Page 11 of To Tame the Wild Rake
“Information, Sukie, and an alibi,” Wakefield said, drawing the attention of both women. Their poise slipped as they narrowed their eyes at him. He had been examining the walls, and now led them all to the corner of the bedchamber nearest to the window.
With his back to the room, Wakefield removed the glasses whose tinted lenses disguised the colour of his eyes and ejected the pads that puffed out his cheeks into his hand.
“Gor blimey!” The goddess’s refined accent devolved into broad slum in her surprise. She lowered her voice at Wakefield’s urgent gesture. “Sukie, it’s Shadow.”
The fairy looked from the enquiry agent to Aldridge and back again.
The goddess declared, “You’re never here for a poke. Him, maybe, but not you. Your missus would feed you your bollocks.”
Wakefield laughed softly, and whispered back, “True, Bets. Ladies, may I make known to you the Marquis of Aldridge, my brother. Aldridge, Saucy Sukie and Bouncing Bets are old friends.”
Aldridge bowed as if being introduced to a couple of dowagers, and the two prostitutes giggled and flushed like debutantes.
Wakefield continued to take the lead. “You’re right, Bets. We’re here to take back… Well. Before I get to that, how do you like working here? Are conditions good?”
Bets screwed up her face in disgust. “Good? Not bleedin’ likely. Never been any place worse. Can’t leave the house without a bully-boy tagging along. Can’t make any money till we’ve paid for our costumes, and our food, and our anything. Twelve cullies a night or we get fined, unless the cully pays double for more than forty minutes, and ain’t nobody going to pay twelve times as much for a whole night.”
Sukie added, “And that’s not the worst, Shadow. La Reine, the madam? She sells everything and anything. Don’t care if it damages the merchandise. One of the girls got beaten so bad she couldn’t come to work again, and then she just disappeared. Gone back to her mother, La Reine said. Bullshit, I say.” She shuddered.
“Even kids,” Bets agreed. “I don’t hold with that. I wouldn’t have signed on if I’d known they sold kids.”
“We’re here to rescue a boy,” Wakefield said. Aldridge shot him an alarmed glance, but presumably his brother thought these women could be trusted.
At that moment, someone tried the door handle, and then there was a knock.
“This room is occupied,” Aldridge called out, allowing some of his anger to colour his voice.
“Drinks!” came the reply. “Compliments of the House.”
Wakefield nodded at Sukie, but Aldridge said, “Wait.” He pulled the scarf off her shoulder leaving her upper half bare, and tipped her floral coronet sideways. “Here.” He drew a heavy bag of coins from his belt. “Tell them we want the next three hours, and no interruptions.”
Sukie carried out her commission, barely opening the door, handing over the bag and taking the tray.
“The money is not going to help much,” Wakefield whispered to Aldridge. “If they’re not already watching through the walls, they’ll be on their way.”
“Then we’d better be on ours,” Aldridge whispered back, though he was kicking himself for forgetting that they were probably being observed. Disrobing Sukie just so she could answer the door might already be counting against them.
With the door bolted again, all four of them retreated to the corner by the window, where Wakefield and Aldridge laid out their reasons for being there and what they hoped to achieve.
“If we help you find the boy, will you take us with you?” Bets asked, and Sukie nodded.
“It’s going to be dangerous,” Wakefield warned. “I can’t give you any guarantee that we’ll get out safely.”
Sukie snorted. “For certain sure, we’re not getting out on our own.”
“Then we’ll take you,” Aldridge decided. “Whether we find the boy or not.”
He crossed to the tray of drinks and reached for one of them. “I wouldn’t,” Wakefield warned.
Aldridge pulled back his hand as if scalded. “Drugged?”
“A drink given to you free in Wharton’s brothel? What do you think?”
Aldridge shuddered and followed the others from the room.
The first part was the most fraught. With Sukie at the entry to the passage and Bets at the next corner, keeping watch, Wakefield did something to jam the lock while Aldridge stood over him, his pistol at the ready.
No one came. So far, then, they had not established watchers in the hidden passages.
