Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

S eeing Edwin head out to the clay shooting range with Luke was the one opportunity that Martin had been looking for. He had spent the last couple of days waiting for Edwin to be away from his bedchambers so he and Susanna could finally sneak in there, to see if there was any evidence that they needed to be worried about.

So now that he had seen Edwin heading out for an activity that would likely take him a while, he knew that he needed to find Susanna right away. Martin could not risk doing this alone, he knew that Susanna would not be impressed if he attempted this without her.

The only problem was he did not know where she was.

He raced around Standen Abbey, trying to find her, but it seemed like she was nowhere. He was even more worried when he found Mary with Luke's mother, sharing tea in the drawing room. Because they were having such an in-depth conversation, he did not feel like he could interject to ask where Susanna might be. He had to keep looking for her alone…

Relief absolutely flooded him the moment he spotted her.

Susanna was sitting in the library, by the window so the sunlight bathed her in a golden glow, with a book in her hand, her eyes fixed firmly on the page in front of her.

"What are you reading?" Martin asked as he drew nearer to her. He almost forgot what he had come in here for.

Susanna grinned as she turned the book cover his way. "I thought I would give Mansfield Park another try. Someone told me that it was better than Emma, and I wanted to see if that was true."

"And? Are you starting to agree with this obviously very intelligent person?"

"Oh no." She chuckled. "I still think Emma is a much better main character."

But the way that her cheeks shone pink as she put the book down suggested that perhaps she really was starting to come around to his way of thinking, after all. He liked that. He always appreciated it when people listened to his opinion and were willing to open their minds.

"So, is everything alright?" Susanna asked inquisitively. "You look like you have something on your mind."

Martin silently cursed himself. He really had gotten so distracted by her beauty. "Yes! There is something I want to talk to you about. Edwin. He is currently out clay shooting with Luke, which gives us the perfect opportunity to spy on him."

All the color drained from Susanna's cheeks. "Are we going to sneak into his bedchambers? Now?"

Martin nodded. "Yes, I think that this is something we need to do. If there is anything to be found, it will be in his room."

Susanna's nerves were plastered all over her face, but she nodded in agreement and rose to her feet. "Right, then this is the time to do it. Let us go right now. Let us do this."

They walked quickly together through the hallways of Standen Abbey, trying not to be seen by anyone. There were staff members all over the place, but luckily no one seemed to pay them much attention. Martin could only hope that continued while they followed through with this wild plan.

"Is anyone looking at us?" Susanna hissed as they drew nearer to the room. "Do you think we will get away with this?"

Martin glanced around, and he had to admit that so far it seemed like everything was going to plan. Not that there was much of a plan in mind.

"We are going to be fine," he did his best to reassure her. "We do not need to be in this room for long."

Or so he hoped.

If there was nothing to be found, then they would be in and out. They would have nothing else to go on because perhaps there was nothing to worry about. That was the best-case scenario.

But if there was something to be found… well, there was no telling what would happen then.

"Right," Martin hissed as they reached the door that he knew was Edwin's. "It is time. Slip in through that door now."

Once they crossed that threshold, there would be no turning back.

"What are we searching for?" Susanna gasped desperately as soon as they closed the door behind them. "Perhaps we should have made a better plan."

There was no time to waste, so Martin offered Susanna a one-shouldered shrug before he started to look around. This was a well-kept simple room, which he hoped would work in their favor.

"I am not sure what we are looking for," he told Susanna. "But I am sure that once we see it, we will know."

He bent down to search under the bed, but there was nothing there other than a discarded shirt. As he glanced back up, he spotted Susanna snapping into action and opening the drawers to see what Edwin had hidden inside.

"There is a lot of papers here," she murmured. "Do you think any of this will be useful?"

"Perhaps. See what you can find."

Martin's eyes darted everywhere. He really did wish that he knew what he was looking for. He realized he did not know Edwin well enough at all to understand what he might be seeking out. What might be strange or unique here.

He stepped towards the closet, knowing that he would hate it if someone invaded his privacy like this. But he also knew what he needed to do, for Luke's sake.

"Oh my!" Before Martin reached the closet, he turned to see what Susanna was shocked by. "There is a letter here."

Martin took the letter from Susanna's hands to see what she was talking about. Certain phrases written in the unsent letter jumped out at him.

It is unpleasant to see the woman who should be mine in the arms of another man… I cannot believe that she believes he is the man who will make her happy… I just need to show her that I am the one for her.

"What do we do with this?" Susanna gasped in horror. "Should we take this letter and show it to Mary and Luke? Make them see that Edwin still has feelings for her?"

Martin was not totally sure what to do. On the one hand, he truly did want Luke to see that Edwin could not be trusted. But he was worried about doing something rash and pushing too quickly before they knew enough. Just in case there was more.

"I do not know," he finally responded. "Let us just keep looking a little more. See if we can find something else to really make this make sense. We want a full picture, to show Luke and Mary how dangerous he can be."

Susanna swallowed hard and nodded. "Alright, I will continue looking through these papers. See if I can find anything… maybe even something linking him to what he may have done to Duncan."

It was clear that was hard for her to say, but they really did need to consider that Edwin could have been involved. Even if that was terrifying.

Martin instantly went back to the closet, because his gut was now telling him that there was something there. Something he truly needed to see. He tugged on the door, cringing as it creaked because every single noise worried him.

