The Missing Partner (The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Book 2)

by Liza O'Connor

  Waiting for the man to get control of himself, Vic once again decided Xavier’s absence was fortunate. He hated when men, even ersatz men, cried. Mr. Robinson’s outburst would have chased him from the room.

  “So you raised her?”

  He nodded and struggled to control himself.

  She thought some ugly truths might sober him up. “As your servant?”

  “Yes. I loved her as my daughter, but treated her as a servant.”

  “So she worked for you? Slept in the servants’ quarters?”

  “Of course,” he said as if any other possibility was inconceivable.

  “Did she know you were her father?”

  “No!”

  “How many of your other servants knew she was your daughter?”

  “None!”

  Vic sighed. “Your butler knew? Who else?”

  Mr. Robinson frowned. “My butler only presumed. I never admitted it.”

  Oh, if only Xavier were here to yell at him…

  “Who else on your staff was employed when Mary was born?”

  Mr. Robinson shook his head. “I have no idea.”

  “I’ll find out from your butler,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  “Why does it matter?”

  She thought the reason obvious, but evidently not. “If someone on your staff told Mary you were her father—a father who kept her as a servant in his household—then she very well might have intentionally left your service without notice.”

  Mr. Robinson’s mouth fell open as Vic’s terse words sunk in. “Oh, my God! When you say it like that…it sounds …”

  “Like the worst of betrayals?” Vic regretted her words because Mr. Robinson turned deathly white as if he might faint from his distress. She refilled his glass with another two inches of Xavier’s fine whiskey—fair payment for making her grumpy and out of patience with the clients. And if her client died from her cruel words, she was going to pour the whole bottle of whiskey down the sink.

  She handed Mr. Robinson the drink and knelt before him, taking his wrist in her hand so she could count the pulses. When the beats slowed a bit, she resumed her seat.

  “I’m sorry I upset you with my comment, but Mary’s knowledge at the time she left is relevant to finding her. That is why I need to interview all your servants to determine if any knew and possibly said something.”

  “Of course.”

  “Did you treat her differently than the other servants?”

  “Jonston could answer that better than I.” He paused and gave the matter some thought. “I thought I showed no preference…” Upon realizing this made his crime against Mary even worse, the man pressed his handkerchief to his forehead. “Then you think she ran away?”

  “It is certainly one avenue of investigation to pursue.”

  “What other possibilities are there?”

  “We will search for Angela Campbell and determine if she might be involved.”

  His eyes rounded. “Why would she? She had no use for the child.”

  “Not for a baby. However, a young woman of eighteen…You said she was petite. Was she beautiful?”

  “Yes. But I didn’t love her just for her beauty. I loved her because she was mine.”

  Vic inwardly growled. “We will leave no stone unturned, Mr. Robinson. That I promise you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Do you have a photograph or painting of Mary?”

  Mr. Robinson eye’s rounded as if he thought her mad. “Why would I have pictures taken of my staff?”

  She sighed. If Mary ran away, she couldn’t blame the girl. She could not imagine discovering an impartial, uncaring employer was actually her father.

  Yet the man wasn’t as disinterested as he portrayed. Now that Mary had disappeared, he clearly wanted her found and returned to him. Unfortunately, he continued to hold his daughter second to his place in society.

  Vic gathered a few more facts about the man, such as age (52), religion (Church of England), health (fair), and occupation (none) before escorting him to the door. “I will be by later this afternoon to interview your household.”

  “Will Mr. Thorn come as well?”

  “No. He tends to terrify the staff unnecessarily.”

  Mr. Robinson smiled at her. “You are easy to talk to. I hadn’t intended to tell you half of what I did.”

  “Yes, but that half you intended to hide will probably be why we find Mary.”

  She noticed Jacko lounging on the bench in the outer office and frowned. Before Mr. Robinson observed the slouching pirate, Davy nudged him to sit up respectably. She hurried Mr. Robinson outside.

