Marblestone Mansion, Book 10 Read online

  *

  Peace and quiet at last.

  Little Thomas stopped crying, most everyone was gone to church, and Prescot finally had time to read all the latest newspapers. He had them neatly stacked beside him when he sat in the marble foyer’s window seat and crossed his legs. He was about to pick up the first one and finish an article on a submarine the navy was building, when the front door burst open and two men rushed in. One of them had a gun pointed right at him.

  In a panic, Prescot tossed the paper aside, stood up and just then, he saw a flash, heard a shot, and felt the hot searing bullet enter his body. Shocked, he looked down at the blood gushing out of his stomach, covered the wound with his hand, and then slumped to his knees. When he fell to the side, his head hit the edge of the marble window seat, and as he rolled over, the light in his eyes began to darken.

  “What’d you do that for?” Willis whispered.

  Just as shocked, Earl stared at the man lying on the floor. “I didn’t mean to, it just went off.”

  *

  When a loud, unexpected boom echoed throughout the whole house, Nanny Beverly quickly set the teapot down and stared at the sitting room door. It was too loud to be an automobile backfire or the slamming of a door. “‘Twas a gun,” she whispered.

  The noise made both sisters toss their sewing aside and immediately stand up. Leesil put a hand over Cathleen’s mouth before she could cry out, and then whispered in her ear. “We must be quiet until Prescot comes to tell us what is happening.”

  Cathleen nodded. She noticed her son was starting to stir, and hurried to the daybed to pat him back to sleep.

  *

  Downstairs, Willis was getting upset. “We weren’t going to kill anyone.”

  “I know. It was an accident,” Earl said. He cautiously walked into the parlor and looked up the stairs. There didn’t seem to be anyone else at home.

  Willis finally shrugged, went into the parlor and looked around. “Would you look at this?” he said, picking up a golden candlestick holder off the shelf over the hearth. He tried to fit it in his coat pocket, but the base was too big and it wouldn’t fit.

  Earl opened the door to a small cupboard, found nothing of interest inside and closed it. “If you had money, where would you hide it?”

  “It could be anywhere,” Willis answered. “My mother keeps hers in a can in the kitchen. Hey, maybe we can find something to eat.”

  “I told you not to give your bread to Pete.”

  “I know.” Willis put the candlestick holder back and looked at the large painting on the wall. “A castle,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind living in a castle like that one.”

  “Come on,” Earl demanded, as he pulled out a drawer, “help me look for the money.”

  *

  Still crouched down beside the house, Pete couldn’t decide what to do. Did Earl shoot someone or did someone shoot Earl…or maybe Willis? If so, the other one was caught and if he went in, he could be walking into a trap. He sat up, pulled his loose bandana off, and then tied it again, only this time tighter.

  *

  Upstairs, a terrified Beverly whispered, “I hear voices.”

  “So do I,” Leesil softly said, “and Prescot has not come.” Always the strongest of the two sisters, she tried to think of the best thing to do. “Take the children to the hidden room.”

  It took a moment for what she said to register in Cathleen’s mind. At last, Cathleen nodded and hurried to lift her son off the daybed. At the same time, Leesil tiptoed to the crib, picked up baby Bridget, and handed her to Beverly.

  “What about you?” Cathleen whispered.

  “I shall be there directly.” Again, her sister hesitated, so Leesil took hold of her arm and pulled her toward the door.

  “I’m scared,” Beverly admitted.

  “We all are,” Leesil whispered. As quietly as she could, she opened the door, looked both directions, and then motioned for them to come out. “Hurry!” Leesil watched as Cathleen and Beverly crept down the long hallway toward the back of the house, opened the door to the back stairs and disappeared.

  *

  Beverly’s eyes were huge as Cathleen pushed on the side of the wall on the second floor stair landing, and opened the door to the hidden room. As soon as Cathleen stepped aside, Beverly quickly entered, and then waited while Cathleen carefully and quietly closed the door. As soon as it clicked to signal that it was securely locked, she took a relieved breath.

