“Not a single one. Father never allowed me to develop relationships in that way. The night I was nearly kidnapped, I was with both male and female friends, but we weren’t paired up in any way.”
“Do you know if the police are speaking with those friends and taking statements?” Liam asked.
“I don’t know anything about it,” she replied. “I came home, told my father what happened, and then we were catching the train. I was told nothing.”
“I’ll send a telegram before we sail and see what I can find out,” Liam replied. “One of your friends might have caught a glimpse of the man.”
“That’s true—they might be very helpful in identifying him.” Veronica sat back down on the bed. “You mentioned organized crime, which is probably the most complicated theory out of the bunch. If that’s true—if my father does have those connections—what does that mean? I don’t understand.”
“Yes, this is the most complicated theory, and also the most far-fetched, but we need to examine it,” Liam replied. “Chances are that your father got into some questionable dealings and that his opponents are hoping to teach him a lesson through you. The attempted kidnapping wasn’t enough to make him stop whatever he was doing, so the theft of your purse was set into motion to see if that would tip the scales.”
“They’re thinking that I’d wire my father and tell him what happened?”
“Yes, or that you’d tell him when he arrives in London. Either way, they’d want him to know that they’re keeping their eyes on you. And Anna’s right—if this is correct, they might try something more obvious next time.”
“How can we find out if he has those connections?” Anna asked. “He’s not likely to tell us because that means he’s been doing illegal things too, and he wouldn’t want to get caught.”
Liam nodded. “We need to bring Agent Gordon in on this. I’ll wire him and ask him what he knows about any possible connection, and it’s possible that he could put surveillance on Mr. Miller and see if he’s contacted by a liaison.”
“And then it will likely turn out to be a coincidence, and all this worry will have been for nothing.” Veronica sighed. “I feel like such a goose—I’m sorry for causing so much trouble.”
“No need to apologize,” Liam told her. “Not unless you’re purposely withholding information.”
“And I’m not. I swear to you.” She looked back and forth between Liam and Anna. “Please believe me.”
Liam nodded. “Until you give me reason to do otherwise, yes, I’ll believe you. As far as our plan of action goes, we’re staying in the hotel tonight, and we’ll go straight from here to the docks. I’ll visit the telegraph office first thing, and then we’ll set about enjoying a nice ocean voyage.”
“Oh, dear,” Veronica said, almost interrupting him. “I just realized—they’re probably loading all my trunks into the cargo hold, aren’t they? I won’t be able to get to my simpler dresses after all.”
“Then you can continue to borrow mine,” Anna replied. “I wonder, though . . .” She turned to Liam. “What if Veronica and I traded places for the duration of the trip? Our coloring is different, but if she’s being targeted because she looks wealthy and not because of a personal connection, that won’t matter.”
“Trading places? Is that safe for you?” Veronica asked, her eyes wide.
“I’m not as trained as Liam, but I’m armed,” Anna said.
“You are? I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how to use a gun.” Veronica shook her head. “I never thought I’d say this, but perhaps I should learn to shoot.”
“It’s a fairly useful skill.” Anna smiled, then said, “What do you think, Liam?”
Liam wasn’t sure what he thought. His first instinct was to keep Anna as far away from harm as he possibly could, but that wasn’t how an agent should be thinking. The case was the priority. “I think it’s a good idea,” he said at last. “I’m not sure that it actually solves anything, but it does confuse the issue a bit and might be a deterrent.”
They continued to talk for a while longer, tossing ideas back and forth, and at last, Liam said, “Let’s get some sleep. We have a lot to do in the morning, and I’m sure we’re all worn out.”
“Agreed.” Veronica bid them goodnight and went into her room, closing the door behind her, and Anna pressed her fingertips to her temples.
“Are all cases this confusing?” she asked.
“Most,” Liam replied. “If they were simple, the Pinkertons wouldn’t be needed.”
“I suppose you’re right. It’s just so befuddling—we don’t even definitely know the nature of the crime. A kidnapping, or a scare tactic? A theft, or another scare tactic? One culprit, or two or twelve . . .” Anna stood up and gathered her nightclothes from the drawer where she kept them. “I’ve got such a headache.”
“Sleep will help that. Once we’ve got Agent Gordon working on things from his end, we should arrive at some answers soon—of course, that’s not guaranteed either.” Liam took off his shoes and lined them up under the window.
“How do you function with so much uncertainty all the time?” Her voice floated out from behind the changing screen.
“It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, which I happen to enjoy.”
“But jigsaw puzzles aren’t dangerous, and there’s nothing to lose.”
“True.”
They finished getting ready for bed in silence, then turned out the light and lay down. It really would have been best if they’d been able to fall right asleep, but it seemed that neither one of them could stop mulling over the questions that had been posed earlier.
“You believe Veronica, don’t you?” Anna asked, breaking the silence.
“I want to. I’m just naturally skeptical, though. I’ve worked too many cases where it turned out that our culprit was actually our client.”
“It’s good to be skeptical when someone’s safety is involved. I just hope that whatever’s going on, we leave it behind us when we board the ship.”
