The Assassin’s Guide to Falling in Love (The Ladies League #1)

Chapter Seventeen

G riff’s foot slipped on a wet cobblestone. Cog it all! He nearly went down, but managed to keep his feet without making more sound than a scraping of leather on stone.

The Voltacrats’ offices were tucked away in a small alley just off St. James’s Street, which made sense if one thought about it. The central location was perfect; after all, the individuals truly running the place wouldn’t want to be too far away from their movement while attending their clubs. And honestly, Brooks was likely the true headquarters of the Voltacrats when it came to the deals that were being made to support electricity.

Griff followed Lou closely as she crept down a dark back alley behind the Voltacrats’ offices, despite it being one o’clock in the morning, and all because she had convinced him they needed to look for the movement’s financial documents. ‘Follow the money’, she’d said. And while he understood the logic behind it all, he was operating on little to no sleep after someone had once again tried to kill him.

Though he supposed that made this trip all the more urgent, not less.

And then there was the question of them . Was there a ‘them’? They both appeared to have indirectly admitted to feelings for each other, but nothing beyond that. No actual declarations. He was fairly certain he was falling in love with the determined woman. After the way he’d been devastated when she’d walked out, only to have her sweep in and rescue him later—not that he’d needed rescuing— and the way his heart was filled to bursting when she was near him, Griff wasn’t sure he wanted to say it until he was certain about how he felt. About how she felt.

Why was everything with Lou so bloody complicated? Or maybe that was just how love was?

“Stop.” Lou’s whispered command broke into his rambling thoughts. “It was just a rat. Let’s go.”

Griff followed her farther down the alley then up a rickety set of back stairs. He’d follow her anywhere . Do anything for her. Hunt a mark. Take out a mark. Anything .

Did that make him a lovesick fool?

He pushed the thought aside as he waited for Lou to silently pick the lock on the back door. They were in a genteel neighborhood, so locking the door was a surprising bit of awareness for what he suspected were a bunch of self-important nabobs. But then, he doubted they were actually there in person running the office. No, that was being done by a far more practical set who knew that theft and snooping were a concern.

Inside the rear hall of the office, Lou led him forward and with caution and care, checked each of the three doors they found in the hall. The first one on the left—to Griff’s surprise—was the water closet. A very modern touch. The next door on the right was a large office, which they peered into after Lou picked that lock as well. The last one on the right was a smaller office, left unlocked, so not likely to hold anything terribly important. Five feet farther and the hall ended, opening out into an office space littered with desks and a printing press. It was quite the well-equipped set-up. Indeed, they had to be very well funded.

Lou looked around the darkened office space then turned to face him. “No one is here, and they have heavy drapes in the front windows so light a lamp and have a look about. Start with that first office we found, back down the hallway. It seemed to be the largest and probably the most important.”

Griff nodded. “Right. I’ll have a look.”

“Remember,” she warned. “We’re seeking anything that ties this organization to a financial supporter. I’ll be along after I check out things here, in the front, though I don’t expect to find much.”

“Got it.” Griff turned and made his way back to that first door that had been on their right when they came in.

Inside the larger office, he found a light switch and found the place was lit by electricity. While that seemed extravagant, it also made some sense. How could you propose steam is not the way to go, but then operate by gas or steam powered lights? One had to lead by example. That had always been what he was taught.

Griff crossed to the desk and started with the surface. He worked from left to right, top to bottom, picking up papers and random things left on the desk, he examined each item carefully for clues. There was a letter to the Head of the Bureau, a Sir George Farrington, from some backwater MP. Running the Voltacrats was certainly a questionable sideline for a MP, let alone the head of the Bureau . It wasn’t that MPs couldn’t align with various beliefs or political movements…but to lead one, and it seemed that was the case, that was a different story altogether. Griff moved quickly, continuing to search, and found other pieces of correspondence to Sir George, as well as partial replies from him.

He moved to the drawers of the desk after finding nothing of merit. Again, starting on the left side and working his way down, Griff found little of interest. He glanced at the door of the office nervously then refocused on the task at hand. I must find something. His pulse pounded relentlessly, though he wouldn’t call it fast. It was simply more noticeable for all the silence around them.

