“Nay. ’Twas this chamber.” Shifting her feet, she glanced around the room, looking for any sign that might prove he had not been here the last time she had looked, but there was nothing. Peering at his face again, she shook her head and stepped back out of the room, pulling the door quietly closed.

“Mayhap he went in search of the privy,” Janna suggested.

“Aye, mayhap, but…”

The woman raised her eyebrows at Iliana’s hesitation. “But?”

“There are a couple of things bothering me just now.” Iliana sighed. “It probably means nothing…but I shall tell you anyway. This morn, when the attack started, Elgin came to fetch me.”

“Aye?”

“Well…you remember the night I was attacked?”

The woman nodded, shuddering. “Laird Angus said ’twas a mighty close call.”

“Aye, well, when I rolled over this morn and found Elgin looming over me, I thought the attacker had returned.”

Her eyes rounded at that. “That must have been distressin’.”

“Aye, but it was then that I realized that he wore a plaid.”

Janna frowned. “Elgin?”

“Nay. Well, aye. But I meant that the attacker did as well.”

She considered that briefly. “Maybe he stole it and—” She paused when Iliana began to shake her head.

“The dead Englishman had no plaid in his belongings. Besides, there is something else. When I spoke to Greenweld, he said something that bothered me as well.”

“What was that?”

“He said ’twas not his fault that Duncan had left us unprotected. How did he know Duncan had left?”

“Mayhap he and his men were already here when Duncan and the others rode out.”

“Mayhap,” Iliana agreed. “But he knows not what Duncan looks like. How did he know it was my husband leading the men, and not Angus? ’Sides, if he was nearby when Duncan left, why did he not attack right away?”

Janna frowned. “You are thinking that the reason the messenger was not here was that he was somehow sneaking about, giving Greenweld information? But why would he do that? If he works for Lord Rolfe—”

“If he works for Lord Rolfe.”

The servant gasped. “You think—”

“’Twas most convenient for Greenweld that Duncan was called away when he was, do you not think?”

Her face darkened. “No one saw the message,” she whispered.

“Aye. What if the dead man was the messenger? What if the live one was Greenweld’s man? What if the reason the message went missing was that it did not say what they wanted it to?”

“Gor,” she breathed, her expression frightened. Then she frowned. “But how could they have been nearby all this time? Laird Angus had the woods searched twice. He even led the first search. And how could the fellow have gotten information to them? The gate is closed tight.”