  Once she closed the door, she turned her attention to Jacko. “I run a respectable office, here. In the future, you and Davy should lounge about in the kitchen when guests are afoot.”

  The dashing gypsy with his excessive gold chains, pirate garb, and long curly black hair chuckled in amusement. If she had one complaint about Jacko, it was that he was always laughing at her. At her, not with her.

  While Jacko proved impervious to her glares, Davy flinched. “Sorry, Vic. I should have done that. We’ll stay in the kitchen next time. You look out of sorts. Did the meeting not go well?”

  “It went fine. Damn idiot says he has lost his maid. I think she just left his service, but I’ll have to interview the servants to be certain.”

  Jacko stared at Davy in confusion. “You need my help to find a servant?”

  Davy gave a quick shake of the head.

  Vic’s eyes narrowed at Davy for dragging in Jacko. Then she smiled at the laughing pirate. “If I said yes, would you leave?”

  Davy grabbed hold of Jacko’s arm. “The answer is no. He’s here on my say.”

  “I’m the partner…”

  “And I have seniority.” Davy jutted out his chin. “And the main partner’s authority to hire Jacko.”

  Damn Xavier and his stupid order. “I need some tea.” She looked at Jacko. “If you’ll join me in the kitchen I’ll tell you my plan.”

  ***

  Davy insisted upon making the tea, so she could sit and explain her night’s excursion without distraction. At least, that was the reason he gave for working the stove. She suspected he had yet to forget the small fire she started two months ago.

  That fire had not been her fault. Xavier had distracted her with kisses and pulled her into their bedroom. Fortunately, Davy arrived before anything of importance burned. Unfortunately, the small mishap seemed to have seared into his memory. Since then, he usurped her every attempt to use the stove.

  She sat down and stared at the handsome pirate. “A friend of my Aunt Maddy’s has been incarcerated in an asylum by her husband for supporting the suffragettes. He claims she has lost her mind, but in truth, she’s only lost patience living with a stupid man.”

  Naturally, Jacko laughed.

  “This is not funny. How would you like it if I had you locked up for nothing more than your annoying smile? Just because I don’t like you constantly laughing at me, doesn’t give me the right to declare you insane and incarcerate you.”

  Jacko lost his smile and nodded. His damn eyes continued to sparkle with amusement, but if she complained about them as well, she’d appear petty.

  “Tell him what you’re planning,” Davy grumbled as he tended the stove.

  Vic ignored Mr. Busybody and focused on Jacko. “I’ve discovered where Mrs. Carson’s being held. Tonight, I plan to sneak in and get her out.”

  Well, at least that killed the amusement in his eyes. Now Jacko looked like a sinister, deadly pirate. “Where is she?”

  “A place called Bedlam.”

  His eyes darkened and his hands twitched.

  “Have you heard of it?”

  He nodded.

  “Have you ever been in it?”

  With narrowed eyes, he glared. “Not because of my laugh. But I have removed people from it before.”

  Vic’s heart quickened. “Truly? Then I take it back. I’m very glad
Davy called you in.”

  “You’re welcome,” Davy muttered as he joined them at the table.

  She reached over and covered Davy’s large hand. “Thank you, Davy, for bringing me skilled help.”

  “How long has your friend been there?” Jacko asked.

  “She’s been missing for two months. It took her daughter awhile to determine she was not on holidays as her husband said.”

  Jacko grimaced. “By now she may have really lost her mind. How old is she?”

  “In her fifties.”

  “Attractive?”

  “No.” She wondered at Jacko’s questions. Does he only save young, attractive women?

  “Well, she might still be sane, if they’ve left her alone.”

  “If who’s left her alone?”

  Davy nudged Jacko’s arm. “Vic don’t need to know that.”

  Her agitation focused on Davy. “I do if it’s pertinent to my case!”

  “It’s not. We just determined that. So let it drop!”

  Jacko rubbed his temple. “What exactly is your plan?”

