Chapter 10
Warrick's Warehouse
Wapping Street, London
Con had insisted that because of the lateness of the hour, Warrick and Colwyn should let his coachman take them home.
Warrick, impatient as usual, slipped out of the carriage with his guards when they reached the south end of Covent Garden.
The two men clasped hands and pounded each other on the back before the coachman took Colwyn on to his rooms on Great Queen Street.
They didn't exchange words, because both knew the next few weeks would be grim indeed.
He retraced his steps to Coppers Wharf where the same lighterman was waiting. The man knew the Horsemen would compensate him well for ensuring Warrick's safe passage to and from his destination.
Once he was safely back at his warehouse on Wapping Street, he lighted a candle and tapped softly at the door to his office where Beatrice slept on his sofa. She must have been sleeping lightly, because she came to the door immediately. "What's wrong?"
"We have to disappear...tonight."
"But what about Silas? He's coming tomorrow. I have to be there."
"Did your sister take your son back home?"
"Yes...of course."
"We have to make arrangements before dawn for her and Willie to return to the safety of your father's house in Amsterdam."
When she sucked in a deep breath as if to argue, he placed his fingers on her lips. "There's no time to waste. The Bow Street Runners are coming for you and me."
"No...why?"
"I'll explain later. Do you trust that sea captain who seems so protective of you?"
"Of course."
"Could he be in league with your brother-in-law?"
"Never..."
"Are you sure?"
"I'd trust him with my life."
"Then you may have to, as well as that of your sister, and Willie.
" He set the candle down on his desk and reached out to grasp her by her arms. "Send word through one of my men.
I'll pay him well for safe passage for Anneke and Willie back to Amsterdam.
And I'll send four of my guards to protect them on the trip. "
"He's my captain. I can pay him myself." She narrowed her eyes and twisted out of his embrace. "What have you done to get us in so much trouble?"
"My dear Missus Rowe, you wanted to be my partner, knowing full well I'm a notorious thief. You've thrown your lot in with me, and now it's too late for remorse. We're going to disappear until my brothers can gather enough proof of our innocence to present to the Bow Street magistrate."
With that, he pulled her stiff body toward him for a quick kiss before leaving to pack a bag of clothing and swing by Elias's quarters near the lower-level kitchen. They'd need a large basket of food to last them a while.
He still clutched the key Con had pressed into his hand before he'd left his brother's warehouse.
He was fairly sure the long slice of metal with an ornate flange on the end would unlock the abode of Con's former mistress on Leicester Square.
Suddenly, the touch of the comforting metal reminded him of an idea that had been swirling through his head.
He flung himself down at his writing desk in his bedchamber and penned a quick instruction to Con before ringing the call bell for Gordy to make sure the note was delivered to no one but his brother, in the hands of one of his most trusted crewmen.
Beatrice stuffed the few items of clothing she'd brought with her into her traveling bag before sitting down to write a short note to Captain Jarlsson, who would be aboard her ship, The Flying Phantom, in preparation for his next trip to the Far East on the following Monday.
She'd have to notify him of a change in plans.
He'd be leaving on the morning tide, and heading west to Amsterdam.
As a final thought, she added, "for your eyes only," before sanding the inked message
If the Bow Street Runners were looking for her and Warrick, not to mention her bothersome brother-in-law, she'd have to spirit Anneke and Willie away from her Well Close Square home before dawn.
The following morning at ten o'clock sharp was when Silas had told her he'd arrive to check over the company finances.
At that moment, Warrick's right-hand man Gordy tapped at the door. When she said, "Come," he poked his head around the opening door. "Do you have a message for us to deliver?"
After sealing her message, she walked the note to the door and peered out into the hallway. Gordy already had Warrick's sealed message in hand, and he was surrounded by four of the scariest looking footmen she'd ever seen. At least she assumed they were footmen.
Soon after they left at a trot, Warrick knocked before slipping into the office. He moved so close, she couldn't avoid inhaling his damnable orange scent. He gazed directly into her eyes. "Are you ready to travel to Rowe House to spirit your sister and your son away?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"I'm sorry, Bea, but I'm afraid not."
