Page 83 of A Winter Scandal

“They do not think Matthew is your sister’s child?”

“I believe they prefer not to think about the baby at all. Lady Wofford endeared herself to me somewhat by insisting that Jocelyn was too good a person to have an illegitimate child, but I fear that is probably more her naïveté speaking than any conviction based on facts.”

They had reached the center of the village and were about to turn toward Thea’s home when Gabriel glanced up the street in the opposite direction. His footsteps faltered and stopped as he stared at a woman walking past the bakery across the road. The woman glanced at them, then turned and walked rapidly away. Gabriel watched her go, frowning.

“Gabriel?” Thea glanced up at him questioningly. “What is it?”

“I know that woman—but what—? The devil!” He took off at a run.

After a startled instant, Thea hurried after him. He whipped around the corner of the building and disappeared from her sight. When Thea caught up with him, he was standing in the middle of the street, looking around him in frustration.

Gabriel let out a short, blunt curse under his breath. “I lost her. I was too late. It took me too long to recognize her.”

“Who was she? Why did you run after her?”

“It was Jocelyn’s maid. Hannah. I’m sure of it.”

Thea stared at him. “Then that means …”

“Jocelyn is still here. She must be.”

They walked farther up the street, looking all around them for any sign of the woman Gabriel had seen in front of the bakery. Thea had not seen the woman’s face; all she had seen was a short woman in a dark cloak. However, any woman would have been noticeable on the empty streets. They saw no one.

The shops gave way to houses, and before long they were on the edge of the town. They had crossed a street in their search, with no sign of anyone on it in either direction. They checked in the shops to see if Hannah had entered any of them and even went so far as to knock on the front doors of some of the houses. No one had seen the woman they sought. They received the same answer in the shops near where they had first seen the maid. No stranger had come into their stores that day.

“I am sure everyone in Chesley will now be convinced that I am mad,” Gabriel said as they turned away. “I cannot believe I let her slip away! If only I had recognized her immediately.” Gabriel jammed his fists into his pockets in frustration.

“Are you certain it was your sister’s maid?”

He nodded. “I might have had some doubt about it if she had not disappeared like that. But as soon as she saw me, she turned and ran. Why would a stranger have done that? When I saw her, I was certain I knew her; her features were so familiar. They should be; she lived in my household for years. But it took me a moment to figure out how I knew her. It was just so startling, so out of place to come upon her here.”

“It must mean your sister is here, don’t you think? And that Matthew is her child? It strains credulity to think they are unrelated.”

“I agree. It is also much likelier that Jocelyn camped at the ruins if she had Hannah to help her. Hannah would have been the one cooking over the fire.”

“I suppose Hannah could have stolen the baby from her and brought him here herself,” Thea mused.

“To what purpose? Why kidnap Jocelyn’s baby, steal her brooch, and then abandon them both?”

“It doesn’t sound likely,” Thea admitted.

“I shouldn’t have given up on looking for Jocelyn,” Gabriel said as they turned their steps back toward the vicarage.

“But there is no way you could have known. It was clear that no one had been back to the ruins for several days, and we had searched all around.”

“I must search again. Could they be staying in any of those houses near where I saw her?”

“I can draw a map when we get home. I don’t imagine there are too many places in Chesley that Mrs. Brewster or Lolly or I don’t know who lives there.”

Her words turned out to be true enough. In the kitchen, Thea took a pencil and piece of paper and began to sketch out the roads and lanes of the village, marking down X’s for houses and O’s for businesses, paying particular attention to the area where Gabriel had spotted the maid. Lolly listened to them with wide-eyed attention as she fed the baby, every now and then popping in with a name or location.

Thea did her best to keep her attention on her task, but it became more and more difficult with Gabriel sitting so close beside her, his breath sometimes touching her ear or neck or face as he bent closer to see the map. She scolded herself for her obviously wanton nature—how could she be thinking of Gabriel’s kiss at a time like this!—but her words had little effect on the heat that twined and twisted through her abdomen.

“I don’t think they could be in any of these houses,” Thea said at last, setting down the pencil and leaning back in her chair. “One of us would have heard if anyone had two strangers staying with them. Don’t you think so, Mrs. Brewster?”

The housekeeper nodded. “Aye. There’s not much goes on in Chesley I don’t know about. Certainly wouldn’t be anybody living on Butcher’s Lane.”

“I think she turned down that street because it was the quickest way to get out of my line of sight. She could have run down a cross street or alley and circled back. She could have gone anywhere.”