“Aye, probably ere she e’en finishes asking for help.”
Harcourt sighed and rubbed his leg. His stitches were out now and the wound fully closed, but it still ached from time to time. It had been exactly a fortnight since he had been wounded and he knew he had healed well, even quickly, considering the severity of the wound, but that reminder did not always still his irritation over a lingering weakness.
“Any word from those two idiots?”
“Just that they are still alive. Hard to kill MacFingals. Sometimes ’tis hard to realize ye probably should kill them.”
Harcourt smiled briefly. “Still alive is enough although I hope they can give us some useful news soon. I best go and report all of this to Annys,” he said, reluctant to give her what could only be called bad news.
“I think a part of her will be a bit relieved that Biddy has fled,” said Callum. “She wasnae looking forward to having to mete out the justice needed.”
Standing up, Harcourt nodded. “I ken it. ’Tis a hard thing for anyone with heart to see done nay matter how certain they are of the person’s guilt. But, I also think she was hoping for some answers, some reason for why Biddy did what she did.”
“She heard the reasons. She just doesnae want to believe that could be all.”
“It will be hard for her to accept that sometimes greed is all there is that makes some people do the evil they do.”
No one argued that and Harcourt left to go talk to Annys. She, too, was healed now, although the signs of all the bruises she had suffered still lingered as did a faint limp. He smiled as he rapped on her bedchamber door. They now had matching gaits.
Annys called out an invitation to enter and he let himself in, quietly shutting the door behind him. He stood and savored the sight of her for a moment. She still wore her hair unbound though he knew the ache in her head caused by her fall had faded. A simple green gown flattered both the blood-red color of her hair and her green eyes. When she smiled a greeting at him, his heart skipped and he had to smile back at her, a little amused by how besotted he was.
“I saw the sheriff ride away,” she said.
“Aye, that proved to be a great waste of my time,” he said as he moved to sit beside her on the bench by the window. “Ye have these benches everywhere.”
“I like the natural light to do my sewing and needlework. Joan likes to say that she just looks to see where the sun is in the sky if she needs to find me.”
“Something to remember.” He ignored the wary look she gave him “The sheriff isnae only a kinsmon of Sir Adam’s. I strongly suspect he is bought and paid for by the mon. He had no interest in what I was telling him, the accusations and proof I offered, and is obviously a believer in Sir Adam’s claim that Glencullaich is his by right.”
“So yet another MacQueen does his duty by Adam whilst giving no blood or coin to the fight.” Annys shook her head as she put her needlework aside. “They are all in league with him if nay actually armed and standing by his side. They are like carrion crows, sitting about in the trees waiting for the winner of the fight to emerge so that they may get a few scraps to feed on. I cannae believe David or Nigel shared blood with those people.”
“Aye, their relationship is hard to see.” He took a deep breath and said, “Biddy has escaped.”
“Och, nay.” Annys shook her head, her pleasure in the day quickly dimming. “We should have banished her sisters from the keep, but I dinnae have the heart to do it since I kenned Biddy would hang. She will be running to her lover, aye?”
“That is what I think.”
“Then she will soon pay for David’s death, just nay at our hands.”
Harcourt put his arm around her and held her close. “Unless we find her first. We will search for her. Callum told me they will begin the search for her. We may find her before she foolishly seeks out her lover.” He kissed her temple, savoring the light brush of her against his face.
“And then we will be forced to hang her. There is no victory to be found here.”
“She chose her path, Annys. And she is no innocent, for all she claims she didnae ken the laird would die. Her reasons for what she did are nay innocent ones, either. Nay honorable at all. She was doing all of it for her lover because he told her she would find herself in a position far above the one a mere kitchen maid holds.”
“She would be but one step below a laird’s wife,” Annys murmured. “Clyde spoke of how he was going to raise her that high. I wanted there to be more reason, e’en if that more made no sense to me. I wanted David’s death to have been for a reason, nay just greed. ’Tis so hard to believe he was murdered because a cousin wants more coin and a foolish kitchen maid wants finer gowns and someone to cook for her as she has always cooked for others. Murdering a good mon for such petty reasons makes it all seem far more evil.”