Chapter Four
CHAPTER FOUR
THE RANSOM NOTE was off by the time Nothshire thought to bring the viscountess some food. He busied himself putting together a simple repast of meat and cheese and bread in the kitchen and then delivered it to the room.
The empty room.
Dolt, he thought. How have you survived this long when you are so obviously a dolt?
But that wasn’t his own thought, really, was it? There was someone else who used to call him names like that. He left the plate of food upstairs and came down to look around.
He found Bess, who was in the front room, and she had no notion that a viscountess had been in her house. She wasn’t the least bit pleased, either. “We had a deal that you would never leave loot here, and that extends to women you kidnap,” she said.
They brought things there, but they divvied it up and took it away immediately, that was the bargain they’d struck with her.
He searched the whole place, top to bottom, and finally found Dunrose passed out in the privy in the back of the place, his trousers around his ankles. He wouldn’t have looked inside except the door was open.
“Oh, yes, girl with a dog,” said Dunrose. “She recognized me.”
“You let her go,” said Nothshire, sighing.
“Was I not supposed to do that, because you didn’t tell me that,” said Dunrose.
“Where did she go?”
“Well, back to London, I think, but she did try to walk off in the general direction of Oxford,” said Dunrose. “I told her to go that way.” He gestured, as he got up and hauled up his trousers. He worked at the falls of them. “So, anyway, who was she? Why was she here?”
Nothshire walked away from him.
“Stop doing that,” said Dunrose. “Everyone keeps walking off in the middle of conversations this evening.”
HOW FAR COULD a disgruntled noblewoman with a small, yappy dog get on foot?
Apparently, far.
There was, of course, the problem that he had no idea which direction she’d really walked. Maybe she’d started off going for London, but then she’d gotten turned around and had been wandering around in ever-widening circles for hours on end.
Because that was how long Nothshire had been looking for her. Hours.
At this point, Arthford, who was searching as well, had come back to tell him that the boy who delivered the ransom note had roused Balley from sleep, and that Balley was on his way to the specified rendezvous point with the ransom in tow.
“Let’s just tell him that she’s in some other location,” said Arthford. “And that, after we take the money, we’ll tell him where to find her. Then, he’ll go there, and she won’t be there, and… what will he do about that? He doesn’t even know who we are. By that time, she’ll have somehow wandered into someone who will get her back to her husband—”
“At which point, she knows our identities,” said Nothshire. “Or at least Dunrose’s, because he said she knew him. And how hard will it be to put it all together at that point?”
Arthford sighed. “Well, it’s no different than what you said before, though, is it?”
Nothshire thought about it. Maybe not. “It’s harder to deny when she had a conversation with Dunrose, is all I’m saying.”
“We’ll just pin it on Dunrose,” said Arthford. “We’ll send him to the rendezvous, and he can—”
“Fuck it up,” thundered Nothshire.
Arthford considered. “Well, yes, in all likelihood, yes.”
It was quiet for a very, very long time.
Nothshire inspected the lapel of his jacket. He had shed his cloak and domino mask some time ago, and he was now simply wearing the fully black suit he usually wore to hold up carriages. “I could just kill him.”
“Dunrose?”
“Balley,” said Nothshire.
Arthford’s eyes widened. “Well… that’s unlike you. You have your code and all of that.”
“He probably meets the criteria,” said Nothshire. “Attend to me, if we kill him, we take all the ransom, he never comes after us, and she’s free, which I wanted for her, anyway. So, I think it’s the best option, don’t you?”
“You won’t go through with it,” said Arthford. “I have been next to you when you wouldn’t go through with it, in the past, and I’m not stabbing anyone else for you.”
“Right, that didn’t work out, anyway, did it? He didn’t die.”
“Luckily, no one knew who we were that time,” said Arthford.
“Rutchester would do it,” said Nothshire.
“Possibly,” said Arthford. “Any idea where he is?”
“None,” said Nothshire. He sighed again. “Where’s Dunrose?”
“RUTCHESTER?” SAID DUNROSE . “I told you he wasn’t here.”
“Yes,” said Nothshire. They were back inside Bess’s now, and they were back in their little room with the empty fireplace. “But do you know where he is?”
“I think he’s at home,” said Dunrose.
“Right,” said Nothshire, thinking that through.
“I’ll get him,” said Arthford. “Unless you want to. I’ll just ride back and get him. He’ll come along easily, I think.”
“Yes, but tell him that it should be a gun, don’t you think? If he’s going to want to… with a sword…”
“If we want Rutchester to do it, I think we have to let him do it,” said Arthford. “However he wishes. You can’t dictate what Rutchester does.”
Nothshire sighed again. “Yes, yes, yes. All right. You go and get him. I’ll go to the rendezvous point with Balley, and I’ll… stall.”
“Excellent plan,” said Arthford. “I’m off, then.” He gathered up his jacket and started across the room.
“Well, what shall I do?” said Dunrose.
“Nothing,” said Nothshire. “You will sit here and sleep it off.”
“I already did that in the privy,” said Dunrose. “Can’t I come with you, Benedict. Please? I don’t want to stay here alone.”
Nothshire looked to Arthford, but he was already gone. He grimaced. He turned back to Dunrose. “What are the odds that you’ll just agree with me and not pester me mercilessly until you get your way?”
“Slim to none,” said Dunrose cheerfully.
“Let’s go,” said Nothshire.
They set off. It wasn’t a long ride back to London, likely twenty minutes at this hour, because one should encounter little traffic on the streets. So, twenty minutes for Arthford to get there, and then he’d need to wake Rutchester and Rutchester would need to get ready… perhaps another ten minutes. Then twenty minutes back. So, nearly an hour, then.
And the rendezvous was set for… three quarters of an hour from now. It would work. He swallowed, trying to convince himself it would work.