Chapter 3
Chapter Three
“What do I have to do with your life?” Ada demanded, placing her hands on her hips.
“You should have nothing to do with it, but you decided to involve yourself, so here we are,” he said, stepping toward her. She leaned back slightly, even though part of her was more inclined to do the opposite. “You have to keep all that you know to yourself.”
“Why would I do that?” she asked incredulously, crossing her arms over her chest.
“For the same reason you came here. To keep your friends safe.”
“How does keeping your secret help anyone but you?”
He took her elbow and moved her over to stand next to a pile of crates, out of sight from anyone who could be walking by, although Ada couldn’t help but look up now and again to make sure they weren’t in danger of another crate tumbling down on them.
“The less they know, the less chance anyone uses them against me — or you.”
“Me? I’m not the one putting them in danger.”
“Blackwood might have let your father off, but did Sharpe?”
“Sharpe?” Her eyes narrowed as her heart started racing, remembering the name that was as much a nightmare as it was a memory.
Glimpses of pounding on their door, of the fear that crossed her father’s eyes, which had provided her with the opposite of the reassurance she had been seeking. “Gideon Sharpe?”
“The very one,” he confirmed before a voice cut through the night.
“Oh, Jo-o-onny, where are you?”
Ada froze.
She knew that voice, and from the way Jonny’s face darkened and his brow furrowed, he did too.
“Is that him?” Ada hissed as Jonny reached out and pulled her down and farther behind one of the crates.
She wanted to complain when he tucked her within his body, practically cradling her against his chest, but her desire to stay hidden from Sharpe won out over any protestation. “Is he looking for you?”
“Appears to be,” Jonny said grimly.
If she had known just how involved Jonny was, she never would have come here.
“What does he want from you?”
“The ledger.”
“The one you gave to Minnie and Tommy?”
“That would be it.”
Her mouth gaped and she stared at him. “I thought you said no one would notice that it was gone.”
“I might have said that.”
“You lied.”
He shrugged as though it was of no consequence.
She lightly slapped his chest. “Do you see? This is why I told you that you cannot stay close to good people while still being involved in a world that involves Gideon Sharpe.”
He looked down at her, his eyes dark, and she absently noticed a gold ring in the middle of his hazel eyes, drawing her in.
“Minnie was involved when her father put his money in with Blackwood — same as you. I only used my knowledge about his operations to help them out.”
He wasn’t wrong about that, as much as she wanted to blame him for all of this. It was much easier than blaming Blackwood or Sharpe – or even her father – although she had already taken her revenge upon Blackwood, whether she had meant to or not.
“I know you’re in there, Jonny! We never finished our conversation earlier today. Come on out, or next time we speak, it will be in front of your entire football club. How would you like that?”
“What are you going to do?” Ada hissed when Jonny stayed still, crouched over her. She had a feeling that he was trying to buy some time, to think this through.
“I’m going to get us out of here,” he murmured in her ear before he leaned over, picked up a rock, and then sent it flying, skittering across the dock far enough away from them. There was a pause, and then footsteps as Sharpe sent one of his men to investigate.
“Let’s go,” Jonny whispered in Ada’s ear, his breath on her neck causing her to shiver. “This way.”
He wrapped a strong, warm hand around one of hers, tugging her to her feet, although he motioned for her to stay down in a crouch. She knew she should pull her hand away, but she supposed it made sense to stay together. To separate would only lead to a greater chance of discovery.
She stayed low, following Jonny, who seemed to know the way as if he had designed this maze of crates himself.
They were practically silent as they crept across the docks, finally emerging beside a warehouse that had been abandoned for the night, shadows dancing around them as the only light that reached the recesses of the buildings here was from the moon.
“Stay against the wall,” Jonny said quietly, and she nodded, following him until they neared the edge of the building.
Over the crates in front of them, Ada could just make out the outline of Sharpe and his men, who were still searching about the crates before them, nearing the place where she and Jonny had been hiding just minutes before.
“We have to run between the buildings, and the light might hit us,” Jonny said. “We’ll have to be quick. Are you up for it?”
“Of course,” Ada said, frowning at him. What kind of question was that? She reached down and pulled her pistol out of her skirts, palming it, just in case.
She didn’t think Jonny had noticed until he looked at her, glanced down, and then said out of the corner of his mouth, “You’re not going to shoot me with that, are you?”
“Accidentally or on purpose?”
“Either.”
“Certainly not accidentally. I know my way around a pistol far better than that. Intentionally? I haven’t decided yet.”
One corner of his lips curled up in a smirk as he nodded. “Noted. Ready?”
“Ready.”
As silently and as quickly as they could, they slipped across the lit expanse.
Just as she was stepping back into the darkness, Ada risked a glance over her shoulder to where Sharpe and his men had been.
As she did, Sharpe turned in their direction as though he had sensed them, and Ada could have sworn that their gazes met and held.
Whether or not he knew who she was, she had no idea, but as he called to his man and pointed toward her, Ada turned and met Jonny’s waiting stare.
“Jonny?”
“Yes?”
“We have to go. And we have to go now.”
Jonny didn’t know what she had done, but what he did know, from that look in her eyes, was that Ada was currently feeling something he had never noticed in her before — fear.
As they broke out into a run, reaching a stretch of empty docks, he knew that he could trust Ada to keep up with him, that she wasn’t going to fall into his arms in fear or exhaustion.
