Daniel frowned at the suggestion and banged on the wall of the carriage to signal his driver to stop. This time he did not leave Richard or Robert to get out while he waited in the carriage. Daniel had the door open and was climbing out the moment the carriage stopped. He even managed to do it without grunting in pain, though he would have liked to. Damn, his back hurt.

“All right?” Richard asked with concern as he followed him out.

Daniel ground his teeth together, but nodded and started toward the overturned carriage.

“What is it?”

Daniel heard his mother call that question from the carriage the women were riding in, but left Richard to answer. “An accident. We are checking it out.”

The carriage lay on its side, two wheels broken. Daniel eyed the crest on the back as he approached, able to just make it out in the gray light cast by the moon, but he didn’t recognize it and continued around to the front end. He spotted the body on the side of the lane as he neared the front wheels and immediately moved toward it with Robert and Richard following.

“The driver?” Richard suggested as the three men circled the body.

Daniel considered the man’s livery and nodded grimly.

Robert knelt beside the body and examined him briefly, before announcing, “He’s dead.”

“He must have been thrown in the accident,” Richard suggested.

Robert shook his head. He was still kneeling, but was now examining his own hands, rubbing his thumb and forefingers together. “Blood,” he announced and tugged up the back of the man’s coat, revealing what even in that light looked a messy wound. The driver’s back was a mass of small bloody holes.

“Looks like the work of a blunderbuss,” Richard said with a grimace.

Robert let the coat drop back and straightened. “Highwaymen?”

“This is Danvers’s carriage.”

Daniel turned sharply toward the back of the carriage as Lisa made that announcement. The three women were gathered there examining the crest, and Christiana now nodded in agreement. “I recognize the crest too.”

Cursing, Daniel turned and moved toward the front of the carriage, but Richard moved past him and quickly climbed up on top of the upraised carriage before he could do so himself.

“Empty,” Richard announced a heartbeat later as he knelt to peer into the cab interior.

“Then where are Suzette and her father?” Lady Woodrow asked with a frown.

“They could be walking,” Lisa suggested.

Daniel glanced to the dark form of the driver. It seemed doubtful to him that Danvers would shoot his own driver, which would suggest they had been attacked by outsiders, highwaymen or bandits. Swallowing the worry that thought instilled in him, Daniel said, “Spread out and search the area. If we don’t find anything, we’ll continue on and hope to find them walking further along the way.”