Sam nodded with watery eyes and plunged his own blade into Jaime's chest. They waited until the last of the light in his eyes blinked out.
"If I'd have done that last year, Verity, this wouldna happened. I'm sorry too."
"Don't be. I got my revenge, and all these events brought me Mathew. On that note, we need to get out of here." Verity dove for Jaime's pockets, not remotely disturbed by the blood, and searched for the key to Audrey's prison. She found nothing. "They aren't here. The keys. We need the keys."
Grunts of fighting echoed from down the stairs.
"Then we find them," Mathew said.
***
MATHEW WASN'T SURE what to feel about Jaime's death. He should be elated, ready to throw a party. The evil had been defeated, his fiancée had been saved, the world would continue as normal. Mathew didn't feel like celebrating. A life was wasted. The man needed help, but in this time, what help was there?
Too many things had happened to allow Jaime to live, but still the guilt nagged him. The grunts of fights downstairs snapped Mathew back. They still needed to find the keys to rescue the girl and get out of the mansion in one piece.
Butch exited the master bedroom first. Mathew was right on his heels with his hand on Verity. Sam took up the rear.
"Don't leave me," a small voice pleaded from the corner, and Mathew stopped.
"I'll watch her, find those keys," Sam said.
Mathew nodded, and he and Verity searched room by room for any clues. Most rooms had sheets draped over the furniture as if they hadn't been used in years. The last one they checked on the second floor was nearest the staircase. The door was locked.
"I've been in that room. There's a secret entrance," Verity offered.
"This is faster," Mathew said, wanting the opportunity to kick it in just like in the movies, just like Sam had earlier. His arm motioned Verity to stand clear, and he rushed the door and threw up a kick. The door didn't budge. Mathew held in a yelp of pain and slowly released a deep breath. "Well, that didn't work."
Verity sighed. "Follow me." Mathew limped behind her while she led him into the room next door. He stilled. A single window alongside a fireplace. A table and chairs, bookcases. He remembered this room.
"Right through here is how I found you." She stood in the corner and her fingers searched the edges of the bookcase. "Here." With the strength of her body, she pulled the secret door aside just enough for them to squeeze through.
The breeze rolling through the tunnel kissed their faces. On the other side of the tunnel was a small room with another table and chairs, a large fireplace, no windows and floor-to-ceiling books. Verity dashed to a corner. Mathew followed her and his jaw dropped open.
"Millie. Can you hear me?" Verity asked. The woman was half naked and bruised. Her eye was completely swelled shut, and her lip was split. Jaime took a lot of time to do this. Mathew's rage burned in him again, but he controlled himself with the memory of Jaime's life blinking out.
Millie moaned.
"We're going to get you out of here," Verity said. "Audrey is locked in another room. Do you know where the keys are?"
Millie opened her good eye and tears welled. "She's alive?"
Her weak hoarse voice crushed Mathew. What a horrible monster Jaime must've been to do this to a woman, to anyone. He was disgusting. Mathew wanted to vomit, but he put on his veterinarian hat to think more objectively.
"She's shaken, scared, hungry, but alive," Mathew said. "We're getting you both out of here. Where are the keys? Jaime didn't have them on his person."
Millie tilted the non-swollen corner of her mouth. "End table, downstairs, next to the bird cage. Follow the tweets."
Mathew and Verity exchanged surprised glances. "We'll be right back for you," Verity said to the battered woman.
Millie wheezed a grunt, and they left, feet stepping down the stairs quickly but as silently as possible.
The tweets came from a room on the right and Verity followed it. Mathew stayed close on her heels, watching their backs. Both of them only had a knife each, and untold numbers of Jaime's men were still around, armed with pistols.
Inside what appeared to be a study was a thick comfortable chair, a large fireplace, broad windows overlooking the darkened woods, and a round birdcage. Mathew's brow furrowed. He reminded himself that the inappropriate cage was all that was available at the time. They didn't know any better. Next to the hanging cage was a recliner, and the end table was within arm's reach. Books stacked on top of it, and Mathew searched the top while Verity opened the drawer.
"Got 'em," she said, dangling the keys in the air.
"I see you got yourself out of this pickle," a strange voice said behind them.
Mathew and Verity spun, and Fingers loomed near. Mathew swallowed a thick lump caught in his throat.
"Fingers," Verity acknowledged. Her body stiffened next to his, putting Mathew on alarm.
"No hard feelings, eh?" Fingers asked.
"Hard feelings! You sold me to Jaime. Why would you do that? You hate the man."
At the sound of their voices, Butch entered the study. "Yes, he did."
"How could you, Butch?"
The leader of the bandits shrugged. "Jaime wanted you. I wanted money. We made a trade, and then we came to rescue you. If we just showed up to kill Jaime, the money could've been locked at the bank, doing us no good. We needed assurance the money was accessible."
Fire burned in Mathew. All of this could've been avoided had Butch not sold them out.
"And Ben Pool, what was his hand in this?"
"Ben was the delivery boy."
Verity growled with anger, and Mathew squeezed her hand to calm her. The bandits admitted betrayal, and they were still trapped in the house with them.
Another bandit entered the room, one that hadn't spoken before.
"I think we got them all, Butch. Searched every room. No one's left."
"Good work, Brawley."
Verity gasped. "What about Millie and Audrey?"
Butch smiled with dark menace, turning Mathew's stomach. "Where's Sam?"
The leader's head turned to Brawley as he answered. "Upstairs, where you left him."
Did the bandits really kill Sam? Why had he left Sam alone? Mathew pulled Verity between the group of three and straight upstairs. The door to Millie's room was open, and the housekeeper was slumped over in her corner. Mathew checked for a pulse at her neck. Her head lifted. "I'm not dead yet, son. Did you find them?"
Verity handed Mathew the keys, and he checked each one until the cuffs opened. He helped the woman stand and used what rags were still attached to her to cover her top. She took his weight, and he set her in a chair at the table. "We'll be right back. We're getting Audrey."
"Don't worry about me. I'll be right here." She chuckled lightly, and Mathew led Verity out of the room.
***
THE BETRAYAL AMONGST the bandits shouldn't surprise Verity, but for some reason, it still stung. The leader had proposed to her way back when he assisted her crossing the bridge guarded by Jaime's men. She wouldn't say yes, then or now. Especially now. He'd sold her to the enemy twice for money and then rescued her, but why? What was his end game in all this? She could only figure it was his genuine affection for her that lead to the rescuing and his genuine hatred of Jaime's outlaws that lead to the slaughtering.