She pointed to her fourth finger then pointed to herself. Then she touched her pinky and tapped it four times.
“Four children?” Vic asked.
She nodded.
“And where are they. I do not wish to startle them during my investigation.”
She pointed to the ceiling.
The house was four stories tall, Vic didn't want to waste her day searching every room. "Show me the room I need to avoid." The girl led them through several hidden doors to a padlocked door in the attic.
“Can you open this door?” Vic asked.
The girl’s eyes rounded in fear as she shook her head.
“So how do you care for the children?”
Lifting her hand, she pointed to the big finger and then pantomimed inserting a key into the padlock and opening the door.”
“I understand. Only an adult can open this door. When will he or she be back?”
The young girl's eyes rounded in fear as she shook her head.
Vic studied the ceiling, banging on a few walls. "This looks solid." She returned to the prior room. "You may lead us out to the hall."
Barns’ eyebrows rose in challenge.
Once they'd returned to the attic hall, Vic sent the young girl away. After ensuring the girl had truly left, Vic and Barns made their way through the maze the girl had just led them out of. Vic let Barns lead since he claimed to have perfect recall. He returned directly to the room. Vic opened the padlock in less than a minute.
“Sometime, I need you to teach me how to do that,” Barns said. “The other day I had an officer cut the padlock. Took him forever, then we found no evidence in the closet and Stone took the cost of a new padlock out of my paycheck.”
“That explains why he's always letting me pick doors, rather than knocking them down. I had no idea he had to pay for the damage done.”
“Only if no crime can be proven. That’s why I dropped my work and came with you today. I really need a win. My last three cases have not gone well.”
“Well, rescuing children from improper care—”
“This one will be hard to prove. The owner of the house will deny they are mistreated.”
Vic really needed to work on his negative attitude. “You have me as your witness. I was knighted by the Queen, you know.”
He smiled. “You’ll make a fine witness, Sir Hamilton.”
With the door open in less than a minute, they entered. Two small dark haired boys, holding two babies in their arms, huddled in the corner, clearly terrified.
Vic walked closer. “Stay outside and guard the door. We do not want to be padlocked in here.”
Barns yelped and leapt out the door. “It’s clear,” he yelled.
“Stay alert. That could change any moment.”
She walked to the window and tried to raise it so she could whistle for Casey and Fagan, only the damn thing had been nailed shut. She removed her gun and used the handle to break the glass. There were bars behind the glass, but fortunately, she didn’t need to climb out.
She whistled and stuck her hand out the window, making a gesturing that hopefully they would interpret to mean 'come up and help', rather than some silly need to wave at the birds flying above.
She smiled when both men jumped off the carriage and headed to the door. “Barns, I need you to go to the hall and lead the guys here.”
“What guys?” Barns snapped. “We don’t need any help!”
“Casey and Fagan, and we certainly do, unless you’ve grown additional arms. Removing four children will leave us unable to protect ourselves.”
“Oh…right,” he said.
She could hear the heavy thumps of his feet growing softer. She sat down to one side of the boys so she retained view of the door. The possibility of her being locked in, bothered her, so she got up, went outside the room and removed the padlock entirely, placing it in her pocket.
She returned to the dark haired boys and sat down beside them. “I didn’t want to take the chance someone would lock us in here.”
The eldest whimpered.
“Would you like to leave this place? They aren’t very nice to you.”
The boys stared at her in confusion and fear.
She wondered if they had even been taught to speak. “I’m Victor,” she said pointing to herself.
The boys continued to stare, giving no sign they understood her.
“Are you hungry?” she asked and offered them a scone she had snared this morning before leaving.
Both of the older boys reached for the small dense bread. She broke it in two and gave each half. They devoured it as if starving. She looked around the room and realized they had been locked in this hot room without water.
“Once my friends arrive, we’ll go downstairs and get you some water.” The boys scrambled to stand, never releasing their baby brothers, and moved to the door.
When Casey entered from the other side, the toddlers fled back to their corner of safety.
“Don’t be scared. Casey is my friend.” To prove this, she hugged her driver, which made him smile. He looked much safer when he smiled. Next, she hugged Fagan to make him smile as well.
With the boys calmed, she tried to take the smallest baby, but the three-year-old would not give up his brother. Since he seemed to have an excellent grip on the baby, she picked both of them up. But upon getting a closer look at the newborn, her stomach turned to lead.
“Fagan, see if the older boy will let you pick him up. Make sure he’s facing you, so the baby has nowhere to drop. Barns, walk beside him to ensure the baby doesn’t fall out.”
“What about yours.”
“I don’t think the little guy...” she couldn't verbalize her fear.
Once they had the children in the carriage, she turned to Barns. “You need to remain and arrest all adults who return to this place. When I get to Connors I will call Stone and tell him you need backup.”
“I can do this on my own.”
“You don’t know how many people will show up. You require assistance.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Barns, you're too valuable to die because you want this arrest in your file. You’ll still have the attempted murder case and I’ll do all I can to assure you get credit for this as well. But I’d rather you be alive to receive it. Assume everyone who returns to that house are murderers.” She glanced at the small baby in the boy’s arms and then back at Barns. “Because they are. You need back up.”