Clothes hung down, just as he expected, but Martin was not here to see trousers and suit jackets. He wanted to know what was hiding behind all of this. If he was going to hide something himself, then this was likely where he would put it.

There were some items tucked away behind everything else, but nothing that caught Martin's attention. Not at first anyway. He carefully rifled through, doing his best not to disturb everything too much. He did not want to leave any evidence that he and Susanna had been in the room. He did not know how eagle-eyed Edwin was.

Judging by the discarded shirt on the floor, he was not the tidiest man, but Martin was not about to leave anything to chance.

Especially not with those words from those letters floating through his mind. A man who will make her happy. Should be mine. I am the one for her.

It was terrifying.

Those words might be the innocent ramblings of a man who harbored feelings for a woman who simply did not feel the same way if they had not come from Edwin. There was just something about him that had always made Martin uncomfortable, and now he was starting to see why.

It was because he had a nefarious side, Martin was now more sure of it than ever.

Wait…

What was that?

In the midst of everything, Martin's hand landed on something cold and metallic, which caused his blood to freeze. He did not know what it was, but as he pulled back to tug the item into the light, his fears were confirmed.

"What is that?" Susanna demanded, seemingly sensing that Martin had found something important. "Oh my goodness, is that…?"

She clapped her hands to her mouth in horror as Martin met her eyes. He nodded, confirming her worries. "Yes, it is. A gun."

Why would Edwin need a gun when he was attending his cousin's wedding? It made Martin fear now that he and Luke had gone out clay shooting. Surely there would be no danger there, but it was still unnerving. It made everything seem much more disreputable.

"I do not understand. What is happening here?" Susanna asked, her voice trembling with worry. "I cannot believe this. Who is Edwin, and what is he capable of? Now I am truly starting to panic that he has done something in the past."

They were so close to one another that Martin could feel the hammering of her heart. Much as this had wound him up, the effect it'd had on Susanna was off the scale. He wished that he could do something to calm her down, but he did not know what she needed.

Well, it seemed like she just needed all of this to be over.

"We cannot take the gun from the room," she whispered anxiously. "Edwin will most certainly know that it is missing. But we also cannot leave it behind. It might be dangerous in his hands. Plus, Mary and Luke might not believe us without us showing them. What are we going to do? This is hard. Harder than I thought it was going to be. I did not think we would discover something so bad."

This was worse than the letter.

Martin knew even less what to do.

He racked his brain, willing the answer to just come to him already, but it did not. This was an impossible situation. There was no right move here, nothing that would not cause endless amounts of trouble.

"Wait, what is that?" Susanna grabbed onto his arm, panic shooting through her like lightning. Her eyes widened as the color drained from her cheeks. "Do you hear that? Is it footsteps?"

As soon as she said that, Martin could hear it too. There really were footsteps, and they seemed to be headed in the direction of Edwin's room. He was supposed to be out clay shooting, they were supposed to have much more time than this, but now it seemed like they were about to be caught.

In a moment of thoughtless worry, Martin grabbed hold of Susanna and tugged her into the closet with him. It was most certainly not the best plan, especially since he still had the gun clutched between his fingers, but he had not been given time to think things through.

Susanna edged fearfully closer to him and held her breath as they both heard the door to Edwin's bedchambers opening.

It truly was him, and now there was a very big chance that they were going to get caught.

This could get really ugly.

Martin and Susanna stood in the dark, cramped closet, their breaths shallow and hearts pounding in sync. Martin's grip on the cold metal of the gun tightened as he strained to listen to the movements outside.

"What a disaster," the person outside muttered in a voice that was distinctly Edwin's. "I cannot seem to get this right, however hard I try."

"What do we do?" Susanna's voice was barely a whisper, her panic evident. "What does he mean?"

Martin shook his head slightly, indicating they should remain silent. He knew they had to wait for the right moment to make their move, but he wasn't sure what that moment would be. The gun in his hand felt like a ticking time bomb.

Edwin's footsteps grew louder, closer, until Martin could see the faint outline of his figure through the slats of the closet door. Edwin paused right in front of the closet, and for a horrifying moment, Martin thought they were discovered.

But then, Edwin moved away, and they heard the sound of papers rustling. It seemed he was searching for something in his drawers, unaware of the intruders in his room.

Martin's mind raced. They needed to get out of there with the evidence they'd found, but doing so without being seen was going to be a challenge. He turned to Susanna, his eyes pleading for her to stay calm.

Suddenly, Edwin's booming voice broke the silence. "Where is it?" he muttered to himself, frustration evident in his tone. "I know I left it here. It cannot have gotten far."

Martin and Susanna exchanged a glance. Whatever Edwin was looking for, it was clear he was agitated. Martin's mind went to the letter they'd found. Could it be that Edwin was searching for that very letter?

Was he finally trying to send it?

Much as they could not allow that toxic letter to go anywhere, they also did not want it to be discovered that it was missing. This was a messy situation that Martin never expected to find himself in.

He was supposed to be gone much longer than this . What happened with the clay shooting?

Martin's heart hammered in his chest as he tried to piece together the situation. Edwin was clearly frustrated, his search becoming more frantic by the second. Susanna's hand clutched Martin's arm, her grip tight with fear.

As he glanced down at Susanna, all he wanted to do was protect her from the mess that he had brought her into. He was the one who thought that now was the perfect time for the investigation, and clearly he was wrong.

He would not allow anything to happen to Susanna because of his silly choices.