Chapter Thirty
“What’s going on, Anthony? Your note just said, come to my house now, and as your wish is my command, I hurried here immediately, in the rain. In a hackney,” Lord Corbyn added what felt like hours—but was possibly only twenty minutes—later.
Alice watched Lord Corbyn move deeper into the room. His eyes found her and widened.
“My lady.” He bowed. “The mystery deepens.” He then searched, and she thought, looked for Jamie.
“Listen, and don’t speak,” Lord Hamilton said. “Jamie has been abducted, and we believe Jackson is involved. He had a fight last night when he went to find Lady Alice, who, as it turns out, was watching Jackson’s lodgings, because a boy told her that’s where he lived.”
Lord Corbyn’s expression hardened to a mask of anger, like his friend’s.
Alice felt guilt lance through her again.
“That bloody fool.” Lord Corbyn growled out the words. “He should have told us what he was about.”
“He is no fool,” Alice said, and then wished she hadn’t as they both stared at her. “H-he was coming to find me. To protect me. If anyone is a fool, ’tis I.”
“I believe I have already told you, Lady Alice, that my friend does nothing he has no wish to,” Anthony said.
“Exactly right. Now what is to be done?”
“The young boy, Bobby, who saw the entire incident, is outside with my driver,” Alice said. “Also, I believe J-Lord Stafford took a book from the Crimson Serpent. Was there anything in there?”
“No, just a few initials and names, which we have been attempting to track down with little luck. But Jackson’s name was in there,” Lord Corbyn said.
“Dibley!” Lord Hamilton roared. When the butler appeared, he said, “Go and ask the young boy somewhere outside my front door in the rain to come inside, please.”
“So we know it is likely Jackson is involved in the abduction,” Lord Corbyn said.
“Lord Stafford punched him several times, and as Jackson ran away, he vowed to end his life,” Alice said.
“I’ll just bet he did,” Lord Hamilton said, grim-faced.
“And we will be ensuring that does not happen,” Lord Corbyn added.
Bobby arrived then, hair flat to his head, her shawl around his neck and wearing the large jacket. She must see about getting him some new clothes. His face showed no emotion as Alice introduced him to the two lords. She urged him to bow.
“Bobby, can you tell us exactly what you saw last night?” Lord Tobias said.
“He was walking down the street, Lord Stafford was.” He shot a look at Alice, who nodded for him to continue.
“Then two men came up behind him, and one put a cloth over his face,” Bobby continued in his gruff little voice.
“His lordship fought hard, but they dragged him into a carriage when he went limp. I was too far away to help.”
He went limp. The words slammed into her hard. Dear God, please be alive, Jamie.
“I recognized one of them from when his lordship fought with them. The other I’d seen in the Black Dog.”
“You didn’t tell me that, Bobby.”
The boy looked at his toes. “Didn’t want you to go there, Lady Alice. It ain’t right for you to do so.”
Yet another male who thought they knew what was best for her, but Alice knew this was not the time to raise that matter. Now their only focus was Jamie.
“We have few leads, but two that we will start with. One, Jackson’s lodgings, and then the Black Dog,” Lord Corbyn said. “Get what you need, Anthony, and we’ll leave.”
“My carriage is outside,” Alice said. “Or are you wanting to ride your horses?”
“Your carriage will be quicker,” Lord Hamilton said. “Get inside now, and I will be there in a matter of minutes.”
Everyone seemed to move at once. Bobby ran, with Lord Corbyn on his heels, and Alice followed, while Lord Hamilton thundered up the stairs, his boots hitting each step with a loud thud.
“Is that a hamper?” Lord Corbyn asked when he was seated across from her in the carriage, and Bobby had once again climbed up beside the still scowling Ezra. Thankfully, the rain had slowed now to a drizzle.
“It is. Would you like something?” It took a great deal for Alice to be put off her food, but suddenly she had no appetite.
“I would indeed. It’s early, and I only ate the first plate of my breakfast before Anthony’s note arrived.” He opened the hamper and unwrapped the first item.
