by Kristi Jun
~ ~ ~
You deserve to rot in hell, Kate.
The look on Roberts’s face, the rage and worry all mixed in one was enough for her to want to confess to him this all had been her doing. But then she recalled the fight, the threats, witnesses, and all the possible thing that would go wrong, the people Johnathan would hurt as long as he was here.
After they had gone over the names of the guests after the incident, they left the ball. He’d been so gentle on the ride back to Blackthorn Hall, making sure she was comfortable. She rested her head on his shoulder and he held her hand. Unexpectedly, warm, regretful tears fell down her cheek, and she wiped them again. He looked at her, tipped her chin up to meet his gaze, and kissed her.
“If only I had been there,” Roberts said.
“It’s not your fault.” It’s your doing, Kate.
“The important thing is you are all right, love.”
“I want you to know, no matter what happens between us, you have given me so much.” She paused and searched his eyes, not knowing exactly what she was looking for. “You are a good man, Roberts.”
“What happened to calling me Thomas when we were alone?”
She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder once more. “Thomas, thank you.”
CHAPTER 19
Last night, when he brought up to her what he’d seen when he had followed her, she was irate. This had turned into their first fight. She accused him of not trusting her, and she was right. But that didn’t excuse what he saw.
He wanted answers.
She wouldn’t give them.
Instead, she demanded he leave her be. He realized he wasn’t going to get any answers from her then, so he left the room feeling regret and anger.
He’d give her time, he had thought. When she calmed down and gave it some time, he’d question her again. With that determination, he had left her room for the evening.
Before coming down for breakfast, he stood by her door to listen for any movements. When he heard none, he assumed she was still asleep. Or wanted to be left alone.
Not wanting to disturb her, he walked downstairs to the morning room to join the girls for breakfast. The girls were sitting about enjoying their breakfast with Miss Quinn. He went to the sideboard table and filled his plate with warm food and sat down.
“Good morning, ladies,” he said, spreading fresh butter on his toast. “What plans do you have today?”
Looking up from her plate, Beatrice said, “We have lessons with our governess this morning.” She turned to Francis. “Where is your little mutt?”
Francis said, “Don’t call Puppy a mutt.”
“Of all the names, you chose Puppy.”
“She’s mine and I can make her whatever I choose to name her.” She stood up, the chair dragging on the wooden floor. “Puppy, where are you? Puppy? She was here a minute ago.”
For several minutes, he sat quietly, eating and listening to the girls distract him with their conversation about their lessons, the dog, and how much they had enjoyed the picnic with Miss Quinn midday. He needed this distraction, because he didn’t feel like eating. What he wanted to do was go straight upstairs to her room and demand she tell him what she’d been hiding from him.
Bark, bark, bark.
“Puppy?” Francis said, and ran out of the room before the governess could stop her.
Bark, bark.
“Francis, come back this instant,” Miss Quinn said. She turned to Roberts and said with a faint smile, “They are still learning.”
Roberts heard muffled voices coming from the hallway, followed by several frantic barks from Puppy again.
“I will go see what happened.” Robert stood and walked out of the room. Halfway up the stairs, he heard a loud scream.
Robert swiftly stepped up the stairs two at a time and stopped at the threshold of Kate’s room. The door was a jar. Puppy was in the middle of the disarrayed room, wagging her tail, and Francis’s hand was covering her mouth. The young maid was standing by Francis in disbelief.
There was glass from the shattered window. The bed wasn’t made. He walked in and picked up Puppy and handed her to Francis.
“Everything will be all right. Go downstairs with your sisters and finish your breakfast while I look around.”
“Where is, Kate?” Francis said. “What happened to Kate?”
“I am sure she is all right. Now, go downstairs.” He gestured for the governess, who was now standing by the door, to take the girls back to the morning room.
When the girls left with Miss Quinn, he looked at the maid still standing in the room. “What happened?” he asked the young maid.
“My job, sir,” she said, frightened. “I bring her a glass of hot water every morning at this time, as she requested. When I walked in, this is what I saw.”
“Thank you,” he said. “You may go now.” He watched her scurry away. The window was shattered from the inside, so the struggle must have been in the room. Did someone sneak into the house last night?
Allowing the stillness to settle his mind, he looked around carefully. It could be the individual that attacked her at the ball. Or the witness may have arrived sooner than expected and went looking for Kate on his own. But how would this individual enter the house without him knowing? He barely slept last night, and the house had been ghostly quiet.
He looked around the room. No ransom notes. Nothing that gave him any indication who it might be.
It was a possibility that the man who had assaulted her could have followed them home. Parked nearby and waited until dark. But he made sure to check the perimeter before everyone went to bed last night.
“What the hell is going on?” he murmured to himself. Could it have been the American? There was only one way to find out.
He didn’t bother with the carriage. He borrowed one of the horses from the stables and rode hard to the Grafton Hotel where the marshal had said he’d been staying. Asking the front desk about the room number, he was told the man was staying in one of the suites on the top floor. Quickly he headed toward the stairs, but stopped when he saw the bastard coming down them with a slight limp. The black eye was starting to morph into a light shade of purple and blue.
