She slowly pushed from the bed and walked to the window. Outside day was breaking, sending just a sliver of golden light into the room. She leaned against the glass, taking in the garden in that soft paleness of dawn. And if she looked just to her left…there was the first of the outbuildings down the hill. Including the storage building where Maitland had made his search for the very statue they had found the night before.

She wondered if that villain had searched the trunk upstairs, if it had been with the others instead, if he would have found the bear and the bust it held. After all, it had been a good hiding place. If she’d picked the bear up in an armful of items, she might not have noticed its extra weight.

Which made her wonder if Solomon had hidden other things in careful places like that. Outside were there other clues to his dealings with Maitland, hidden carefully amongst the mess the villain had left behind?

More to the point, were there items that could ultimately help in their search for Anne?

She glanced again at Jasper, asleep in her bed. He would probably be annoyed if she went down to look for herself. He’d growl and mutter and tell her she was being foolish and even reckless. But how reckless could such a thing be if there were guards down at the outbuilding? She knew Jasper had arranged for there to be armed men watching there at all times, she’d heard his stern command the day before.

If she went, she might spare her husband more of the pain he’d experienced when he saw Solomon’s old toy and realized just how far his troubled brother had sunk into the mire. If she found something useful, she might be able to use it as leverage to convince him to allow her to help in his continuing search for her sister.

She folded her arms. That was all there was to it. She was going down to the outbuildings. She was going to look for more clues. She moved to the attached dressing room, shutting the door carefully behind herself, and opened her armoire. She picked a gown she could fasten in the front and dressed herself swiftly. She pulled her hair back and pinned it in place. She didn’t look like a countess, but it wouldn’t matter.

Then she slipped from the chamber and went downstairs. She found Willard in the foyer, talking to a housemaid about some bit of business. As she entered the vestibule, he nodded the young woman off. “Good morning, my lady. We did not expect to see you so early. May I have your breakfast brought, or were you planning an early morning constitutional?”

“A constitutional,” she said with a smile for the butler. “I’ll wait for the earl to rise to eat. Willard, do you know if there were guards stationed overnight at the building that was burgled?”

Willard’s expression hardened. “Yes, my lady, of course. We did just as the earl requested and our largest footman, Parks, was stationed there overnight with stern instructions not to let himself fall asleep. You will not find anyone allowed to harm this family again.”