Chapter 26
Michael and Colin raced for the place where Rebecca was being held.
When the Woolery Mill had burned, it had been forced to shut down until repairs could be managed.
This lull in activity had given Mr. G the opportunity to use one of the storage warehouses that had survived the fire without interruption.
The man that the Bow Street Runners had taken into custody had given them all of the information that he knew about the place and who was standing guard over her.
When they reached the gates of the Woolery Mill, the Bow Street Runners broke the lock and charged through, surrounding the warehouse in mere moments. Michael and Colin stood at the door with the head Runner, braced for battle.
The three men, as one, kicked the door open and charged into the building with fierce determination. They had been prepared for almost anything that they might encounter, with the exception of finding nothing at all.
“No!” Colin yelled in frustration, falling to his knees in desperation. “Where is she?!”
The lead Runner turned to his men as they poured in behind them. “Search the entire grounds and the surrounding area.”
Nodding, the Runners left Colin to mourn in peace. Michael walked up behind his cousin and laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “We will find her.”
“He knew that we were coming with help. How did he know?” Colin asked, his hazel eyes red with tears that threatened to overwhelm him.
“He has spies everywhere. One of them must have seen the Runners coming,” Michael offered as an explanation. “Perhaps one of the men with us is not as trustworthy as my father’s friend believes. Either way, there is nothing that can be done here now. We must find another way to free Rebecca.”
“He said that he would kill her if we told the authorities. We are responsible for everything that happens to her from this moment forward.” The agony in Colin’s eyes was palpable.
Michael sighed, pulling his cousin up from the floor. Laying hands on both of his shoulders, he held his eyes in earnest. “We will find her.”
Colin nodded. “We had better, or I will not be responsible for what I do if we do not.”
Michael squeezed his shoulder in understanding. “If it comes to that, I will help you dispose of the bodies,” he promised.
It was a morbid moment, but it made both of them feel better to have an outlet for all of the fear and anger that coursed through their beings.
As they turned to leave, Colin’s foot thumped against something hollow-sounding in the floor.
Frowning in curiosity, he paused and stomped his foot again.
Cocking his head to the side, he lifted his eyes to Michael’s in question.
Michael stepped forward, and both men stomped their feet, finding the parameters of the hollow sound.
Kneeling, they traced their fingers along the wooden boards.
Michael’s finger slipped into an empty space big enough to lift the board, and to his surprise, an entire section of floor came up.
There, lying on the floor beneath them were two human female forms, with their hands and feet bound, bags over their heads.
“Rebecca,” Colin breathed, jumping down into the hole. Lifting the woman in finer clothes, the very dress that Rebecca had been wearing the night of the concert, he removed the bag from her head.
Rebecca’s eyes widened as she cried out from behind the gag that filled her mouth. Tears springing to his eyes, Colin removed the gag from her mouth. “My love, my love,” he repeated over and over again as he set her free from her bindings.
“Colin, you found me!” Rebecca wept, throwing her arms around his neck as she sobbed into his shirt.
“Always, my love. I will always find you,” Colin promised, as he held her to him with such tenderness that it caused a pain in Michael’s chest.
Reaching his hand down, Colin helped Rebecca crawl up out of the hole in the floor.
Bending down, Michael lifted up Martha from her prone position on the ground and freed her from her bindings as well.
The moment that Colin’s feet hit the wooden floor, he pulled Rebecca back into his arms. Rebecca went gladly.
It looked as though the women had been given food and water, as neither of them appeared to have lost any weight, but it was clear that neither woman had been given the comfort of bathing.
“Let us get you home,” Michael offered, motioning toward the open door. Both women nodded and began to move toward the sunlit portal. Rebecca and Colin moved as one, each afraid to let go of the other.
As they emerged into the daylight, Bow Street Runners came running the moment that their eyes beheld the two women.
“You found them,” the head Runner stated with surprise. “Where were they?”
“There was a hidden hole under the floorboards. The women had been bound and gagged, unable to cry out for help. If Colin had not noticed a change in the sound of the wood beneath his feet, we would still not know where they were being kept,” Michael explained.
