Nor did Griffin believe, with the information Christian had imparted to him, that Harker was acting upon his own initiative.
One, or perhaps more than one, other person was most assuredly in control of these events.
‘My concern was not for myself,’ Bea now ass
ured Lord Maystone huskily; in truth, her present alarm was all on Griffin’s behalf upon learning that he had been involved in the risky business of preventing a plot to assassinate the Prince Regent.
That Griffin might have been killed before she’d even had opportunity to meet him.
‘What a sweet and caring child you are.’ Lord Maystone smiled at her warmly before that smile turned regretful. ‘Which only makes my guilt all the deeper regarding my own involvement in your sufferings— Not her abduction, Rotherham.’ He frowned as Griffin tensed in his chair. ‘Do give me a little credit, please. I was not even aware of Lady Bea’s abduction until after you wrote and told me of it.’
‘But you most certainly knew something was afoot,’ Griffin put in testily. ‘As is someone else; Bea’s real guardian must also have been aware of it when she completely disappeared.’
‘Griff—’
‘Allow him to have his say, Sutherland.’ Maystone sighed. ‘Truth be told, I have handled this situation very badly, and as a consequence I deserve any approbation Griffin may care to lay at my feet.’
‘I disagree.’
‘Enough!’ Griffin rose restlessly to his feet. ‘Will you please just state the events, Maystone, and cease leaving Bea and I in this infernal state of uncertainty?’
Bea did not rebuke him this time; she knew from the pallor of his face and the nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw that Griffin really was at the end of his patience.
And who could truly blame him? He had no doubt initially travelled to his country estate with the intention of enjoying some peace and quiet. Instead he had happened upon a woman in the woods who must have appeared to him to be deranged, quickly followed by the arrival of the Duke of Sutherland and now Lord Maystone. The poor man must have thought himself caught in the middle of bedlam this past week.
With no end to his suffering in sight.
He also had no idea as yet that Bea had now remembered the name of her guardian.
Lord Maystone emptied the rest of the brandy from his glass, his voice flat and unemotional when he spoke again. ‘Three weeks ago an eight-year-old child was abducted, taken from his home, his parents and his family, for the sole intention of using the threat of taking his life as leverage in gaining access to certain information that might, indeed undoubtedly would, help in their cause against the Crown.’
‘Good God!’ Griffin breathed softly.
Maystone looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. ‘That child is my grandson.’
Griffin closed his eyes in shame for his earlier rebukes and the anger he had shown towards Maystone since his arrival.
The man’s grandchild had been abducted, his life threatened.
As Bea’s had.
No wonder Maystone had added two and two together—his grandson’s abduction followed by Griffin informing him Bea had suffered the same fate—and come to the conclusion of four!
Especially so when Griffin had stated in his letter to Maystone that there was a possibility that Jacob Harker, known to have been involved in the plot to assassinate the Prince Regent, and a man who just a few weeks ago had been seen in the area of Stonehurst, might have been involved in Bea’s abduction and imprisonment. Bea’s memory of the man’s name being Jacob had, as far as Griffin was concerned, confirmed that suspicion, which he had also stated in his letter to Maystone. That had obviously caused both Sutherland and Maystone to travel so quickly to Stonehurst.
And no wonder, if Maystone’s own grandson had also been abducted and kept prisoner.
Had the boy been kept a prisoner, or was there the possibility that he was already—?
The idea the boy might already be dead was so unthinkable that Griffin could not even finish the thought.
Although Maystone’s bloodshot eyes and severe weight loss would seem to imply the older gentleman had also thought of that possibility these past agonising weeks. Far too often.
Griffin straightened briskly. ‘The kidnappers have made their demands for the boy’s release and safe return?’
‘Most certainly,’ Maystone confirmed leadenly. ‘Demands with which I cannot possibly comply.’
‘Oh, but—’