Chapter Twenty-Two
Alice sat at her desk working through the accounts and ledgers that kept her father’s estate and townhouse running, while she tried to push aside that moment in her carriage four days ago with Lord Stafford.
“For pity’s sake, Alice, move on. I’m sure he has,” she muttered. “Focus on the bookkeeping.”
Shutting her eyes tight, she reopened them and studied the ledger before her.
Alice kept two sets of records, which was possibly wrong, but she had to be prepared for the day that she’d thought would never come. The day when her father wanted to be involved in running his life. That day appeared to be here.
She had a knack for making money. Her investments had returned excellent yields, and she’d managed to increase her family’s coffers substantially.
Alice had also taken the meagre amount of pin money he’d given her and grown that with calculated investments until she had a tidy sum of her own and did not have to rely on her father for financial support.
She had more than enough money to set up a household for herself and Aunt Gwen.
Her father’s words when he’d appeared unexpectedly to inform her she needed to wed told Alice that securing somewhere for them to live was best done sooner rather than later.
There was also the matter of the clinic, which she’d set aside money for in the second set of books.
After two hours, she’d worked through and checked everything.
She and Aunt Gwen would be all right, as would be the clinic in the near future.
But now, her need for others to help fund her dream was vital, so she had to talk to some of her peers and get them on board.
Alice listed a few she thought would be interested before closing the ledger.
A knock on the door had her putting the ledgers in the desk drawer and locking it, before saying, “Come in.”
Phipps stood in the doorway.
“What is it, Phipps?”
“A Mr. Nevis, from Newbury, Fletcher, and Nevis has called and wishes to speak with you, my lady. Here is his card.”
She took the white square card from Phipps and read the words, Newbury, Fletcher, he always looks like that.”
A small twitch on the left side of the boy’s mouth was the only indication he was amused.
“A woman I know told me about a man who was a right mean one. Roughs up people for fun, especially if he’s had too much to drink. Near enough killed a man for challenging him.”
Alice felt her pulse kick up a beat.
“There’s plenty like that around, but when she gave me his description, I thought he sounded like the man you asked me to find.”
She nodded, hope battling with anger inside her. Jackson needed to be stopped from his continued assaults on people.
“I asked her to tell me where I could find him, and she said he moves around a lot, but lately is drinking at the Rusty Hook.”
“Where is that?” Ezra demanded.
“Near the docks,” Bobby said calmly. “I slipped inside four nights in a row, and the last one I heard someone call out the name Jackson. He matched your description, my lady, so I followed him when he left. He’s staying at No. 22, Well Yard, off Marylebone Lane, St Marylebone.”
“Thank you, Bobby, that is excellent information. Now tell me, are you hungry?”
The boy looked from her to Ezra, and then back to her. He nodded.
“Well, you come inside then, and we’ll see about changing that.”
Alice then turned and waved Ezra back.
“He’s a child, Ezra, have mercy,” Alice said.
“Who’s a child?” Maggie said, entering the kitchen.
“This boy is Bobby. He came with information for me and now needs some food. Ezra is deliberately intimidating him,” Alice added.
Maggie was really the only person who could cow Ezra. He would die for her, and when she spoke, he usually listened.
“Move yourself, husband.” Maggie pushed him in the belly. “Come inside, Bobby.”
“I don’t trust him,” Ezra muttered.
“He’s a boy, and he’s hungry. It’s not a matter of trust. It’s a matter of giving to those that don’t have enough food to fill their bellies, unlike you.”
Ezra grunted again.
“Sit. You’ll intimidate the poor lad.” Maggie waved her husband to the chairs around a table where the staff took their meals. “I’ll give him a wedge of cake. It may sweeten his sour demeanor.” She leveled him with a hard look until he sat.
“Bobby, thank you for your information, and please stay and eat a meal with my staff,” Alice said, waving the boy to the seat across from Ezra. “I have someone upstairs who needs to speak with me.”
Alice hurried back up the stairs to her rooms and quickly jotted down the address Bobby had given her. Once that was done, she checked her appearance. Happy with what she saw, she headed for the parlor to where Mr. Nevis awaited her.
A short, bald man rose to greet her.
“How can I help you, Mr. Nevis?” Alice said after she’d taken a chair across from where he’d been sitting.
“Lord Smythe has sent a request that the firm of Newbury, Fletcher, & Nevis Solicitors take over the running of his affairs. I am here to take possession of any paperwork that may be here, my lady.”
“Did my father tell you that in fact I have been running his affairs while he is living in France?”
The man gave her a tight smile that suggested he didn’t believe that for one minute.
“If you will collect the necessary papers, I shall be on my way.”
“If not me, then who do you believe has been taking care of things on Lord Smythe’s behalf?” It was more curiosity than anything to see what would come out of the man’s mouth next as to why she’d asked that question.