  Vic gave him the details. His continual nodding throughout her explanation pleased her. She had thought her plan excellent, and evidently, Jacko agreed. When she finished, Davy faced Jacko with his brow furrowed. “What do you think?”

  “It’s a good plan. How’d you get your information?”

  Particularly proud of her clever method of gathering facts, she grinned. “I took the gentleman’s midday tour.”

  Jacko chuckled. “That was never an option for me. And when they let you into a young woman’s cell, what did you do with your time?”

  “I snuck out and checked all the cells in the hall looking for Mrs. Carson. When I couldn’t find her there, I picked a lock and entered another hallway. I found her in Ward 3.”

  Jacko leaned forward. “Could she understand you?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Did you tell her you planned to rescue her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tonight?”

  “I told her soon, I didn’t know at that time which night would be best.”

  “But she is expecting rescue?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you are certain she will remember?”

  “Of course, she will remember! She is not feeble-minded. In fact, she’s a very smart woman.”

  Jacko’s fingers rapped on the tabletop.

  She smiled. The pirate’s fingers always did that when he planned to steal something.

  “Your plan is good, Victor, but I can make it better.”

  “By all means,” Vic said. This was no time to allow arrogance to come before Mrs. Carson’s life.

  “I suggest you take your gentleman’s tour as you planned tonight, but instead of trying to sneak away to steal your friend, unlock all the cells in your assigned ward and rally those women to escape. That will call all the guards to your section, giving me more time to slip in and get your friend out.”

  Vic considered this change and then frowned. “No offense, Jacko, but I’m not sure Mrs. Carson will leave with you.”

  “Then write me a note saying I’m a good pirate. However, if the woman still has her wits as you claim, she’d walk out with Satan himself, if the offer came.”

  Vic doubted that, but ceased to argue. “I’ll write you a note.”

  “And give me the address of where I should take her.”

  Happy with the improved plan, she wrote out the note and address. As she handed it to him, she paused. Their new plan hinged upon Jacko’s ability to get in and out. “Exactly how will you enter?”

  Jacko laughed. “I know a way.”

  “And you’ve used it before?”

  “Several times.”

  “Then how do you know they haven’t discovered their weakness and fixed it? I mean if people keep disappearing out of the place, they have to wonder why?”

  “People disappear from Bedlam all the time. The sad truth is no one cares, not the officials and certainly not the guards. They’ll just mark her off as dead.”

  “But won’t Mr. Carson ask for the body back for burial?”

  Jacko shrugged. “He can ask, but he won’t get it. They sell the bodies for a tidy profit. Between the gentleman’s tours and the sale of dead bodies, the men who run the place have a lucrative business.”

  “All the more reason to plug their leaks…”

  “I give you my word they have not closed off my way in. If she’s in Ward Three, I can retrieve her—faster and with more certainty than you could.”

  Vic nodded. “I trust you.”

  Davy frowned. “That’s all fine and dandy, but doesn’t this plan leave Vic in the midst of a room full of mad women and held responsible for letting them out?”

  Jacko snorted and grinned. “It does, but I’m sure our young dandy can talk his way out. In fact, they’ll probably escort him to the gates.”

  Davy rubbed his thick hands together. “I don’t like it.”

  Jacko patted his friend on the back. “The boy will be fine. At worst, they’ll ban him from returning.”

  “I got a bad feeling about this,” Davy grumbled.

  Chapter 3

  Thunderous blows on the front office door interrupted their plotting.

  Vic set down her cup of tea. “I have no patience for clients today. Davy will you go down and tell the rude person that our appointment book is filled for the next three months and we cannot take his case.”

  Davy rose and hurried to the door.

  A few minutes later, she heard a familiar voice demand to speak to Xavier. Before she could go down and intercede, footsteps pounded up the stairs. She met the Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard in the second floor hallway. “Inspector Stone, is something wrong?”

  “Is Xavier here?”

