Chapter Eight #3
‘That we did,’ another said. ‘Must be from the zoo.’
‘It is from the zoo,’ Drake replied. ‘I’m looking to collect it. Which way did it go?’
‘Up the street,’ yet another said. ‘Lickety-split, too. Didn’t know elephants could move that fast.’
‘He was running?’ Drake asked.
‘Yup,’ a different man replied. ‘My Tilda saw it out the kitchen window. I wouldn’t have believed her if I hadn’t been by the door and opened it just in time to see it thunder past.’
‘Thanks,’ Drake said, and urged the horse onward.
‘I wonder why he didn’t stop at the canal?’ she asked.
‘Can’t say, other than if he was still running, he’s still scared, and lost. Not sure where to go. He’s never been on his own.’
‘I feel so bad for him,’ she said. ‘And I’m quite angry at those boys.
I’m going to find out who they are and have them put to work fixing the flowers beds destroyed because of their mischievousness, and I’m going to recommend to the board that the zoo hires a night watchman so nothing like this happens again. ’
‘Are you?’ he asked, smiling at the determination in her tone.
‘Yes, I am. I’ve been thinking about it the whole time we’ve been looking for Hugo.
None of this is his fault and he shouldn’t be the one who gets the blame.
I’ll tell you something else, too. If we tell that one boy that he’ll be put to work fixing this mess, he’s going to share who the other two are.
Someone foolish enough to sneak into a zoo is also selfish and won’t be prepared to do all the work by himself. ’
She had a point there. ‘You have put a lot of thought into your plan, haven’t you?’ he asked.
‘We’ve been following this trail for what feels like hours.’
So much for wondering if she was as aware of him sitting behind her as he was of her sitting in front of him. He hated to admit that he’d been hoping she was, because despite all he knew, he wanted her to want him.
He wanted her, damn it, and he shouldn’t.
‘Hey there!’ someone shouted.
Drake pulled his horse to a stop in the intersection of a street crossing the one they were following and watched as a mounted police officer made his way towards them.
‘Have you seen anything unusual?’ the officer asked. ‘Got reports of people seeing an elephant.’
‘That’s what we are looking for,’ Drake said.
‘Can’t have citizens out here putting their lives at risk,’ the officer said. ‘Other officers are making their way over here right now. You need to go on home and let us handle it.’
‘We’re here to take him back to the zoo,’ Drake replied.
‘Like I said, we can’t have—’
‘Do you have any experience with elephants?’ Meridith interrupted the officer forcefully.
‘Because we have. I am Lady Meridith Downs, and I assure you, this man right here is the only person in this entire country that can get that elephant back to the zoo. The most helpful thing you can do is tell us the last place he was seen.’
Drake pinched his lips together as the officer stared at Meridith, clearly having no idea how to respond.
‘Well?’ she snapped. ‘Where was the last place he was seen?’
‘I’m not sure, my lady,’ the officer replied. ‘I was simply told to get over here as fast as possible because there’s an elephant on the loose.’
‘Oh, good heavens,’ she muttered.
‘We’ll go straight ahead on this road,’ Drake told the officer. ‘If anyone spots the elephant, come find us. Don’t approach him, and whatever you do, don’t chase him!’
‘Yes, sir.’
Drake continued onward, and both he and Meridith scanned yards and streets, the spaces between homes and beside carriage houses, and everywhere else there was to look, with absolutely no luck.
‘I can’t believe it’s this hard to find an elephant,’ Meridith said. ‘He’s huge.’
‘Roughly, he’s about the size of a covered coach or a freight wagon, so any space wide enough for one of those, would be wide enough for him.’
‘I’m so angry with those boys,’ she hissed.
He tightened his hold on her waist, and due to nothing more than his current state of agitation, he leaned forward and gave her temple a small kiss. ‘I know you are, honey.’
She looked up at him, and the softness of her expression made him want to kiss more than her temple.
‘We aren’t going to stop until we find him,’ she said.
‘No, we are not.’
‘I don’t care if it takes all night,’ she said, looking between his eyes and his mouth.
He had to swallow, just to give his mouth something to do besides tingle with anticipation. ‘Neither do I.’
A shout, or other such noise, stopped him from doing anything more. For a moment he was disappointed, but then he felt a sense of relief. He would only have regretted it later, because kissing her was not something he could do. Not tonight. Not any night.
The shout came again, and he twisted to look behind them.
‘We’ve got a sighting!’ a mounted officer shouted.
Drake spun the horse about and hurried towards the officer.
‘Where?’
‘An alley behind a public house and it’s still there,’ the officer replied. ‘Just two blocks west of here.’
‘Is he all right?’ Meridith asked the officer as they rode in the direction of the public house.
‘I don’t know, my lady,’ the officer replied. ‘I’m just relaying what I was told.’
Moments later, they arrived at the entrance to the alley, where a crowd was gathered.
‘He’s right up there,’ someone said, pointing into the alley.
‘Lying down,’ another said.
Drake dismounted, then lifted Meridith off the horse. The concern on her face was his justification for giving her a quick hug. ‘You stay here. I don’t know if he’s lying down because he’s hurt or tired.’
She gripped his arm tightly. ‘Be careful.’
‘I will be.’ He gave her hand a squeeze before he slowly made his way down the alley.