Read Online For Elise by Sarah M. Eden - Free Book Online Page B

not smiling now, but, Grenton, she stopped smiling then. ”
    “I don’t remember her being that grieved,” Beth said. “I do recall she was upset, but—”
    “You were deeply grieving, love,” Langley reassured his wife, even kissing her hand. “As was your brother. And”—he returned his attention to Miles—“you were dealing with the desperate nature of your family’s finances. I don’t imagine any of you noticed much beyond those immediate worries.”
    “I would have noticed if Elise was—”
    “Grenton,” Langley interrupted, an unusual moment of incivility for the characteristically polite gentleman. “As the weeks passed, you became less aware of everything beyond the burden you’d been given.”
    Miles shook his head. He hadn’t been that self-absorbed. He was certain he hadn’t.
    “Do you remember that Beth turned her ankle about a month after your father’s death?” Langley pressed.
    Miles shot a look at his sister. He didn’t remember that. “Did you?”
    Beth sighed and nodded. “You didn’t seem to remember that even at the time.”
    “It was one of the reasons we were so hesitant to leave, even though we were anxious to reach Lancashire before winter made travel impossible,” Langley said. “Not Beth’s ankle, which healed quickly, but you and your distraction. And the knowledge that Epsworth hung in the balance also weighed on our minds.”
    “I honestly do not remember Elise wasting away.” Miles paced in front of the fireplace, searching his inconveniently blank memory. “She seemed to be doing well. She was mourning and shaken by all that had occurred, but that was to be expected.”
    “She grew worse with time,” Langley said. “I debated saying something, but I didn’t because I wasn’t sure she would appreciate me, a virtual stranger, sticking my nose in where it probably didn’t belong. Then she disappeared, and I wondered if, perhaps, her grief had overcome her judgment.”
    “You think she ran away?” Miles felt suddenly defensive. He’d told himself all these years that, while running was a possibility, he would have known if Elise was so miserable as to take such a desperate step. He would have known, and she would have come to him for help before fleeing her home and friends.
    “I think it is a possibility but not the only one.”
    Miles made another circuit past the fireplace. “You think she may have been abducted?” It was the explanation that had frightened him the most.
    “She was the sole surviving witness to a triple murder, Grenton. If anyone could identify the murderer, it would be Elise.”
    Miles dropped into a chair, closing his eyes and rubbing his face with his hands. Those had been dark times, days and weeks he tried hard to forget. But the memory came anyway.
    “Are you certain there was only one man?” the Bow Street Runner, up from London to investigate, had asked for the second time.
    Elise had nodded, her face paler than it had been only moments before. “On a horse. A black horse.”
    “What did he look like? Short or tall?”
    Elise blinked and seemed to twitch involuntarily. “Taller than Papa,” she said, her eyes unfocused.
    Miles clenched and unclenched his fists. His father and hers had been dead only a few days. He wanted answers, wanted to find the man who’d killed them, but the interrogation bothered him. Elise wasn’t holding up well under the forced resurgence of memories.
    “What type of weapon did he use?” the runner asked.
    “Gun.” Elise spoke in that same empty voice she’d used to answer all of his questions.
    “What type of gun?”
    Elise gave him a confused look, obviously not understanding that there were some very specific types of firearms.
    “Did he hold it in one hand or did it require both?” the runner pressed.
    “One in each hand.”
    Miles looked anxiously between the runner and Langley, who had offered his support throughout the ordeal. One gun—pistols, if Miles wasn’t