“Well, as to that, I couldn’t say,” Mr. Nevis said.
“And yet you are quite sure all the accounts and papers are in this house?”
He didn’t look quite so smug now. In fact, he looked downright uncomfortable. Alice took pity on him. After all, this was not his fault, but her father’s.
“I will return with what you require,” she said, and left the room.
Alice removed the first set of books from her desk drawer and took them back to the parlor.
“Here you are, Mr. Nevis. Should you require any clarification, then—unfortunately for you—it is me you will have to come to.” He said nothing further, just bowed and left.
Alice thought after this development it was time to have a conversation with her aunt about where she would like to live when her father returned to London with his new wife. She also had to decide what to do with the address and information regarding Jackson’s location.
Alice paced her room after Mr. Nevis’s departure.
Returning to her desk, she picked up the slip of paper with the address Bobby had handed her, staring at it as if doing so would give her some clarity of what to do next.
She and Ezra would need to go there and see for themselves if in fact it was Kenneth Jackson’s location.
Alice sat, elbows on her desk, and allowed herself one long, shuddering exhale. “What am I to do with you, Jackson, when I find you?”
Something had to be done, and the hell of it was, it had been a relief to know Lord Stafford would help her in making that decision. But not now. Now she had to do that herself.
Alice had wondered if she was capable of violence and thought perhaps she would be when she came face to face with the man who had destroyed her brother. But the truth was she doubted she could do more than punch him, so her vengeance had to take another form.
A long voyage was the idea that had been growing inside her. Approach a ship’s captain, or someone, perhaps that would fall to Ezra, who would take Jackson on a long voyage to the colonies and dump him there.
A knock interrupted her thoughts. “Come in.”
Maggie entered with a tray of tea and a plate of scones. On her face was a smile.
“What has you smiling?” Alice said, pouncing on a scone as the plate was lowered to her desk.
“Ezra and Bobby are now deep in discussion about what it’s like being a mudlark. It seems that’s how the lad makes his living. ’Tis a right shame, my lady. Those who do that can die from horrid infections.”
“It is indeed horrid, Maggie. I’m glad all is well between him and Ezra now. I’m sure Bobby could do with a large, intimidating friend.”
Her maid went quiet as Alice looked at her. “Do I have jam on my nose?”
“No. You’ve got that look, my lady. The one where you’re planning to do something that’ll either get you hurt or have Ezra shouting until the windows shake.”
Alice tried for innocence. “I was merely thinking.”
“I know that boy gave you some information about that Jackson, because Ezra told me.”
Alice hesitated. Maggie had the tenacity of a terrier, like her husband. There was no evading. “Bobby gave me Jackson’s address—or I hope it is.”
Maggie’s mouth pinched. “Sweet mercy. And what exactly do you plan to do with that, pray?”
“That is precisely what I am deciding,” Alice admitted. “I cannot simply ignore it because, as you know, I’ve been searching for him for some time.”
Maggie gave her a hard look. “You could hand it to Ezra and let him deal with it, instead of going after the man yourself. After all, my lady, what is it you think you can do when faced with him?
Alice snorted. “Ezra would flatten every man he came in contact with to find Jackson, and then you would scold him for blood on his boots.”
The door creaked again. Ezra himself filled the frame, glowering. “I heard that.”
“Good.” Maggie speared him with a look. “Now you can tell her she’s not to go gallivanting after Kenneth Jackson.”
Ezra crossed his arms. “You’re not to go gallivanting after Kenneth Jackson without me or Lord Stafford at your side.”
“Of course.” Alice was fairly sure that could turn out to be a lie, but right then it wasn’t.
Her staff then left her alone with tea and scones, which she steadily worked her way through as she thought up and discarded plans. Spreading a map of London across her desk, she traced the streets until she reached Marylebone Lane.
Alice would have to be careful. If Jackson spotted her, he might flee, because she knew he’d seen her that day Charles had come home, as she’d seen him.
Taking Ezra would draw attention as he was so large. She just needed proof that this was he, and then she could decide her next move. Perhaps she could stand outside the address and watch it for a while? No one need know, and then she’d come back to the townhouse.
The sound of a carriage stopping made her look out the window. The door opened, and Lord Stafford stepped down and then walked up the path to her door. She didn’t want to speak to him. Not after what they’d shared in that carriage, and him betraying her.
A knock had Alice moving to the door and opening it.
“Lord Stafford is here to see you, my lady,” Phipps said.
“Tell him I am not taking callers, please, Phipps.”
He bowed and left. Alice moved back to the window and watched Lord Stafford leave.
Reaching his carriage, he stopped and looked up to where she stood.
She knew there was no way he could see her, but she drew back, heart thudding.
Only when she heard the clop of hooves seconds later did Alice draw in a deep, shaky breath.