“We’re close,” he said. “Nearly to a street with plenty of taverns and people.”
He looked over his shoulder, not seeing anyone, but he could hear footsteps close by, as well as Sharpe’s voice, one he knew better than he would have liked, ordering his men to hurry.
They rounded a corner, and Jonny pulled Ada through the door of a tavern, one that seemed to be crowded yet dark enough that they could hopefully hide from Sharpe.
“Well, well, who do we have here?”
A buxom middle-aged woman, still retaining her beauty with shining dark hair streaked with grey and a face painted rather heavily, stood before them. Jonny looked around, not recognizing this place – and he knew most in the area.
“What is this?” he asked, uncaring if he was being rude.
“This,” the woman said, holding her chin proudly high, “is my place. A place where you can escape from the world and have some time together, no matter your circumstance.”
Jonny had noted that the tavern was busy, most of the tables full, but he hadn’t taken the chance to appreciate just who was sitting at them. It seemed that most were couples, huddled together, sitting close in the dim light.
“I don’t—” he began, but this time it was Ada urging him forward.
“Take a seat,” she whispered in his ear, and the woman lifted a brow, waiting, as a musician began playing the next song, a soft, sweet melody.
“Fine,” he said, staying close to her as the woman led them to a back corner. He would admit that it was actually the perfect table location, hidden away from the door so they couldn’t be seen, but if he sat on the right side of the booth, he could see who was coming and going.
“I’ll bring you some wine,” the woman said, not giving them a choice before she continued on her way.
Ada was looking around her in wonder. “I had no idea such a place existed.”
“Nor did I,” he muttered.
“Shocked there’s a place that even you didn’t know about?”
“Yes, actually.”
“Always something new to discover, Tate.”
He eyed her. “Speaking of discovering, tell me, Miss Jones, just how did you learn to shoot a gun with such precision that you could hit a man from over twenty yards away?”
She blinked at him, obviously not having expected that.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about. And you may as well call me Ada after all of this.”
He lifted a brow incredulously. “Ada. We both know it was you who took out Blackwood. I saw the gunpowder on your hands, and you know it. The question is, does anyone else know?”
“Minnie figured it out,” she admitted, and he appreciated that she didn’t try to extend the lie. “Emmaline and Lily were there but promised to never say a word.”
“Your father taught you to shoot?”
“He didn’t teach me, but he arranged for it,” she said, not meeting his eye. “After he got in with Blackwood, I think he realized soon enough that there was a good chance he wasn’t going to make his way out, so he hired a man to teach me to take care of myself.”
Jonny nodded as she stared at him, her blue-green eyes imploring.
“Please don’t tell anyone else. If Sharpe ever found out…”
“Your secret’s safe with me,” he said, before leaning in. “Can you say the same about mine?”
She sighed. “Fine, but just as long as you don’t bring any of this,” she waved her hand around, “into the lives of those who have nothing to do with it.”
“Of course not,” he said, his spine stiffening as the woman returned with wine for each of them, although neither of them made any move to touch the glasses sitting on the table.
“What was your plan with the ledger?” Ada asked. “Surely you must have realized you were going to be caught.”
“I had planned to return it,” he said, “but then Blackwood was dead and the police wanted it. I didn’t think anyone else but him would know it was gone, or that I had anything to do with it.”
“So how does Sharpe know?”
“Unfortunately for us, he’s even smarter than Blackwood, and apparently still had people he trusted involved.”
Jonny was silent for a moment, unsure of whether to tell her the rest, but they had come this far now. He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair.
“I have a feeling it was Will.”
“Your brother?”
“When I saw him on the docks, I realized that he knew I was involved. I thought I was careful, but I must have left some clue behind, and he figured out it was me who had broken in. He’d know my work better than anyone.”
“Why is he still loyal to Sharpe?”
Jonny shook his head, his lips pressed together grimly. “I wish I knew. Some sense of loyalty, I imagine.” He snorted. “You think that loyalty would be to his brother, but he thinks I’m the one who broke the trust by leaving.”
“What now?”
“Now, I have to get the ledger back.”
“Can you ask Inspector Finch?”
“I thought it would be easier to steal it back than have to explain myself.”
“Steal it from the police office?”
“Yes.”
She shook her head. “This is the problem with you. You just dig yourself in deeper. You need to get away from all of this. Tell the police the truth, try to get Sharpe off the streets.”
“It never works like that, Ada, and you’re naive if you think so.”
“No need to be rude,” she said, practically sneering at him.
“It’s the truth.”
“Well, don’t come to me for help if I’m so naive.”
“Most definitely never asked for any help from you.”
They stared at one another, tension simmering between them.
For a moment, Jonny wasn’t sure whether he wanted to shake some sense into her or kiss her until she had no caustic words left for him.
She had more fire in her than any woman he had ever met.
He was drawn to her, appreciated her, wanted to be close to her – and she hated him.
“You still have your pistol out, don’t you?” he said wryly.
“I do.”
“Going to use it?”
“Still haven’t decided.”
The door beyond them opened, and from the corner of his eye, Jonny saw Sharpe standing in the entrance, his gaze perusing the room.
They could run.
They could crouch under the table.
Or they could hide in plain sight.
Before Ada even realized what was happening, Jonny wrapped his hand around the back of her head, pulled her body flush against his — and then descended his lips upon hers.