  “Up there,” Cathleen whispered, nodding toward the spiral staircase. “Twill be safer up there.” She followed the nanny up to the third floor, found a place on a long bench against the wall and carefully laid the still sleeping Thomas down. She tucked the blanket around him, and then gasped as baby Bridget began to stir. “If she wakes, let her suck on your finger. We must not let her cry.”

  Beverly nodded, sat next to Thomas, put the baby over her shoulder, and gently began to pat Bridget’s back. “What are you goin’ to do?”

  Cathleen didn’t answer. Instead, she went to the small windows that faced the back of the house and looked out. The windows were too high up and not tall enough to see the backyard, but she had a good view of the corral and the pasture. The horses looked undisturbed and there was no one near them. When she went back to Beverly, she whispered. “Stay here. I think Hannish keeps a gun at the bottom of the stairs.” She waited for the nanny’s nod, and then started back down the spiral staircase.

  *

  “Mable, this is an emergency,” said Abigail. In the Whitfield parlor, she was physically shaking and with one hand over her heart, she tightly pressed the phone against her ear.

  “Another emergency, Mrs. Whitfield? What is it this time?”

  “I heard a shot.”

  “Of course you did. There are deer hunters all over the hills these days.”

  “Yes, but I think it came from Marblestone.” The pause at the other end of the telephone made Abigail furious. “I demand you put me through to the sheriff this instant!”

  “I cannot, Mrs. Whitfield. The sheriff has gone to see Mr. Green about some missing cows.”

  “Oh, I see. Will you kindly notify him as soon as he returns? I am quite certain the shot came from Marblestone.”

  “Very well, I shall tell him.”

  Abigail slowly hung up the phone, and then heard her husband outside yell, “Abigail, we are late for church!”

  She straightened her hat and then rushed out the door to meet him. “Are you not the least bit concerned?”

  “I assure you, if there was trouble at Marblestone, Prescott would have called for the sheriff by now.”

  Abigail considered that for a moment. “Perhaps you are right.”

  “I know I am. Come along now before we manage to embarrass ourselves.” He nodded to their new butler, and then helped his wife into the passenger seat of his automobile.

  “It is most likely Mr. Gantry McBride, shooting a gun and scaring us half to death.”

  “The ghost?” Claymore asked as he started the engine. “How have you managed to learn his name?”

  “I have my ways. He is up to no good, I tell you.”

  Claymore put the automobile in gear, drove to the road and then turned toward town. “My love, I have never known a ghost to carry a gun.”

  Abigail huffed and said no more. Even so, as they passed the lane that led to Marblestone, she tried her best to see if anything was amiss. To her relief, the place looked just as peaceful as it always did.

  *

  Leesil started to pull the sitting room door closed, thought better of it and left it open. Next, she started down the hall toward the front staircase. She was afraid the shoes she chose to wear to church would make too much noise on the marble stairs, so she stopped, took off her left shoe, quietly set it down, and then started to remove her right one.

  “Look at this clock.” Leesil heard a man say. His voice was not familiar, which served to increase her apprehension. Just as quietly, she set her right
shoe on the floor and when she did, it fell over. The high top of the shoe folded and when the large metal top button hit the bottom one, it made a loud clinking sound. Leesil froze.

  *

  At the faint sound, both Earl and Willis looked up the marble staircase. There was no one there, but there was no mistake – something made that noise. Earl waved Willis back into the foyer and quietly followed him.

  *

  At the top of the stairs, Leesil put her back against the wall and cautiously peeked around the corner. She hadn’t heard voices or any sounds at all since her shoe fell over, and she hoped that was because they had moved to another room. With no one in sight, she leaned a little more forward. Even then, she could not see anyone. The house was so quiet, the ticking of the new grandfather clock in the parlor sounded more like a drumbeat. Mustering her courage, she slowly started down the marble staircase. Halfway down, she spotted a pool of blood on the foyer floor, caught her breath, and then raced the rest of the way down. Before she could reach Prescot, someone grabbed her from behind and clamped a hand over her mouth.

