"Were the authorities notified?"
She shook her head. "This is where it becomes a little confusing," she admitted. "The next morning, Hudson, with several strong men, went to find the body I'd seen pitched from the rooftop. Hudson wouldn't let me tag along. I was still very upset.1'
"Of course you were," Caine agreed.
"Yes," she replied with a sigh. "When Hudson and the men returned, they were trying to be as kind as you are now ibeing, Caine, but they had to tell me the truth."
"What truth?"
"They couldn't find any t»ody. The graves hadn't been touched either."
"'So they believed you were just…"
"Imagining, Lyon?" she interrupted. "Yes, I'm certain they did. Because they were in Nathan's employ, they didn't dare tell me they thought I was… addled, but their expressions spoke for them. I immediately went back to the grave to see for myself. The wind and rain had been fierce the night before, yet even so, it didn't look as though the ground had been touched by a shovel."
"Perhaps they'd only just begun to dig when you interrupted them," Caine suggested.
"Yes, they had only just begun," she admitted, "I'll never forget their faces."
"Tell us the rest of this," Caine suggested.
"I spent the rest of the day trying to understand what their motives were. Then I went to Hudson and told him not to bother Nathan with this problem. I lied to the butler and told him I was certain it was just the setting sun playing tricks on me. I must tell you Hudson looked very relieved. He was still worried, of course, since I'd taken that fall down the stairs and bumped my head."
"Jade, couldn't this be your…"
"Imagination?" Caine asked. He shook his head. "There were at least five men chasing us last night. No, it isn't her imagination."
She gave Lyon a suspicious look. "You don't believe me, do you?"
"I do now," Lyon replied. "If there were men after you, then you did see something. What happened next?"
"I refused to give up," she told him. She tried to fold her hands in her lap and only then realized she was clinging to Caine's hand again. She pushed it away. "I can be a very stubborn woman. And so, the next morning, I once again set out to find proof."
Lyon smiled at Caine. "I would have done the same," he admitted.
"What morning was this?" Caine asked.
"Yesterday morning," she explained. "I set out on horseback. I didn't make it to my parents' graves, though. They shot my horse out from under me."
"They what?" Caine asked in a near shout.
She was pleased with his stunned reaction. "They killed Nathan's fine horse," she repeated with a nod.
"I cannot tell you how upset my brother's going to be when he finds out his favorite steed is dead. It's going to break his heart."
Caine reached for his linen handkerchief when he thought she was about to cry again. "And then what happened?" he asked.
"1 went flying to the ground, of course. I was very fortunate because I didn't break my neck. I only sustained minor injuries. Surely you noticed the bruises on my shoulders and arms when you snuck into my bedroom last night."
She turned to look at Caine and waited for his reply. "I didn't notice," he whispered. "And I didn't sneak into your room."
"How could you not have noticed my bruises?"
"I wasn't looking at your shoulders."
She could feel herself blushing again. "Well, you should have been looking at my shoulders," she stammered. "A gentleman would have noticed my injuries right away."
Caine lost his patience. "Jade, not even a eunuch would have…"
"Do you want to hear the rest of this or not?"
"Yes," he answered.
"After they shot my horse, I ran all the way back to the main house. I don't know if they chased after
me or not. I was very upset. This sort of thing has never happened to me before. I've led a very
sheltered life."
She seemed to want agreement. "I'm sure you have," Caine supplied.
"I found Hudson again and told him what happened. I could tell right away he was having trouble believing me. The man kept trying to force a cup of tea down me. This time, however, I had proof."
"Proof?" Caine asked.
"The dead horse, man," she cried out. "Pay attention, please."
"Of course," he returned. "The dead horse. And did Hudson apologize to you when you showed him this dead horse?"
She chewed on her lower lip a long minute while she stared up at him. "Not exactly," she finally answered.
"What do you mean by not exactly?"
Lyon had asked that question. Jade turned to look at him. "I know you're going to find this difficult to believe, but when we reached the spot where the horse had gone down… well, he'd vanished."
"No, I don't find that difficult to believe," Lyon drawled out. He leaned back against the chair again.
"Do you, Caine?"
Caine smiled. "It makes as much sense as everything else she's told us."
"Hudson insisted on returning to the stables," she continued. "He was convinced we'd find the horse had found its way back home on its own."
"And was he correct in that assumption?" Caine asked.
"No, he wasn't. The men searched the grounds for the rest of the morning but they couldn't find him. There were fresh wagon tracks along the south trail, though. Do you know what I think happened, Caine? I think they put the horse in the wagon and carried him away. What do you think of that possibility?"
She sounded so eager he was a little sorry to have to disappoint her. "You obviously don't have any idea how much a fully grown horse weighs, Jade. You can take my word it would require more than three men to lift it."
"Difficult," Lyon interjected. "But not impossible."
"Perhaps the animal only had a flesh wound and wandered off," said Caine.
"A flesh wound between his eyes? I doubt that." She let out a groan of frustration. "Nathan's going to be so upset when he finds out about his house and his carriage, too."
"His house? What the hell happened to his house?" Caine muttered. "Damn, I wish you'd tell this in sequence, Jade."
"I believe she has finally gotten to the fires," Lyon said.
"Why, it burned to the ground," Jade returned.
"When did the house burn down?" Caine asked with another weary sigh. "Before or after the horse was killed?"
"Almost directly after," she explained. "Hudson had ordered Nathan's carriage made ready for me. I had decided to return to London and find Nathan. I was good and sick of the way his servants were acting. They kept a wide berth around me, and kept giving me odd looks. I knew Nathan would help me solve this riddle."
She didn't realize she'd raised her voice until Caine patted her hand and said, "Just calm down, sweet,