Archer hit back, knocking Goodwin’s head sideways. “And you’re my damn accomplice, you fool.”
“Stop! I’ve a pistol and intend to kill one of you tonight!” Sophia shouted, scaring Finlay half to death. “Will it be you, Mr Archer?”
Both men straightened, panic flashing in their eyes.
Finlay’s heart galloped faster than Sloane’s Cleveland bays. “Lower the pistol, Sophia. These reprobates aren’t worth the suffering that comes from taking a man’s life.”
“Nothing could be worse than seeing Jessica suffer all these years.” She aimed at Goodwin. “You administered the drugs. You poisoned her mind.”
“Yes, and it was wrong of me.” Goodwin slapped his hands together in prayer. “You heard what Maud said last night. Archer is cruel and calculating. Hell, he just lied about his wife’s death.”
Archer’s eyes bulged as large as billiard balls. He coughed while struggling to find his voice. “Maud? You saw Maud last night? Maud is in England?”
“Not just in England,” Finlay said, relishing the flash of fear in the villain’s eyes. “Your wife is currently residing at Blackborne.”
Finlay expected the devil to splutter some more. Maud would testify against Archer. She would give the magistrate a full account when he arrived. So why did he experience a sudden pang of trepidation? Why did his anger dissipate and his blood run cold?
“Good God!” Archer exclaimed. “Where is Jessica? Please tell me you’ve not left her with Maud?”
“Why?” Finlay demanded. “Maud said you want to kill her, marry Jessica and manipulate her into giving away her inheritance.”
Archer clutched his forehead as though his brain might burst through his skull. “The woman is unstable, has been from the beginning. She’s jealous of Jessica, has some weird belief they’re sisters. Said she’s treated like the servant while Jessica lives in luxury. Her resentment is made worse by the fact I’m in love with Jessica.”
“Sisters?” Horrified, Sophia lowered the pistol and stepped back. “But that’s absurd.”
Was this a ploy to distract them so Archer could make a hasty escape?
“You need to get back to the house,” Archer insisted, whipping a handkerchief from his pocket and mopping blood from his nose. “How the hell did Maud know to come to Blackborne?”
Finlay turned to Goodwin, who, judging by the distance he’d put between them, had been shuffling slowly backwards for some time. “She’s been staying with Goodwin.”
Perhaps it was the thought of being duped by Maud, or the mounting evidence against him, that made the fraud take to his heels and run. The fool bounded through the undergrowth like a wild hare escaping a poacher’s gun.
Sloane appeared from his hiding place in the woods, silver dagger in hand. “I can take Goodwin down.”
“No. We need him alive. See if you can find him, but remember to avoid the traps.”
Sloane nodded. He broke into a run and took to the Windlesham path.
“We must return to the house,” Sophia said shakily.
“I shall come with you,” Archer offered.
“Like hell you will!” Finlay wouldn’t trust the devil to mind a halfpenny. Archer, Maud and Goodwin had given unreliable accounts, had twisted the tale and spoken untruths.
But what choice did he have?
The only thing that mattered was saving Jessica.
Finlay prayed they were not too late.
Chapter 20
Aesop’s fabled wolf in sheep’s clothing hurried with Sophia and Finlay along Blackborne’s winding drive. Mr Archer expressed concern for Jessica and had forgotten he was the reason her life hung in the balance.
Sophia had not forgotten.
Before daylight broke, Mr Archer would either be rattling to gaol in a prison cart or dead. It took all her willpower not to shoot the devil or push him head first into the moat. Indeed, she hoped the rising ground mist choked him.