Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Mungo.” His brother held out his hand.
Leo nudged him until he’d lifted his. It was the handshake of two strangers who would rather be anywhere but inches from each other.
“Hug the man, for pity’s sake,” Leo added, but Mungo just stared at his brother after releasing him. “I am Lord Seddon, but call me Leo.”
“Why are you here, Calder?” Mungo rasped. “In London.”
Older by five years, he’d once been Mungo’s hero.
Calder was as tall as he was, and though his build was slighter, he was still larger than most. His red hair was graying and cut short, his clothes immaculate as they’d always been.
He was wearing pale gray trousers, a black jacket, and a gray-and-black waistcoat.
Calder had always dressed every day as if taking tea with royalty would be in his future.
The face he turned toward Mungo had more lines on it now, which was unsurprising, given the many years that had passed since they’d seen each other, but those blue eyes were as sharp as they always were.
“I need your help, Mungo.”
Five simple words, and the blood ties he had with this man came roaring back.
“Fenella is missing.”
“What?” The bellow had his brother wincing.
“She did not return to the Duncans’ after she’d gone out for a walk one day. They’d just returned from Bath, and Fenella wished to take some air.”
“The Duncans are the people she was staying with?” Mungo asked.
“Yes, and they have looked everywhere for her. Duncan continued searching every place he could think of, even getting the authorities involved, while he sent word to me to come to London at once.”
“Christ,” Mungo hissed.
“Duncan wondered if in fact she’d met someone, and this was why—”
“No! Fenella told me how much she missed you all and was looking forward to going home to Scotland. She would never do that.”
“You saw her?” Calder asked, hopeful, and it was then Mungo saw the devastation, the dark smudges and tired eyes, and felt the desperation of a father for his child.
Mungo loved the Nightingales as if they were his blood and felt pain when they did. He understood what his brother felt, even if he did not know how to openly show it.
“I did, many times while she was here.”
“How did she know you were here?”
He thought about how to answer that and realized only the truth would do now. “Mother has always known where I am, Calder. I wrote to her often, and especially when I relocated.”
His brother stared at him in shock. “She never said anything when I talked about you.” He then shook his head. “But of course she knew, as she was the one who gave me your address before I left Scotland.”
“She did not reveal my whereabouts because I asked her not to.”
His brother shook his head slowly. “You hated me so much, it forced you to stay away from us for years and tell only her that you were alive and well?”
“Now is not the time for this. We need to find Fenella,” Mungo said, vowing silently that there would never be a time. Too many years had passed for him and his family, especially the man before him, to reconnect.
“But there will be a reckoning,” Calder said in a thick Scottish brogue.
Mungo didn’t add anything to that even as he felt the old anger and resentment stir inside him when his brother spoke that way.
“Where have you looked, Calder?
“Mungo?” Bram appeared in the doorway.
“Bramstone Nightingale, my brother, Calder,” Mungo said—naming the one bound to him by blood, and the other by everything that truly mattered.
“Bring him inside the house, then, Mungo,” Bram said, not an ounce of the shock he was no doubt feeling showing on his face.
“My niece is missing, Bram. We need to find her.”
“The niece you told us you’d visited with?”
“Aye.”
“Please come inside, Calder. I have waited a long time to meet a member of Mungo’s family,” Bram said. “We can discuss what is to be done.”
“We need to find her. That is what needs to be done!” Mungo growled. Fenella, his sweet niece who had sought him out and then slid into his heart, was missing.
“And we will,” Bram assured him.
His brother entered. Brother.
“Have you just arrived in London, Calder?” Bram asked.
“Aye, this morning.”
“So, you’re exhausted. Come, you are with friends now who will help you. But you need some food to replenish your strength.”
Bram took Calder’s arm and urged him inside as Ivy arrived.
“Hello,” she said, smiling.
Any visitor was treated the same in this house. Wealthy or poor, they received a smile, and tea.
“Ivy, my love, can you ask Bud to prepare tea for Mungo’s brother, Calder?” he said.