  “Who else is in the house?” a man whispered in her ear.

  He loosened the hand over her mouth just enough to let her answer. “No one.”

  “Do not lie,” Earl demanded.

  When she looked, a second man was standing in the foyer watching. “I tell you the truth. The butler and I are alone here.”

  Just then, a third man burst through the front door, and as though he expected to get shot, he ducked.

  “Pete,” said Earl, “you are supposed to be watching the back.”

  Pete rose back up and then glared. “You mean while you and Willis run off with the money?”

  Disgusted, Earl ignored him and turned his attention back to the woman. “Tell us where the money is.”

  Leesil studied the man lying on the floor. As near as she could tell, Prescot was still breathing, but she didn’t think he would be for long. “I shall show you.”

  “Promise you will not cry out?” Willis asked.

  “Cry out to whom? There is no one else here.”

  Earl finally let go of her and drew his gun instead. When she tried to go to Prescot, Pete grabbed her arm. “The money, remember?”

  Leesil studied Pete’s stern eyes for a moment, and then looked at the gun the other intruder held in his hand. She nodded, walked around Willis, and started up the stairs.

  “Wait for me,” Willis whispered. He was the last one to follow her up the stairs, and with his nerves completely frayed, he constantly glanced behind him.

  “You need not whisper,” said Leesil in her normal tone of voice. “As I have said, there is no one else here.” At the top of the stairs, she turned down the hall and started to open the first door to her right.

  Earl quickly grabbed her hand and pushed it away. He held his gun upright for fear of shooting her too, carefully turned the knob, and shoved the door open. Just as she said, there was no one inside. His nerves were a tangled mess too, his courage seemed to be failing, and all he could think about was getting away as quickly as possible. “Where is it?”

  “Under the bed.” Leesil knelt down, lifted the side of the bedding and laid it on top. She looked under the bed, and then reached for the small sack Hannish kept there. She pulled it out, got up, and handed it to Willis.

  Pete was acting like a kid in a candy store. He pulled the sack out of Willis’ hands and started to open the drawstrings. When he felt the weight and looked inside, he grumbled, “Is this all there is?”

  “You are welcome to take anythin’ else you can find.”

  “Search the house?” Earl asked. “We do not have time to do that.”

  Pete reached in the sack, pulled out a fist full of bills and huffed. “We’d be lucky to buy train tickets with this. He shoved the money back in the bag, and then grabbed Leesil’s arm. “Where’s the rest of it? Rich men like MacGreagor must have more…a lot more.”

  Leesil tried to pull away. “You are hurtin’ my arm.”

  “Just answer the question,” Pete insisted.

  “Hey, do not hurt her,” Willis said.

  “I said, where is the rest of it?” Pete demanded.

  All Leesil could think of was getting to Prescot. “He keeps it in the bank.”

  Pete narrowed his eyes. “Are you his wife?”

  Leesil hesitated to answer just a moment too long.

  “You are, aren’t you.” Pete’s frown quickly turned to a grin.

  Leesil tried to act tough. “You best get away while you can. My husband shall be home at any moment.”

  Willis scoffed. “We watched him leave. He has gone to church and will not be home until after the parade.”

  Pete put more pressure on her arm. “You’re holding out on us. Where’s the rest of the money?”

  “That is all he keeps at the house, I swear it. The rest is in the bank,” she answered.

  “And plenty of it,” Pete mocked. “Come on, you’re going with us.”

  “What?” Earl asked. “That is not the plan.”

  “It is now,” Pete shot back.

  “Kidnapping?” Earl gasped. “We can get hung for that.”

  “You just shot a man,” Pete mocked. “We can get hung for that too.”

  “He didn’t mean to shoot him,” said Willis. “Her husband will kill us if we take her.”

  Pete sarcastically said, “He will not catch us. Besides, we will set her free as soon as her husband pays up.”

  “Do you promise not to hurt her?” Willis demanded.

  “You want that ranch in Wyoming or not?” Pete said.

  Willis hung his head. “You know I do.”

