Yesterday's Promise (48 page)

She heard the incredulity in his voice.

“Yes, it does sound incredible, doesn't it?” Her voice was toneless.

Wally looked at her a moment, bewilderment on his young face, then she looked away and heard the sound of his footsteps clattering down the stairs.

Evy went to the parson's desk and began a quick search to locate the secret drawer, praying it hadn't been a childhood fancy. She fussed for about fifteen minutes, pushing and shoving here and there, opening drawers and feeling behind them for knobs and levers, yet finding nothing. It proved a daunting task, especially as she became emotionally absorbed in old letters and sermon notes from the vicar's younger years. All in all, she had discovered nothing that would give even the slightest indication either of the contents of that envelope or of any secret drawer.

Frustrated, she paused long enough to open the attic window, letting in the summer breeze and the singing of birds. In this environment it appeared, even to her, that the recent events of her life might merely be illusory. Her crutches, however, propped against the wall, countered that possibility. One thing she was certain she could not have imagined was the sinister figure rushing at her from the attic door.

She turned away from the little window to resume her search.
Lord, if there really is a secret drawer…if I didn't just imagine it as a child…please help me. The desk is small enough. Surely locating it can't be that difficult
.

She sat staring at the desk, rubbing away the crease between her brows. Her gaze fell on the smooth strips of wood below the rim of the desktop. The strips looked like parts of the structure, but what if one of them could slide out?

Evy pulled on them, but nothing moved. Could there be a release somewhere? She began pulling out the drawers again and feeling inside for anything unusual. Within the top right drawer, her fingers reached up and brushed against a small lever connected beneath the desktop.
Was this it?
She pulled it toward her and heard something click. One of the strips had snapped out about an inch, startling her. It had to be! The hidden drawer! As she pulled it farther out, she saw a long envelope lying in the thin drawer.

With glee she stared at the yellowed envelope.
Thank you, Lord
. She snatched it from its compartment and compared it to the wrinkled envelope Beth Hooper had found.

Her hopes crashed. The writing was not from Henry Chantry. It was just Uncle Edmund's handwriting. She fingered the sealed envelope—perhaps several pages inside.

Had Uncle Edmund intended to deliberately mislead someone? Perhaps what she now held was what the intruder had been searching for. Had the intruder only found a decoy back in October? Had the thief believed he had found the real letter when he hadn't? Her hopes revived. Uncle Edmund with his gentle ways and spectacles always slipping down his nose may have been more shrewd that anyone had suspected.

She was beginning to open the sealed flap when she heard the sound of the front gate clicking shut, followed by footsteps up the walkway. Bold footsteps! Quickly she stuffed the sealed envelope down her bodice and arranged the front of her dress. Drawing in a quick breath, she hobbled to the window and peered below.

Heyden van Buren. He must have decided to leave his hotel in London and join her here. He would be pleased to learn Lady Elosia also wanted her in Capetown. Pleased, too, that Evy had made up her mind to go. Maybe she ought to tell him everything. But no, she wasn't that trusting yet. Until the whole truth was known, everyone was suspect.

At least he was making no effort to be elusive. She'd certainly had enough of stealthy footsteps and creaking wood for one day. She walked to the attic door and prepared herself for the visit, waiting for Wally to open the front door and let him in.

Evy was still standing there a moment later when she heard Heyden below.

“Hullo, up there, Evy?” he called from below the attic steps.

Where was Wally?

“Up here, Heyden!”

She caught her breath.
What!
Challenging voices—a thud, followed by a scuffle, then the cracking sound of something breaking—
furniture?

Wally! With heart pounding she moved through the door to the small landing and looked down into the pantry. Her breath sucked in. Wally was nowhere in view. It was Rogan! And Heyden, in a savage fight.

Rogan's fist smashed into Heyden's belly, followed by a chop to the back of his neck, bringing him down on one knee, but Heyden came up again and rammed Rogan, sending him slamming against the wall. A picture crashed to the floor.

Heyden took a swing at Rogan but was met with a blow to the chin that sent him backward against the stove. The collision sent a kettle clattering to the wall. Heyden slumped to the floor. This time he moaned but did not get up.

