Jace! Max! Hell! He could just imagine how they were interpreting his prolonged silence. Did they think he’d gone over to the other side? They–
Damn and blast it! The two men across the street watching the house! He went to the window. They’d been watching him! Given the danger involved, it wasn’t surprising they’d been keeping an eye on the house. Just the thought of what could have happened had the Vanisher found him while he had no memory, sent chills of dread snaking down his spine. That monster was capable of killing everyone in the house!
Reed was supposed to have set up a meeting with the Chief to deliver those documents as soon as he arrived in London. How long had he been like this?
What must they have been imagining all this time, watching him and Tally? He snorted humorlessly. Probably exactly what he’d have imagined in their place — that he was disporting himself with a bit o’muslin. She was beautiful enough to be that.
And treacherous enough! Hell! Could she be working with the Vanisher?
Quickly, he donned the servant’s disguise.
Now the contents of his valise made sense. When many of their schemes to catch Traubridge doing his evil deeds, failed, they’d suspected someone in the Chief’s office must be betraying them. The three of them, Jace. Max and he, knew that if they wanted to make it back to London alive, to hand over the incriminating papers, they needed to find ways to remain undetected on their journeys back. Separating, they traveled different routes and wore disguises to ensure they made it home alive with documents intact.
Standing up after tying his shoelaces, he decided against bringing the documents with him. There’d be time enough to hand them over later. Who knew how many men the Vanisher could have watching the house by now? How many men… or women… were doing so within its very walls?
No one had located the documents while he was not himself. The fact that they remained hidden was an encouraging sign that Talia and Foster weren’t on Traubridge’s payroll.
He went down the back stairs. It had become his practice for leaving the house to take his walks. It seemed safer to sneak out the back than to go out the front and risk being shot.
When a man lost his memory, it certainly made him think. What if Tally and Foster had opened his valise and found all the disguises? What must they have thought? Hah! He didn’t give a bloody damn what they’d thought! Served them right if they worried he might be a criminal out to hurt or rob them.
Yet, they had taken care of and protected him while he was without his memory, which — his ire rapidly rose again — he’d never have lost had she not shot him! He was a mass of conflicting emotions.
Muttering angrily to himself, he followed his by now familiar routine to avoid being seen by what he’d been calling “the spies” across the street. He grimaced wryly at how successful he’d been at eluding his friends’ helpful watch. It was sheer luck that he had not yet been found and disposed of by his enemies. But good fortune could only last so long.
Crossing through the park, he sauntered out the other entrance onto the next street, then down the lane that backed the houses across the street from his. He kept to the shadows as he made his way furtively to the rear of the house where his friends were stationed. They must be feeling frustrated and impatient to bring the mission to an end.
Time to get this dangerous business sorted out. Then he’d deal with his … wife… that devious, deceitful witch!
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jace’s look of relief said it all, Reed thought, when his friend answered the door.
“Took you long enough.” He waved Reed in. “Come in, come in.”
He led the way to the front room that looked more like a barracks than a parlor. An old couch was against the wall with a blanket bunched up at one end as if someone had been using it to sleep. A long table was in front of the window with a telescope and eye glasses on it, beside them lay a log book and paper and pencil. A half-eaten sandwich sat on a plate with a cup of coffee.
“I’ve disturbed your meal.”
Jace shrugged and turned to pick up the rest of the sandwich.
At his friend’s characteristic reaction, Reed said, “I’ve been watching you watch the house for the past several days, wondering who the hell you were and why.”
His friend’s back stiffened. “But you know all of my disguises.”
He paused trying to work out how best to explain the unexplainable. “The night I arrived, I hit my head, hard. When I awoke, my memory was gone. Completely. I’ve only just regained most of it (Well, I hope it is most of it!) in the past hour, so I’m still a little shaky and stunned.”
“Hellfire!” Jace cursed in a low voice. “We never imagined that! We thought of going in, but worried we’d ruin some ruse you were working.”
“It wouldn’t have done you much good. I would have had no idea who you were.” He lifted an ironic eyebrow. “I may have even thrown you and hurt you.
Jace’s narrowed his eyes. He uttered not a word. He looked as if he didn’t quite believe Reed’s story.
“I’ve only just recalled our mission.” He sat down on the couch. “Have Traubridge and gang been sniffing around?”
His friend’s shoulders relaxed. “I’ve heard of people losing important papers, Gordon, but rarely of them losing their minds.”
Reed heard the trace of relieved amusement in his friend’s taunt. He realized he might not have found it at all amusing had this been yesterday… or even this morning… or just an hour ago. Come to think of it, he still wasn’t ready to laugh about it. “It’s not an experience I wish to repeat,” he responded tersely.
“Who’s the woman?”
“What?”
“The little beauty living in your room?”
“Would you believe my wife?”
“What!” Jace looked pole-axed. “Hell, when did you go and do something as stupid as that?”
“I didn’t.”
His friend’s head snapped up. “Then how…?” Jace paused, thinking. “Is she one of them?”