She nearly cried at the unexpected sound of him using the shortened endearment her father had used when she was a little girl on their farm outside Amsterdam.
As she hastily slung a servant's woolen, hooded cape over her shoulders on their way down to the mews, the reality of what she had to do slammed into her like the icy sleet of a winter passage aboard one of her ships.
What in the name of Saint Hildegard was she going to tell her sister?
Even worse, how would she explain to Willie the sudden, ugly turn their lives had taken?
However, the one good thing was Willie had bonded with her grumpy, judgmental father the previous year when he'd visited.
The boy would be excited about visiting Grandfather Van Dyjk.
Anneke, though, probably not so much. Perhaps Willie would be a calming influence on her father and sister's volatile relationship.
As his coachman raced the geldings through the night toward Well Close Square, Warrick hated the look of fear and uncertainty in Beatrice's eyes.
She sat across from him, tensed at the very edge of her seat.
He imagined she had no idea of what might await her at Rowe House.
He knew her sister Anneke already judged her for aligning herself with him, but the safety of both women and the boy depended on their allowing him to spirit them all to safety.
When they slewed to stop in front of her carriage house, her sister and Willie were already waiting for them with two huge trunks. His men must have delivered Beatrice's message on horseback in record time.
Beatrice leapt from the carriage and crushed her son to her whilst Warrick and his coachman tossed the trunks into the boot.
The oil lanterns to either side of the front of his coach threw soft pools of light, just enough to illuminate the emotions on the two sisters' faces.
Willie was excited to be off adventuring in the middle of the night, so had needed no urging to climb aboard.
Beatrice and Anneke were deathly quiet, but at least not arguing.
He couldn't hear the low words they exchanged, but it seemed both women had come to terms with the inevitability of having to run for their lives.
Warrick helped Anneke up into the carriage next to Willie and then turned to Beatrice who stood stubbornly, staring at her house. When he gently turned her back to face him, he thought he saw the glint of unshed tears in her eyes.
"Everything...he's going to take everything from us, and no one can stop him," she spilled out in a breathless rush.
"Shhhh." He drew her near and stopped her river of worries with a kiss.
She pushed him away. "There will be nothing for Willie to return to. His uncle is as irresponsible as his father was."
He didn't try to argue with her, but instead pulled out a heavy folded paper.
He flattened the document and had his coachman hold it down on top of the boot whilst he produced a bottle of ink and a sharpened quill from a pocketf inside his jacket.
He stepped aside and motioned for her to sign her name.
"What is this?" Suspicion oozed from her voice and the expression on her face.
"This is a document hiring Solicitor Hiram Walz and Accountant Noam Kamish to handle your affairs in your absence."
"Pah--. How can this be legal?"
"Do you trust Missus Kamish?"
"Of course."
"Then believe me, this is legal, and besides, Archer Colwyn's partner, Barrister Stephen Forsythe, had his solicitor draw up the document.
It took nearly a king's ransom and the interference of Lady Camilla to get it done late this afternoon.
Your brother-in-law won't know what hit him when he arrives to find your representatives firmly in charge of Rowe Shipping. "
"But you know this won't stop him for long."
"Probably not, but all we need is two weeks out of sight so that the Horsemen can collect the evidence we need to prove our innocence at Bow Street Magistrate's Court."
"Wait a minute. You had this document drawn up late this afternoon? How did you know that early we'd have to go into hiding?"
"I had my suspicions. Let's just call it insurance. And besides I knew we'd have to neutralize Silas Rowe eventually."
"What made you think it was your responsibility?" She pushed her face close to his as if daring him to lie about his reasons.
He pulled her close and stared into her wide, blue eyes for a long moment before insisting, "You, milady, are my responsibility." After a quick, chaste kiss on her forehead, he boosted her up into the carriage with Anneke and Willie.