Griff checked the middle drawer quickly passing over it as he found mostly odds and ends, a new refillable fountain pen, and other flotsam. On the right side, in a drawer he found a box of cash and a ledger clearly used for day-to-day incidentals. Setting that ledger aside, he continued to rifle through the desk. In the next drawer, nothing but blank stationery. In the last drawer he found files, but upon closer inspection, they held little of interest.

But then the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. The drawer did not seem to be as deep inside as it appeared to be based on its outer dimensions.

That was when Lou appeared in the doorway. “Did you find anything?”

“Possibly. I found a ledger of the day-to-day expenses, and I just found what I believe is a false bottomed drawer. Come see.” Griff beckoned her over with a wave of his hand, not bothering to look up as he began emptying the drawer.

“Can you get it open? I have some experience with these matters.”

He could hear the smile in her voice as she looked down at the drawer at his side.

He pressed down on the bottom and heard a click as the front half of the surface popped up and out just enough so that he could lift it out of the way. “Got it.”

Griff looked up and their gazes collided. He could see all the heat and desire he felt roiling inside him at Lou’s nearness reflected back at him. The moment stretched between them, charged with pent up need until he broke the connection and looked down to remove the half bottom so he could peer inside.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?” He reached in and lifted out a ledger, the tension between them set aside for now in exchange for quite a different tension. Could it be what we’re looking for?

“Perfect.” Lou reached for it, but Griff couldn’t resist pulling it away from her at the last moment. “Griff, what on earth are you about?”

He grinned. “I don’t know if you are truly qualified to assess the book’s usefulness. That is why I had to come along isn’t it?”

He could see the doubt lingering in her wary gaze as she hesitated a moment. But then, she chuckled. “Fair enough, I did make that claim. You look at it and I’ll go search these shelves for anything else, including any hidey-holes that might be hidden there.”

Griff reached out and grabbed her hand as she shifted to move away, pulling her in to take the kiss he’d been dying for since the night before.

Until this moment, he hadn’t been sure she would ever let him kiss her again.

Their lips met and his cock jerked in his trousers as their tongues met and twined. She tasted like bergamot and jasmine tea with a faint hint of sweetness that lingered from the bread pudding that had been the finale to their dinner. Lou’s new cook had gone all out on their meal. The kiss lingered until Lou pulled back, a little breathless, her cheeks flushed. Griff grinned. He liked that he wreaked such havoc on a woman who always seemed composed, was always ready for whatever was thrown at her. Except him.

“I’ll just look over there by the bookshelves while you review the ledger.” Her words sounded harsh as they dropped into the silence like hapennies hitting a tile floor.

“Very well.” Griff nodded and sat down at the desk, opening the book and began scanning the entries to see many familiar names. Most of them were MPs either in the House of Lords with him, or a few from Commons.

But what he noted most was a name that popped up over and over with sums that increased over time until the last entry…where the man donated sixty thousand pounds! All in all, Sir Francis Hathaway had donated a literal fortune, nearly two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Under no circumstances could one person come by that amount on their own. The sum was mind-bogglingly large. “Lou—I think I found our money trail.”

“Aha!” she cried out at the same time he spoke. She had a book pulled out of place and a panel in the wall was hanging open.

Intrigued, Griff stood up to see what she had found. “Careful.” His word of caution fell on deaf ears. Lou had already leaned into the space, though he could still see her legs as he came around the desk. “What did you find?”

She straightened up and held a box in her hands. It wasn’t large. It would likely fit into a large coat pocket. But it was intricately designed with some kind of inlay and there was no obvious lock for a key or even a hinge for the lid to open.

Just then, a sound came from somewhere outside. They looked at each other and nodded in unspoken agreement. Time to go.

Griff went back to the drawer and placed the false bottom back in the drawer before he piled the papers back on top of it, much as he had found them. Then he slipped the day-to-day cash ledger back into its place, heart racing. We must not be found here. He tucked the donor ledger under his arm, much as Lou had tucked the box she’d found under hers. She’d closed the hidden storage spot and set the shelf back in order to conceal their late-night visit as much as possible—though with the ledger and box they were taking, there was no doubt their presence would be discovered, eventually.

With their prizes in tow, they turned off all the lights and crept down the same stairs they’d entered, seeing no one and managing to slide the door shut and lock it as the evening air teased at their fingers. Half an hour later, they were ensconced in Lou’s study at her childhood home and were examining their finds more closely against the other evidence they had previously collected.