“No! Of course not!” He wondered why he was defending her. He’d asked himself that same question. “I don’t know,” he muttered. “I doubt it.”
“Then what’s her game?”
“I have no idea! I’ve only just gotten my mind back. Give me time to work things through.” He paused then, added, “She might have thought to trap me into marriage, I suppose. Regardless, I’ll handle that later. We need to finish our mission first.” He heard himself trying not to cast too dark a shadow on Tally and called himself a fool for caring.
“Can’t say I’m not relieved,” Jace said. “I’d hate to see you tied to someone for life without giving it a lot of serious consideration.”
Reed snorted. “You needn’t worry about that.” He’d forgotten Jace’s jaded view of connubial bliss. At one time he’d shared it. As little as a month ago, he’d have said he had no intention of marrying for a long while. Yet, he’d been quite happy thinking himself wed to Tally.
“So you’ve been living like a married couple?”
“Certainly not!” Not from lack of trying on his part, he acknowledged silently. He had to credit her with that much integrity. Or perhaps Foster was more to be thanked, although he’d cursed him fervently at the time.
“Why the hell not?”
“I’ve been ill… well, not so much ill. Just not feeling that good.”
“Did the laudanum have anything to do with that?” Jace’s voice was as bland as ever.
“How did you…?” Reed was thunderstruck.
“Found the empty bottle in the dustbin.”
“Ah…”
“We did wonder at first if the Vanisher had somehow found you. But why use an old man and young lady? And then there was that bandage around your head. So we decided to set up watch and wait and see.” Jace explained. “We saw Traubridge’s lackey, the Mincer, go into your house twice.”
“The devil you say!”
“The first time, he
was let in but he left mere moments later. Probably asked for you and was told you weren’t here.” He tilted his head to await Reed’s opinion. Getting no reaction, he continued, “The second time, Max said he was allowed in and remained inside for about ten minutes.”
“Damnation!” Reed was taken aback at how close the enemy had gotten.
“We worried he might have pulled that poison ploy they used in that little village outside of Cairo. So we broke into your house overnight and removed every bit of food and drink we could find…” Jace gestured expansively.
Reed began to chuckle softly. “So that’s what happened.”
“Did you wonder?”
“Not me, my… er… Mrs. Leighton. She’s being threatened. They were upset about the food being gone, but more upset that someone had broken into the house while we were all asleep. That’s when Mason, the redhead, an investigator, came to stay.
“Yes, we wondered about him...at first. Until Morley told us he was a friend, a recent member of the Brotherhood. The Baron talked to Mason, but was unable to get anything out of him. He wouldn’t even admit to you being his client.”
“Strictly speaking, I wasn’t. Mrs. Leighton was.”
Jace bowed his head, shaking it. Then he looked up and, in as serious a voice as Reed had ever heard from him, said, “We put the food we removed out in the back shed. Next morning, we found three rats stone cold dead.”
“Thank God for your vigilance.” He was shaken by what could have happened had they not been there. “What a bloody coil.”
“There’s more.”
Reed looked his inquiry at his friend.
“The day you all went out in the carriage.”
Reed nodded. “We went to an art exhibit at the Academy.”
“I heard.” At Reed’s incredulous look, he said, “The Baron met you...?” He waited to see if Reed would recall that encounter.
Reed’s covered his face with his hand. “I didn’t recognize him.”
“That’s what he suspected.” Jace said, but he didn’t pursue the matter. “That day, I was on my way into your house to see if I could find out what you were up to in there. Time was running out.”
“You must have had to restrain yourself from not just forcing your way in to confront me!” Reed knew well his friend’s impatient nature.
“Bloody right,” Jace growled. “That day, as I approached the back of your house, I spotted two men entering by a back window. They didn’t stay more than ten minutes.”
“Damnation! What were they up to?”
“That’s what I wanted to know. So I used the same window to get in. It didn’t take me long to find a cylinder filled with gunpowder in the drawing room fireplace.”
“Gunpowder! Dear God! What could have happened...”
“And another one upstairs in your room.” The side of Jace’s mouth lifted at Reed’s pungent curse. “Needless to say I removed them.” He turned to look out the window.
Force of habit, Reed realized. “I’m surprised you waited so long.”
“Since we were pretty well certain you weren’t in danger from those inside your house — I thought you might have been setting up some kind of trap. Max, being Max, had his own theories on the matter.”
“Yes?”
“He thought you were probably making up for lost time with your mistress now that you were home.”
“He thought I’d put pleasure before stopping this cold-blooded monster!” Reed was annoyed anyone would think that about him.
“You know Max. He wasn’t being serious. It’s his way of dealing with worry.”
“How did they find me? No one but you, Max and my brothers know about me owning the townhouse.” He was not pleased his secret sanctuary had been so easily discovered.
“We guessed they probably followed one of us or your brothers.”
“Careless.” His response was terse.
Jace shrugged apologetically, then shifted topics. He’d clearly been reviewing Reed’s words in his head. “Why is your lovely lady being threatened?”
