CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Finding Laing was easy. The Aviary had been watching him from the moment he left the ball. He had positioned himself in a nearby building that looked upon the palace – presumably so he could watch the devastation that his schemes would have created from a comfortable spot.
When Sylla, Ash and I burst into the room, he didn’t seem surprised. Running his gaze over my bizarre outfit, he smiled.
“I see you found my gift.” He was sitting in a chair next to the open French doors, a drink in his hand, a full tea set laid out on a tray on the table beside him. A summer breeze drifted through, and from the iron balcony you had a clear view of Buckingham Palace. It was a cosy scene.
“And I thought you wanted to marry me,” I said, forcing myself to match his conversational tone. Ash and Sylla were ranged behind me, and I knew that both of them were coiled, ready to leap into action at the first sign of violence. For now, Laing seemed happy simply to talk.
“That was my plan,” Laing agreed. “The second device was only a reserve measure. Had you not found the explosives in the card room, I would have disarmed the one you wore and made sure you were nowhere near the palace when it detonated.” He shrugged. “Alas, contingencies had to be put into place. There must always be a backup plan.”
“The bomb stitched into my dress would have been a much smaller explosion.”
Laing only sipped his tea. “It still would have removed at least one inconvenience.” His eyes flicked to Ash.
“But not your father,” I murmured.
Those fever-bright eyes turned back to me. “I see that I’ve underestimated you, Lady Felicity. Truly, you would have been a worthy wife.” His expression cooled. “My mother killed herself when I was a baby because of what that monster had done to her. I was left to be raised in an orphanage. Me! The son of a viscount. And my father ” – he spat the word – “didn’t even have the decency to provide for my life, for my future. I was left in poverty while he and his family lived as I deserved.”
The fire left his expression, and as he placed his teacup back on the tray he seemed calm and contained once more. “I knew one day I would make him pay. That I would make every one of them pay. And I have.” His smile was cold. “Archer most of all.” He leaned forward, pleased with himself. “I’ve been the man’s personal torment for years, not that he had a clue. It has been greatly satisfying.” He toyed for a moment with his sleeve. “It wasn’t something to rush, you see. Revenge is a dish best served cold, isn’t that what they say? Naturally, my first move was to remove the middle son from the board.”
Ash made a sound of surprise and Laing’s smile grew.
“A carriage accident.” His voice was velvet smooth. He was enjoying himself. “It was almost too easy to arrange. That brought you back.” He eyed Ash with a flash of venom. “The imposter, the cuckoo in the nest. But not to return into the fold of the family, no. You had your own plans. No matter, I knew I could see to those later.” His fingers drummed lightly against the arm of his chair. “It’s enjoyable, I must admit, to finally share the extent of my schemes.”
“I’m glad you’re having a nice time,” Sylla said. “It will be a lot less pleasant for you when you’re in prison.”
“Ah.” Laing tilted his head. “But the final hand has not yet been played. Where was I?” He ran his fingers across his jaw in a thoughtful gesture. “Yes, ruining Archer. After his first son died, I bribed the family doctor to start feeding Lady Archer a steady diet of opium. It didn’t take long for her addiction to develop. In the meantime, I set about ruining Archer financially. That too was almost embarrassingly easy. The man wouldn’t know a good investment if it fell gift-wrapped in his lap. I move in those circles; I am seen as an astute businessman. It was easy to persuade him into bad decisions, always at one remove. He never even knew I was the one pulling the strings.”
“And Perry?” Ash growled. I could feel the tension coming off him in waves, but I knew he wanted to hear the rest of it, as I did.
“Yes, Perry.” Laing turned and looked out towards the palace. “Always so desperate for funds, he would have swallowed any wild story if it meant he got paid. I told him I worked secretly for the government, that I’d got wind of an anarchist plot. I offered him a huge sum to infiltrate the group and report back on their activity. I told him he was doing a service to his country, and he pretended to care about that as money flowed through his fingers like water. All the while, I was of course actually in their employ.
“When it was time, I revealed the traitor in their midst to my anarchist friends. Perry was, as I had anticipated, a careless spy so it was easy to offer up proof of his treachery. Then I had only to sit back and watch nature take its course. The group were rather sloppy in their handling of him, but thankfully he died in the end. I had hoped the scandal of his involvement with such an organization would cause a nice stir, create some discomfort for Archer, but I underestimated his ability to shut down that gossip. Oh, well.” He gave another shrug. “He was still left without a legitimate heir, and I knew that would eat him up inside. Having to hand the title over to the brat who was a result of his wife’s affairs? It was almost poetic.”
