Page 37 of The Lady Confesses
Simon was inhiding, sleeping in a squalid room over a shop. It had taken the last bit of coin he had to persuade the shop owner to let him stay. Not that he could hide anywhere in all of London that Ardmore wouldn’t find him. He just needed time. It was Henrietta or him. His life was on the line, after all. She was his only obstacle to claiming his uncle’s estate. Eliminating her entirely would erase any questions about potential heirs. And the money would revert to his uncle’s estate. Even if it did not, with possession of the estates he could get a mortgage that would at least keep him alive, keep Ardmore from fulfilling his threats. Now, it was all about opportunity—when and where he could actually get to her to see the deed done.
He’d thought Bates was the answer. His whispered allegations to the Runner had seemed to do the trick initially, but now Bates was asking questions about him. He was breathing down his neck, as was Mr. Ettinger, the Hound’s lackey and, apparently, Henrietta’s lover. How would he get to her? His mind circled back to the same conclusion he had reached earlier: her maid.
Henrietta had a very close relationship with the servant. It was not a surprise, as the girl had been her only ally in his uncle’s house. Henrietta might be well guarded, but the maid would not be. She’d be out, running errands for her mistress, or enjoying her half day. There was no guarantee that Annie Foster would turn on her mistress, whatever threat he made. But Henrietta was loyal to a fault. She owed the maid her life, after all, and would likely do anything to keep the girl safe.
Yes. That was a better plan. The girl would be bait and nothing more. But with no money left, he’d have to do the dirty work himself. He didn’t mind it. It was simply a complication he hadn’t anticipated. Caution would be a requirement if he meant to keep himself hidden from Ardmore or the massive bruisers who worked for him.
Pacing the room, he kicked at a pile of clothes heaped on top of a trunk. Then inspiration struck. They were all—Ardmore, the Hound, and Ettinger—looking for a well-dressed gentleman. If he shed the trappings of his station and camouflaged himself as one of the teeming mass of impoverished wretches that roamed the rookeries and dens that surrounded the city of London, no one would recognize him. He could move freely without being detected at all.
Reaching up, he loosened the knot of his cravat and tugged it free, dropping the silk onto the dusty floor. Once he had divested himself of his perfectly tailored clothing, he donned the disgusting and dirty garments left behind by the room’s last resident. Checking his reflection in the grimy glass of the window, he hardly recognized himself.
“Perfect,” he murmured. Then he headed out, slipping down the stairs and out the back door of the shop into the narrow alley. He was a world away from Mayfair in status, but in distance it was only a mile. “I’ll get her. One way or another. And I’ll get that leech off my back.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Annie Foster movedthrough the crowded streets with a spring in her step and a smile playing about her lips. It always made her happy to see her mother and sister. They lived in a modest set of rooms that her pay helped to provide for them.
Getting a position as a lady’s maid had been a stroke of luck for all of them. But her smile faded. Because there was James. He was a terrible footman, but he was a very good man, and he took his responsibilities very seriously. Even though she knew he was attracted to her, that he wanted to be much more than simply a friend to her, his job was to keep her ladyship safe, and he wouldn’t let anything else get in the way of that. At first, she’d only thought him handsome. But then she’d begun to see him as kind and caring. That had changed things.
She hadn’t said anything to him yet, and she wasn’t even certain she should. Just because she caught him watching her, that didn’t mean anything. Lots of men looked even when they already had wives at home or when they had no intention of having a wife at all. And she wasn’t the sort of girl to accept anything less than that.
Turning onto a bustling street that ran between St. James Park and Hyde Park, she saw a man up ahead of her. Clearly, he was watching her. At first, she thought he was one of Mr. Carrow’s fellows, but something about him seemed a bit off. He was dressed rough, rougher than most of the men that workedfor Mr. Carrow. And there was something about the way he stood there, his shoulders back all straight and tall. Most men from her class, from the working class, didn’t move that way, didn’t stand that way. They slouched or leaned. He stood like a gentleman would.
A frisson of fear snaked down Annie’s spine. There was something about it all that didn’t sit right. But it was too late. She’d kept walking, and now she was close enough to see that it was no mere laborer there. It was the nephew of her late employer, Lord Simon Dagliesh. Before she could turn away, he was on her. One of his arms was around her, that hand gripping her upper arm bruisingly. His other hand pressed something cold and metal against her ribs.
“This blade is a good six inches in length. Make a sound, and I’ll bury it to the hilt in your lung and leave you here to die,” he warned.
“What do you want?”
“Your cooperation,” he said. “You’re the bait in the trap, Annie. All you must do is be quiet and let the plan unfold. And if you don’t... I know where your mother and sister are. I know everything... their names, their direction. I know that your sister is a pretty young thing and this world can be very unkind to pretty young girls. Don’t make me be more of a villain than I have to be.”
Annie knew that she didn’t have a choice. No one would turn their hand to help a girl like her. Serving class were invisible to their betters and those in service were too reluctant to make a scene and lose their positions. Even if she called out for help, it was unlikely that anyone would bother to help or risk their own livelihood for her.
A glance around made her realize how true that was. No one was looking in her direction. A few, she realized, were clearly avoiding it. They’d not stick their necks out to help someunknown girl. He could tell them anything—that she was a pickpocket, that she was his wife. They’d believe him because he was a man. And it was very much a man’s world.
“I’ll cooperate. I’ll do as you ask. But I can’t imagine what you think to accomplish with this.”
“Your mistress is very loyal,” he answered. “And she’ll do what she must to save you because that is what you did for her. Be a good girl, Annie, and you’ll get out of this just fine.”
With a sick feeling in her stomach and no trust for him at all, Annie allowed him to lead her down the street, far from the safety of the Hound’s residence. How strange it was that the man the world called a criminal was the one a woman could count on.
*
Hettie had losttrack of time. It wasn’t until late afternoon that she looked up from the book she’d been using primarily as a distraction from all the things weighing on her mind. Realizing she would need to dress for dinner, she rang for her maid. But moments later, when the door opened, it wasn’t Foster who greeted her but one of the parlor maids.
“Has Foster not returned?”
“Annie—pardon, m’lady, Foster has not returned from her half day,” the maid said.
It wasn’t like her. Foster had never been late returning from her half days. The girl was prompt to the point of compulsion. “Did she say anything before she left that she might be late returning?”
“No, m’lady. She said she was taking her half day and would go to visit her mother and sister in Lambeth. She ought to have been back by now. I hated to say anything. I didn’t want her to be in trouble, but I’m so very worried.”
“As am I,” Hettie replied. “Is Mr. Carrow here?”
“He’s in his study, m’lady, with Mr. Ettinger.”
Hettie nodded. “Go back to the kitchens. And don’t say anything to anyone else. I don’t want to raise a fuss if there’s truly nothing to worry about. I’ll let Mr. Carrow and Mr. Ettinger know that Foster hasn’t returned. They’ll take care of it and get her back here safe and sound.”