“Well, well, what brings you here?” the American said.
What he wanted to do was drag him out of the damn hotel and demand the fucking truth about his relationship with Kate and find out if he was involved in her disappearance.
“Kate is missing,” Roberts said bluntly. Hell, he wanted to sock him hard in that goddamn face. “Did you have anything to do with this?”
He stopped in his tracks and frowned. “I want her to get what she deserves, but I would never kidnap her. That is not my way.”
“You better be telling the truth. Or—”
“Or what?” He shoved him, then adjusted his cravat and his jacket.
“If you didn’t, who did?”
Johnathan looked squarely at him. “How the hell should I know?”
“Let’s step outside, shall we,” Roberts said.
“For another round, perhaps?” the American jested.
He ignored the comment. “This is in your interest too.”
Once they crossed the large foyer and exited the hotel, the American said, “Have you considered she might be on the run? I’ve known this woman a long time and believe me, she is up to no good.”
“Why would she do that?” Even as he spoke the words, he hoped that was not what she was up to.
“The witness will be here in days’ time. She is guilty. I know she is. Why else would she run?”
“Or she could really be in trouble.”
Johnathan looked at him with exasperation. “You are so blind,” he said. “I trusted her once and she hurt every member of my family. And now they are all dead.”
“You honestly believe she is responsible for your family’s demise?”
“She brings trouble where ever she goes; you should know that by now.”
He did. But now wasn’t the time to argue about this. He was running out of time. “I think it will be useful if we worked together. Until I discover the body, I’ll assume she is alive somewhere.”
He chuckled. “You want my help?”
“It’s in both our interest.”
“If I help you, you don’t get to say shit about me taking her back to Boston.”
“If she is guilty.” Kane watched the American. “How do you know if your ‘witness’ isn’t here already? He could be the one responsible for Ms. McBride’s disappearance?”
“Impossible,” Johnathan said. “His ship doesn’t arrive for few more days. He has nothing to gain by committing such crimes. He is a respectable Bostonian and wants justice for my brother’s demise, and his stolen jewel returned.”
“She stole his jewel?”
He chuckled again. “She has fooled you greatly, hasn’t she?” The American tilted his head. “She is good at what she does and you, I am afraid, have been fooled.” He paused to watch Roberts’s expression. “This isn’t the first time she ran. In fact, she has done this twice before.”
Kane started for the door. “I suggest you keep an eye open.”
“I am telling you, if she doesn’t want to be found, it will be nearly impossible. It took me nearly two years to find her here.”
Roberts hated hearing this about her. How could she deliberately run from those she cared about without an explanation? Still, he refused to believe she ran for her own selfish interest.
“I will speak with the head nurse at the Foundling Hospital.”
“Why there?”
“She was a patron. She often delivered supplies and food.”
“Hard to believe.” The American continued, “When you are ready to hear the truth, you know where to find me.”
“Truth? What an interesting notion.”
Johnathan grinned. “Be careful, Roberts. She is not a woman to trifle with. I guarantee you, she is alive.”
Or dead, Roberts thought with dread.
He dreaded what he was about to say. “I will have someone search the Thames for a body.”
“If she is dead, it will save me the time of having to look for her.”
The instant he said the last word, Roberts’s fist met Johnathan’s face with a crack.
~ ~ ~
Roberts approached the nurse in the private dining room at the Foundling Hospital. It took several minutes to discover that Kate didn’t go by her real name. When he gave her the description, and that she was a patron, the nurse seemed to know who he was speaking of.
The damn woman. What was she afraid of? Why couldn’t she trust anyone?
“I haven’t seen her in days, Mr. Roberts,” the nurse responded. “We did have a visitor. A young man. He came by to drop off a letter, I believe.”
“What is his name?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Can you recall what he looked like?”
“About your height, dark hair, I’d say about your age.”
The description fit the man who had attacked Kate at the ball. “Did he say anything else that might be of help to me?”
“Is she in some sort of trouble?”
“She is, I’m afraid,” he said.
“Oh dear,” she gasped. “The man didn’t speak much. He asked that I give Ms. McBride the note once she visited, so I did. Except, it was her maid that came for it. I gave it to her.”
“If you think of anything, you can reach me here.” He handed her the address for Blackthorn Hall. He thanked the nurse and left the premises.
So, it seemed it may be the same man who attacked her at the ball. Kate may know the man, which made him infuriated. She vexed him greatly.
Why did she lie to him?
He stepped into the carriage with more questions than he started with. Damn, this was getting bloody complicated, and he didn’t like what he may discover in the future.
Not in the least.
~ ~ ~
Kate looked around the rented room near the Shakespearean theater that overlooked the Thames.
She left Blackthorn Hall right before the sun rose. Several times during the night, she heard Roberts move about the room, which prevented her from leaving earlier.
