LITMIR.BIZ

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wasn’t a soul in sight, not even the gardeners or the stable boys. It was ominously quiet, as if everyone had disappeared and she was the only person left there.

      When she reached the heavy front door Tessa stood for a moment, frowning. The door was ajar and this surprised her. It was always locked for security reasons. Puzzled, she pushed the door open and went inside; her only concern was to find her child.

      ‘Adele! Adele!’ she called out in her loudest voice, walking forward quickly. ‘Are you here, sweetheart?’

      No one answered.

      No child came running to her on plump little legs, calling her name.

      There was only the sound of Tessa’s voice echoing back to her through the great Stone Hall. It struck her then that Adele might have gone to the kitchen looking for Margaret, wanting her favourite Cadbury’s chocolate fingers for the dolls’ tea party. Rushing down the corridor, she went into the kitchen. It, too, was deserted. Disappointment hit her in the face. Her heart sank and dismay lodged in the pit of her stomach. Unexpectedly, tears filled her eyes and she leaned against the door jamb for a split second, endeavouring to gather her swimming senses as she tried to imagine where the three-year-old could be. Where?

      Taking a deep breath, Tessa swung out of the kitchen and made her way back to the front of the house, walked outside onto the gravel driveway, again looking around. And asking herself where she should begin to search for Adele. It now seemed obvious that her little girl had wandered off into the other garden, and Tessa suddenly understood that she would need Wiggs and his two assistants to start looking for her. And possibly the stable lads as well. The grounds at Pennistone Royal were vast and covered a wide area, and there were several dense woods beyond the fields and meadows.

      ‘Miss Tessa! Miss Tessa!’

      At the sound of the head gardener’s voice, Tessa spun around. Wiggs was hurrying towards her and she saw that he had the rag doll in his hands.

      She ran to meet him, exclaiming, ‘Where did you find the doll?’

      The gardener came to a standstill and handed it to her. ‘Just around the bend in the drive.’ He glanced over his shoulder. ‘Yer knows that bend, Miss Tessa, it’s just afore the house comes in ter sight.’

      Clutching the rag doll to her, Tessa said shakily, ‘I can’t find Adele, Wiggs. She’s suddenly gone missing, and I don’t understand what she was doing out here. We must start looking for her in the grounds.’

      Wiggs gaped at her. ‘I thought she must’ve dropped the doll before she got in ter the car,’ he said, frowning, his face puzzled.

      ‘What car?’ Tessa cried, her eyes opening wider, flaring with apprehension. ‘There was a car here?’ Her voice was unusually shrill and she gripped the gardener’s arm.

      ‘Yes. I heard the screech of tyres as it drove off. Almost run over one of the ponies, it did that, and two of the stable lads ran after it, shouting at the driver, telling him to stop. But he didn’t.’

      All of the colour had drained out of Tessa’s face and she thought her legs would buckle under her as small ripples of shock ran through her body. Mark. It had to be Mark. Yes. Oh, God, yes. He had snatched their child. She snapped her eyes tightly shut, trembling inside, and brought one hand to her face, overcome by rising panic.

      ‘You’d best go inside, Miss Tessa, and sit down for a bit,’ Wiggs was saying to her. ‘You look right poorly.’

      And as Tessa opened her eyes and took a deep breath, she heard the clatter of horses’ hooves in the distance and turned around swiftly.

      Wiggs glanced behind him, and muttered, ‘That must be Emsie and Desmond coming back from their ride.’

      ‘Yes, it must,’ she agreed, and she thought her voice sounded peculiar, oddly strangled in her throat. She was on the verge of tears again. Turning to Wiggs, blinking them back, she managed to ask, ‘That car, Wiggs. What was it like? Did you see the driver? Was it Mr Longden, do you think?’

      Wiggs shook his head. ‘Didn’t see the driver’s face. But it was a man. Aye, it was. Car was black. A Mercedes … I think.’ He nodded and his expression was suddenly confident. ‘Aye, it was a Mercedes, Miss Tessa.’

      At this moment Emsie and Desmond came around the bend, their horses walking at a slow pace. Emsie waved and called out cheerily, ‘Tessa! Hello.’

      Desmond also waved and his handsome young face was full of smiles.

      Tessa raised her arm, beckoned to them to come over, then she changed her mind and ran towards them, Wiggs following in her wake.

      Desmond, mounted on a superb black stallion, looked down at his eldest sister. Staring at her face, which was as white as her cotton shirt, noting her terrible strained expression, he asked, almost sharply, ‘What’s the matter, Tess?’

      ‘It’s Adele,’ she began and shook her head in bewilderment. ‘I can’t find her. She’s vanished. Into thin air.’ Her voice was shaking and she stopped abruptly, turned to look at Wiggs. ‘But she could have been taken from here.’

      He had known her since she was a child, and he understood immediately what she wanted him to do. He had to explain. ‘It’s like this, Desmond,’ Wiggs said. ‘There was a car here. I don’t know who was in it. But it drove off hell for leather, almost collided with a pony that’d strayed on ter the drive. Two of the stable lads ran after the car, shouting, but the driver paid them no mind, didn’t stop. Just shot out of them there front gates like a bat out of hell. I was walking up the drive … when I spotted Adele’s rag doll.’ He nodded and finished, ‘I thought Adele must’ve dropped it when she got in the car. Not that I’m sure she did that, yer knows. But it seems likely.’

      ‘But you didn’t actually see Adele in the car?’ Desmond asked.

      ‘No.’ Wiggs shook his head. ‘Still, what with the doll being there on the ground, well, I mean, I just thought she’d gone off in the car.’

      Tessa took a deep breath, said in a worried voice, ‘Wiggs, please arrange for the grounds to be searched, and talk to Joe. He might know who was in the car. Maybe they’d been to see him about something – to do with the estate.’

      ‘I’ll get a search going, Miss Tessa, but there’s no way I can talk ter Joe. He’s gone ter East Witton. And I don’t think he’s coming back. Not just yet. But nobody coming ter see Joe would drive like that, not with all the notices we’ve got posted, warning everyone ter go slow because of the horses. No, whoever was in that black car, well, them there folk were proper strangers, not from these parts. Locals don’t go speeding around in cars when there’s horses all over the place.’

      ‘I agree,’ Desmond said. He dismounted, went to Tessa, put his arm around her shoulders, wanting to comfort her. He was as concerned about her as he was about the situation. And what ought they to do, aside from searching the grounds?

      Emsie followed suit, expertly jumping down from her horse. Turning to Wiggs, she said, ‘Would you mind taking the horses to the stables, please? We’ll be there in a few minutes, Wiggs, to rub them down.’

      ‘Acourse I’ll tek ’em back, Emsie,’ he replied, accepting the reins from her, reaching for Desmond’s horse. ‘But the stable lads’ll look after ’em. You should both be with Tessa.’

      Emsie smiled at him, a faltering smile, and he noticed that her face was as white as her half-sister’s. She looked frightened, as well. He patted the seventeen-year-old’s shoulder. ‘Try not to worry, lass. If she’s around here, we’ll find Adele.’

      ‘I hope she is just lost,’ Emsie murmured, biting her lip. ‘I hope that’s all it is.’

      Wiggs hurried away with the horses, thinking that Mark Longden had most likely grabbed the child. The whole staff knew all about the upcoming divorce; there was a good bit of gossip about Longden. None of them liked him. He was the child’s

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