“His wallet,” Jasper said, a stoic expression on his face. I didn’t need an explanation. If Adam had planned on going anywhere, he would have brought his wallet with him.
“Does Adam normally make his bed in the morning?” Jasper asked me.
I glanced over at his bed. The blankets were pulled back and wrinkled on the right side, the side I usually slept on. He had been sleeping there before he left.
“Yes, he does,” I said, blinking back tears.
Jasper looked around Adam’s bedroom with a grim expression. “He hadn’t expected to leave,” he said. I agreed. The toiletries and wallet he’d left behind made that clear. He hadn’t returned for those things, either. Just to be sure, I crossed to the fireplace right across from his bed. The ash was cold. A fire hadn’t burned in here in days. I stood up, and something on the mantel caught my eye.
In the mirror above the fireplace, I could see the others watching me as my fingers closed around the small velvet box. I flipped it open and choked back a sob. Nestled in the cushion were two rings; a large, wide one for Adam’s finger and smaller, thinner one studded with diamonds for me. I choked back a sob as I ran my fingertip over the metal. Would I ever get to wear this ring?
Lisbeth came from behind me and put her arm around my shoulders. “We’ll find him,” she said, sounding far more certain than she could possibly feel.
“I don’t understand,” I said, blinking back tears. “Why would anyone want to hurt him? And how could he possibly be kidnapped? He’s not a small man, and he wouldn’t go easily.”
“Perhaps whoever it was held him at gunpoint,” Harry suggested.
“That’s a good thought,” Jasper said. “Let’s take a look outside and see if there’s anything there. He had to have left this house some way, and it seems most likely that it was through the front door since you found it open.”
I set the box back on the mantel, praying that wouldn’t be the last time I looked at those rings. We left Adam’s bedroom, and out of respect, I shut the door behind us. My fingers lingered on the doorknob before I turned to follow the others down the stairs. I was several steps behind, and when Jasper had reached the ground floor and opened the front door, I was only halfway down the stairs. The light from outside filled the entryway, which is why I saw what we had missed before.
“Jasper?” I said, my voice shaking.
“Yes?”
“Is that blood on the bottom step?”
Jasper froze before turning around and looking to where I was pointing. He knelt down with the lamp. “I believe it is.”
I descended the last few steps to take a closer look. The edge of the last step had a small, uneven circle of blood around it. The blood was still bright. It was new.
“Stephen, you’re about the height of Adam,” Jasper said, turning to his right-hand man.
“Yes?”
“Do me a favor. Lie down so your head hits the bottom step.”
Stephen got down on the floor and stretched out.
“A little bit higher,” Jasper said, keeping an eye on Stephen’s feet as they lingered in the doorway. “There.”
Annabelle was watching the duke. “You have a theory,” she said as she helped her husband to his feet. Stephen rubbed the back of his head where the edge of the stair had cut in.
“Only a working one, right now. Let’s keep looking.”
I was curious, but Jasper didn’t seem ready to divulge his thoughts. Instead, we left the home behind, shutting the door firmly. I let my gaze linger for a moment. In a week, I was supposed to move into this home. It was difficult to process the idea that the move may not happen.
We stepped out into the grey light. Jasper took a look around the front yard, woods on the left and the right, a cobblestone pathway leading to the carriage house and the road. Adam hadn’t gone to the right; those woods led to my house. The woods on the left led to another neighbor’s property.
Jasper paused as his eyes landed on something. After a moment of searching, I saw it too. Along the side of the pathway leading to the road was a rut in the dirt where the grass had been upended. Jasper knelt down to take a look, the followed the rut to the road. He paused, looking at the dirt road, and with his hands in his pocket he returned to where we all were standing.
“Ready to tell us your theory?” Annabelle asked him.
Jasper thought for a minute before answering. “It’s a tentative theory, you understand that. I think one of two things happened. Either Adam was attacked in his bedroom and dragged down the stairs, or he was attacked at the door. Either way, he was dragged outside to a waiting carriage.”
I was doubtful. “There was no evidence of a struggle in the bedroom, and I struggle to imagine someone being able to overtake him at the front door.”
“We don’t know exactly what time he was taken,” Jasper said. “He could have still be under the influence. We also don’t know how many people were involved. But the blood on the stairs implies that he fell backward and hit his head.”
I clutched at my arm. When he put it that way, it made sense, but I simply didn’t want to believe that Adam was in danger. The idea terrified me.
“We’ll find him,” Jasper assured me. “I’ll send my men out and get word to the elders that he’s missing. He doesn’t have local family we can contact, does he?”
I shook my head. “His nearest family is in Scotland, and they’re not terribly close.”
“We’ll send word to them as well, just in case.”
“What do they want with him?” I asked. “I don’t understand that.”
“Well,” Jasper said with a sigh, “there are two important people in his life. Me, his employer, and you, his bride. I would venture that whoever has taken them is attempting to hurt one of us.”
“I just don’t understand,” I murmured. There was only one person who hated me enough to try to destroy my life, and she was behind bars. Jasper’s worst enemy had been killed only a few months ago. Who could possibly be left?
“As a councilman, he’s valuable,” Jasper said. “Whoever took him could be seeking information or planning to hold him for ransom.”
“If it was ransom, wouldn’t we have received contact by now?”
“Probably, but not certainly,” Jasper said.
I nodded, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. I brushed away tears.
Jasper wrapped his arms around me in a strong hug. “We’ll find him Hazel. I promise. This is not how your story ends.”
I was terrified he was wrong.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty–One
Chapter Twenty–Two
Chapter Twenty–Three
Chapter Twenty–Four
Chapter Twenty–Five
Chapter Twenty–Six
Chapter Twenty–Seven
Chapter Twenty–Eight
Chapter Twenty–Nine
Chapter Thirty
Sneak Peek
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The Wolf's Betrothed (The Wolf's Peak Saga Book 5) Page 25