Waiting was torture, but there was no other way. Once she knew for certain that Roberts had fallen asleep, she arranged the room in a way that made it look as though there had been a struggle, then she took one look at her room before finally leaving.
Sneaking out of the house was becoming second nature to her. But this time, hot tears burned her cold cheeks and her heart ached with regret. But she didn’t allow herself to stop. She just needed to get some distance from the house, from Roberts. Then she would be all right.
She considered writing a letter to Roberts and Amelia but decided against it. That would negate her plans and Johnathan would, no doubt, come looking for her again. She commandeered a horse and rode off.
Poking the fire in the fireplace, the hot blaze felt good on her face. The rented room was minimally furnished with a small bed, a desk, and an armchair near the fireplace. She closed the curtain; she had no wish to see the Thames. By now the body should be floating in the river. The Thames River Police might have even discovered it and called upon the Bow Street Runners to investigate.
She let the thoughts go. There was no point in worrying about this as she would depart soon. She had heard about the exotic beauty of India, the food and the people there. It would make for a welcome change and be something to look forward to.
Since she brought nothing with her except a few dresses she had in her wardrobe, she needed to procure a few things before departing to India.
You are bloody hell going to pay for this.
So, this was it. This was where she’d say her farewell to the people she had come to know. It was better that they think her dead than to find out that she was a despicable person, someone never to trust. The US marshal was right. If they knew her, the truth about who she really was, they’d despise her too.
She was almost certain of this.
This was the best solution for everyone.
CHAPTER 20
Roberts spent nearly all day investigating her disappearance after he had discovered Kate was missing.
The last resort was speaking with the Thames Police. He dreaded this. The Thames River Police often pulled out bodies, mostly prostitutes, each week, if not each night, but this time, it was personal. He prayed, which was a rarity, to the God almighty to keep Kate safe.
In truth, he felt sick to his stomach when he was told a body had been discovered in the Thames early this morning. The police described the body and the dress the dead woman had on. When he asked for a description, he learned it was the same color and same design as what Kate had worn the previous night.
Initially, he denied it and demanded to see the body. Oh, God, how he regretted it. To think that he could not save her was unbearable. It felt like someone had pierced his heart a thousand times, took everything dear to him, and left him to face the carnage.
He vowed he’d find the damn killer, even if it took a lifetime.
Johnathan’s response, however, was a surprising one. He’d been there to witness the waterlogged body, the face barely recognizable. The foreigner had stared at the body for several minutes, then dropped to his knees, dropped his head, and fisted his hands on his lap.
For a moment, Roberts thought he heard sobbing.
Roberts had nothing to say to the man. After all, this was what he had wanted from the beginning, right? He wanted—no he needed—to grab the prick and toss him in the river. But what would that solve? Kate would still be dead. Although it would at least numb the pain of losing the woman he cared so much about.
The moment Johnathan stood up and looked at Roberts, he socked him one on the face. “That’s for Kate.” Johnathan deserved much, much more. The foreigner didn’t fight back. He just touched his bleeding nose and walked away.
Call it a curiosity, but Roberts followed him. What the bloody hell was between them, anyway? Maybe it was time Roberts asked him face to face.
Johnathan ended up in a tavern not too far from the Thames and ordered a bottle of scotch. The man drowned himself in it. Roberts might have joined him too, but he needed to remain focused and find the damn killer.
For Kate.
Roberts walked up to him and sat down on a stood next to him. The man was starting to crumble before his eyes. “Don’t you think you had enough?”
“I’m celebrating.”
“What exactly are you celebrating?”
“I’ve won,” he said. “She’s gone, and I have won.” He picked up his bottle and took a drink from it.
“Tell me you did it and give me the satisfaction of seeing you rot in hell.”
“I wish I could take the credit,” Johnathan said, “but no. It was not me.”
He was beginning to slur his words. For a man who was celebrating, he looked as though he just discovered he lost the woman he loved. Perhaps Kate was lying about having feelings for Johnathan. Was she? He thought with about it with an aching squeeze to his heart. “What is this twisted business you two had going in Boston?”
“Twisted?” he repeated with a frown. “Interesting choice of a word.”
“Elaborate,” Roberts demanded.
“I scooped her up from the filthy slums where I should have left her.”
“Why didn’t you?”
The American stilled, thinking. “There was something in her eyes,” he admitted, taking another sip. “Hope.”
“Hope?”
“Yes,” he said. “That little creature, as desperate as she looked, had eyes full of hope. She looked up at me as if I was her rescuer. And that damn smile of hers was infectious.” He paused and ran his hand though his hair. “So, I took her home.” He laughed. “It was the biggest mistake of my life.”
There was something in Johnathan’s voice that made him question things too. “Do you love her?” Roberts bluntly said.
Johnathan glared at him and chuckled. “Love?” he blurted out. “The only woman I have ever loved was my wife and it will remain that way.” He paused. “I suppose there was a time Kate looked up to me. More like a brotherly love, I suppose.”