Once they were seated inside, and his coachman headed the geldings toward the wharf where Captain Jarlsson awaited them, Beatrice gave him a long, skeptical look.
"How do I know I can trust these men you've given over control of Rowe Shipping?
Why would they do this for me, someone they've never met? "
"Not long ago, the devil-bred criminals who are trying to discredit the Horsemen began kidnapping children, torturing them, and dumping them on our doorsteps to make Bow Street believe we're to blame."
"That's horrible, but I still don't understand what this has to do with these men taking up my cause."
"My brother Fam found a child near death on his doorstep and fled with him to our friend, Lionel Carrington-Bowles who runs a free dispensary at the edge of Seven Dials.
C.B. saved the child, who was the son of a prominent businessman in the Jewish congregation of the Ashkenazi Hambro' Synagogue.
When I asked Missus Kamish for help, many in their community responded, and I recruited the best of them for you. "
Captain Jarlsson was waiting for them at the gate to the quay where the Flying Phantom was docked and ushered Willie and Anneke aboard. When Warrick tried to thank the man, he turned away from the deck of the Phantom where Beatrice was saying good-bye to her sister and her son.
He leaned close to Warrick and warned, "If anything happens to Missus Rowe, you will have to answer to me. If so much as a hair on her head is damaged or even a small on dit sullies her reputation, I will pound you into the earth and then dig you up to beat you senseless again. Do you understand?"
"I understand," Warrick repeated solemnly back to him. "You have my word. No harm of any sort will come to Missus Rowe."
At that, the huge Viking-like captain poked Warrick so hard in the chest, he had to grasp a nearby dock bollard to keep from toppling overboard. Gods above, he hoped never to have to face the man in an actual fight to the death. He wasn't at all sure he'd win.
"You'd better keep your word."
Warrick nodded in mute assent as Beatrice rejoined them on the dock.
When Jarlsson strode back aboard the Flying Phantom and prepared to have his crew raise the sails to take advantage of the morning tide, Beatrice demanded, "Were you two threatening each other?"
Warrick widened his eyes and pointed a thumb back toward his chest. "Not me. I don't ever want to tangle with your watch dog, Captain Jarlsson."
Beatrice felt as though she could cut the silence with a knife in Warrick's carriage on the way through the city streets.
They wended their way for a long time, doubling back at least one or more times, to make sure they weren't followed, she assumed.
She hadn't a clue as to where they were going, and she resented having the direction of her life taken out of her hands.
She tried to stay as far away from the warm man seated across from her whose bergamot-citrus essence created a powerful urge to slide next to him and seek solace in his strong arms. She'd become entirely too familiar with the unrepentant thief whose very presence in a room caused her quim to squirm in anticipation.
If only she'd had the good sense to keep their ungodly pact to get to the bottom of the increase in thefts from her ships on a strictly professional basis.
"What's going on in that calculating mind of yours?" Warrick leaned forward and tapped her knee through her woolen cape.
She shook her head hard. "I don't know what you mean, and besides I'm so tired right now, I don't think I could calculate the cost of a pound of butter."
"I would have thought you'd have asked hundreds of questions by now, but you've remained as silent as a cart full of nuns."
"I can't ask questions I don't really want answered. I don't want to know how safe Willie and Anneke are going to be until they arrive in Amsterdam. I'm afraid, Warrick. How do you stay so calm in the face of..." She spread her arms wide. "In the face of all...this?"
"First of all, your giant of a protector, Captain Jarlsson, would never let anything happen to your little family.
You've experienced his loyalty up close for a long time, I'd wager.
If he's not on your side, then he scared me witless for nothing.
I don't think his fierceness is just because he doesn't care for me.
He cares for you and yours, more than you know, I suspect.
I wouldn't be surprised if he asks you to marry him before all this madness is through. "
She turned her head sharply away from him, and her next words were muffled. "And that would suit you fine, wouldn't it? I'd be one less problem for the mighty Horsemen."
"For the love of all that's holy, speak to me if you have something to say, not the side door of the carriage."