The Hands of Time (5 page)

The darkness outside my window was not dotted by the lights of a distant town
,
or sliced through by the headlights of an approaching car.  I could see the darker outline of trees against sky
,
and could just make out the wall surrounding the castle, but not much else.  There weren’t even any boats on the river navigating their way by the light of a lantern swinging from a beam.  I could hear an owl hooting somewhere in the distance
,
and the sounds of horses, restless in their stalls, were carried on the breeze
;
but there were no sounds of people
,
and I closed the window
,
shivering with anxiety.  I
hadn’t
known what scared and alone was until today
,
and I crawled back into bed, pulling the coverlet over my head
, trying not to think of
what
Luisa must be going through at that very moment
and
cried
myself to sleep.

Chapter 5

Present Day

Louisa sat with her head in her hands, elbows leaning on the table.  When Valerie did
’
t show up promptly at six, she ordered herself a glass of Chardonnay and sat down at the polished bar to wait.  She was
a few
minutes early anyway
,
so
she exchanged a few comments about the weather with the barman before checking her watch again.  Luisa took a sip of wine, enjoying its cold, crisp bouquet
,
and wondered what kind of mood Valerie would be in when she got there.  Tomorrow was Michael’s wedding day
,
and she couldn’t blame her sister for feeling awful.  The man deserved to be drawn and quartered as far as she was concerned, leaving Val like that
,
and flaunting his pregnant girlfriend
for all the world to see
.  He was starting a whole new life, while her sister had to rebuild hers piece by little piece, starting with her self-esteem and the ability to ever trust a man again. 

By 6:30
pm Luisa began to get a little annoyed
,
and she looked at her watch more frequently thinking of the talking to that Val was going to get when she finally arrived.  Being a few
minutes
late was no big deal, but it was over half an hour now and that was bordering on rude.  She was hungry too
,
so
she asked for the menu to distract herself from watching the door. 

Annoyance turned into worry by 7:00
pm and Lou began getting that
gnawing feeling in her stomach
,
feeling that something was definitely wrong.  It was only an hour and too soon to alert the police or truly panic, but her sister was never more th
a
n a few
minutes
late
,
and this was definitely out of character.  The young barman tried to distract Louisa with conversation
,
seeing her get more frantic by the minute, but he secretly thought that her sister just got held up somewhere and would be there momentarily.  He smiled when he
thought
of the tongue-lashing she would get
from
her irate sibling. 

Louisa finally asked the barman to call the police by 8:00
pm.  He gave her a dubious look, but dialed the number and asked the constable to come over to the pub right away.  Constable
Gary
Tomkins arrived five
minutes
later, notepad in hand, ready to take down the information.  His last crime had been the theft of some fish off a boat as a practical joke
,
and he was seriously hoping for something he could sink his teeth into.  A suspicious disappearance of a tourist could certainly be a case to make his career, especially if he managed to track her down to some dangerous location, having been accosted by dangerous types and in need of heroic rescue.  The constable reluctantly pushed his fantasy to the back of his mind and sat down with Louisa to take down her statement.  He instructed the barman to look out for Valerie
,
while he took Louisa into his cruiser for a ride around the village. 

They drove slowly up and down every single street,
stopping
occasionally
to ask passer
s
by to look at Valerie’s picture and try to remember if they had seen her at any time in the past couple of hours.  A few people actually
did recall seeing her walking down the street or sitting at the café by the river
,
and their
statements
finally led
Louisa and Constable Tomkins
to the antique shop.  The store was already closed
for the night
, but the owner lived right above the premises and came down to speak with them.  He was an old man with thick horn-rimmed glasses
,
and
wispy
white hair combed over his balding pate.  He looked frail in his tweed trousers and gr
a
y cardigan
,
and Luisa could not find it within herself to be angry with him for not calling the police when he found that Valerie was gone.

Mr. Taylor looked at the picture for a long time before replying. 
“The young lady did come into the shop this afternoon.  It was around 4:00 pm.  I know that because I
’
d just gone into the back room to put the kettle on for my tea.  She w
a
ndered around looking at various items
,
and seemed to have left by the time I came back out.  I found her bag lying on the floor next to one of the shelves in the back
,
and thought she must have dropped it and
would come
back once she realized it was missing.”  The man looked distraught
,
and
C
onstable Tomkins seemed ill at ease questioning him.

“Mr. Taylor, did you hear anything?  Any signs of a struggle
,
or an argument of some sort?”

“No, it was very quiet.  I didn’t even hear the bell over the door when she left.”  He shrugged as if trying to understand how that could have happened.

