by Wendy Vella
Then I shall shake you, Hannah Wooller. He could still not understand what had happened, especially after last night. She must have known what she was about to do, and last night had been what? Thank you, Alex, I no longer need your services? The thought left a foul taste in his mouth.
“I will call in the staff in case they know anything.” Woolly pulled the bell. “They are loyal to Hannah and I believe will not tell anyone she has gone.”
Alex nodded as questions tumbled through his head. Had she played him for a fool? Was last night to be her final hurrah, a parting gift? God, just the thought made him want to smash his fist into something. The proof was now there that he cared for her a great deal; in what capacity, Alex was uncertain, but his intense reaction to her departure and the reasons behind it would suggest his feelings ran deep. Did she reciprocate them at all?
Know that I care deeply for you, Alex, and always will. The letter had said she did, but was it mere friendship? Friends would not have done what he and Hannah had last night, surely.
“Please have the staff gathered at once,” Woolly addressed the butler.
“Also bring paper and ink,” Alex said, realizing they needed help to find Hannah quickly and locate this danger she spoke of. “We will be writing notes, Woolly, and need them delivered by your most fleet-footed staff.” The butler acknowledged Alex’s words before leaving.
“Who do you write to, Alex?”
“We cannot do this alone, Woolley, we must ask my brothers, Ace, Luke, and Will for help. Their contacts are vast and varied and if we are to uncover this danger that has forced Hannah to flee, then they are our best hope.”
“Yes, you are right, and you cannot go unless you know in what direction, Alex. Hannah is clever, but alone she is no match for us. With their help, we should be able to find which direction she has taken. As much as it chafes us to wait, we must be sensible about this, as we are not dealing with a fool. Hannah will have thought this through and planned her moves.
Alex knew the wisdom of the words but hated the delay. “I would ask you not to disclose the details of Hannah and my liaison, or lack thereof, Woolly.”
“Of course, if that is your wish,” Woolly said.
“It is.”
“She must be terrified, Alex. To leave us all behind and flee in the middle of the night would affect her deeply. Hannah may not show her feelings as some, yet she is sensitive,” Woolly said. “She loves deeply and has never been away from us for more than a few days. This… Running as she has would have taken a great deal of courage and desperation.”
“Yes, but it angers me that she chose to run instead of telling us.”
“Yes,” Woolly agreed. “It shows the state of her mind that she did.”
Woolly wrote notes to Will, Ace, and Luke, while Alex wrote to Ben and Finn, asking that they call immediately. They then began to question the staff that had just filed into the room.
“My daughter left this house during the early hours of the morning. I wish to know if any of you saw or heard anything, or know any details relating to her departure.”
Alex ran his eyes along the staff as Woolly spoke to them. He noticed one of the footmen was looking uncomfortable.
“She may be in danger, so if you know anything, step forward and tell me. There will be no consequences if you speak now. Do not think through some misguided sense of loyalty to her that by keeping silent you are aiding her in any way. This is important, and even now she may be in danger.
“Miss Wooller gave me a package last night and told me to take it to a location in London.” The footman who had looked nervous spoke. “She told me that I must place it on the doorstep at 1:45 p.m. this day. I was then to hide, and wait until it was collected. Only then was I to return here.”
“Bring the package here at once,” Alex said quickly. If this was the key to the danger Hannah was in, they would take steps to deal with it immediately, and then she would be free to return. Not that he’d let her stay away, but once he reached her, he would be able to convince her to return if the danger was gone.
The footman left, and the staff followed, leaving a heavy silence to settle over the room as both men thought about Hannah.
“Where is Hannah, Papa?” Bridgette ran into the room and to Woolly’s side. He wrapped an arm around her, hugging her close. “Papa, please tell me.”
“She has left London because she fell into some trouble, poppet, and now Alex is about to retrieve her, but first we will be having a meeting with our friends to determine the best course of action.”
Most parents would have fobbed the child off, and sent them from the room, but not Woolly. Hannah had once told him that her father believed a child had the capacity to understand a great deal more than adults gave them credit for.
“Is she going to be all right?” The young girl’s face was pinched with worry.
“I believe she will, Bridgette, but it may take Alex a few days to locate her, perhaps even more, and while she is gone, we will be ensuring the trouble that sent her away has been dealt with.”
Alex saw the anger in Woolly, and knew that like he, Hannah’s father would ensure there would be retribution if there is a blackmailer or someone who had threatened her in any way.
“You go and take your lessons now, and I shall tell you when I have news, Bridgette.”
The young girl nodded and reluctantly left the room. Minutes later the footman returned with the package. Ben, Finn, Will, Ace and Luke arrived as Alex was opening the note, Hannah had written.
“What is afoot, brother?” Finn asked.
Alex told them what he knew. He explained about the notes they had received and that Hannah had left due to some kind of danger. He then read the note that was in the package the footman had handed him. Everyone listened, faces grim, as he began.
