Yesterday's Promise Read Free

awaited her. Here she would relieve some tension by playing her favorite pieces.
    It was not to be, for a rush of wind invaded the parlor, scattering sheets of music across the piano and down to the floor. An open window? Evy turned to see ballooning brocade draperies reaching to ensnare her.
    She remembered now. The morning had been deceptively sunny, and she had opened it a few inches to let in some fresh air.
Oh dear
, she thought,
by now the rain will have blown in and wet the rug
.
    She hurried to close the window and was startled by a streak of white that flashed across the black sky, followed by a thunderous boom, then rumblings through the darkened woods of Grimston Way. More rain followed, pounding the pane with fists like mystical goblins riding on the fall wind.
    She wondered that her fingers shook, that she reacted so emotionally.
What is the matter with me? I’ve lived through hundreds of storms
.
    The wind swept over the cottage, howling, repeating the word she least wanted to remember at this moment.
Murder
.
    Evy had been a small child when Henry Chantry’s life was taken. The murderer, who’d managed to get away, still had Henry’s blood on their hands. Had the murderer located the Kimberly Black Diamond and escaped with it? The very thought rankled her because her mother had been blamed for its theft so many years ago. By now the perpetrator would be far from Grimston Way—there’d be no reason to stay. Even so, her skin prickled at the thought. Nor could she keep the twins’ unlikely words that Henry was her father from churning in her mind.
What if he was?
She paused, letting the implication flutter around in her mind before rejecting it. It couldn’t be true—that would make Rogan a blood relative.
    Regardless of the silly talk about her mother coming to Rookswood to take revenge on Henry, someone may have done just that, but not Katie—she had died along with Dr. Clyde and Junia Varley at Rorke’sDrift mission station on the day of the Zulu attack in 1879. No one could possibly have survived that onslaught.
    Overhead, a floorboard creaked, bringing her back to the moment. Her gaze lifted to the attic.
It’s just the dampness, is all
, she told herself.
    She remembered what Rogan said before sailing for the Cape. In spite of the authorities’ conclusion that Henry Chantry had taken his own life, he suspected otherwise, believing that someone in the extended diamond family may have killed him for more than the Black Diamond. Why
more?
What could be
more
than that rare diamond from the Kimberly fields? The map? Ah yes, there was that. The precious map that Henry Chantry had left in his will to Rogan, promising gold on the Zambezi.
    From Evy’s limited knowledge of the diamond dynasty family, the shareholders and inheritors consisted of Bleys, Brewsters, and Chantrys. Never was there any mention of her mother’s family, the van Burens. Evidently, Katie, under Sir Julien’s guardianship, had not been left an inheritance, which meant, of course, there’d been nothing left to Evy. Not that she expected otherwise. Dreaming of diamonds had never been one of her weaknesses. However, she did care deeply about Katie’s reputation—and her own.
    According to Rogan, who hadn’t explained how he knew, some members of each family were in England on the night of Henry’s untimely death. All seemed capable of the short trip from London to Grimston Way to meet with Henry…and murder him?
    The floorboard creaked again.
    Evy snapped from her thoughts and turned toward the ceiling.
Rats?
Ugh… Maybe, but this was a heavier creak.
Footsteps?
Now she was really allowing her emotions to run wild! Her musings about Henry were unsettling her nerves.
    She rubbed her arms and glanced around her in the dimness. Maybe she
should
have stayed for supper in the parish hall after all. A bit of company on a stormy evening would have restrained her