“Who? Where?”
Gage glanced back down at the letter. “An . . . Ian Tyler of Woodslea.”
“I know his son.” Trevor moved around his desk to join us. “Their family home lies just west of Edinburgh.”
“Do you think they’re all connected?” I asked Gage.
“I think it would be foolish to assume they aren’t. According to Sergeant Maclean, the theft followed the same pattern. He’s making further inquiries to discover if there are other similar crimes.”
I pressed a hand to my chin in thought. “We should speak to the Tylers. And the Casselbecks.”
He nodded. “I agree. We seem to have reached an impasse here with Buchan’s snatching. Maybe there will be new information for us to uncover in Edinburgh.”
His words gave me pause, though I didn’t know why they should surprise me. “So . . . you think we should go to Edinburgh?”
Gage’s brow furrowed. “Yes. How else would we question the families?”
I turned away, rubbing my suddenly sweaty palms down the woolen skirt of my gown. “You’re right. Of course. I just . . . hadn’t thought.”
“You could stay with your sister, couldn’t you?”
I crossed my arms over my chest, nodding absently as I peered up at the portrait I’d painted of my mother and father when I was just sixteen. My mother’s likeness had largely been done from memory, as she’d been gone nearly eight years at the time, but my father had still chosen to hang it in pride of place above the hearth. I thought I’d done a satisfactory job of reproducing her image, but I could never be certain. It was like seeing something out of the corner of your eye, but when you turned toward it, it was always gone.
I wasn’t sure why the thought of leaving Blakelaw and returning to Edinburgh so unnerved me, but it did. Perhaps because it still held memories of William Dalmay’s passing. After all, I’d made the opposite journey just two short months ago, hoping to escape those thoughts and emotions, looking for some sense of peace. In so many ways, I still hadn’t found it, and yet I couldn’t stay in this place forever. I refused to allow myself to hide here, like I’d done at Gairloch, to close myself off from the world. That would do me no good.
Perhaps it was time to leave.
“I’m sure Alana and Philip would be happy to see her,” Trevor was telling Gage.
“And you?”
“I’m afraid I need to remain here at Blakelaw,” he protested, making me wonder yet again if there was something more my brother wasn’t telling me.
But Gage was unfazed by it. “Kiera,” he persisted gently. “Are you content to travel to Edinburgh? I suppose I could go there myself, but I confess, your presence would be most helpful.”
I swallowed the trepidations swirling around inside me and turned to face the men. “Yes. Of course, I’ll accompany you. It’s just . . . a long journey to make in the cold,” I finished lamely.
They both eyed me up and down, making me aware that my response had not been the least convincing.
Gage’s eyes were tight with concern, but he did not voice whatever worries he felt for me. “Can you be ready to leave at first light?”
I pressed my lips together and nodded.
“If we make good time, we’ll be in Edinburgh by tomorrow’s nightfall.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Sergeant Maclean must have been waiting for your note,” I remarked as Gage’s carriage pulled away from my brother-in-law, Philip, the Earl of Cromarty’s town house on Charlotte Square, its pale stone gleaming in the midmorning sunlight.
Gage looked up from his contemplation of an article in the Scotsman. “He’s nothing if not efficient.”
“Have you known him long?”
He tapped the folded newspaper against his leg as he thought back. “Perhaps three months. He assisted me with an inquiry.”
This must have taken place during the time after he left Gairloch Castle and before he visited the Dalmays. I realized I knew very little about those few months, except that he had been called to Edinburgh on business for his father, and had been trying to avoid me.
I stared out the window at the carriages parked along George Street, ready to collect their passengers and their purchases. A trio of footmen stood outside one shop, chatting while they waited for their employers. My sister, Alana, had expressed a desire to do some shopping while I was in town, but with Gage’s summons this morning it appeared that would have to wait. Not that I was all that eager to purchase new frocks, but to please my sister, I knew I would join her. Especially after witnessing her tears of happiness last night when I appeared in her front hall.