“So you were working for the anarchist group?” I asked.
“They were a means to an end,” Laing conceded. “Though I certainly share some sympathies with their cause. The ruling classes are corrupt, hypocritical, smug. Working from the inside to take them down is no hardship. I’ve made a tidy fortune, and plenty of useful acquaintances through my work taking care of other people’s problems. It seemed now that the moment was ripe to clean up a few of my own. Putting an end to the Archer line once and for all seemed … right. Particularly when I was poised to marry the prize of the season.” He smiled at me. “Money, power and status. I had come a long way from that orphanage.”
“For what happened to your mother,” Ash said brusquely, “I am sincerely sorry. But bringing Felicity into this was a mistake you should never have made.”
“Perhaps,” Laing said. “But I confess I saw an opportunity. My efforts to disrupt the business you built – the card sharps, the supply issues – fell a trifle flat. Stealing the woman you loved away from you was irresistible. It was almost as though fate had delivered her to me.” The unholy glee in his face was no longer hidden behind a mild-mannered mask.
“She saw through your plans,” Ash said, taking a step forward. “She caught your contingencies. She caught you.”
“ She? ” Laing snarled, looking at me with loathing. “She may have made an adequate wife, but she is no match for my mind.”
“Oh, I think she’s more than a match,” said Sylla, moving to stand beside Ash.
“And now the Aviary will put you in prison where you belong,” I added.
“Ha!” Laing’s barked exclamation of laughter held nothing but derision. “I would like to see you try. Oh, I would love to see it. You and your little group of inconsequential nobodies. Women ,” he sneered. “You’re not ruthless enough to get the job done. I am sitting here, right in front of you and you can’t touch me, can’t lay a finger on me. You have no idea of the influence I have.”
“I wonder,” Sylla said, “if you mean the cabinet minister who Max is currently arresting?” Laing gave a small start and she went on. “Once we had several of your anarchist friends in custody it was simply a matter of contacting our agents in Paris. They uncovered quite the network, and that eventually led us to the blackmail material you held on Lord Faverly.”
Laing pushed himself abruptly from his chair. “A mere inconvenience.”
“Oh!” Sylla raised her brows. “Perhaps you are thinking of your friends in the police department or the judiciary system? Judge Davis or Sir Telford, perhaps? I’m afraid we’ve rounded them up too. You may have noticed the Duchess of Roxton was absent from the ball. She is a terribly thorough investigator. I trained her myself.”
“And there’s Horatio,” I said. “Do you think he won’t turn on you in an instant when he knows what you did? You tried to assassinate members of the royal family; you would have killed him and his daughter. I understand now.” I looked at him steadily. “You didn’t need to win that poker game. You only needed Horatio to lose so that he was desperate. You would cover his debts, asking only a small favour in return. He would journey with you to Cambridge and convince Archer to come back to London, to attend the ball and meet someone about a business opportunity. Archer was in Cambridge for Perry’s funeral. He wouldn’t leave immediately afterwards without a very good reason, without the influence of a friend he trusted.”
“I heard Mr Peabody had sunk an awful lot of money into his daughter’s debut,” Sylla said. “It seems he is not as flush as he’s been telling people. It will be simple to get him to confess to your arrangement. I’m certain he had no idea he was luring Archer to his death.”
“It seems that Vane and his men are going to have a great deal to discuss with you.” Ash’s voice was ice. “I do hope they take their time over the interrogation.”
“Brick by brick, we’ll dismantle what you have built.” I stared him down. “There’s no way you’re escaping this time. You’ll pay. For everything you’ve done, there will be a price.”
Because I was watching so closely, I saw the precise moment Laing realized he had truly lost. The fury came down over his eyes, an instant before he charged at me, fingers held out like claws – a rabid animal prepared to strike. Time slowed as he lunged forward.
The crack of a gunshot split the air, and Laing froze. He seemed to waver for a moment, almost in mid-air, before crumpling to the floor. He tried to crawl forward, but his leg was stretched out at an unnatural angle. His hand went to his thigh, and came away red with blood. His eyes rounded in shock and disbelief and he let out a whimper of pain.
“You … shot me!” he managed.
Beside me, Sylla held the still-smoking pistol in hands that were rock steady.
“I don’t know,” she said thoughtfully, dropping the gun into her reticule, which she shut with a snap. “That seemed pretty ruthless to me.”