Chapter 14 #3
“That’s right. Call for ’em.” Snoozer was on his feet again, looking a bit unsteady as he struggled to stay upright. “Call for the magistrate too. I’d like to press charges for assault and theft.” He gestured to the two children. “Them is mine. I paid for ’em.”
“Call for the magistrate then,” Tamsin said.
“It might be better to run,” Garret warned, but it was too late. The door swung open, and the nurse burst in, followed by two men in doctor’s clothing.
“There they are!” the nurse said, pointing to Tamsin and Garret. “They came in and started causing trouble.”
“I assure you, madam,” Snoozer said. “This is not how I do business. Take them away, and my broomers will have your chimneys cleaned posthaste.”
The doctors started forward, but before Garret could protest, Tamsin yelled, “Take me if you want, but then the thief will go free.” She darted behind Garret, who put his arms out protectively.
“Thief? What thief?” the nurse demanded.
Tamsin peeked out from behind him. “I work at a fancy house in Mayfair, for the Grant family. Maybe you’ve heard of Miss Penelope Grant?”
Garret looked from the doctors to Tamsin and back again. To him, Tamsin looked like a young woman, but if someone didn’t know her, she might be able to pass for a servant boy. She’d clubbed back her hair and wore the servant’s livery he’d given her.
“Grant?” One of the doctors paused. “Saw an engagement announcement for her in the Times the other day.”
“That’s right. She’s marrying the Duke of Oxfordshire,” Garret said.
“And who are you?” the nurse demanded.
“A friend of Miss Grant’s,” he answered.
“The lady asked me to see if I could recover some items stolen from her house the other day.” Tamsin edged out from behind Garret. “Items taken the same day this man was hired to clean the chimneys.” She pointed at Snoozer.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Snoozer exclaimed. “I’ve never heard of a Miss Grant.”
Garret didn’t know where Tamsin was going with this, but by now he’d learned to trust her. “I work for Bow Street,” he announced. “The Grant family hired me to investigate this man.”
“Bow Street!” Snoozer laughed. “You ain’t a Runner!”
But the doctors and nurse weren’t so certain. They looked from Snoozer to Garret to Tamsin.
“There’s an easy way to resolve this,” Tamsin said. “Just have Snoozer empty his pockets.”
Garret stared at her. She seemed determined to end this farce quickly.
They’d all be thrown out of the hospital in a matter of moments.
Except Tamsin didn’t look concerned. She looked far too confident.
She put one arm around Charlie and the other around Joanna.
“If he’s taken anything he shouldn’t, then we call the magistrate.
Miss Grant gave me the authority to care for his broomers until arrangements can be made for them.
If he’s not a thief, then Mr. Kildare and I will go without another word. ”
“No, ye won’t!” Snoozer said. “I’ll report ye to the magistrate on account o’ lying and misrepresenting yerselves.”
“Mr. Snoozer, if that is your name,” one of the doctors said, “I think you’d better do as the lad suggests and empty your pockets.”
“Fine.” Snoozer gave Tamsin a triumphant look. She looked steadily back at him, arching one brow.
He reached in one coat pocket, opened his hand, and showed nothing more than a handful of lint and a few pieces of ash. Then he reached in the other, and his face went stony.
“Go on, Mr. Snoozer,” the doctor said. “Show us what you have.”
“Nothing,” Snoozer said too quickly. “It’s empty.” He withdrew his hand and showed an empty palm. But by now even Garret could see the shape of something in that pocket.
“Sir,” one of the doctors said, “either empty that pocket or we’ll do it for you.”
Snoozer looked at Tamsin, and she gave him a hard stare back.
With no other choice, Snoozer reached back into his pocket and withdrew a handkerchief.
“Just a handkerchief,” Snoozer said and tried to slide it back in his pocket, but something fell free and clattered on the wooden floor. One of the doctors lunged for it.
“Oh, that’s just a knife,” said Snoozer.
“A knife?” The doctor held the scalpel aloft. “This is my scalpel.”
“No, it’s not. It’s my knife,” Snoozer said quickly.
“It has my initials right here.” The man pointed to the engraving on the handle.
“I think we’d better send for the magistrate,” the nurse said.
“No, it was an honest mistake,” Snoozer said. “I found it and thought it was my knife! I—” Just then, something else fell from the handkerchief Snoozer was fumbling to replace in his pocket. The doctor lunged for it, grabbing it before Snoozer could.
“My pocket watch!” He held it aloft, and Garret could see it was engraved with the same initials.
“Listen, there’s been a mistake!” Snoozer said. “I don’t know how those came to be in me pocket. I didn’t touch them.”
