Page 88 of Defy the Highlander

“She’s dead!” Lady Currie blurted. “She’s dead and Lilia killed her!”

Laird Currie didn’t even raise an eyebrow. “Who is dead, my dear?”

“Colly!” Lady Currie sobbed. “Colly is dead and Lilia killed her. Murdered her. Now Lilia is nowhere to be found and I need your men to go and look for her because Brody is nowhere to be found, either!”

The woman was hysterical. There were several servants standing behind her, all of them weeping and carrying on because their mistress was. All but one of them. Laird Currie recognized Amy, the woman who so ably dressed Lady Currie’s hair. He knew her because, years ago, Amy’s husband used to serve him. But Amy wasn’t shedding a tear. She stood there quietly, watching Lady Currie weep without reacting.

Strange, indeed.

“Calm yerself, my dear,” Laird Currie said to his wife. “Tell me what happened and why ye think little Lilia killed Colly.”

Lady Currie had a kerchief in front of her face, weeping into it. “Because Colly suspected that Lilia was in league with my new warrior,” she said, not even bothering to catch herself as she personally claimed Brody by saying my new warrior. “Colly said that Lilia and Brody were plotting against me. She went to Lilia to force her to tell the truth and Lilia killed her for it!”

“Force her tae tell the truth? How was she tae do it?”

“However she could! Beat her, frighten her – any way she could!”

“So she threatened Lilia?”

“I am sure she did, but Lilia deserved it!”

“And ye say that Lilia killed the woman?”

“She murdered her!”

“Was it possible that she was defending herself from Colly?”

Lady Currie’s mouth opened in outrage. “Never! Lilia murdered her and that is all there is to it!”

Laird Currie was starting to piece together what could have happened. He didn’t need anyone to explain that to him, knowing what he knew of Colly and the way she liked to slap the servants around. She was big and brutish, and Lilia was half her size. But his wife would never admit such a thing. Therefore, he looked at Amy, standing stoically away from the other servants, and motioned to her.

“Ye, there,” he said. “Ye’re Amy, are ye not?”

Amy perked up as she became the focus of attention. “Aye, m’laird.”

“Yer husband was Robert.”

Amy nodded quickly. “Aye, m’laird,” she said. “He used tae help Colm Galston. He would bring ye wood for yer fire and do other jobs around the manse.”

“I remember him well,” Laird Currie said. “He became sickly a few years ago. A sickness in his lungs that killed him.”

“Aye, m’laird.”

“He was a good man.”

“Thank ye, m’laird.”

“What do ye know of this whole situation with Collie and Lilia? Did ye hear anything?”

Amy looked at Lady Currie as the woman sobbed, clearly hesitant to speak. “I… I heard shouting,” she said. “I heard banging. Colly went in tae Lilia’s chamber and shut the door.”

Laird Currie pondered that. “Banging and shouting,” he said. “Was it Colly or Lilia?”

“Both, m’laird,” she said. “Colly was screaming about a confession and Lilia told her tae go away.”

“I see,” Laird Currie said. “Amy, I will ask ye a question and I want a truthful answer.”

“Of course, m’laird.”