Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Tommy didn’t like this.
Not one bit.
He would have preferred a different plan – particularly one that didn’t involve Minnie.
But how else were they possibly going to prove Blackwood’s guilt and move on from this?
Tommy, along with Rhys and Colin, had gone to the Manchester Police and spoken with one high-ranking official who Jonny swore was not in Blackwood’s pocket.
“Inspector Harold Finch. He’s too wholesome and has no family in Manchester to threaten,” Jonny explained. “Blackwood had no leverage to get him to work for him.”
Inspector Finch had listened to their story without any surprise, obviously already aware of Blackwood and his growing influence in the community.
“And you swear you can provide all the evidence to take him down?” he had asked.
“We swear it,” Tommy promised. “All you have to do is be at the docks tomorrow evening at eight.”
“Very well,” Inspector Finch said, although it was obvious he didn’t entirely believe that they could bring this to fruition. “We’ll be there.”
“You have to remain out of sight, though,” Tommy said. “Otherwise, Blackwood will call it off.”
“Trust me, we know how to be discreet,” Inspector Finch said with a patient smile, as though he was trying not to roll his eyes.
“How many men can you gather?”
Inspector Finch winced. “Probably three I could trust.”
“Three? Blackwood will have five times that many men,” Colin said.
“Then that is where we come in,” Rhys said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Now here they were, and for the first time, Tommy was grateful for the multitude of shipping crates that littered the docks, giving them plenty of space to hide.
Jonny had directed them to the hub of activity. It was dark, night having already fallen, which was the only time Blackwood would conduct such an operation, to hide in the shadows.
“It is ridiculous that you are here,” Tommy muttered to Minnie, who knelt before him, the scent of her sweet pea shampoo in his nose. “We should have done this without you.”
“Not if you wanted Blackwood,” Minnie said. “You could have gathered evidence on their dealings, but not on Blackwood himself unless he had a reason to be here and we could accuse him of a specific action.”
“I hate that the reason is you.”
“There’s Garrick,” Minnie said under her breath, peering into the darkness as men gathered around the docked ship.
They operated under the dim light of the half-moon and the gas lamps strung on posts, causing flickering shadows to blend with the silhouettes of the men who were hard at work moving the illegal cargo which Blackwood used to barter and bribe businesses in Manchester. “Here I go.”
Tommy pulled her in, giving her a quick, hard kiss, hoping that she understood all the love he was pouring out of himself and into her. He’d never done anything harder than letting her go to the enemy.
Even so, watching her walk forward with a straight spine and head held high allowed a rush of immense pride to fill him. She was so brave despite the nerves he knew were rushing through her.
“Garrick?” Minnie’s voice rang out clearly through the night as Tommy kept his eyes on her, not allowing her out of his sight for even a second.
“Well, well, look who we have here,” he heard Garrick say. Tommy’s blood ran hot with hatred for the man who had bested him one time too many. “What is little Miss Draper doing here tonight?”
“That would be Mrs. Ward,” Minnie said, her voice still strong, and as much as Tommy was terrified, he had never been prouder of her. “I would like to speak with Mr. Blackwood.”
“Would you, now?”
“I would.”
“And just how did you know we would be here tonight, Mrs. Ward?”
“This is where we had our last encounter, did we not, Garrick? Or do you not recall one of your men swimming with the fish?”
There were a few guffaws at that, although most were quickly silenced by Garrick’s glare.
“I also heard a rumor you would be back here tonight,” Minnie said.
“Rumor from who?”
“Whispers on the docks,” she said with a shrug. “Now, will Blackwood be here to speak with me, or not?”
“Not here,” Garrick said. “I’ll take you to him if you come with me.”
“I will absolutely not be going anywhere with you.”
“I imagine your husband is nearby,” Garrick said, looking around the shipping containers.
“He might be. He might not be,” Minnie said. “Now, this is the last chance you have to answer my question.”
“No need,” came a cold, strong voice from the other side of the docks. “You want an audience, Miss Draper? Here I am.”
“Mrs. Ward,” Minnie repeated, and Tommy couldn’t help but smile again at the insistent annoyance in her tone.
“What can I do for you tonight, Mrs. Ward? Have you come to uphold your father’s end of my bargain with him? Or perhaps make apologies for your husband, who also failed to follow through as he was supposed to?”
Minnie straightened her shoulders.
“You must stop coming after me, Mr. Blackwood. I am married now.”
“I am not sure what you mean, Miss Draper.”
“The attempted kidnapping last week when we visited the customs officer? Sending Garrick to Tommy’s game? The man who came to speak to me at the tavern? It all must stop.”
“At the tavern?” Blackwood said with a frown. “I sent no one to the tavern.”
“Alexander Bellingham the Third?” Minnie said, and Tommy tensed. Like Minnie, he had sensed something off about the man.
“Bellingham came to meet you?” Blackwood said, scratching his beard. “Interesting. And not good for my business.” He looked toward Garrick. “Why is Bellingham involving himself?”
“Said he was done waiting for you to deliver the girl. That he was going to go after her himself.”