“Call for the magistrate,” Tamsin said.
“Right away.” The nurse rushed out.
“Ye!” Snoozer was looking at Tamsin. He shook a fist at her. “Ye put the loot in my pocket. Ye stuffed it in there when I wasn’t looking,” Snoozer yelled.
“Why would I do that?” Tamsin put a hand on her heart, her expression one of pure innocence.
“To get yer sniveling brother and sister back. But ye’ll never get them back. I don’t care how much ye pay. I’ll kill ye for this.” He reached for Tamsin, but Garret stepped in his path and shoved him back.
“Touch her, and I’ll kill you.”
“I’ll kill both of you. I’ll—”
One of the doctors caught Snoozer by the arms. “Help me restrain him!” The other doctor grabbed him too, and a few moments later they had Snoozer wrapped in some sort of jacket that secured his arms to his sides.
Tamsin stuffed his mouth with a rag one of the broomers offered, but Snoozer kept trying to protest.
The nurse returned. “The magistrate is on his way.”
“If you don’t mind,” Garret said, “I think we’d better settle these children.”
She waved a hand. “Fine. Fine. We caught him with the items in his pocket. The proof is undeniable.”
“I will let Miss Grant know the thief has finally been caught,” Tamsin said, bending to retrieve Garret’s handkerchief from the floor. “Perhaps she will be so grateful, she will give the hospital a donation.”
“Oh!” The nurse’s eyes went wide. “Do tell her I’d be happy to show her around anytime.”
“I’ll go tell her right away,” Tamsin said, then proceeded to usher the broomers out of the room, down the stairs, and out of the hospital.
No one said anything until the ten of them, eight broomers plus Garret and Tamsin, were around the corner and safely away.
And then everyone started talking at once.
“Are we really free?”
“What will happen to Snoozer?”
“I want my mummy!” This was from Joanna. Tamsin immediately bent and picked her up.
“You are really free,” Garret said. “Snoozer is in a great deal of trouble. Do any of you have homes or families you want to go back to?” In addition to Charlie and Joanna, several other children raised their hands. “Fine. I have a friend who can help us find them. Come with me then.”
“I ain’t got no one,” the boy called Tom said. “I’m twelve and can take care of meself.”
“You’re free to go,” Garret said. “But if you don’t have anyone, I know an orphanage that will take you. You’ll have food and a bed and won’t have to clean chimneys.”
“No, thanks,” Tom said. “I don’t mind cleaning chimneys, and if I don’t have Snoozer taking all me blunt, I can do all right for meself.”
“I’ll go with ’im,” another boy said.
In the end, it was decided that Garret would take four of the children for the night.
His mother and her friends supported an orphanage not far from Hanover Square, and Lady Glenister was always sewing for the orphans there and making certain they had enough to eat.
The children could stay there while Garret engaged the family’s solicitor to begin the process of locating the children’s parents.
“I’ll take Charlie and Joanna home with me,” Tamsin told him as they divided the children.
“I should come with you,” Garret said.
“No need. By now Snoozer is safely locked in a jail. With the testimony of two doctors and a nurse, he won’t get out of this one.”
“You’re right.” He wanted to reach out and touch her cheek. As though she could sense what he felt, she stepped back.
“Goodbye then. Thank you.”
Garret watched her put one arm around her brother and the other around her sister and lead them away.
She was safe. Her brother and sister were safe.
He could let go of her now. She wasn’t his to worry over.
He had other worries. He’d lost his chance with Penelope Grant and Lady Callista, but there were other heiresses on the list. He could try for another.
He could still have the summer house. He could still be his family’s hero and save them all.
And that was what he wanted, wasn’t it? Yes, for a few days he’d thought he wanted Tamsin Archer—her erotic kisses, her mischievous smiles, her relish for a good meal.
He’d thought he’d never be able to give up the way she scolded him or how cleverly she dealt with all the parts of that automaton or how silky the inside of her thighs felt when he pressed them apart.
But he had to give all of that up. He had to give her up.
They would have never worked anyway—except he really couldn’t convince himself of that, because despite their different backgrounds, he thought they made an amazing pair.
It didn’t seem right to leave things as they had, though.
He hadn’t even said a proper goodbye just now, and surely, she’d want to know what happened to the broomers growing restless beside him.
“Oi, mister? I’m hungry,” one of the broomers said.
“I’m cold,” another said.
“Let’s be off then.” Garret gathered his own little brood and started for the orphanage. As for Tamsin, he’d call on her one last time, tomorrow. He’d make sure her sister and brother were settled in and update her on the other broomers.
Then he’d tell her goodbye.
Forever.