Evy stared at the scene in confusion.
What is going on!?
Her gaze swerved to Rogan. Could she trust him? What if—

He came to the bottom of the stairs and looked up at her. His dark, earthy gaze held her captive.

She hardly recognized him. He was tanned deeply from the African sun and now wore a small mustache. Although Rogan had never lacked masculine appeal, he was even more handsome now.

“Rogan! What are you doing?”

Rogan's eyes hardened into rock. He started toward Heyden again.

“No,” she cried, and he looked up at her, and for the moment she searched his face, his gaze told her nothing.

“My one regret, Evy, is that I wasn't here to protect you from him.”

Evy looked from Rogan down to Heyden. From him?

“What are you saying?” she whispered.

“I believe it was Heyden who came to Rookswood years ago to confront Henry, believing he still had the Black Diamond. They had a row and things went badly, and Henry was shot, but I've no solid evidence to prove it.”

“And you never will,” Heyden countered suddenly. “You're lying through your teeth. Don't fall for his schemes, Evy.”

Heyden caught the edge of the table and pulled himself up from the floor. He leaned there, his lip cut, looking up at them with a thunderous scowl. “It's the diamond he wants, Evy, not you. Don't you see? The Black Diamond. He knows now that you're the one van Buren heiress. The one person Jendaya will trust to tell where the Black is hidden.”

Rogan went toward him. He grabbed Heyden by the front of his shirt and jerked him forward. “You're lucky you're still alive,” he said through gritted teeth. “If I were you I'd sit down nice and quiet and start worrying about being hanged.”

He pushed Heyden into a kitchen chair and leaned toward him.

“You think I don't know it was you who killed Henry that night? You were convinced he had the Kimberly Black, but you were wrong. But by the time you discovered you were wrong, it was too late. Henry caught you red-handed in his study, and you decided to silence him.”

“I don't know what you're talking about. You're raving like a lunatic. Evy, go for Lord Brewster at once.”

“Stay where you are, darling. Heyden van Buren is a murderer.”

Darling
. Evy couldn't have moved if she wanted to.

“You're out of your mind,” Heyden sneered. “I was a boy when your uncle was killed. I was in the Transvaal and can prove it. If anyone killed him, you did. You and your obsession for his map and the Black Diamond.”

Evy snapped awake. Which man should she trust with the sealed envelope? Rogan, of course—but was she absolutely certain? Her love must not get in the way. She would remain silent for now.

Heyden's use of the term “a boy” struck her. What had he told her the other night in London at Chantry Townhouse? Even a boy was capable of murder? Yes, that was it. Even a boy…

“I wasn't old enough to confront Henry,” Rogan said, “but
you
were. But I'll admit there had to be someone else older and wiser who
put you up to coming to Rookswood that night. Someone who also believed Henry had the Black Diamond.”

“Keep talking. You're only making a fool of yourself in front of Evy.”

“Who was it, Heyden? Out with it! Julien Bley? No, not Julien. You despise him and his plans for British expansion into Boer territory. Was it Inga?”

Heyden's defiant smile was fixed. “If Mother and I decided to take back the diamond, why not? It came from the Transvaal Republic, Dutch territory. Territory stolen by the British. That diamond was a van Buren discovery. Julien stole it from Carl. Yes—from Evy's grandfather. Julien even arranged for Carl van Buren to be killed in that mine explosion to take control of the discovery.”

Could that be true?
Evy wondered.

“I've no particular love for Julien, but there's no reason he would have arranged Carl van Buren's death,” Rogan said.

“I wouldn't put it past him. Inga thinks so. My father was killed, too, in the same explosion with Carl. Had I held onto the Black Diamond in the Cape House stables that night, it would have gone for a good purpose, to finance a war with you cursed English! We will yet have one, and we will win.”

“Then you admit knocking Henry unconscious in the stables?”

“Yes. But I didn't kill him that night at Rookswood. I wasn't anywhere near Grimston Way.”

“So that was your motive…to use the diamond to finance a Boer war? You're crazy if you think you could have sold that on the international market.”

Heyden glared at the scorn in Rogan's voice.