“Mungo’s brother? How wonderful!” Ivy clapped her hands in excitement.
Theo and Charles appeared next.
“What is going on?” Charles asked.
“Collect Flora and Ram at once, Charles. I think you’ll find some of the other family members outside, too, as they went for a walk.
Theo, you retrieve paper and a quill and then collect your sisters.
I’ll write a note to Gray and direct him to come here as soon as he can.
Mungo’s brother, Calder, is here because his daughter is missing. ”
“Oh no,” Ivy whispered. “The daughter you met, Mungo?”
He nodded, words failing him as thoughts of what Fenella could be going through filled his head. Mungo had seen the dark side of life many times, and he never wanted that for anyone he loved, but especially not the sweet, young, innocent Fenella.
“Good lord, are you really his brother?” Theo said. “I will be most interested to hear how he was as a child once we have your daughter back safe with us, sir.”
“Go, Theo!” Mungo thundered, and the young man turned and ran up the stairs.
“It is wonderful to meet you, sir,” Ivy said, moving closer to Calder.
“I am just saddened it is under such circumstances. I’ll add that your brother is one of the most wonderful men I know.
” She squeezed Calder’s hand before moving to where Mungo stood, stopping to kiss his cheek.
“We will find her, my friend. This time we shall be there for you.”
He watched Ivy walk away, a lump of emotion nearly choking him. Mungo stomped it down.
“Is Mother well?” Mungo asked his brother.
“She is, as is everyone else,” Calder said. His voice was different now. Deeper.
“Come along. You can talk in the parlor,” Bram said, walking in that direction. “My family will arrive shortly, and then we can plan how to find your daughter, Calder.”
The brothers followed, so much tension and pain palpable between them. They were strangers now.
“I will leave and return when the family arrives, as I’m sure you need to talk to each other,” Bram said when he’d herded them inside.
“No. You will stay,” Mungo said.
Calder shot him a look but didn’t add anything and walked deeper into the room.
“It has been many years. Talk with your brother, Mungo.”
“You are better at that than I am, Bram. You’ve been a mediator in this family for years,” he whispered.
“He is your brother.”
“He is a stranger. You are more a brother to me than he is now,” Mungo pointed out.
“Very well. But you’ll not roar at him until you hear what he has to say,” Bram said in a louder voice.
Mungo saw the surprise on his brother’s face at Bram’s words. He rarely took direction, which was probably one of the main reasons he and Calder had fought so much. His brother had felt the need to direct him constantly, and he’d felt the need not to let him.
“You have changed in the years we’ve been apart, brother,” Calder said after he’d taken a seat.
“As have you,” Mungo said, also sitting, but not too close. “Tell me everything you have done to find her.”
“I arrived two hours ago and went directly to the lodgings the Duncans leased.” His brother looked at his hands, and then back at him. “There was no sign of her. I then came here, as I do not know London as you likely do.”
“She has been missing for how long?” Bram asked.
“It took the rider Duncan paid to deliver the note eight days to reach me, and the return to London—”
“She’s been missing for near to three weeks?” Mungo said, devastated.
“Aye,” his brother said, running a hand over his face. “Duncan’s wife was in tears the entire time I was there, and his daughter, who is Fenella’s friend, was inconsolable. I cannot fault the ways they’ve searched long and hard for her.”
“And the daughter can find no reason for her disappearance?” Leo, who had been silent until then, asked.
“None,” Calder said.
“She said that Fenella was looking forward to coming home.”
“Shouldn’t you have checked on her in the months she was here?” Mungo snapped.
“I did. I wrote to her and the Duncans weekly. It was her wish to come to London, and nothing I nor Heather said could deter her. We trusted the Duncans to care for our daughter.”
“You’re her father—”
“And this is getting us nowhere,” Bram intervened. “Now, continue with the details you know, please, Calder, and you”— he jabbed a finger at Mungo— “stay silent.”
“If she was taken for blackmail purposes, the Duncans would have received a note with ransom details by now,” Leo said.
