Chapter 41: Making Him A Scapegoat
Lara frowned.
She went to the front door, the Lenard siblings trailing behind.
"What’s wrong?" She asked indifferently to the group of people who were crowding the closed gate. It was not sturdy enough to keep the people out. A little shove will surely bring it crashing down.
From within the mob, a woman in her early forties shoved forward, her face twisted in grief and fury. "It’s you! You caused my son’s death!" she screamed, her voice raw from sobbing.
Abel immediately stepped in front of Lara, his stance protective. "Aunt Lucia, what are you talking about? Sir Kane hasn’t left our house since last night. What happened?."
Lucia fell to her knees, clutching her chest as fresh wails tore from her throat. "My son! My eldest son! He went to the mountains this morning to hunt, and now he’s dead—mauled by a tiger!"
The murmuring crowd erupted into hushed gasps.
Lara’s expression remained unreadable. "And what does that have to do with me?" Her voice was steady, but the weight behind her words silenced the whispers around them. "I didn’t send him there. I didn’t even know him. Unless..." her eyes narrowed slightly, "...he was one of the men who tried to steal from me last night."
A ripple of shock spread through the crowd. Lina sucked in a sharp breath. Abel and the others stiffened. Something like that happened?