  “Well, we cannot buy it with this.” Still holding her arm, Pete pulled her out the door, down the hall, and started back down the stairs.

  “You canna take me,” Leesil pleaded. “I have wee children.”

  Earl grabbed Pete’s shirt. “She is right.”

  “You didn’t see all those servants?” Pete argued. “They do not need her. Besides, we are only going to keep her for a few hours. She will be home before dinner time.”

  “Just the same, I will take that,” Earl said, grabbing the moneybag out of Pete’s hand. It was heavier than Pete made it out to be. Pete was right about one thing…Earl had already killed a man, so why not take the woman?

  As Pete pulled Leesil into the foyer, she got another look at Prescot. He hadn’t moved. “He is dyin’. At least let me call a doctor.” Again, she tried desperately to pull away and go to Prescot, but Pete wouldn’t release her.

  “He already looks dead to me.” Pete did stop, however. “Write a ransom note,” he told Willis as he nodded toward the paper and pencil lying on the long thin foyer table.

  Willis picked up the pencil and waited for Pete to tell him what to write.

  Pete grinned. “If you want her back, have…five hundred…no five thousand dollars ready when we call.”

  While Willis wrote the note, Earl’s sinking feeling was back. “Maybe we should not take her.”

  “You turning yellow on us?” Pete asked.

  Earl again ignored Pete’s stupid remark. “She will just slow us down. If we leave her here, we can get away clean.”

  Willis nodded. “He is right.”

  Pete shook his head. “He is not right. He is just turning yellow.”

  “How far do you think we will get wearing bandanas over our faces?” Earl asked. “If we take them off, she will be able to identify us.”

  Pete was disgusted with the whole argument. He reached up, pulled his bandana down and then said, “Too late now. If they figure out who I am, they will know who you are too.” He pulled Leesil to the front door, cautiously opened it and looked out. Convinced the coast was clear, he motioned for the others to follow.

  “Wait,” Willis said. He hurried back into the Parlor, grabbed the gold candlestick holder and then followed them out the door.

  Leesil got one last look at Prescot be
fore Pete forced her out of the house. As Pete pulled her along the side of the house, Leesil tried to fight him, but he was too strong. He walked so fast, she had to run to keep from falling, and more than once, she stepped on a sharp pebble with her bare feet. Pete jerked her around the corner of the house, ran her up the path beside the mansion, and then pulled her into the bushes in the back.

  Until then, Traitor had been perfectly content to chew on Justin’s baseball. Used to the occasional automobile backfire, the gunshot hadn’t disturbed him. Yet, when he saw the three men taking Leesil away, he decided to tag along. He was a mix breed, with no memory whatsoever that it was the duchess who first brought him to Marblestone. The MacGreagors were his family and Traitor had a way of knowing when one of them needed him. Just now, he decided it was Leesil.

  CHAPTER 6

  By the time Abigail and Claymore got to church, the pews were nearly full, forcing them to take a seat in the back. The first thing Abigail noticed was all the new Easter Sunday hats, and just as she predicted, most were adorned with colorful feathers. As usual, the men were having quite a time seeing around the obtrusive hats, especially Judge Mitchel, seated next to McKenna in the row in front of the Whitfields. Abigail heard him sigh and guessed he had given up.

  It was then she spotted Cook Jessie sitting with none other than Provost MacGreagor. It was no business of hers, of course. Jessie could sit with whomever she wished, but he was certainly the last man Abigail would ever sit beside.

  Still disturbed about the shot she heard, she looked for Hannish and spotted him in the second row. Leesil, she discovered, was oddly not with him. She thought to pass Hannish a note, and searched her handbag, only to discover she had nothing to write with. Abigail exhaled and turned her attention instead to the Easter Morning sermon.

  *

  It had been a while since Cathleen went back down the spiral staircase in the hidden room. Hannish had indeed built a high shelf. Unfortunately, he neglected to leave a gun on it. She looked for another possible place it could be, but found nothing. Disappointed, she went back up the stairs.