“I’ll pull back up from the street.”
“By whistling?”
He nodded.
“And letting everyone know the police are at this house. You’ll never catch the murderers if you do. They’ll just move on.”
He sighed heavily. “Call Stone and tell him that I’ve requested back up, just lower levels who can obey orders.”
Vic smiled at him. “I will.”
Chapter 26
Dr. Connors was giving his nurse instructions when Vic entered his waiting room carrying a small boy and a doll.
“What now?” he asked, focusing on the porcelain baby doll.
“These children have been held captive their entire lives. I don’t think they know how to talk and the youngest…” She shook her head.
He approached her and tried to feel the baby’s neck, but the boy shielded the child, trying so hard to protect it.
“Let’s take them into the exam room,” Connors said.
She and Fagan, holding the boys, followed him to the examination room. Getting the older boys—they looked to be very young, four and three at most—to release the babies proved to be nearly impossible. He finally got the smaller boy to release the dead baby. He sat it gently on a blanket and gave it to the nurse.
“Pretend it’s alive so the older boy will release the other baby,” he whispered.
The nurse nodded, but when he put the child in her arms, she burst into tears. Fortunately, tears didn’t frighten the boys and the oldest let Connors tend to the one-
year-old.
Upon examining the older baby, Connors spoke. “Vic, this child needs a healthy wet nurse. Any chance yours is still lactating?”
“No, Cannon is a carnivore now, but Maddy is still nursing. May I use your phone?”
He nodded. She tried to hand the boy in her arms to Casey, but his little fist tightened on her shirt. So she carried him into the other room and called Claire.
David picked up the phone on the first ring. “Hello,” he said. Nothing strange about the word, but the pure terror in his voice assured Vic something was very wrong.
“David, what’s happened?”
“Oh, Vic. Gregory didn’t know how to reach you so Claire has gone to Xavier.”
“Why?”
“Maddy’s been taken.”
Vic sat down before her legs gave out. “When? How?”
“Maddy and her wet nurse disappeared sometime between three and six. Claire and I had gone to the museum and then attended a debate about evolution that went on forever. When we arrived home, Claire asked the butler to bring her Maddy and that was when both were discovered missing. The house has been thoroughly checked. She’s not here and neither is the wet nurse.”
“Sally?” Vic asked.
“No, Claire fired her last week. This was a new woman. Mrs. Elden.”
“Why did she fire Sally?”
“Vic, can we discuss that later? Right now I just want my daughter back.”
“Why do think I’m asking? I need to determine if Sally might be behind this?”
“Sally? No, she loved Maddy…and Maddy loved her. Which is why Claire fired her, if you must know. I cannot believe Sally would harm Maddy.”
While Vic agreed Sally would never harm the child, she might ‘rescue’ the baby from an unfit mother. “So there’s been no ransom request?”
“No.”
“We’ll find her,” Vic promised and hung up the phone. A moment of despair filled her. There was no ‘we’. Xavier was lost to her. She was on her own.
She kissed the head of the boy in her arms and hugged him. “I’m not alone. I still have my family.”
She called Gregory. “Do you know if Sara is still nursing Ham?”
“She is,” Gregory stated, clearly confused by her questions.
“I know I have the carriage, but I need Sara to come to Dr. Connors office at once. There is a fragile baby in desperate need of milk.”
“Is it Maddy?”
“No, it’s one of four children Barns and I rescued an hour ago. One didn't make it, but…”
“I’ll send her at once,” he stated.
Vic returned to the office with the other boys. “Gregory is sending Sara to nurse the baby.” She walked to the nurse. “I have to leave. Can you take this one?”
The nurse put the live baby in a basket and coo’ed and charmed the boy into releasing Vic’s shirt.
Once she was free, Connors pulled her to the side. “Vic, you can't leave just yet. Between my clients and your rescues today, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now.”
“I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed myself,” she admitted and then burst into tears.
Connors pulled her into his arms and patted her back. “I’m sorry for complaining. You certainly have had more than your share of rescues to deal with…and with no help from Xavier.”
His hug had been comforting up until he mentioned Xavier. She pushed away. “My niece, Maddy, has been kidnapped. So I have to focus on that. Be sure to record every problem you find with the children. I want someone to hang for this.”
Connors stroked her cheek. “I will,” he promised. “And I will testify when needed. You should ask Stone to help on Maddy. He owes you.”
“I intend to pull in everyone I can.” Except Xavier. She couldn’t ask Xavier, because if he insisted he had to remain with Ariana she would kill him.
And she didn’t want to go there.
“Casey, Fagan, with me,” she whispered and left the room. In the lobby, Casey gripped her arm. “What’s happened?”
“My niece has been kidnapped along with the nurse maid,” she said, her pain making her voice louder than she wished. A man in the corner of the waiting room stared at her.
She turned and headed to the door.
“Victor, a moment please?” the man called out.