Ice began to creep up Minnie’s spine, as she inherently knew, without being told, exactly why Arthur Bellingham the Third had shown up at the tavern.
He was the one who wanted to buy her.
“I am married now,” she said. “I am no one’s woman but my husband’s.”
Blackwood shrugged. “Just a piece of paper. One easily remedied. Now, Miss Draper—”
“Mrs. Ward.”
“—you have two choices. You can make this easy. Come with us and we will leave your father and your husband be. They can live their lives, operate their businesses as they choose, without our interference. Unless they request it of course. Or you can make this difficult. If you don’t honor the agreements they made, I will have no choice but to come after them.
To take over their businesses. To see that they are, effectively, ruined.
And you, my dear, well, you will find yourself in the same fate one way or another. ”
Tommy’s heart pounded fast at the man’s words. He wanted nothing more than to rush out from his hiding place behind the boxes and to show this man what true justice meant. To protect his wife and see that she was safe.
But he knew to do so would ruin everything.
He could see shadows beyond, heard one sharp cry that he hoped Blackwood and Garrick had missed, as his friends and the police were at work discovering what was in the crates.
Minnie just had to keep Blackwood talking, to get him to admit what he was doing, and it would have to be enough for the inspector to arrest him.
He had already threatened Minnie, her father, and him.
That should be enough—but smuggling, on top of kidnapping? That would take things much further.
“What do you prefer trading? Goods or lives?” Minnie asked, waving her arms around. Smart girl, to get him talking, even though it just might put her in further danger, giving her no option to escape. “That’s what all of this is, right? Smuggled goods?”
“What does it matter to you?”
“Considering my father runs a legal shipping business, it matters a great deal as you are taking profits away from him.”
“Trust me, that is the least of your father’s worries at the moment,” Blackwood said with a snort. “He thought he could outsmart me. Well, he thought wrong. No one is out of my reach. No one. Married or not, you will do what I ask, Mrs. Ward.”
“My marriage will not be annulled.”
Even though she had assured Tommy of this fact time and again, it still felt good to hear.
“A marriage doesn’t need to be annulled to be finished, Mrs. Ward.”
“What—” Minnie’s voice died away as she realized just exactly what he was referring to.
“Widows can also be remarried,” Blackwood finished. Tommy could hear the smug grin in his voice.
That wasn’t good news for Tommy.
“You said you would leave my husband alone,” she said, her voice still strong, although Tommy could hear the slight tremble.
“If you come with me, I will. Mr. Bellingham the Third is an American seeking the most beautiful, polished English bride. You are exactly what he is looking for. Once he learned you were available, he was willing to outbid any other prospective buyer. You can sail away with him and no one will be the wiser.”
Minnie said nothing, and Tommy’s heart began to increase in pace.
She wasn’t actually considering this, was she?
She had to understand that the deal would be all for naught if she was taken away from him, for all that mattered to him was keeping her safe.
Tommy would do anything to make sure that she was looked after, and he was not going to see her shipped off and away from him, to be subjected to whatever this man deemed was her future.
Tommy peered behind Minnie. Surely the police would have what they needed by now?
Suddenly, he realized what was wrong. Garrick was missing, no longer standing to the side and overseeing proceedings. Where had he gone?
He leaned forward but couldn’t see him anywhere. And Blackwood was smiling, looking at — at him. Tommy swallowed hard just before he felt the cold metal against his temple.
“Well, well, what do we have here?”
He sighed, closing his eyes as he cursed himself. He had been so intent on Minnie that he hadn’t watched Blackwood’s second in command.
“Up. Let’s step out into the light and say your goodbyes to your sweetheart.”
Lifting his hands, Tommy had no choice but to do as Garrick said. When they stepped into the clearing made by the crates of goods lined around them, Minnie turned to look over her shoulders, her face falling to see Tommy’s current predicament, making him feel all the more that he had failed her.
At least they had the other men and the police beyond. They would help, would they not?
Tommy didn’t want to peer into the shadows in fear that he might give them away, but suddenly there was a shout and a splash.
“Stay here,” Blackwood ordered, pulling his own pistol from his jacket as he walked over to the ship.
Minnie held Tommy’s gaze, biting her lip, staying strong despite the fear he knew was likely swirling within her, fear that probably matched his own.
It was not his own life that concerned him. It was Minnie’s.
She never should have come here. This was a terrible plan, and he was going to have a lot to say to Jonny once they got out of this.
Because they would free themselves.
They had to.
Then Blackwood reappeared, walking with Rhys in front of him. Rhys’s right eye was swollen shut, but besides that, the only other injury was redness on his knuckles. Meanwhile, Colin stumbled along, another man practically dragging him as it seemed his ribs were hurt. Again.
Rhys looked at Tommy, shaking his head, and Tommy knew what he meant. There was no sign of the police. They hadn’t shown up.
They were alone.
Jonny was also nowhere to be found, and for a moment, Tommy couldn’t breathe. Had the man he considered one of his best friends betrayed them? Had Ada been right?
Either way, there didn’t appear to be an easy way out of this.
They were trapped.