He was right, of course.

“See how simple it’s going to be?” Scofield shoved his sister off the path and into the sand with so little care that Oliver had to grit his teeth against a rebuke. “You give me that sample, and I’ll return your friends to you. You leave the rest at a prearranged location, and I never bother you again. Tidy as can be. I don’t know why you couldn’t have done it this way to begin with, Elizabeth.”

Libby stepped into the sand without a hitch or a stumble. “I didn’t have it until now.”

“A likely story.”

Where was he taking them? One of the caves, probably. There wasn’t much else on the north end of the island.

“And if you don’t leave the rest for me to take back to civilization, if you think to get the authorities involved, you’ll pay for it. I think I’ll start with that doddering old woman who interfered with my associate just as he was closing in on you the other day, Elizabeth.”

Oliver’s hands curled into fists. “You won’t touch my grandmother.” And what did he mean, she’d interfered? Had she been attacked that day as well? She’d had no knots, no bruising. But they still hadn’t gotten any answer from her on what happened, despite the fact that she’d been awake and chatty this morning. He hadn’t, frankly, thought to press her on it. He’d been too happy to see her alert again, like herself.

Scofield just laughed. An ugly, abrasive thing that didn’t deserve the same name as the sound that spilled from Mamm-wynn’s lips, or Libby’s or Beth’s.

He led them directly to the entrance of Piper’s Hole, which had Lady Emily pulling frantically away. “No. I won’t go in there. You can’t make me!”

He let go of her so abruptly she fell backward into the sand. “You are a disgrace to the family name. You know that, don’t you?” He scoffed. “Afraid of a cave.”

Telford crouched down beside her, slipping an arm behind her to help raise her back to her feet in the shifting sand. He murmured something into her ear that Oliver couldn’t hear, and which failed to bring any calm to her face.

Scofield hissed out a curse and turned his hard gaze on Oliver and Libby again. “My sister will be our lookout. The rest of you come with me.” He’d already taken the three pieces of silverware they’d held—a fork, a knife, a spoon. Not that they would have been much use as weapons, but Oliver didn’t much like the sensation that they were utterly defenseless.