“Shortbread biscuits,” he whispered, closing his eyes briefly. “My cook is not the best at making these, although she does try.” He bit into one and sighed.
“I shall take some to Bobby and my driver,” Alice said.
She climbed out with the biscuits and held them up to Bobby.
“Eat these, as I have no wish for either of you to faint because you grow lightheaded. I fear the day will be a long one, as we will not be returning to the townhouse until Lord Stafford is found.”
“We’ll find him,” Ezra barked, taking the biscuits Bobby handed him. “Thank you.”
She climbed back inside as Lord Hamilton sprinted out the door wearing his great coat and a hat. He climbed inside, and then they were moving.
“Give me one of those,” he said, snatching a shortbread out of his friend’s hands.
Soon the only noises inside the carriage were of them eating and the slosh of the wheels. Alice felt fear claw at her throat again, now that she was still. Hopeless fear filled her. How would they find Jamie?
“I fear for him.” Alice hadn’t realized she’d spoken the words out loud until they stopped eating.
“Jamie will look after himself until we reach him, Lady Alice.” Lord Hamilton spoke first.
“Alice, please call me that.”
“Alice. I am Anthony, and this is Toby.”
She nodded for him to continue, needing him to tell her that Jamie would indeed be alive when they reached him—they had to reach him.
“He is possibly the strongest of us all, and perhaps that is why Jackson was hardest on him,” Toby said.
“Please allow me to say how sorry I am that you all suffered at Blackwood Hall, as did my brother. It is because of him I am determined to see Kenneth Jackson punished for his sins.” Alice knew these two men would understand her need for vengeance.
Toby said solemnly, “He will pay. Anthony, Jamie, and I will make sure of it, Alice.”
She had to be content with that as they rolled through the streets of London.
It was just another day for those they passed as they went about their business. Looking out the window, Alice wondered how everything could seem so normal, when it wasn’t, not for her. Nothing would be the same again if Jamie didn’t survive whatever hell he was suffering.
Her companions asked her to wait in the carriage when they reached Jackson’s lodgings, and she reluctantly agreed. Their argument had been that it would be easier to slip in and out with fewer people taking notice, especially if they had to break into the property.
She watched out the window as Bobby led the two noblemen from the carriage until they vanished. Alice gripped the edge of the seat, struggling to sit still. The sudden silence was unbearable.
After a minute, she stood on the seat and shoved open the roof hatch. “If they’re gone too long, I shall—”
“You most certainly will not,” Ezra cut in. His voice was a low growl, hat lowered so she could see only his eyes. “Let them do what they must. You’ll only slow them down.”
“I am not a fool,” she snapped.
“No,” he said, glancing back at her, “but that man’s tugged on your heartstrings, and that makes a person rash.”
The words hit too close, so instead of answering, she closed the hatch and sat once more.
Minutes crawled past, and Alice wanted to get out of the carriage and pace, at the very least. Every nerve was screaming. Images flashed through her mind of Jamie fighting, Jamie bleeding, Jamie lying still. No, he’s alive. She forced herself to breathe.
The carriage door opened suddenly. Anthony climbed in, eyes alight with grim purpose. “He’s not there,” he said. “The room’s been stripped clean.”
“Completely?”
“Not quite.” Toby entered behind him, holding a scrap of paper. “We found this.”
Alice leaned forward. “What does it say?”
“The Black Dog.”
“Then that’s where we go,” she said.
Anthony met her gaze. “You’re not coming inside that tavern, Alice.”
“I am, and I’ve been there before.”
“And Jamie is an idiot for letting you go. We are not.”
“You may order your servants about, Lord Hamilton, but not me. I will not sit idly while he suffers.” Her voice shook, but she held his stare.
Tobias studied her for a long moment, then inclined his head. “If we leave her, she’ll follow unless we tie her up, Anthony, just as our wives would were they in the same situation.”
“I beg your pardon. You had better not be serious,” Alice snapped.
Anthony muttered something under his breath that sounded very much like a curse, but gave a brief nod. “Very well, you can come. Stay behind us, speak to no one, and if I say leave, you leave.”