“If it is linked to organized crime, chances are, it will come right along with us or meet us again on the other side,” Liam said. “Of course, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’s nowhere near that complicated, and that today’s incident was simply a result of carrying a tempting-looking bag in New York City.”
Anna’s hand found her way into his, and he squeezed it. “Me too,” she said, and a moment later, she was asleep.
If he could bundle her up and send her back to Denver, he’d do it in a heartbeat. She was becoming to mean more to him than anything else in his life, including his job. If he was leading her into danger, if he was letting her take risks beyond her ability to handle . . . If something happened to her, he would never forgive himself. He’d heard people use that expression before and it always sounded somewhat melodramatic to him, but now he understood it. He would hold himself accountable for her safety, not only because he was her partner as an agent, but because he loved her. It went beyond the band on her finger—they’d proven that any two people could get married, easy. His heart was now involved, and just as it had distracted him at the fountain and nearly kept him from protecting Veronica, he feared it would distract him again and keep him from protecting Anna.
He was starting to think that bringing women along on these Pinkerton cases might not be such a great idea.
Chapter Nine
Liam rose early and bathed, then returned to the room and cautioned Anna to keep the door to the hallway closed and locked until he came back. He sent a telegram to Agent Gordon and explained the situation as best as he could through such a limited means of communication, asking Gordon to stay in touch with the Denver police about the attempted kidnapping and suggesting surveillance on Mr. Miller. Then he came back to the hotel and made sure the porter was ready to help transport the baggage downstairs.
“I know I have everything, but I can’t help feeling that I’ve left something important behind,” Veronica said, standing in the
middle of her room with her hands on her hips. “I think it’s because I know I’m not coming back. I feel like this is a final goodbye.”
“And you’re saying hello to a whole new life,” Anna told her. “You’re giving up a lot, but you’re gaining so much. Maybe even more—if your father can visit often, like he said, you won’t feel the loss of family so keenly, and think of that library.”
Veronica smiled. “Yes, the library. That’s worth quite a bit of sacrifice. And who knows—maybe Father could be convinced to move to England someday.”
Liam cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but we need to be leaving. Are you ready?”
“As ready as I can reasonably be,” Veronica replied. She’d put on one of Anna’s traveling dresses, and while she was still quite a beautiful young woman, she wouldn’t attract as much attention as before. Anna, on the other hand . . . Wearing Veronica’s dress, she was a vision, and it was taking quite a lot of Liam’s willpower not to stare at her with his mouth hanging open. He’d never paid much attention to women’s fashions, but he was experiencing for himself the impact of a well-dressed woman on the sensibilities of a man.
“And you?” he asked Anna without making direct eye contact. To do that would make any sort of focus impossible.
“I was able to fashion a holder for my pistol in this dress, and my things are packed.”
Good girl—thinking about her weapon first. She was thinking like an agent even though she hadn’t been through training. “All right. The porter will be here in a moment, and we can be on our way.”
***
The stateroom Anna would share with Veronica was nothing like their accommodations at the hotel, but it was still much nicer than Anna had expected for a ship. It was narrow, and a little difficult for them both to move around at the same time with their full skirts, but it was clean and well appointed, and Anna believed they’d be happy aboard. The journey would take about three weeks, which was certainly a long time to be confined in any one place, but at least they could move about and wouldn’t be sitting on one bench seat for hour after hour.
They would set sail in about four hours, and while it seemed like such a long wait before they’d be on their way, Anna was glad for the chance to settle in before the rocking motion of the ship took over everything. She’d never been on the ocean, and she hoped she wouldn’t become nauseated.
“And there we have it,” Veronica said, sitting down on the edge of her bunk. “I’ve hung up my dresses—well, your dresses, really—and that’s about all we can do about unpacking. It’s a good thing we like each other because we’re going to be very confined here together.”
“I think we should plan for as many walks on deck as possible,” Anna replied. “We’ll go mad if we stay locked away.”
“Agreed. I heard someone say there are always card games going on—I wonder if it’s a pleasant group of people. That might be fun.”
A gentle knock sounded on the door, and Anna moved toward it. “Liam must be done speaking with the captain,” she said as she opened it.
The face she saw, though, was not her husband’s.
***
“Thank you for meeting with me, Captain Young,” Liam said, shaking the older man’s hand. “I appreciate knowing that you’re in support of our efforts here.”
“The safety of our passengers is the most important thing to us, and we’ve always respected the Pinkertons,” Captain Young replied. “I’ll instruct my crew to aid you in any way possible, and I wish you a safe journey.”
Liam thanked the man again, then left the office and strode along the corridor toward his room. It was next to the one Anna and Veronica were sharing, but there was no connecting door, and that made him a little nervous. There weren’t any rooms with connecting doors, though, so that hadn’t been an option. He’d just have to listen a little more carefully.
Up ahead, he saw a gentleman in a gray suit and vest, a hat in his hand. He was studying the doors along the corridor, a perplexed look on his face.
“Pardon me,” he said as Liam drew closer. “Could you give me a hand? I seem to have lost my way.” His accent gave him away as a Londoner.
“Of course. What are you looking for?”