“Don’t know.” He went to plow his fingers backward through his hair, but the cap on his head got in the way. He settled for pushing it to the back of his head. “Do you think they might have been targeting her even before I arrived, just because she was living in my house?”
“Max and I only came here for the first time after Kit told us you were in Town, and I know for a fact your brothers didn’t go near your townhouse before your return.” Jace leaned back against the edge of the table and stretched out his legs. “But what would Traubridge hope to gain by harming her without knowing what her connection was?”
“True, but nor did he worry about killing all those innocent villagers just to get one family.” Reed shook his head in disgust. “Damn, I was all set to retire from this business. Now, I’m going to have to find out who’s trying to kill her first.”
Jace grinned knowingly. But he was more interested in other matters. “Do you still have the documents. They should have been delivered days ago.”
Getting to the heart of their mission, Reed acknowledged, was of utmost importance and time was of the essence, especially given the days already lost due to his amnesia. “I know. That’s why I came as soon as I remembered.” He stood up. With the damn opium not completely gone from his system, he wasn’t quite as clear-headed as he’d like to be. “The documents are safe.” No thanks to me, he thought. “I’d like to deliver them today. Right now.” He voiced the concern he’d thought about many times on his way home from Egypt. “How is the Chief going to react? Will he believe us?”
“Why would we want to trump up such monstrous charges?”
“It’s family. He won’t be pleased to find out Traubridge is responsible for these crimes and may wish to shove it under the rug.”
“He may want to, but he won’t,” Jace said. “I’ve never seen him be swayed from doing what is right, no matter what the provocation or enticement.”
“But his own brother? That may prove too great a temptation.”
“It won’t make his task easier.” Jace paused, “But when it’s comes down to it, he’s one of the only men I trust above all others to do what must be done, no matter the cost. He won’t disbelieve us. I suspect he might already have his own doubts about his step-brother. I just wish our news wasn’t quite so bad.”
“Well, you know him better than I do. I simply can’t imagine us telling him his brother is not only a thief and white slaver, but that we have proof he has committed numerous murders as well. It certainly won’t make us popular.”
“You want to be popular? Go find that fair beauty of yours and parade her down St. James Street this evening, you’ll have all the fellows panting for an introduction.” No well-bred woman wanted to be seen walking in front of the men’s clubs in the evening, even escorted. He turned his head and flashed a sideways grin. “Who is she, by the way? And how did you end up married to her?"
“It’s too long a story to tell you now.” His friend looked ready to protest, so he added, “Suffice it to say, I want to keep her well away from the Vanisher and his cohorts, and unharmed. I’ll tell you the whole story once we finish with this nasty business and have time to sit down for a drink.” He sat up. “Now, can we get those papers over to the Chief posthaste?”
“Hellfire!” Aggravation was rife in Jace’s voice. “He’s out of town and will only be back in two or three days.”
“What? He left London knowing I had these documents to deliver?” Reed was anxious to get this over with. “Didn’t you tell him to be ready for me to arrive with important papers?”
“I did.” His friend’s reply was definite. “But you didn’t arrive when expected and death can’t be planned. His father, the Marquess of Olvin, passed away a few days ago. Apart from organizing the funeral, Hallmoor has a lot of duties to take on now that he’s assuming the title. In fact, he’s going to be retiring from the service.”
Jace’s dead neutral ton
e should have warned Reed, but he was still reeling from his recovered memory and what Jace had told him, so he wasn’t his usual observant self. “You’re joking. I was sure he was married to that job.” He whistled in surprise. “Who do you think is going to take over?”
The strange silence and impassive look on Jace’s face told it all. “You!” Reed chuckled quietly. “I knew they’d lure you in if they kept at it long and hard enough.”
Jace’s reply was a vile curse.
“Seriously, Jace, I can’t imagine a better man to take over, for the sake of the country. But as for what’s best for you… that’s another matter.” He grimaced. “You’ll be missed out in the field. Come to that, like I said, I’ve been thinking of hanging up my sword, so perhaps the timing is right for me.”
“And leave me alone to carry the whole load? Not on your life!” his aggrieved friend complained.
“Wait! Did you know I was attacked on the street the other day? There was little doubt I was intended to die.” Now that he knew why, he was able to mention it more naturally.
“On the street? How did you get out without us seeing you?” He groaned. “Out the back in one of your damn disguises, I suppose.” He seemed lost for words. “We should have considered that but we never thought you’d be trying to avoid us!”
“Since I didn’t know it was friendly spying, I was determined to avoid all detection.”
“Attacked, you say?” Jace snorted, “I’ll lay odds you used your oriental skills to overpower them?”
Distracted, Reed said, “Yes.” He was feeling frustrated and impatient at having to wait to get the documents to his boss, while keeping Tally, Foster… all of them! safe. He knew the Vanisher would be in Somerset at his father’s funeral, but his right-hand man, Melvin Adley, the Mincer, would have been charged with the task of leading the Horde in destroying any and all who were likely to get in Traubridge’s way. That meant they all were in constant danger until the mission was completed.
“How many of them attacked you?”
The Viscount's Counterfeit Wife Page 36