“I have left London, and this is the last payment you will receive from me as I have come to understand that the threat you pose to those I love will forever hang over my head. The jewelry I have given you will achieve a pretty sum, and it is my hope that will appease you until you no doubt seek another victim, though I wish you would not. No one will know where it is I go and I will not be returning to London. What you did to Lionel Jacobs before my eyes will surely see you in hell one day, and I shall rejoice in that knowledge.”
“What?”
Alex looked up as Woolly barked out the word. His face was pale as he fell into the nearest chair.
“You mentioned Lionel Jacobs?”
Alex nodded.
“He was my sister’s worthless husband.” Ashen faced, he looked at the men in the room. “He is Bridgette’s true father; I took her from him after my sister’s death as he was mistreating her.”
“He must have been blackmailing her, using Bridgette in some way as leverage,” Will said.
“What did he look like, Woolly?” Alex asked. The description did not match the man who he had believed was following him.
“The man in the pub that day,” Ben spoke his thoughts, in tune with his twin. “He did not match that description, Alex.”
“So did Jacobs have an accomplice who turned on him?” Finn asked. “Furthermore, what did Hannah see done to this Jacobs to induce her to flee?”
“Hannah spoke to me last night at the theater,” Ace said next. “She explained that a friend of hers was being blackmailed and she wanted my advice.”
“She asked you but not me!” Alex paced a few steps. Cursing soundly, he then glared at Ace. “What did you say to her?”
The big man didn’t react to Alex’s roar, his voice remaining calm. “I told her that should her friend ever need my help, I would be there to assist. She then asked whether I thought leaving London was a sound notion. I said it may be, but that the threat would still be there when she returned.”
Alex couldn’t think he was a mass of conflicting emotions, chief among which was fear. Where was she?
“He must have murdered this Jacobs,” Ben said. “That would ha
ve terrified her enough to make her realize the danger this man presented to the people she loves.”
Alex nodded. He had come to the same realization. Had Hannah witnessed the murder of a man? Had that made her run?
“He would have done so to show her he meant what he said about harming the people closest to her,” Ben added. “The threat would have seemed real after that.”
“It is supposition, but seems the most likely scenario after my conversation with her last night,” Ace said slowly, and Alex could see his mind was working through things. “And if this is indeed what has taken place, then the man will be made to pay.”
“Yes.” Alex hissed the word. “And now we must find her.”
“I have sent men to check the stage, but hold out little hope that she would have travelled on that. My daughter would not make it easy for anyone to find her if she wishes to remain lost,” Woolly said.
“So she may have used a hackney, hired a carriage, or be on horseback?” Finn said.
“She hates riding,” Alex said. “Hiring a carriage is the logical choice for her. If you will all use whatever resources you have, we should between us find her direction,” he added.
“And this man?” Ben said, pointing to the jewelry on the table before them. “We need to catch him now, today, in,” he pulled out his pocket watch, “one hour.”
“We go now,” Ace said. “We should have news by then of Hannah’s direction and Alex can leave immediately after we have dealt with him.”
“I shall accompany you,” Luke Fletcher said. He did not talk a great deal, but when he did he was a man who made people listen.
“I am grateful to you all,” Woolly said. “Although it chafes me to do so, I must stay with Bridgette, as she is distressed over her sister’s disappearance.”
“I will come along, I think,” Will said with a nasty gleam in his eye. “It seems the more people that greet this man the better.”
“I could do with an outing.” Finn slapped his gloves against his thigh and Alex saw his brother as others must have seen him upon occasion. He, like the others, could look threatening when required.
“I too will keep you company and then go with Alex,” Ben said.
The men rode in silence through the London streets. They arrived at the location, and left their horses a distance away. There were a few people about, and the six men were an imposing group who drew plenty of eyes from both men and women.
Alex knew he looked grim and could not draw a smile or nod for passersby. He just walked and thought about Hannah. Christ, where was she?
They found the narrow lane, and while the others slipped into the shadows, Alex walked to the end and placed the package of jewelry on the doorstep as required. He then found a place to hide beside his brothers. The hand they each put on his shoulders was reassuring, but did not offer the comfort it should, and Alex knew he would find no comfort in anything until Hannah was found.
Alex recognized the man as he walked past where he and his brothers hid in the shadows. He was the one who had been following him, he was sure of it. Not overly tall, neatly dressed, he looked like a man of affairs, and Alex wanted to kill him with his bare hands. His footsteps faltered as he drew near the run-down building and his eyes fell to the package. He hurried then; no longer confident, he dropped to his haunches and picked it up. Opening it, he found Hannah’s note, letting the jewelry spill to the floor.
“Foolish woman!”
Alex reached him first, pulling his pistol and holding it to the man’s head.
“That foolish woman happens to be the woman I care deeply for,” he said in a surprisingly calm voice, considering the rage that chorused through him. “Stand,” he ordered.
“What is the meaning of this?” The man’s eyes went from Alex to the men who stood at his back.
“You have been blackmailing Miss Wooller, and that makes me very angry,” Alex said.
“I-I know nothing of what you speak.” The man was now sweating profusely. He knew exactly what Alex meant.
“It is also my belief that you killed a man in front of her,” Alex snarled. “Lionel Jacobs.”
