Page 85 of Lady Gambit
Nora shook her head, her pain forgotten, and started dancing like a witch at a cauldron. “Diddly de, diddly dum.”
Dorian faced the woman. “Tell me! Was it Powell?”
“It had to be Mr Powell,” Delphine interjected.
“Not necessarily. According to the visitors’ book, Meldrum entered Bethlem a few hours before Nora absconded. He could have easily passed the weapon through the bars.”
“Why would Lord Meldrum want me dead?” It made no sense.
“I don’t know,” Dorian admitted. “But I know someone who might.”
“Mrs Haggert?” she suggested. Who else could it be?
“Indeed. We’ll visit that cunning devil first thing tomorrow.”
Chapter Nineteen
Seven Dials
St Giles
“Mrs Haggert ain’t seeing anyone today.” The boy guarding the alley leading to Mrs Haggert’s premises shoved the calling card back into Dorian’s hand and doffed his cap. “Be on your way, gov’nor.”
The arrogant swine!
“I’m not leaving without seeing Mrs Haggert.” Dorian thrust his calling card back at the boy. “We can do this the polite way, or I can storm the house and arrest everyone inside.”
Dorian raised his trouser leg, showing the hilt of the hunter’s blade peeking from the sheath strapped to his shin. He parted his coat to reveal the pistol in the leather holster fastened across his body.
The boys looked at each other, their arrogant grins fading.
Delphine stepped closer. “We’re all armed and quite prepared to die today.” She gestured to her brother, whose onlyweapon was his baleful mood. “Mrs Haggert will answer our questions, or she will be arrested.”
One boy scurried away and returned with a burly guard. The hulking fellow looked at Aaron Chance and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
“We’re not leaving,” Aaron said, his tone dangerously unsettling.
After a brief conversation with his mistress, the guard led them into Mrs Haggert’s drawing room and told them to wait.
“We must remain calm,” Dorian said as he sat patiently on the sofa. “Discovering the truth is our primary goal. Too many people know of her involvement. She’ll not lie her way out of trouble this time.”
Delphine turned to Aaron. “We can’t hurl accusations without proof. We can’t rile her before we get the answers we seek.”
Aaron sat forward in the wing chair, one arm resting on his knee. “I have my own gripe with the woman, but we’ll do this Flynn’s way, as we agreed.”
Tempers were frayed.
Emotions ran high.
They had barely slept since Daventry left Fortune’s Den with the magistrate. They’d watched twopeelerswrestle Nora Adkins into the prison wagon, the woman scratching their faces and screaming like a banshee. An hour later—while Dorian was away fetching clothes from his room above the Old Swan—they received word that Powell had been arrested. Once they’d dealt with Mrs Haggert, they were heading to Bow Street to interrogate the Superintendent.
Tense minutes passed.
They heard whispers in the hall before Mrs Haggert entered.
She wore a red dress with modish sleeves and a bell-shaped skirt. Her expression was hard to read, but she sounded resignedto her fate when she said, “They say red is the colour of vengeance. The day of retribution has come, though I prayed it never would.”
“Why?” Aaron scoffed, his hatred like a malevolent spirit climbing the walls. “Because you want people to think you’re a woman of your word when we both know you’re a liar.”