“That's where you're wrong, Chantry. We could do it all right, and we will. We'll get the diamond yet.”

“You were around fourteen when Katie van Buren escaped Cape House to meet Henry in the stable. How did you manage to knock him unconscious?”

“I was hiding in the stables before Henry came in. I knew Katie was
coming to meet him there. Katie had Inga send Henry a message at Capetown harbor to come meet her. I was the messenger boy, though Katie didn't know it. Before Henry arrived, I chose a spot where I could overhear everything they said. I heard them plotting about the Black Diamond and running off with it. But Katie wanted to go to Rorke's Drift first to get Evy. When Katie and Henry came back from the house with the diamond, I was ready. He saw me when he came in for the horse, but he underestimated me. He thought I was on his side. He asked me to see to his golden gelding in the stall. When his back was turned, I clobbered him. I had the Black in my hand when I went out the back stable door with his horse. But someone jumped me from behind as I was mounting. I know now it was Dumaka.

“When I awoke I was lying in a ditch behind the stables. Henry's horse was still around somewhere. I heard Anthony looking for the horse. A short while later, when Anthony and Julien were accusing Henry of stealing the diamond, I was able to get back to the house to my mother, who fixed the bruise on my head. She hid me for a few days so Julien didn't notice. He was always so occupied he never paid much attention to what Inga was doing anyway. There was a time when Inga tried to steal the Black, but she couldn't find it, though she often searched. Katie was the only one who figured out where he kept it.”

“So Inga was in on the whole thing,” Rogan said.

“Absolutely. The entire van Buren family is dedicated to the Boer Republics.” He hastened a glance toward Evy. “But Inga loved Katie. She had no intention of hurting her, but she knew that Boer independence took precedence over everything else.”

Evy remained silent, studying both men.

“Then we both know that it was Dumaka who took the Black from you at the stables,” Rogan said. “You tried to get information about Dumaka from Jendaya at Dr. van Buren's mission, isn't that right? But she didn't trust you and got away that night.”

Heyden gave him a measuring glance. “You were at Jakob's mission?”

“I was there a few days. He told me everything he knew. He said
you were looking for Dumaka and the Black. When I put two and two together, I knew the reason you were coming back to England was to find Evy and bring her back to South Africa. You were hoping to use Evy to gain information from Jendaya, but the woman was too smart to trust you.”

“Jendaya should have cooperated with me. If she had, I wouldn't have needed to bring Evy into this at all. Jendaya knows where Dumaka is. She's just a stubborn old Zulu.”

“She was wise. And she's come to faith in Christ, and she wouldn't have cooperated with you anyway. She ran away because she guessed you would use Katie's daughter to get information to take them to Dumaka. That it would be a dangerous and foolish move on your part. I know Dumaka. I've already spoken with him. He's a warrior. And he's fanatical about his spiritual beliefs. Beliefs that concern that Black Diamond. I've thought long and hard about why Dumaka would have worked for Julien Bley at Cape House. He's an induna. With Jendaya it was different. She was a Christian, and she was recommended to work for Julien by Dr. and Mrs. Varley, who were at Rorke's Drift at the time.”

Heyden narrowed his eyes. “Dumaka knew Julien had the Black and was just waiting to find its location before he took Julien's head for a trophy. Lucky for Julien he never did. Why Dumaka let me live, I don't know, but it didn't have anything to do with sentiment. He was probably just short on time.”

Heyden looked up at Evy. “You accuse me for wanting to bring Evy to meet Jendaya, but Evy wants to meet her, and Jakob as well.” He turned a sharp glance on Rogan. “It would have worked, too, if you hadn't come back with your meddling. You're after the diamond too. Why not be man enough to admit it?”

“Why did you think it was Henry and not Dumaka who took the diamond from you at the stables that night?”

Heyden shrugged. “I didn't think of Dumaka then. I thought I might not have struck Henry hard enough to keep him down. That somehow he'd managed to come to and jump me from behind. Later,
Inga figured out it was Dumaka. He disappeared from Cape House that same night. He was seen among the Zulu fighting at Rorke's Drift. Jendaya told me when I talked to her at Jakob's mission.”