One morning I saw a sparkly bracelet, and when she saw me looking at it, she pulled her sleeve down over it. It was just a bit of glass.”

“More like coal,” Edilean said under her breath. “When you finish that, I want you to come into the parlor and describe everything you saw, from the look of their camp to what Tabitha and the others were wearing.”

Cuddy looked as though he might be sick. “I didn’t look at what she was wearin’.”

“Did she have on a dress like mine?” Edilean was wearing a gown of apricot-colored silk, embroidered across the bodice with tendrils of lavender sweet peas.

“Not likely.” He was laughing at his own joke.

“So then, you
did
notice what Tabitha was wearing.”

“I guess I did,” Cuddy said, impressed with his own intelligence.

“I’ll be waiting, but hurry up because Harriet will be back soon.”

“Oh, right, Miss, I’ll be there in two shakes.”

Edilean had to use all her cunning to keep the secret of what she was doing from Harriet. Since Edilean had “lost her mind,” as Harriet
put it, and destroyed her room, Harriet kept constant vigil over her. It was as though she thought Edilean was going to go insane at any moment. And all her humming and smiling and keeping busy didn’t fool Harriet a bit. She looked at Edilean suspiciously.

In the end, Edilean had to pay an exorbitant amount to a maid who worked two houses down for a dress that would fit. It was a plain gown with a homespun skirt and a white cotton top. The first time she tried it on she’d been alone in her room and Harriet had almost barged in with the clean linen. Edilean’d had to make up a quick lie about what she was doing behind a bolted door.

On the night when Edilean planned to go out and find Tabitha, she was tempted to put laudanum in Harriet’s tea, but she didn’t. While it was true that she planned to sneak out, she told herself that if she wanted to, she could walk out the front door and not tell Harriet where she was going or why. But Edilean knew that Harriet’s “hmph!” could be worse than being yelled at.

Instead, Edilean arranged with Cuddy to put a ladder up against the house, and she climbed down it just after midnight.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Miss?” Cuddy asked. “Those people are dangerous.”

“You have the pistol?”

“Loaded and ready,” he said, “but that don’t mean I like this. If I told the bailiffs where they were, they’d go out there and round them up.”

“And what do you think would happen to the goods they’ve stolen? Do you think that the robbers who escape would leave it there?”

Cuddy looked at her in shock. “Is that what you want? What they’ve stolen?”

“I want one item,” she said. “And it doesn’t belong to me.”

Cuddy looked at her as though he was putting two and two together, what with having found Angus Harcourt and her asking why
he was working for someone else, and now talk about the bound girl who’d stolen something that belonged to someone else.

But Cuddy didn’t say anything. He just raised the lantern and led the way to the carriage house, where two saddled horses were waiting. “Are you sure you know how to ride, Miss?” he asked. “That one you’re on can be feisty. Maybe I should take him.”

“I’ll do my best to hang on,” Edilean said without a hint of humor in her voice. “Do you think you can find this place in the dark?”

“Easy,” Cuddy said as he climbed into the saddle. “You just follow me, Miss, and I’ll try to go slow so you can keep up.”

“That’s kind of you,” Edilean said as she got into the saddle.

“Now, Miss, if you’ll just move over a bit so I can turn around and head out, we’ll get goin’.”

Edilean took the reins in both hands, made a few clicking noises, and backed her horse straight out the door. But once the animal was out in the cool night air, it decided to rear up on its hind legs. “Stop that!” she said, and brought the horse back to earth. “If you keep on like that I’ll cut your oats ration.” Turning, she looked back at Cuddy, who was just coming outside.

His eyes were wide. “I ain’t never seen no girl ride like that.”

“It’s nice to know that someone somewhere thinks I can do
something
,” she said as she pulled to one side so he could lead the way out of the courtyard and into the road.

She’d planned the journey for a full moon so they’d be able to see the road and where the cutoff was that led to Tabitha and her gang of thieves. Maybe Cuddy had been right and she should have gone to the authorities, but Edilean felt that this was something she had to do for herself. And she knew that if she’d even hinted to Harriet what she was thinking about doing, she would have said Edilean was jealous. Harriet would have said that Edilean was
angry because Angus had turned her down for some poor, downtrodden girl who would never have what Edilean did. And Edilean wouldn’t be able to defend herself because she couldn’t tell Harriet about the jewels.

As she rode behind Cuddy, her mind strayed back to her own horse, Marmy, whom she’d had to leave behind in England. She thought that maybe, when she was settled, she could somehow get her mare back.

But even her sad thoughts couldn’t keep her restless spirit still. She said she’d ride ahead and meet him. She couldn’t let the horse run flat out, as there were too many holes in the road, but she could let the animal show itself a bit, let it dance about—and let Edilean get some exercise as she used her thighs to guide the animal. The horse wasn’t as well trained as Marmy, but it wanted to run.

The night ride reminded Edilean of Scotland and her hell-bent ride back to the old keep. She’d been determined to get back before Angus did so he couldn’t tell his side of what happened before she told hers.

When she stopped, she leaned forward and patted the horse’s neck. It seemed that from the moment Angus McTern had stared at her, looking as though he’d never before seen a woman, her life had revolved around him.

When she’d gone so far that she knew Cuddy would have trouble keeping up with her, she turned and waited. She didn’t want the horse to get too sweaty on the cool night.

“Lordy, Miss,” Cuddy said when he caught up with her. “Where’d you learn to ride like that?”

“In England many women are known for their horsemanship. Do you know where we turn?”

“About half a mile from here, but we can’t take the horses. They’ll hear us.”

“I didn’t plan to,” Edilean said. “I plan to sneak in and put this to Tabitha’s throat.” She pulled a long, thin-bladed knife out of a leather holder at her waist, hidden under her jacket.