Griff showed her the ledger entries for Sir Francis Hathaway. “We need to look into him.”

“I’ve heard of him,” Lou said. “But I can’t say that I know much more than surface details. He’s a businessman who has invested in both electricity and the railroads, is he not? If I remember correctly, he earned his knighthood through some business dealing with the Crown. I’ll have to refresh my memory on his background.” She studied the entries. “But I agree with your thoughts that he could not have raised this kind of money on his own—not without something nefarious being involved.”

“My thought as well.” Griff nodded. “Should we take a look at your box?”

She pulled it closer to them as he moved the ledger out of the way. “I don’t see a recognizable lock, but I know there are all kinds of puzzle boxes out there. One merely needs to be creative enough to design something. Or unlock it in this case.”

“I’ve designed a few myself.” Griff tipped it on its side, fingers tingling at the excitement of a puzzle. “Let me have a look.” The box was covered in some form of inlay, as he had initially noted, but he suspected the designs were not stationary, at least not all of them. The hard part was determining which parts moved, and in what order. “This reminds me of a Japanese puzzle box I came across recently. It had fifteen steps to unlocking it. This one seems a similar size.”

“How does it work? I haven’t seen one of these before.” Lou peered at it, leaning against his shoulder.

“Look closely.” He handed her the box. “What do you see?”

“I can see…fine lines that cut off the design in odd places.” She pointed to one.

“Exactly. Shall we try and open it?”

Lou nodded as she handed the box back to him, and Griff pushed on areas of the inlay which appeared to have the odd lines. After a few moments, one piece of the box shifted a bit.

“Aha!” His exclamation melded with Lou’s and they peered closer at the box. These were such fascinating creations, but his stomach tensed with each slide of a piece. Soon they found another piece that moved, and so on. They continued for nearly an hour, working one piece and then another, sometimes having to go back and close up a piece to make another part work properly.

By the time they finally got the box open, it had taken seventeen steps, and Griff had loved every moment they’d spent. They shared a conspiratorial grin as they finally slid the top of the box open. Inside sat another box.

Lou groaned. “Please not another puzzle box, I don’t have the patience! I swear I’ll just smash it.” She glared at the smaller box.

Griff bit his lip to keep from smiling as he quickly pulled out the smaller box and found it to be a simple leather ring box with a latch. He rotated the latch and pulled the lid open. Inside sat a signet ring he did not recognize. It was a ruby carved with a laurel wreath around the letter V with a plus above the letter and a dash below it. Interesting. “Not a puzzle, but not a straightforward answer either. It is very similar to the seal on the threatening letter I received. Perhaps identical.”

Lou took the ring and examined it. “It is. Perhaps the plus and minus symbols just didn’t make a strong impression? In either case, it certainly seems to be connected to the attempts on your life. Any clues as to its meaning?”

“At face value, I believe I have seen the V with those symbols on electrical drawings. It represents volts. As to the laurel wreath, that typically means victory I believe. The Greeks often crowned victors of their sporting events with laurel.” Griff sat back in his chair and considered what they knew. “The ring is obviously important to someone high up in the Voltacrats or possibly of even higher rank. A signet ring is not something just anyone would have. And this one is clearly indicative of the push for electricity and a specific desired outcome.”

“Indeed. We should hold on to the ring for now. But I think it is better to focus our attention on this Sir Francis Hathaway.” Lou placed the ring back in its box.

“Very well. Where do we start?” Was it possible that Lou had resources beyond her handler to tap in to?

“I believe we both have our own set of connections. Why don’t we consult our respective networks and see what we can come up with collectively?” She tilted her head toward him as if daring him to deny he had a network.

He was not going to deny it. “Very well. I can send a note round to Cole and some of my other contacts in the morning. Then we can regroup in the afternoon?” Griff let one brow rise in question.

“Excellent! We should get some sleep now.” Lou stood and collected the ledger and the two boxes, placing them carefully in a safe hidden by a painting which Griff could never have suspected was there.

He followed her out of the room and up the stairs. “Yes. Sleep should definitely be on the agenda. Eventually.”

And it was, he suspected, much closer to day break than Lou had intended when she finally suggested they actually sleep.