Murder on Charles Street - Leighann Dobbs Page 0,43

die, and then cleaned the dishes and taken the file.

Or perhaps she was being fanciful, and Mr. Gammon had taken the papers while Mrs. Campbell hadn’t been looking. Nevertheless, Katherine searched through what was left in Dr. Gammon’s bedchamber. There was precious little and no notes of any kind.

Dejectedly, she surrendered to defeat and left. When the pair reached the bottom of the stairs on the ground floor, Mrs. Campbell ushered her toward the kitchen, back the way she had come. “Mr. Gammon was adamant that no one enter the house. You know Mrs. Ramsey next door? She watches everything on the street. I’m afraid if you go out that way, she’ll see you and report back to Mr. Gammon.” Mrs. Campbell didn’t look at Katherine as she herded her through the house into the kitchen, the candle now in her possession. However, her bearing was stiff, her voice tense. “I’m depending on the money Mr. Gammon has promised me if I take care of the house until everything is settled. I don’t want him to renege on our agreement.”

“I understand. I have no issue with taking the back way to my house. It isn’t far.”

Though perhaps Katherine should have taken a light to better make her way. She had traveled down that path so many times that she knew it by rote and by the feel of the fence bordering the path. However, a lantern would have made it easier to navigate the clumps of snow.

Mrs. Campbell aided her part of the way in that respect by accompanying her into the garden and holding the candle aloft until Katherine reached the gate. Only then, as Katherine slipped out onto the path, did the older woman latch the gate once more and turn away. As she did, the candlelight stretched long fingers over her shoulder and onto the path. Footprints caught Katherine’s gaze before the light swam out of view.

Footprints? How odd. Who would be out here? During her month’s stay, Katherine hadn’t noticed anyone else use the path. Although, she had seen a figure earlier… Had Mr. Gammon returned and followed her? But why—unless he was hiding something…

Curious, Katherine stepped toward the footprints she’d seen, hoping that once her eyes adjusted to the dark, she would be able to learn more from them.

Her slipper flew out from under her on the slick ground. Katherine yelled, spinning her arms for balance as her feet sloshed against a thin layer of moisture over ice. Had it rained while she was inside? She lost the battle with balance and toppled backward, curling her arms around her head, and she catapulted toward the ground. Her ankle wrenched to the side. Searing pain shot up her calf. She screamed.

A door slammed open, but Katherine barely heard over the thunder in her ears. Tears wetted her cheeks as she reached for her throbbing ankle. Nothing but that shooting pain filled her mind.

“Lady Katherine?” Mrs. Campbell sounded a mile away.

The ground trembled from footsteps, but when a shadow fell over her, it was not Mrs. Campbell’s figure above her. The silhouette was that of a man. Katherine held her breath, the pain receding as she held still. Had Dr. Gammon’s killer returned? For her?

The man knelt next to her. In the growing light of the candle emanating from the nearby house, Katherine recognized his profile. She gasped for breath.

“Wayland?”

What in the world was he doing out here?

Chapter Thirteen

Mrs. Campbell reached Katherine a moment later, as Wayland was trying to urge her into a sitting position. Katherine’s entire body groaned in protest of the movement. Her arm and shoulder throbbed from their contact with the ice. The pain was punctuated by the sharp flares that assaulted her ankle whenever she tried to move.

Wayland asked, “Can you stand?”

She opened her mouth, but at that moment, Mrs. Campbell unlatched the gate and dashed out to them.

“Oh, dear me! Lady Katherine, are you hurt? Don’t move a muscle—I’ll find you a nice poultice to put on your…” Judging by the way she craned her neck behind the beacon of her candle, she was searching Katherine’s body for injury.

Katherine waved off the suggestion, leaning more on Wayland than she might have usually. Her right arm, which she had landed upon, didn’t want to take her full weight. Despite its weakness, it didn’t hurt overmuch, unlike her ankle.

“I’m not hurt. Simply shaken. You may return inside, Mrs. Campbell.”

Katherine was lying through her teeth. Even without trying to stand, she could tell that