“Could someone have forced her to leave by the back way?”  Tomkins was trying, but Louisa knew it was
useless.  The man obviously didn’t
see or hear anything.   He had been in the back room
,
and Valerie would have to have gone
right past him to leave by the back way.  The questioning was a dead
-
end.  Could Valerie have been so distraught by Michael’s wedding that she had some sort of breakdown?  It didn’t seem that way.  She
’
d been shopping for
souvenirs
and there were postcards
and a magnet
in her bag.  Not exactly symptoms of a person
having a
nervous breakdown.  The wallet and all her credit cards were untouched, so she hadn’t been mugged or attac
k
ed.  No one had seen anything
suspicious
,
and if
someone
forced a woman to leave a shop and get into a car
,
it wouldn
’
t go unnoticed in a small town full of busybodies who knew the minute details of their neighbors’ lives.  Mrs. Bradford had confirmed that Valerie never came back after she went out before lunch
,
but
went up to check the room just in case.  Nothing. 

The constable took Louisa back to the pub to get her a cup of tea and go over the evidence, which was practically non-
existent
.  All they knew was that Valerie Crane had left the inn shortly before lunch and went to the harbor café.  She spen
t
over an hour there and then w
a
ndered around town, stopping into various shops
until approximately 4pm when she entered the shop of Mr.
Frederick
Taylor.  Sometime between 4
pm and 4:10 pm when Mr. Taylor emerged from the back, Valerie vanished, leaving her bag and no other clue to her disappearance.  The constable was stumped. 

“Constable, I
’
d like you to get a detective on the case right away.  Is there one here in the village?” 
Louisa asked her hands shaking violently as she tried to pick up the teacup.

“There
’s no detective here, but I’
ll place a call to Plymouth and they
’
ll send someone down tomorrow.”

“The trail might grow cold by tomorrow,
” Louisa
sighed.  She knew there was no trail. 

“They will do everything they can, Ms. Jamison.  Why don’t I take you back to the inn and you can try to get some rest
,
and I
’
ll ring you first thing in the morning after I speak to the detective?”  Louisa had no choice but to agree.  There was nothing more she could do at the pub.  Valerie was obviously not coming.  She would just try to go to bed
,
and pray that she would show up in the morning.  Maybe this was just some dramatic reaction to Michael’s wedding.  Deep down
, Lou didn’t
believe that.  She knew her sister too well
,
and she prayed that the detective would shed some light on the case.

Chapter
6

June 1605

Alec had a number of questions to put to his unexpected guest, but they all died on his lips when he saw Valerie Crane walk into the dining room the following morning on the heels of Betty.  She was wearing a blue gown that had belonged to Rose
,
and the color only served to accentuate the dark smudges under her eyes and the pallor of her skin.  It was obvious that she had been crying
,
and Alec felt a terrible pity for the girl.  She looked so frail and ill. 

Alec
did not
really believe that she didn’t know what happened to her, she just didn’t want to tell him.  She was obviously not from around here
,
and judging by her odd speech
,
she must have come from
somewhere abroad.
  She might have married an Englishman and left her home
,
only to find her husband cruel or violent.  She
would not
be the first.  She was obviously terrified of being found out
,
and he had no intention of forcing her to return home.  In his experience, very few women ran away from home, so her situation must have been particularly bad.  Judging from her clear
complexion
and soft hands, she was obviously not a servant
,
and her proud bearing proclaimed her to be of the upper classes.  She was most likely educated and bred for the life of a lady.  In any case, if there was anything to find out, Finlay would no doubt charm it out of her in
short order.  Women had a way of opening up to his brother, he thought, as he rose to bid Miss Crane a good morrow.

“How are you feeling this morning, Mistress Crane?”  He could tell exactly how she was feeling, but he felt the need to say something and that was the first thing that came to mind.

“
I
’
m all right, thank you.”  She looked away from him as quickly as possible
,
a
voiding eye contact. 
Poor girl
, he thought
,
I
am not going to hurt you
.  He did, however, feel the need to address the issue somehow without frightening her.

“Is there anywhere I can escort you?”  Her eyes flew to his in obvious panic.

“No, I
’
ve nowhere to go.”  Her hands were trembling in her lap and he felt a cad for asking, but to say nothing would be strange under the circumstances.

“Might someone be looking for you, Mistress Crane?  A relative
,
or a friend, perhaps?”

“I don’t believe so, Mr. Whitfield.”  Alec was wondering what to say next
,
when he was
rescued
by the arrival of his brother.  Finn came strolling into the dining room and stopped at the sight of Valerie.  Alec couldn’t help noticing that his brother was wearing his favorite green doublet
which
brought out the color of his eyes, knowing full well that the girl was said to be attractive.  He smiled into his napkin and watched the exchange with interest.

“Finlay Whitfield at your service, Mistress Crane.”  He took the girl’s hand and bowed over it
,
before placing a gentle kiss and gazing into her eyes. 
“
I must confess that i
f
re
gaining your memory means
losing
you, then I hope you never recover.”