The head Runner looked both women up and down. “Miss Rebecca Frampton.” He nodded his head in respect to Rebecca, clearly the higher ranking of the two women by the look of her attire. When his eyes fell on the laundress, his face turned to stone. “Martha Gouldsmith, I presume.”
“I am.” Martha nodded in confirmation, tears of fear and regret spilling down her cheeks.
“You have much to answer for,” the Runner warned her. “The magistrate would like a word with you.”
Martha gulped air as she attempted to fight back the sobs that erupted with increased frequency. “I had no choice,” she sobbed. “He threatened my family if I did not introduce them. I did not know that he planned to take Miss Rebecca captive. I swear it! I would never have put her in danger.”
“It is not your fault, Martha,” Rebecca reassured her friend. “I will speak to the magistrate on your behalf,” she promised.
“Who is this he that you speak of?” the lead Runner demanded to know of Martha.
“Norman Livingston, Marquess of Worthington,” Rebecca answered, dark shadows passing over her eyes.
Michael’s eyes shot open in shock. “But he is dead,” he protested, not knowing what else to say.
Rebecca shook her head. “No, he is not. He faked his death.”
“Why would he do such a thing?”
“He was in debt and wished to be free of the burdens of his title,” Rebecca explained.
“Why did he take you prisoner? He could have spoken with you at any point in the past. I do not understand,” Colin said, the anger in his eyes crackled as fierce as a fire with the thought that anyone would lay a hand on the woman that he loved.
“Emmeline had something that he wanted, but he believed that I had it. The only way that he could think to get what he wanted and preserve his faked-death story was to take me and demand it in ransom,” Rebecca informed them.
“I fear I may have said too much when he questioned me about Emmeline’s inheritance. ”
“Do not fear, my love. Emmeline is safe at home and her inheritance is intact,” Colin reassured her.
“You are certain?”
“I am,” Colin replied.
Rebecca looked up at Colin with such adoration that it broke something within Michael’s soul.
Emmeline’s husband is alive. She is still a married woman. She is no longer available to receive the attentions of another man. It was in that moment that Michael realized just how much he had been hoping for a second chance with Emmeline, even though he had not admitted it to himself.
Her words describing the way that her marriage had been arranged echoed through his mind, and his entire way of thinking about the choice that she had made all of those years before shifted within his mind.
She had sensed the evil in this man and had saved her sister from a terrible fate. The woman has the courage of a warrior, and I treated her like a coward, a fool even. I am ashamed of my thoughts and actions now.
Did she suspect all along that Mr. G was truly her husband in disguise? Is that why she was so very terrified of not being present at the time of the exchange? A myriad of questions swirled through Michael’s mind.
“We should return to the Frampton household to inform Emmeline and Theodocia of Rebecca’s safe recovery,” Michael spoke aloud, his need to see Emmeline growing stronger with every moment that passed.
“I do not believe that you are going to find her there,” Martha stated quietly.
“Why do you say that?” Michael demanded to know.
“This morning, I overheard the guards speaking of a plan to abduct another woman. They said that the woman was Mr. G’s wife. I did not think anything of it at the time. If anything, I thought that it was odd that the man would have to abduct his own wife.”
“Mr. G’s wife is my sister,” Rebecca breathed, fear returning to her eyes. She looked at Colin and then to Michael.
Fear clutched at Michael’s heart, and he took a step toward Martha in urgency. “When? Where are they taking her?”
“I do not know. They may have already taken her. The guards did not say.”
Michael took one look at Colin and Rebecca, his eyes telling his cousin everything that he needed to know without a word being spoken.
“Go,” Colin agreed with his unspoken thoughts. “I will get Rebecca home safely. Go and save Emmeline.”
“Send your men to the Green Dragon Tavern. I am going to the Frampton family townhouse,” Michael commanded of the lead Runner as he took off at a dead run and leaped onto the back of the nearest horse.
He raced through the streets of London, causing people to leap out of his way as he paid no mind to his surroundings.
His only thought was to get to Emmeline before it was too late.
When he reached the Frampton family townhouse, he leaped from the back of the horse and raced up the stairs to the front door. He pounded on the door with his fist, his heart racing as he prayed to God for Emmeline’s safety. To his surprise, Theodocia Frampton herself opened the door.