Chapter 15
Fifteen
Whispers of the Ton
Dearest Reader,
It is with great glee that I report to thee, the lady depicted with the Earl of A in our last publication has been identified as the widowed Baroness of B!
My, but the mice will play when the husband has passed away!
Has there ever been a more romantic couple to be caught embracing on the front steps of a Mayfair townhouse?
And will the wicked Baroness take our swoon-worthy earl off the marriage mart?
Say it isn’t so. The debutantes will be screaming maux!
This author, however, will cheer—well done, my dear. Well done.
—A special edition of The Whispers of the Ton printed after the Earl of Astley was observed kissing the Baroness of Bredlebane on the front steps of his London townhouse.
An etching of the couple embracing while two little towheaded girls and a dark-haired boy giggled in a window above was included in the edition.
“She’ll be foine. She’s a crack shot at ten yards.” Robbi’s accent was running its normal course of her own mix of Scottish, Mayfair, and Cockney as she attempted to grab one of the pistols Payne had laid out on the seat next to him.
The agent smacked her hand away without looking up.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“These guns aren’t for the likes of you, miss.” The sarcasm in his voice would have been funny if Simon weren’t worried about Caillen and the children being home with only Charlie and Mandal to protect them.
“Give me the address, and I’ll give you a gun to go back and help your sister.” Simon offered.
Robbi’s gaze turned to him as she rubbed the back of her hand.
“I won’t be responsible if the kid blows her head off,” Payne interjected.
Robbi stuck her tongue out at him. “As if I would.” She turned back to Simon. “I’m going to have to decline your generous offer, Astley. If I know Edeen like I think I do, then she probably needs more help than Caillen.”
Payne’s gaze slowly transferred from the collection of guns he had brought, to Robbi.
At least Simon wasn’t the only one experiencing a sense of an impending disaster. “What is it you didn’t tell us?”
“Crookes and Edeen may be in the same place.”
“Why would they be in the same place?”
“Because Edeen has been looking into a man by the name of Crookes for over a week. She heard he was kidnapping girls and selling them. She believes he took one of her classmates at Mrs. Dash’s School for Young Ladies.
She asked me about him and his warehouse.
At the time, I didn’t know he was the same scaly cur responsible for the fire.
I suspect Edeen and Violet decided to check it out. ”
“Why didn’t you tell us this before now? I would have sent for more backup.”
Robbi winced. “I didn’t want Caillen to know how much trouble Edeen could be in. I didn’t think about backup.”
“A good spy always thinks of backup. It could mean a matter of life and death. Specifically, the spy’s.” Payne returned to loading the pistols at his side. “Luckily, I happened to plan on needing some help, and sent word to Sir Williamson.”
“How is that possible when you don’t know where we’re going?” Robbi asked as she studied Payne’s actions.
“I overheard you talking to the driver and sent a street rat straight there.”
“That’s cheating!” Robbi exclaimed.
“It was brilliant,” Simon gave Payne a nod of approval.
“But he went behind my back. You said we were a team.”
“A child doesn’t always recognize when she should let the adults know the truth of the matter before they all get their bloody heads blown off.”
The brutal truth of Payne’s statement left Robbi speechless, and her lips pursed together. Simon glared at the man.
“My apologies. I should not have eavesdropped on the young miss’s conversation, nor should I have spoken out of turn in the manner I did.”
“You were absolutely correct in eavesdropping and we all know it. I have much to learn about the business of spying.” Robbi turned and looked out the window. Her body shrinking into itself with her admission. Her confidence disappearing like a trail of dust in their wake.
“Very well,” Simon said. “We will both bow to Payne’s expertise and allow him to dictate how we shall proceed once we arrive.”
Robbi’s chin lifted as she searched his face trying to determine if he was mocking her or attempting to soothe her damaged pride. He tried to convey the truth in his statement. He was just as much a novice as she was.
Payne didn’t hesitate to ask Robbi for more information. “What can you tell us about this warehouse?”
Robbi’s countenance changed as if she were a soldier taking orders. “I only made a quick study of it yesterday. There were too many people milling around to do much more.”
“What kind of people?” Payne asked.
