Mistress - Amanda Quick [57]
Marcus stared at her, dumbfounded. “A cemetery? At this hour? For God’s sake, why?”
“Lady Guthrie received another blackmail note.”
“Damn it to hell.”
“The instructions were to leave the money at a new sepulchral monument in Reeding Cemetery. Iphiginia undertook to carry out the task in her aunt’s place.”
Marcus felt as if he had just stepped off a cliff. For an instant raw fear gripped his gut. And then rage swept through him. “How did she dare to do something like this without telling me?”
“Iphiginia knows that you do not trust her. Why should she trust you with all of her secrets?”
“She goes too far this time.” Marcus strode toward the door.
“My lord, where are you going?”
“Where do you think I’m going? Reeding Cemetery.”
“Thank you,” Amelia whispered. “I have been so concerned.”
“Save your thanks. I doubt that Iphiginia will be glad to see me. In my present mood, I am bound to prove even less amusing company for her than the ghosts in the cemetery.”
The gates of Reeding Cemetery stood open. The gravestones and monuments beyond were barely visible in the mist.
Marcus got out of the carriage, a lantern in one hand and a pistol in the other. He glanced up at Dinks. “Wait here.”
“Aye, m’lord. Would ye be wantin’ any assistance?”
“No. Watch the gates. If anyone tries to leave before I do, stop him.”
“Aye, m’lord.” Dinks reached under his box for the pistol he kept hidden among his carriage tools. “I’ll take care o’ the matter for ye.”
Marcus walked into the graveyard and contemplated his surroundings for a moment. The swirling gray mist was so thick that he could not see much farther than the nearest rows of headstones.
He glanced down. The flaring light of the lantern revealed crushed damp grass between a row of stones. Someone else had come this way quite recently. It was impossible to tell whether the person had been entering or leaving the cemetery.
Marcus went forward swiftly, following the trail of matted grass. He ignored the smaller tombstones, searching for the larger, more imposing monuments that various people had erected in honor of the dear departed.
The dark mouth of a grotto loomed up suddenly in the fog. The deep sense of foreboding that plagued Marcus grew abruptly more intense. The footsteps he followed went right up to the gate and disappeared on the other side.
A dim glow of light from deep within the monument indicated the presence of a fading lantern.
“Iphiginia.”
Marcus strode to the gate and discovered at once that it was locked. He put the lantern down on the ground but kept the pistol in his hand. He shook the iron bars with the fury of a caged beast. The heavy gate rattled on its hinges. “Iphiginia, are you in there? For God’s sake, answer me.”
“Marcus” The lantern light drew closer. Footsteps sounded on the stone floor of the grotto. “Thank heavens, it’s you.”
“Bloody hell.” Marcus watched as Iphiginia appeared at the end of the passageway. “I’ll kill whoever is responsible for this, I swear it.”
Iphiginia rushed toward the gate from the depths of the grotto. She stumbled to a halt on the other side of the iron bars. Her heavy gray cloak swirled around her. Her eyes were huge in the shadows of the hood.
Marcus’s stomach clenched when he saw the stark expression that drew her delicate face taut. Her soft mouth trembled. She was breathing much too quickly. It was clear that fear had come close to tearing her apart, but she had somehow managed to retain her self-control.
Marcus knew that only sheer willpower had kept Iphiginia from succumbing to panic. Intense admiration for her courage surged through him.
“I saw the lantern light.” There was a tremulous quality in Iphiginia’s voice, but her words were astonishingly steady. She gripped one of the iron gate bars. “I prayed it would be you, but I could not be certain, so I stayed back inside the grotto.”
Marcus put his hand through the bars and caught her chin. “I shall fetch my coachman. He will likely have something among his carriage tools that I can use to open this lock. Stay right where