“I also thought of that,” Calder said. “We are not a noble family, for all that our aunt married into one, so they must know the Fraser family comes from money.”
“Do you?” Bram glared at Mungo.
The guilt hit him hard. “Aye, some.”
“I know about the title in your family, but not that your own had money,” Bram said.
“Coal,” Calder said before Mungo could stop him. “Our great-grandfather found it on our land. We run a mine.”
Bram’s eyes went to him and then returned to Calder, and he knew what his friend was thinking. He’d promised to keep no more secrets from him, and this was a large one.
“Yet another thing I do not know about the man who has been my friend for many years.”
“I don’t like to speak about myself like you Nightingales,” Mungo muttered.
“Which is a poor excuse,” Bram added.
“He was silent as a bairn, and that never changed,” Calder said. “I need to get out there and start searching for my daughter, but do not know London as I’m sure you do, as you live here,” he said, looking at Mungo. “Where should I start?”
He knew his brother was likely a good man, he’d just not allowed himself to see it all those years ago when he was young and blind to everything but his own needs. He also knew that Fenella was a lovely young lady, and that had to come from being raised by parents who had done their best for her.
It went against everything inside him to acknowledge that, like him, his brother had changed and grown with age. The young man Mungo had been was not the man he was today, and while he hadn’t exactly mellowed, he understood there were usually two sides to most stories.
“Her maid is missing too,” Calder said.
“Polly,” Mungo added. “I met her when I saw Fenella.”
Calder shot him a searching look before he continued. “If they are not after money, then why take Fenella? I wondered if their disappearance was to do with the maid, who was recommended to me by the Holton Agency here in London.”
“Because a Scottish one would not suffice for you?” Mungo’s tone was filled with disgust.
“I’m not discussing my reasons with you, Mungo. Our focus is on finding Fenella.”
He was right, of course. Just thinking about his niece out there somewhere terrified him.
“Elspeth Duncan told me that her maid had no family and was happy to be with such a nice one like the Frasers,” Calder said. “She could find no reason for either of them to have disappeared.”
“Two women do not simply disappear,” Mungo said. He knew the nefarious underbelly of evil and criminal people who lurked in London, and thinking of Fenella and Polly in their clutches made him feel ill.
“We hired Miss Downing through Holton Agency,” Bram said suddenly. “We need to ask her if she knows this Polly. What is her last name?” he asked.
“Watts,” Calder said.
The door opened, and in walked Bud with a tea tray. She looked Calder over and then nodded before leaving. There was no doubt in Mungo’s mind that she, and likely everyone in the household, knew who had arrived. He’d add that all the Crabbett Close residents would be aware soon too.
Bram and Leo asked multiple questions then as they circled round and round, trying to find a reason for Fenella’s disappearance. Mungo wanted to simply pull on his coat and leave the house.
“I need to find my daughter,” Calder said, as if hearing his thoughts. “I must do something.”
“We will, but there is no point walking endlessly around London with no understanding of what location we should search,” Bram said. “This is hell for you, I understand that, but let us formulate a plan, and to do that, we need my family.”
“Was she happy in your household?” Mungo asked the question that had been plaguing him.
His brother instantly bristled, even getting to his feet and stalking toward Mungo. He rose to meet him.
“What are you asking?” Calder demanded, inches from his face.
“Well, if I had doubts that these two are related, seeing them at each other’s throats would clear those up.”
Mungo turned to watch Ram, Flora, and Charles enter the room. It had been Ram who spoke.
“Clearly you are brothers with the same winning personality,” Flora added.
“Answer the question, brother,” Calder snapped.
“Back off,” Mungo snarled.
“I love my daughter, and unlike you, did not run from my responsibilities to her and the rest of our family.”
The barb struck with the accuracy of a well-aimed arrow, and Mungo clenched his fists.
There had always been guilt, but he’d justified his actions every time he’d regretted them, replaying his father’s words inside his head. But now, seeing his brother, he suddenly wasn’t so sure if he’d made the right decision.