“Shady characters who would just as soon as box me ears, then answer any questions. They wouldn’t let anyone get close to the warehouse.
I saw them push one old lady to the ground when she approached a guard at the side door.
I did notice that there were fewer workers about after dark.
It was almost as if they were going out on assignments at night.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to see what exactly that entailed.
I had to be back at Harding House for dinner. ”
“Did you pass this on to Edeen?”
She sighed. “Over breakfast I told her I’d try to get back by this evening, but then I got distracted by this business with Sir Williamson.”
Robbi relayed what she had seen with surprising detail.
The entrance on the front of the building was boarded up; however, a smaller side entrance was used by several men exiting the building just after dusk.
At that time, the guard on the exterior of the building went inside.
The door appeared to have a small window to communicate with people outside the building without opening the door.
There were no windows on the front of the building or the side alley entrance. The opposite side was attached to an adjacent warehouse, but it appeared to be a separate business from what she had been able to see.
Payne discussed the best tactics for handling what they were up against, while Simon argued for Robbi to stay in the hackney.
Payne disagreed. “She’s safer with us than with a driver we don’t know in the East End. The plan will work if the guards thin out at night like she said.”
“There will be hell to pay, if she is injured,” Simon warned.
“I can take care of meself,” Robbi replied with the brass bravado of a street rat.
“You just stay in the shadows, little one.”
Robbi crossed her arm and remained silent the rest of the way.
Two blocks away from the warehouse they exited the vehicle.
Simon and Payne carried two pistols each, the cold hard steel weighing heavily in Simon’s pockets.
Robbi was comfortable with a knife on her hip and one in her boot.
Simon also had a blade but hoped he didn’t have to rely on it.
He promised their hackney driver an extra two quid if he was there when they came out, and the man seemed eager to earn such a pretty sum.
If they came out to find him gone, they would be on their own.
Moving into the shadows of the buildings, they avoided two taverns and the whorehouse directly across the street. A workhouse was visible at the other end of the block and several young boys could be seen unloading crates from a wagon out front.
Robbi moved quickly and appeared like an ink blotch in the night, blending in so completely he lost sight of her.
His nerves jangled for the entire length of one building until he was finally able to make out her figure at the opposite corner of the building near the entrance to an alley.
It was only then he observed the boarded doors on the front of the wooden, four-story structure next to him.
This was it.
Payne made a low whistle and Robbi waited for them to catch up. “Remember,” Payne said barely loud enough to hear. “Ask to speak to the man in charge. You got a message for his eyes only. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“When he opens the door, I go first. Then Astley, then you. Understood?”
Robbi’s head bobbed with nervous energy. He would have felt better to extract a promise from her, but knew he had to act on blind faith in her ability to follow the directions from a professional.
They rounded the corner and immediately, from the other end of the alley, a drunk began stumbling in their direction.
Robbi hesitated, but continued at a slower pace, allowing the drunk to pass the doorway before their approach.
It was a smart strategy, and he grudgingly admired her quick thinking.
If there were a problem, the drunk would encounter it first. If the man was pretending to be drunk, and actually worked for Crookes, they would know before they arrived at the door.
The vagrant passed the door without a hitch and as he approached them, his appearance came into focus.
He still stumbled and swayed in clothes that were hanging off a gangly body frame.
Shaggy unkempt hair framed his angular jaw as he sang to an imaginary companion in a tone even his mother couldn’t appreciate.
As they passed the drunk, the man’s stench brought back memories of Mont Saint Michel and how badly Simon had reeked over his months of captivity.
This man wasn’t even aware of their presence.
Robbi stopped next to the door to the warehouse and they all watched the drunk turn the corner and disappear.
Simon silently slipped beyond her position and then nodded in her direction.
Robbi took a deep breath and released it.
Payne reached forward and squeezed her shoulder to ease her nerves.
She lifted her chin and stepped in front of the door, pounding on it soundly with the side of her fist.
“Open up, Guv,” she called with the authority of someone who knew how things worked.
When no one appeared, she pounded on the door louder and yelled, “Come on, me got some tea n’ cakes fer Guv.”