“H-how do you know that?”
“We are intelligent men.” Alex moved closer, intimidating him. “You murdered him, her uncle, before her eyes, although I suspect he was blackmailing her first.” Alex knew his words were accurate when the man staggered back a step. Thrusting his pistol to Ben, Alex lunged forward and punched him hard in the jaw, sending him into the door behind him. Picking him up, he then hit him in the stomach. “I should kill you like you did Jacobs, only this time it will be we who witness the murder, not a sweet, innocent woman, who should never have been placed in that position!” Anger consumed Alex as he thought about what Hannah had suffered at this man’s hands.
“I was paid to do it!”
“That will do, Alex.” His brothers pulled him off the man as he screamed out the words.
Alex shook them off and looked down at him. He was on his knees, his nose bloodied, no longer the neat and tidy confident man who had arrived minutes before.
“Who paid you?”
The man talked, telling them everything he knew. Alex had never had an urge to kill anyone before, but right there and then, he wanted to. Instead, he walked away flanked by his brothers, leaving the man in the hands of Luke, Will, and Ace, with anger raging inside him.
“We will deal with the other one also, Alex. You go and find Hannah,” Will said. Alex could only nod.
They walked down the lane and back toward where they had left their horses. Alex inhaled deeply as he felt the sun on his face once more.
“Breathe again, Alex.” He did as Finn asked, and took the handkerchief Ben offered to wipe the blood from his fists.
“Stop now, and let me look at you.” Finn fiddled with his necktie, Ben wiped the sleeve of his jacket and did something with his hair, and he let them. Suddenly, he was exhausted. The emotion that had been riding him had drained away, and he felt almost weak.
“Easy now, Alex. This is natural after such an incident; your strength will return in minutes. Walk to his left, Ben, and I shall take the right.”
They chatted over his head, nodded when they encountered anyone, and by the time Alex was mounted, he felt his body return to normal.
“Remind me not to threaten Hannah,” Ben said. “I have never seen you in such a rage, brother.”
“I don’t remember parts of it, I just remember the blind fury that he had dared to harm her, and do what he had to Jacobs in front of her. If you had not pulled me from him, I would have killed him.”
“’Tis a natural reaction when you care deeply for someone,” Finn said. “Remember my behavior when I was coming to that realization with Phoebe?”
“The drunken episode.” Ben snorted.
Alex remembered the day the twins had found their brother lying face down, drunk, after he had made a mess of things with Phoebe, before they had wed. They had never seen him that way before.
“Love makes fools of sane men,” Ben said. “But it will never do so to me.”
“We shall see,” Finn said. Alex, however, said nothing.
He rode home with his mind working through what must be done. Once there, he collected what he would need to travel light. Ben stayed with him, so he packed enough for him also. Finn went home to be with Phoebe after giving his brothers hugs and telling them to stay safe and send word the minute they found her.
A messenger arrived as they were preparing to leave his lodgings.
“’Tis word from Luke. A lady matching Hannah’s description hired a carriage in the early hours of the morning. The driver said to the stable boy that their destination was Bristol.”
“It could be a trick on her part,” Alex said, swinging himself into the saddle. “But we shall ask en route; someone will have seen her.”
He would have her by nightfall, and he would put his faith in his friends to deal with the bastard who was behind everything. With h
is brother at his side, Alex left London, determined not to stop until he had located Hannah.
“I wish to procure a room for the night, if you please.” Hannah looked at the proprietor. “Also to purchase a ticket on the morning’s stage.”
“All alone are you?” The woman placed a hand on the counter and peered left and right.
“Indeed I am,” Hannah said, keeping the smile on her face. “I’m a governess, and journeying to my next position in Bristol.”
The day had been a long one. She had made the driver take several different routes and double back, much to his disgust, and he now believed she was quite mad. She had stopped at each posting house they encountered and given a different name, but finally she had found the location she would stop at for the night. The stage came through this village and the next one would be there tomorrow morning. Hannah would be on it.
The woman sucked in air through the gap made by a missing front tooth as she contemplated Hannah. Her face was flushed pink and sweaty, her cap crooked, and she wore a woolen shawl even though the day was warm. The scent emanating from her was earthy and while Hannah did not believe herself a snob, she understood the benefits of soap and water and the liberal use of both. Just a brisk wash with a cloth, and a person looked and smelled a great deal better.
“Governess, you say.” The woman passed her eyes over Hannah, starting with her deep blue velvet bonnet and then her matching coat. She could get no further than her knees, as the counter blocked her view. “It must pay you well then.”
“I make my own clothes,” Hannah said quickly.
“Well don’t we all, lovey, however not many of us have such fine cloth to make ’em with.”
“My dearest friend is a seamstress, and dresses us both from clothes people do not want. It saves us a great deal of money,” Hannah said, wondering when she had become so proficient at lying. It seemed to roll off her tongue as easy as breathing, which should be disturbing, yet was not considering her life had turned on its head in just a few days. A man had been murdered before her eyes; she’d made love to Alex and then run from her family. It would take a lot to distress her further now.
