‘Hell, that must be the smugglers’ path,’ Theo said. They could hear voices, quite close now. He caught her by the shoulders, looked around. ‘Laura, inside the tomb, quickly.’
She scrambled in, too anxious about being seen to think about what she was doing, where she was going. The slab went back into place with a muffled thud at either end and she was alone in the dark with only four little circles of light from the cherubs’ empty eyes.
I won’t suffocate, she told herself as the realisation dawned that she was actually entombed, overtaking the panic at the thought of her uncle laying hands on her again. Entombed. With what?
All around her the dead of centuries mouldered peacefully under the turf. They can’t hurt you, she told herself. It was not much help, not with a yawning open grave right beside her. Laura shifted a little so she was lying flat on her back. The edging slabs were just wide enough to support her if she crossed her arms over her chest. Like a copse. Stop it. Theo’s out there, he’ll get me out as soon as it is safe. I can breathe, five capable men know exactly where I am.
She made herself relax, let her shoulders lie flat, her legs go limp. Breathing became easier and she could hear a little of what was happening outside. There was the heavy tread of hooves, the exchange of greetings. Two new voices, her uncle and Giles. No, three and that one a woman, her voice deeper than her Aunt Swinburn. It must be Aunt Finch, she realised.
That was Perry’s voice, then Theo’s. She couldn’t hear what they were saying beyond the odd word, but they seemed to be explaining that they were taking Will out for some fresh air and a change of scene and that they were still intrigued by the inscriptions on the tomb.
It all seemed to be going well and the tone, if not the words, sounded casual and friendly. Laura relaxed a little more: they’d be gone in a moment and meanwhile her right foot was going to sleep. She gave it an experimental wiggle just as something scuttled across her nose, making her jump. With the change in weight the stone under her left shoulder blade shifted, the slab tilted. Laura jerked upright and two more moved under her hips, then she was sliding, tipped sideways into the blackness of the vault below.
Somehow she managed not to scream as she landed in total darkness on a flat, hard surface, the breath almost knocked out of her. Nothing shifted, no stones followed her down. Tentatively she put out a hand, her fingertips brushed something that was not earth or stone and she closed her hand around it. Something slightly rough, but not rock. Something slender and long and – Bone.
Laura dropped it, recoiling backwards in the narrow slot, fighting the urge to shriek. Her scrabbling hand closed around something hard and round and she flailed out wildly, then froze. Somewhere close at hand there was a soft trickle, tiny clinks, a rustle of dried soil. Earth and stones were falling.
Chapter Eleven
Just go away! Theo wanted to yell it at the riders. Laura was in that tomb along with goodness knows what and he and Perry were lounging about up here in the light and air making fatuous conversation about parish history and Will’s health.
Sir Walter and Giles were out checking their coverts with their head gamekeeper, they said. The rider on the neat brown cob, keeping a respectful distance, raised his hat to Theo when he looked across and he recognised him as the man with the spaniel in the Mermaid inn. Beside him another rider waited, the dark, silent man who had walked out of the inn when he’d entered. His gaze was on Mrs Finch. Her groom perhaps.
‘Ran across Jenner here, he’s having the same problems with the scoundrels,’ Sir Walter said, gesturing towards the Squire. ‘You losing much game, Manners?’
‘Not that I’m aware of, but I have to admit to not keeping a close eye on it for the last month or so,’ Perry admitted. ‘My keeper’s been laid up with a broken leg, which doesn’t help.’
‘We should set man traps,’ Jenner blustered. ‘Then hang the scum.’
Mrs Finch turned her head to regard him. She cut an imposing figure, mounted on a strapping Roman-nosed grey and Theo thought she had the gravitas and self-control that her brother Sir Walter sadly lacked. ‘If the common people were better fed we would not have a problem with poaching,’ she pronounced. ‘The gov
ernment should look to the Corn Laws if they truly have the interests of the people at heart.’
‘Hah! You’re bound to say that, being a clergyman’s wife,’ Jenner retorted. ‘You just have to look across the Channel to see what that kind of softness leads to – bloody revolution, that’s what!’
Mrs Finch’s nostrils flared and the horse shifted uneasily as though she had jabbed the reins. ‘A warning, certainly,’ was all the response that she gave him. After a moment she turned back to look down at Perry who was leaning against the tomb. ‘I see you are assisting Lord Northam with his antiquarian interests, Lord Manners.’
Perry grinned. ‘Got to keep my guest happy, ma’am. Besides, I have to admit to being intrigued as to who this Flyte fellow was.’
‘You’d do better getting a new keeper and harrying these confounded poachers, Manners,’ Sir Walter snapped. ‘Good day to you.’
‘Wait, I must see how Mr Thwaite does.’ Mrs Finch turned her horse and rode up to the porch where Will, supported by Jed, was just standing up. The groom turned his horse’s head and moved up, keeping the same distance behind her.
‘Should you be out of your bed, Mr Thwaite?’
‘The doctor recommended light exercise to prevent muscle stiffness, Mrs Finch. But I must confess, sitting is about all I feel able to manage at the moment. Even standing for more than a few minutes is exhausting. The change of scene, however, is refreshing. I must thank you for your offer to take me in after the incident.’
‘The least we can do. The Rector will not hear of you exerting yourself about your duties for at least another week.’ She nodded majestically and rode back. ‘Come, Walter.’
At least another week! Very generous, Theo thought as the riding party made its way down to the gate Waggett was holding open for them.
Jed strolled after them and vanished into the lane. He reappeared a few minutes later. ‘They are all cantering across that pasture towards Smoker’s Hole.’
Theo and Perry were already on their knees, triggering the release on the tomb. The side fell away to reveal empty space and misplaced slabs.
‘Laura!’
Perry handed him the lighted lantern and he held it inside. There was a scuffling noise and Laura stood up, the top of her head just below the edge of the shelf around the inside of the tomb.