“But that isn’t the plan you told me. You can’t—” Cuddy began, but cut himself off. All he could do was look at her with wide eyes. “You’re going to get yourself killed,” he said.

“Maybe,” Edilean answered. “But I owe someone something and I’d like to pay it back.” She looked at him. “What I really plan to do is create a diversion, a loud one that will distract everyone in the camp. And while they’re looking at something other than Tabitha’s tent, I want you to go inside and get the jewels.”

“Jewels?”

“Necklace, earrings, all of it. They may be in a box, but they may be in a bag. Whatever they’re in, I want you to get them, then get out.”

“And what do you plan to do to distract them?” he asked suspiciously.

“I have some things in mind. Just follow my lead and I’ll try to keep people from seeing you. Are you clear on this? Any questions?”

“No, Miss,” he said, still wide-eyed, and thinking that maybe she’d planted a barrel of gunpowder somewhere and it would be set off. That would send everyone running.

It wasn’t long afterward that Cuddy rode beside her and whispered, “Here. This is where we go in. Miss, I was thinkin’ about it and I don’t think you oughta do this. It’s dangerous. You only know one of the women, and she’s a thief. There are men in there and there’s no tellin’ what they’ve done. I think they’d as soon slit your throat as let you take anything away from them.”

“Then I’ll have to risk it,” Edilean said. “I told you that I owe someone and I mean to repay the debt.”

“Is it worth your life?” Cuddy asked, and his tone wasn’t respectful.

“It is,” she said, looking hard at him.

“Well, then, I guess we better go.”

“No, Cuddy, you stay back. I’m going to go in there alone, and when you hear a commotion, you’re to come, and you know what you’re to do.”

“Wouldn’t be much of a man if I followed your plan exactly, now would I?”

She smiled at him. “If you see me draw my knife, get out of the way. I may do some of my own throat slitting.”

“I’ll do that,” he said as he smiled back at her.

They tied their horses firmly to trees, and began the long walk into the forest. The moonlight was bright, but the overhead branches blocked off much of the light.

Edilean, walking behind Cuddy, had difficulty keeping up with him. His stride was much longer than hers and she was trying not to trip on fallen branches and stones.

“There!” Cuddy said at last.

Through the trees she could barely see what seemed to be a fire, but it was a small one.

“It looks like they’re all asleep,” Cuddy whispered, “but they probably have a lookout posted somewhere. Miss, I really think we should go back. This isn’t for us to do.”

Edilean just shook her head no, and silently motioned for him to follow her. They were very quiet and got within sight of the camp within minutes, with no alert being sounded. Near the fire were half a dozen or so tents that consisted mostly of blankets draped over a rope, but they’d keep the rain off. Inside each one, Edilean could see the dark forms of what had to be people.

“Which one is hers?” she whispered to Cuddy.

He pointed to the one on the far end.

“Stay here and I’ll go to it,” Edilean whispered, but Cuddy shook his head no.

She nodded back in return, letting him know that he couldn’t keep her from doing this.

Reluctantly, Cuddy obeyed her—or seemed to. Ten seconds after she disappeared into the forest, he went after her.

Edilean silently made her way through the woods to the tent that Cuddy had pointed out. Her plan was to sneak inside, put her knife to Tabitha’s throat, and tell her it was either her life or the diamonds.

Edilean put the hilt of the knife in her mouth, and went to her hands and knees to crawl into the tent. Her heart was racing and her breath was coming fast, but she had no doubt whatever that this was what she had to do.

She lifted one side of the blanket tent and looked inside. There Tabitha was, lying on her back, one arm outstretched, and looking as innocent as she told people she was. Just two more feet and she’d be there. When she was at Tabitha’s head, Edilean sat back on her legs, lifted the knife and—

The next second, she was grabbed from behind by the waist and swung out of the tent and into the cold air. For a moment she thought it was Cuddy who’d grabbed her, but she saw it was a man she’d never seen before. He had black whiskers and his breath was foul.

“Let me go!” She fought against him.

“You expectin’ him to come save you?” the man asked, his big arm tightening around her waist.

She looked to one side and saw Cuddy lying on the ground in a heap. He didn’t seem to be breathing.

“You’ve killed him!”

“Naw, he’s all right.”

Edilean saw Cuddy move, but she couldn’t tell how badly he was injured.

“What the hell are
you
doin’ here?” Tabitha asked as she crawled out of the tent and saw the man holding a squirming, fighting Edilean.

“Came to kill you,” the man said, his voice highly amused. “Woulda too, if I hadn’t caught her.”

Tabitha looked genuinely surprised. “You wanted to kill me? Why?”

“You have something of mine,” Edilean said.

“Angus ain’t here.”

“I’m not—” Edilean gave a double backward hit with her sharp elbows to the man, and he released her.

“I oughta—”

“Go away,” Tabitha said to the man, dismissing him as though he weren’t of any worth. She looked back at Edilean. “I didn’t take your man.”

“He’s a bit big even for you to slip into your pocket,” Edilean said, and she heard someone suppress a giggle. She didn’t look around her, but she could hear sounds of people moving about as they got up to watch the drama.

Tabitha picked up Edilean’s knife off the ground and looked at it in shock. “Why would you come out here to do this? My life ain’t bad enough for you?”

“Bad life?” Edilean said in anger. “You told Angus a lie about why you’d been transported and you ran away from the man who paid your bond. It seems to me that
you
have caused the bad, not them.”

Tabitha glared at Edilean, her eyes flashing in the moonlight, then she pulled down the side of her blouse to reveal her shoulder.
Even in the moonlight Edilean could see the red scars. “He branded me! Put his initials on my shoulder with a red-hot branding iron. He did it because I told him that I’d work for him but not sleep with him. Yes, I’m a thief but I’m not a whore.”