  She had never seen Stone so out of sorts. Yet, it was not his clothes that were amiss. The black wool suit was as clean and tidy as ever, his white shirt collar remained crisp and well creased. Upon further study, she realized the difference was in his normally stern eyes. Today, those black orbs had a special flare of outrage to them.

  “No, I’m sorry. Xavier’s away working a case.”

  Stone opened his mouth to reply and then noticed Jacko standing at the door of the small kitchen. His eyes narrowed as he reached into his vest.

  Before the inspector could shoot her finely skilled help for the night’s adventure, she stepped in between them. “This is Jacko. He works for us.”

  “Jacko…” Stone eased his hand from his vest and turned his attention back to her. “It is critical I speak to Xavier.”

  “I’m sorry, Inspector, but I don’t know how to reach him.”

  Stone sighed. “I’m also sorry, but I will have to search these premises to verify he isn’t here.”

  His declaration both surprised and worried her. His sharp eye would quickly notice her belongings in Xavier’s bedroom. “I don’t think Xavier would approve of that.”

  “Well, he can come out now so it isn’t necessary, or complain later.” Stone entered the first door on the right, which as luck would have it, was their bedroom.

  Vic followed him inside. Stone checked beneath the bed, in the closet and for some odd reason pulled out the drawers of the dresser. “I don’t think even Xavier could hide in there, sir.” Her comment earned her a severe glare from Stone.

  “No, but if the drawers were shortened, he might have a hiding space behind them.”

  Vic thought that a clever idea. Perhaps she would hire a craftsman to make her such a dresser. She followed him to Davy’s bedroom, and watched him perform the same search. Finally, he entered the kitchen on the left side of the hall and checked the cabinets and pantry.

  Then he sighed with heavy frustration and looked at Vic. “May I speak to you privately?”

  She nodded and led him downstairs to Xavier’s office. She offered him a seat, but he chose to pace.

  “I need the truth, Victor. Has Xavier been her
e?”

  “Yes. He arrived at six and left at eight this morning.”

  “Eight? You are certain?”

  A pit of lead formed in her stomach. “Is he still missing from his assignment?” Panic set in. “Something’s happened to him, hasn’t it?” Vic demanded.

  “I don’t know. Was he in disguise when he left here?”

  “Yes, as a street beggar.”

  Stone rubbed his chin.

  Vic’s chest tightened in fear. “Is it possible the police picked him up?”

  His eyes rounded, as if surprised by her question. “Yes, it is. I’ll check the stations between here and the docks. Thank you, Victor, you have been most helpful.”

  Once she saw Inspector Stone to the door, she returned to her office. Now she understood her sense of dread. Poor Xavier had gotten himself carted off to jail for begging in the wrong section of town. She chuckled at the internal battle he must have fought as he endured the humiliation of arrest rather than reveal his true identity.

  Gathering a few items into her briefcase, she went in search of Davy and found him polishing the spare bit. “I need you to drive me to Mr. Robinson’s house.”

  “Why?” Davy asked.

  “Because I asked you to. Really, Davy, just because Xavier gave you permission to hire Jacko doesn’t mean you can challenge my every request.”

  ***

  Despite Mr. Robinson’s instructions to his butler to assist Victor, she sensed Jonston did not relish his assignment. He sat stiff and rigid on the edge of the chair with an expression of stoic suffering.

  Victor studied him, wondering how to penetrate his armored shield. She decided to sneak in, using the unreasonable employer card. “How many people work here?”

  “Thirty-two in total. Eleven in the gardens, nineteen in the house and two in the auto shed.”

  “The what?”

  Jonston sniffed as if a foul odor assailed him. “Mr. Robinson has purchased an automobile.”

  “Really?”

  “Ever since he’d heard the Honorable Evelyn Ellis intended to acquire a Panhard-Levassour, Master Robinson wanted to buy one, as well. A month ago, he purchased the contraption and hired two men to keep it running.”