Free The Anatomist's Wife by Anna Lee Huber

reply. I did not think I needed to admit how greatly I dreaded having to return
     to the chapel cellar. If I could confirm my findings in any other manner, then I was
     determined to do so. And I wasn’t going to let a simple letter warn me off this investigation,
     especially one with only an implied threat.
    Gage continued to look at me as he tapped a hand against his thigh, considering the
     matter. After the struggle Philip encountered in convincing him to allow me to assist,
     I expected him to make at least a token resistance to my request. So when he nodded
     his agreement with nary a warning or a bargaining of conditions, I was flabbergasted.
     I wondered what such a reaction meant. Maybe he was only bluffing about allowing the
     letter to scare me off the investigation. Or perhaps my competency in examining Lady
     Godwin’s body had persuaded him of my value as an assistant. It was more likely he
     was doing just as I’d proposed, allowing me to prove my findings on Lady Godwin’s
     wounds without having to make me return to the cellar.
    “Lord Cromarty and I will wait for you in the morning,” he told me. His pale blue
     eyes shifted in the dim light. “Until then, good night.” He turned back as he was
     leaving. “Oh, and Lady Darby?”
    I nodded.
    “Lock your door.”
    I shivered and moved forward to turn the key. After testing the door was secure, I
     stepped back to sit on the edge of my bed, trying to decipher the cryptic look I had
     seen in Gage’s eyes at the last.
    I had hoped that he was beginning to believe in my innocence, even after the comments
     relayed by Lord Westlock, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe he believed quite the opposite—after
     all, I had also discovered Lady Godwin had been expecting—and hoped I would slip up
     and incriminate myself.
    I sighed and pressed my hand to my forehead, too tired to puzzle out such matters
     at this hour of night. The sun would be rising in less than four hours, and I needed
     to get some rest before I met Philip and Gage to examine the maze.
    Besides, it didn’t matter what Gage believed. I knew that I was innocent, and so did
     my sister and brother-in-law. All I could do was focus on what I had set out to do
     in the first place—protect my sister and her family by finding the real killer—and
     in the process, prove my innocence, perhaps once and for all.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    I awoke the next morning to find Alana hovering over me, a frown pleating her brow.
    “Oh, thank goodness,” she exclaimed. “You’re awake.”
    I hadn’t been, but I suspected my sister had been standing there for quite some time
     and very well knew that.
    “How are you feeling, dear?” She reached out to place her hand on my forehead, but
     then hesitated as if the touch might cause me pain. “Does your head ache?”
    I scowled, wishing she would go away. It might be difficult for me to fall asleep,
     but once I did, I slumbered quite soundly. I was also rather cross upon waking, even
     in the best of circumstances. And especially when someone took it upon herself to
     wake me.
    I swatted away her hands and pushed myself up carefully on the pillows stacked behind
     me.
    “Here, let me help you with that,” Alana insisted, fluffing and adjusting the bolsters.
    I submitted to her ministrations for about half a minute before protesting. “They’re
     plump enough, Alana.”
    She clasped her hands over her abdomen, as if she couldn’t stop them from fussing
     over me any other way, and stared down at me in worry.
    I sighed, knowing my sister meant well, even if her mothering this early in the morning
     was more than I could stand. “I’m fine. Just a little tender.” I reached back to tentatively
     probe the lump on the back of my head.
    “Mr. Gage said I should check on you,” she admitted, sitting cautiously on the edge
     of the bed.
    I closed my eyes and silently cursed the man. I should have known. Who else would
     have relayed the news about my injury? I