The man showed Liam his ticket stub. “I thought I heard them say to go down this hallway, but I must have been mistaken. These numbers don’t look at all right.”
“No, they’re not. You need to go down two decks.”
“Thank you. I was beginning to wonder if I’d lost my mind. The ship I took over wasn’t this complicated.”
“I’ll walk with you, if that would be helpful,” Liam said. “How long have you been in the States?”
“Only a day. I’ve done something impetuous, actually, and I hope it pays off. You see, I’m engaged to be married, and my fiancée is somewhere on this boat. She doesn’t know that I’ve come to meet her—she’s expecting me on the other side.”
“Oh?” Liam didn’t have a physical description of Lord Westcott, but this sounded too similar to Veronica’s situation to be a coincidence. “That is impetuous, but I’m sure she’ll be very glad to see you.”
“I hope so. My plan was to settle into my room and then go find her, but finding my room became the tricky part. I appreciate your help.”
“It’s my pleasure. My name is Liam Mason.” Liam held out his hand, and the other man accepted it.
“I’m Gervaise Hamilton—er, Lord Westcott, actually, although things like that don’t matter so much on this side of the pond.”
His suspicions confirmed, Liam grinned. “So, you’re the infamous Lord Westcott.”
The man looked startled. “Infamous? What do you mean?”
“Before I tell you, I wonder if I might see some identification or other proof that you are who you say you are.”
Mr. Hamilton raised an eyebrow, but he fished in his pocket and pulled out a number of papers, many of which had his name on them. “This is all I’m carrying at the moment—I hope this suffices.”
“It does. Now, this is your room here, but I can also escort you to meet your fiancée, if you like. As it turns out, my wife and I have been hired to travel with her and see her safely to your estate.”
Lord Westcott’s face broke into a smile. “What a wonderful coincidence. Yes, please take me right to her. I haven’t seen her in quite a while, and I’m rather eager, actually. Now that I know where my room is, I can wait to see it from the inside.”
They turned and walked back up the corridor. It was rather narrow, but they were able to walk side by side without brushing into each other. Liam wondered how confined they’d feel before they reached the end of their journey.
They climbed the steps to the next deck, then walked along that corridor for a few moments. “Here we are,” Liam said, raising his hand to knock. He tapped once, then waited, but there was no response.
“Maybe they’ve got up top to look around,” Lord Westcott suggested.
“I asked them to stay in their room until I came back,” Liam said, prickles rising on his arms. “We were going to explore together.” He knocked again, harder this time, and the door swung open—it hadn’t been closed snugly. He could see the entire room from the doorway, and it was empty.
He immediately reached for his pistol.
“I say, what’s going on?” Lord Westcott asked. “Is that necessary?”
“Yes, it is,” Liam said, edging into the room. It hadn’t been immediately obvious from the doorway, but now he could see that there had been a scuffle. Some things he’d seen Anna put on the small table were now on the floor, and if she’d dropped them, he was sure she would have picked them up. He’d shared a room with her for the last couple of days—he knew she was a naturally tidy person. “The ladies have run into some trouble.”
“What sort of trouble?” Lord Westcott’s voice was tight with anxiety.
“I can’t say for sure, but it looks to me like they left in a hurry—they were most likely tak
en,” Liam replied. He turned and looked at Lord Westcott. “Go see if you can find a steward. We need to alert the crew immediately and start an all-out search.”
The man gave one sharp nod, then disappeared down the corridor.
Liam turned back to the room, his eyes darting back and forth to see if he’d missed anything, some sort of clue. The edge of the blanket on the right-side bed was pushed in, as though something had been shoved beneath, and he bent over to see what it might be.
Anna’s pistol was under the bed.
She would not have put it there herself.
Cold resolve hardened in Liam’s chest even as fear raced down his arms. This was his proof—the ladies were in trouble, and they had been taken by force. Anna’s pistol had been on her person when they boarded the ship—he had double-checked with her, and she had committed to keeping it with her at all times. Where was she, and was she all right?
Chapter Ten
The man who stood on the other side of the door was not her husband, and Anna wanted to kick herself for not asking before she opened it. “May I help you?” she asked.
“Well, aren’t you a pretty thing?” he replied, a smirk on his face.
It didn’t matter who he was or what he wanted—anyone who would speak to her so familiarly wasn’t welcome in her doorway, and she moved to slam the door in his face. He wedged his hand inside just as the door made contact, and she heard a few bones crunch. It was sickening, but she didn’t open the door to set him loose—instead, she braced herself and kept her body weight steady.
Veronica’s eyes were wide with fright. “What’s going on?” she whispered.
“Look around for something you can use as a weapon,” Anna replied. With her feet planted firmly, she reached into the folds of her skirt for the pistol and brought it out, making sure it was ready.
The man on the other side stopped pushing against the door and seemed to have given up, but she didn’t think that could be the case. She suspected that he was planning to try bursting through—he wanted her to think he had given up. She wedged her foot against the side of the dresser, preparing for him to use all his strength in a sudden burst, and that’s exactly what he did. What she hadn’t planned, though, was just how strong he actually was, and he did knock her over. She tumbled across the room and onto the floor, and he stood in the doorway gloating.
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