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Back Carved in Stone
Chapters (52)
  1. Half Title Page
  2. Books by Elizabeth Camden
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. 1
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  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
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  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. 41
  46. 42
  47. Historical Note
  48. Questions for Discussion
  49. Coming 2022
  50. About the Author
  51. Back Ads
  52. Back Cover

Frederick’s iron-hard voice cracked across the room. “No one is to leave this room until the police arrive.”

Patrick stood. Gwen had been through a lot today, and the old ladies looked worn out and miserable. Maybe no one else had the backbone to stand up to Frederick, but Patrick did. “Under the laws of New York procedure, you can’t issue a blanket order to detain us without specific probable cause.”

“My house, my rules,” Frederick said. “I want to know who is trying to prevent Liam from rejoining the family.”

Edwin turned away from the card game to face the others. “What if the real target was Poppy all along? You have to admit, she can be annoying.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Natalia said.

Edwin bristled. “It could have been you,” he snapped. “You’ve always been jealous of Poppy and probably want to take her out before she can give birth to a male heir.”

“Edwin, you can’t possibly be as stupid as you sound right now,” Natalia said, fanning herself with a bamboo fan.

No one in the room was going to defy Frederick Blackstone, and Patrick couldn’t force them to disperse. He sighed and took a seat on the floor alongside Gwen. It was going to be a long night.

36

ch-fig

A small but healthy baby boy was born shortly after the doctor arrived at two o’clock in the morning. Oscar opened a bottle of champagne, but Patrick and the others wanted only to stagger to bed. Now that half a dozen police officers from the mainland had arrived, Frederick allowed everyone to return to their bedrooms while guards were posted throughout the grounds. A search of the island would begin once the sun rose, but Patrick would no longer be here. He wanted to get off this island and away from these people as soon as possible.

In the morning, the police found a recently fired varmint gun in the shed, but the only ammunition on the island was for skeet shooting. No wonder the shots had gone wild.

Oscar wanted Poppy and his newborn child in the safety of his mansion back home and ordered the Black Rose to set sail shortly after sunrise. Transporting Poppy down the long set of stairs to the boathouse was a challenge. Milton suggested that the canoe he used to fish on the nearby lagoon could be lined with blankets and used to carry her down, so Patrick found himself gingerly scooping Poppy up from her bed. He didn’t like her, but she was frightened and exhausted and had just given birth. He gently carried her to the padded canoe and lowered her inside. He and Joshua were the strongest men here, and they each held one end of the canoe as they carefully navigated the stairs to the boathouse.