Alice bit back the need to say more. To protest that she did not take orders from them, but as they were just as worried as she about Jamie, she didn’t. Instead, she sat and looked out the window as the tension inside the carriage rose, and the silence almost choked her.
Anthony was the first to break it. “Do you love him, Alice?”
She could lie, or just not answer, but they were Jamie’s friends, and maybe it was time for her to stop being a coward.
“Yes, I think I do.”
“Well, now, that’s excellent news,” Toby said with a gentle smile.
The carriage pulled up outside the Black Dog minutes later, and Alice forgot everything but what they had to do to get Jamie back.
In daylight, the Black Dog looked far worse than it had at night. The shadows that once softened its rough edges were gone, leaving only the stark reality of cracked plaster and filthy windows streaked with grime. The stench of spilled ale, smoke, and something sour clung to the air even out here.
Inside, the tavern was smaller than she remembered, and far dirtier.
The weak morning light revealed everything the dark had hidden.
Alice found sticky floors, warped tables scarred by years of knife blades, and walls stained with old smoke.
The corners where she had once imagined shadows to be now held only piles of refuse and puddles of spilled drink.
A few men dozed over their tankards, slumped in their seats. Others turned to stare at the newcomers, their eyes narrow and assessing. Without the cover of night, there was no mistaking how out of place the three of them were.
Alice was wedged between Anthony and Toby as they moved through the building to the bar.
“Good day, we are looking for some information about the whereabouts of someone,” Tobias said to the barman. Thankfully, he was not the same man who had served them last time.
“If he ain’t in here, then I don’t know his whereabouts.”
Anthony pulled a fistful of money out of his pocket and placed it on the counter but did not lift his hand. The barman’s eyes focused on it.
“How about we try that again, seeing as I did not even mention his name? I’m looking for a man who goes by the name Jackson. He would have men with him is my guess, because the sniveling weasel is a coward and can’t do anything by himself,” Anthony said.
The man’s eyes flickered up to Anthony’s face and then back down at the money. There was a lot there, probably more than he could earn in many months.
“Not overly tall, but solid, and boasts a lot about himself,” Tobias said.
The man’s eyes were on Toby now, and narrowed. Alice held her breath, sure he was going to say he knew Jackson.
“I know someone who can help.”
They all turned to look at the owner of those words. An older man with a grizzled face that Alice thought had seen a lot in his lifetime stared back at them.
“Who?” Anthony demanded.
“Follow me,” the man said, walking away from them.
“Stay close, Alice,” Anthony said softly, as they followed the man through the alehouse and out the front door. He then led them to the right side of the building and down a narrow lane, which shouldn’t feel sinister in daylight hours, and yet did.
Thoughts whirled in Alice’s head. Were they being led into a trap? Did the old man really know Jackson?
“Stop here,” he said.
Alice caught a flicker of movement in the shadows ahead.
“Who’s there?” Toby demanded, his voice sharp.
“She’s my daughter,” the man said. “But she won’t come out. She’s bruised because of that bastard. Go on, Lilly. Tell them what you know about Jackson.”
Alice strained to see the girl, but she clung to the shadows, as if the light itself might burn her.
“Jackson paid some of us to go to a warehouse,” the woman said, her words soft and lisping. “We went, thinking it was work, but he locked us in. Him and others, they hurt us.”
Alice closed her eyes briefly, her stomach twisting. How much more suffering could this man cause? He had to be stopped.
“I’m sorry for what he did to you,” Toby said quietly. “We’re looking for him because he’s taken a friend of ours. Do you know where he might be?”
“Try the warehouse,” she whispered. “Old Fishmarket, by the river. That’s where he took me. Fool paid us not to talk, but I’m done keeping quiet.”
Anthony’s expression hardened. “Then we’ll make him pay.”
He pressed coins into the man’s hand and turned away. Moments later, they were running back toward the carriage.
As Alice climbed inside, her pulse pounded with dread and hope in equal measure. Please let it be the place, she prayed silently. Because deep inside, she could feel it—Jamie was running out of time.