Chapter 10

Meanwhile back at the Whitford cottage, her husband was drinking himself into a stupor. He was certain his wife's disappearance had something to do with that property at Diana's Pool. 'He would get to the bottom of this!' he thought with conviction. He hadn't believed the little shifty eyed white haired butler! His wife was there somewhere, someone had to know something! 'Unless of course, she had had an accident and had fallen into the water. If that was the case, she'd be dead for sure now.' he thought and took another swig of scotch.

He hadn't bathed or gone to work in days. All he did was drink and waited for her return. But he now felt hopeless she wasn't coming back. 'He should've been a better husband to her, ' he realized, 'a little too late now.' And now she was probably laying in the deep murky water of the river somewhere, dead, his pretty little wife. 'Either that or lost and frightened wandering the dark woods looking for her home. Or maybe still, someone had found her and brought her into their home.' Oh, he was sick with worry!

He decided to go out and look for her, even though he was drunk and it was very dark out. He would bring a lantern and ride his horse. Yes, that's what he would do! He put on his jacket and stumbled out of the house and got on his horse and headed out into the dark night.

He rode out to the pool and river and walked along up and down with his lantern, searching, for something, anything that would lead him to her. Then he looked across the water and decided he had to go up to that big house again. He hopped back on his horse and rode the back roads up to the big gate. He was surprised to see it locked. The only thing to do now was to tie up his horse and scale the wall and walk the rest to the main house. This wasn't going to be easy, drunk as he was and holding a lantern, too.

There had to be another way of getting in there. He looked to the sides where the woods were thick and realized he could make his way thru them and where there was no fence, he could walk up to the drive and onto the mansion. He held his lantern and started for the house. It was rough going thru the thick picky briar and bushes and trees in the dark, but he finally made his way to the long graveled drive. He walked what seemed to be miles and was exhausted when he reached the house.

He blew out the lantern and sat for a bit to catch his breath. The cool night air and walk had sobered him up some. He looked up at the big house and he could see light coming from an upstairs bedroom. It looked to be the same room that they had seen, him and the constable, that had been locked. "Hhmm... the Master of the house must've returned from his business trip!" he thought out loud.

He crept up to the house now and tried looking into all the windows. It was dark inside and he couldn't see too much. All was quiet about the place save for the upstairs room that was lit. He decided to have a look around the grounds. He walked to the stables and saw a carriage and two beautiful horses tucked in for the night. They saw him and started to whinny. He quickly shut the door and walked out to a small building behind the mansion. It looked to be a work shed. He opened the door and lit his lantern and there in the corner behind some wooden crates and rakes, he spotted the bike!

"I knew it!" he exclaimed upon seeing it. He took a closer look and saw that it was wrecked, the wheels were bent out of shape and there on the ground was her little wicker basket, her straw hat and a few other little items including her little silver flask.

"That's it! I knew we were being lied to!" he said aloud and he walked up to the house and banged on the huge wooden door. Clank, clank, clank! The knocker sounded with each thrust. He was enraged and started yelling at the top of his lungs. "Open up! Open up, I say! I'm going to the authorities this instance if you don't open up!"

Soames heard something from his room and hurried to the window. He knew it was the husband. He had a feeling it was. He didn't want to bother his Master but he would have to. He threw on his robe and walked down the hall and knocked on Eric's door.