He nodded, withdrawing the letter he had waved in the air earlier from an interior pocket of his greatcoat. “It was a Lord Fleming.” He opened the missive, scanning it for the information he sought. “Your uncle says that he died in 1823, and was succeeded by his grandson, the current Lord Fleming. He was buried at Beckford Parish Churchyard.” He glanced up at me over the paper. “Your uncle also mentions he’s surprised by the thieves’ daring. Apparently Beckford Parish Churchyard is well guarded. It even boasts a watchtower.”
My eyes widened in surprise. I knew many of the graveyards in Edinburgh and the surrounding area had built watchtowers and hired men to guard the graves at night, or employed other deterrents to body snatchers, like mortsafes, but I’d not heard of graveyards so far from the city doing so. Of course, I also hadn’t initially realized the body snatchers had begun to travel so far afield in search of fresh corpses for the anatomists and anatomy schools.
But these weren’t your traditional body snatchers.
“Perhaps Beckford only employs night watchmen when there are newly deceased bodies buried there to guard,” I suggested. In such a small parish, I had difficulty imagining they could afford to do otherwise, unless the men were volunteers, another very real probability.
“It’s possible,” Gage conceded as he tucked the letter back into his pocket. “But certainly something worth looking into.”
“Was Lord Fleming a member of the Society of Antiquaries?”
He frowned, squinting through the window into the afternoon sunlight. “We’ll have to ask his family. That was something I didn’t have time to investigate prior to our departure. I decided a better use of our time would be to arrive there before the ransom note, and perhaps before any evidence they may have left behind disappeared, though the hope of that is slim, since the theft happened three nights ago now.”
I remained silent, knowing how badly Gage wanted to catch these men. I wanted them caught as well, but perhaps not with the same fervor. It bothered him that they’d slipped through his fingers twice now. He wasn’t about to let them get away a third time.
He shifted to face me. “In any case, I spoke with Sergeant Maclean and he’s heard back from a few more of his contacts. It doesn’t look like there have been any other similar body-snatching cases, though there’s always the chance that a scandal-conscious family might not have reported or been willing to admit to such an incident.”
“Did he question you about your eye?” I couldn’t resist asking. The deep red and purple of his contusion had begun to fade to a jaundice shade of yellow as it healed.
Anderley looked up from his contemplation of his feet and I felt Bree shift beside me. Apparently they both found this question more interesting than what had come before.
Gage scowled. “Yes.”
When he neglected to elaborate, I was forced to prompt him. “And what did he say?”
He simply continued to glare at me, and a thought occurred to me.
“You did tell him the truth?”
A muscle twitched at the corner of Gage’s narrowed eyes. “I knew what I was doing when I walked home. I knew everything that was at stake.”
“So you knew you could be killed and you still chose to do it? But it was so needless.”
“It wasn’t my life that I was worried about. And it was far from needless.”
I frowned. “How could you not have been worried about being killed?”
His gaze traveled up and down my person. “Some things are more important than that,” he proclaimed solemnly. “There are some things you simply have to confront in person. And Bonnie Brock needed to be made to understand that he cannot come after you, not without consequences. Not without dealing with me.”
I was momentarily stunned by the ferocity I saw in his eyes, especially knowing that it was not directed at me, but on my behalf.
However, his voice had gentled when he spoke again. “Kiera, I will not allow anyone to think for a minute that they can harm you.”
I swallowed and nodded, before turning to stare blindly out the window, uncertain how to handle such a revelation. I’d always trusted Gage to look out for me, at least physically. He had saved my life twice, for goodness’ sake. But I’d never expected him to place himself in danger simply to ensure my future safety. As little good as that had done, since Bonnie Brock was still having me followed, and had even confronted me again the previous evening. I decided it was best to keep that second encounter with the notorious criminal to myself. There was no telling what Gage would do.
Conflicting emotions twisted inside me as I snuck a glance at him out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t know whether to kiss him or kick him, and the presence of our servants did not help matters. His desire to protect me and defend my honor was both touching and noble. And incredibly foolhardy. But I supposed last night I had also been foolish enough to tell Bonnie Brock to his face that I would do the same thing if he ever touched Gage again, so perhaps I understood.