She turned to face him. “I really don’t have time right now.”
“I understand.” He handed her a card. “If you want my help, I will put my men on the matter. You need only ask.” He then squeezed her arm. “On your way, son.”
She didn’t look at the card until she got into the carriage.
Alistair Winthrop, Minister of Internal Affairs.
She slipped the card into her vest pocket. If Stone wouldn’t help, she would use that card as leverage.
At Scotland Yard, she ran past the fellow at the desk, past Meyers, and up the four flights of stairs. When she arrived at Stone’s office it was empty. “Damn it! Stone, where the hell are you?”
A hand gripped her neck. For a moment she thought it was Xavier, but realized the hand was thinner and gentler.
“I’m right behind you. I understand you and Barns have had a very busy day. However, the next time you carry off one of my men, provide me the courtesy of a by your leave.”
She turned and glared at him. “You need to delay your scolding for another day.”
His brow furrowed. “What’s happened?”
“My niece has been kidnapped.”
He led her into his office and closed the door. “What niece and when?”
Vic grimaced. “When searching for the possession that went missing from the former first minister last year, I tracked down his niece whom he’d abused until she ran off and found a better life in the Hells. She had a child she didn’t want and planned to kill. I offered to save her the cost and gave the child to Claire. I named her after my Aunt Maddy, and today someone abducted her and the nurse maid.”
Stone frown. “This is the secret you refused to tell me before?”
“Yes.”
“And why tell me now?”
“Because I need to know where the former first minister resides, and I’m hoping you know.”
“I do. But Xavier does as well.”
Vic shook his head. “I cannot ask Xavier, so I’m asking you.”
“Were you not able to find him? Samson assured me that the problem had been handled.”
“Stone, I don’t have time to discuss Xavier. I need the address of the former Prime Minister, the Earl of Ogleton…now.”
He moved to his desk and pulled out a thin leather book. “And what is your intention when you see him?”
“I intend to retrieve my niece and her nursemaid.”
“Is that all?”
Vic snorted at his question. If he expected her to admit that she intended to kill the bastard if he had harmed Maddy, Stone was a bigger fool than she anticipated.
Instead, she pulled out the card from her pocket. “Never mind. The Minister of Internal Affairs probably knows where he is.”
Stone gripped her shoulders. “I will give you Barns, who will know the address. I am sorry to go around you on this, but you are too valuable to lose for a moment of justified anger. I will help you recover Maddy, but I will also try to keep you from destroying yourself in the process. The former minister still has friends in important places. We must act carefully. And if you bully Barns into doing something stupid, you will pull him down as well. Today proved beyond my best expectations how well you two perform together. Now walk with me while I locate Barns.”
“He should be staking out the house to catch the abductors of Charity Hudson’s children.”
Stone placed his hand on her neck as they walked down the hall. “Lower your voice. There are many on my staff that would like to hear you complain about Barns.”
She snorted. “Men who probably wouldn’t last two seconds in my company.”
“I imagine that to be true. If nothing
else, you do bring out the greatness or stupidity in my men.”
“So why is Barns here?” she asked.
“He’s keeping firm watch over my best interrogators to ensure they are asking the right questions.”
“So he has the murdering abductors?”
“Evidently not all of them, but waiting in the house would not have produced further suspects. These names were revealed only under interrogation.”
Stone’s men had once interrogated Vic and while completely innocent of anything other than witnessing a crime and dutifully reporting it, she'd been tempted to admit to a crime just to be given the peace of a jail cell.
Barns came out of a room, his brow furrowed until he saw Vic. He hurried to her. “How are the children and Mrs. Hudson?”
“The youngest was already dead, as we thought. Connors is making a detailed list of their neglect and abuse and wishes to testify at the trial. Mrs. Hudson remained unconscious, but alive when I left.”
“Good. I need you to question one of the people who arrived shortly after you left.”
Stone gripped Barns’ shoulder. “Barns, Vic needs your assistance just now. His niece has been abducted. One of the possible abductors is a former first minister, so this must be handled carefully.”
Barns eyes widened at the mention of ‘the former first minister’. Upon listening to his director, he looked at Vic. “Are there other suspects?”
“We’ll discuss it on the way.” She glared at Stone. “Have you given him the address?”
Stone leaned in and spoke softly into Barns ear. He nodded and Vic left, leaving Barns to catch up with her.
Meyers met her on the first floor. “You’ve had a busy day.”
“It’s not over yet. Someone has abducted my niece.”
He stopped dead, and she continued to walk. She didn’t have time to chat with busy police officers about her niece. Saving Maddy had to be her focus now.
She hoped Barns managed to catch up with her. If he didn’t she was calling the Minister of Internal Affairs.
Vic eyed the phone on the front desk. She seriously doubted after the many times she'd rushed past the fellow’s desk, ignoring his attempts to log her purpose of visit, that he’d let her use his phone.
Fortunately, Barns finally arrived. Naturally, he lodged a complaint. “Would it kill you to slow down and wait for me?”
The CrimeLords' War (The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Book 7) Page 20
