“I found out yesterday. I knew saving Mrs. Carson was important, so I planned to wait until you completed the case before telling you about Xavier. I wasn’t certain how well you would function once you knew.”
Vic glared at him for his last statement.
“You said saving Mrs. Carson was critical, so I withheld news that might have knocked you off your game. I won’t apologize for it.”
“But we lost a whole day!”
“No, we didn’t. I spent the day sending out whispers of a large reward for anything known about a one-eyed beggar man.”
Vic leaned forward. “Did you discover anything?”
“Not yet. These types of things take time to float about. Now are you still interested in saving these girls, or shall we focus on Xavier?”
Her heart said to forget the girls, but she couldn’t. Mrs. Yarrows’ niece might be one of them. “Do we have any information at all to help us search for Xavier?”
“All Stone would tell me is that he disappeared after he left you.”
“Well, that’s more than he told me,” she muttered.
“He’s afraid you’ll get yourself killed searching for him.”
“Stone told you that?”
Jacko nodded. “He has a great respect for your abilities to locate trouble. However, he thinks the person or persons Xavier pursued are more than you could handle.”
“Besides trying to keep me off the playing field, are they doing anything to find him?”
“They have mounted a most impressive manhunt. In fact, the London docks have probably never been safer than just now. I expect one out of three men we see will be a Queen's Man or Rifle searching for Xavier.”
This both relieved and discouraged Vic. “And yet they cannot find him?”
“Not yet. However, on the positive side, he remains alive.”
“How do we know that?”
“Believe me, if he were dead, the culprit would have dumped his body for anyone to find. The Royal Rifle Corp are systematically searching every building in the London Docks and wreaking havoc on those dedicated to the business of crime.”
Vic sighed with relief. “Then until we have further information, let’s stay focused on Mr. Robinson’s maids.”
Jacko’s smile returned. “You are indeed a worthy partner for my friend.”
Chapter 10
Jacko remained awake and alert as they drove to The New Royal Exchange. When they arrived, Vic admired the eight Corinthian pillars soaring forty feet into the sky, where they supported a large and impressive triangular sculptured relief, honoring commerce.
Vic frowned. Such a respectable building hardly seemed a place to sell young ladies. “I need to go inside.”
Jacko yawned and stretched. “May I suggest we do that after our tour of the docks?”
“Yes, we should do that first.”
He leaned out the window. “Davy, take Kingswell Avenue down to Lower Thames.”
Davy’s voice snapped back. “Are you mad?”
“Trust me, if Vic stays in the carriage, we’ll be fine.”
“Is Vic going to stay in the carriage?”
Vic leaned out her window. “Yes! Now will you please do your job?”
She slammed against her seat and cursed beneath her breath.
Jacko chuckled. “He’s just trying to keep a promise to Xavier. Cut him some slack.”
As they crept along the crowded street of Kingswell, Vic scowled. “I don’t know why all the fuss. This isn’t so bad.”
“Except for an abundance of pick-pockets, this area is an odd mixture of honest merchants, not-so-honest merchants, bankers, sailors, middlemen, and agents. I suspect Jonston went to the New Royal Exchange in search of a middleman who deals in illegal goods. A couple of them lease offices on the second floor. Honest merchants dealing in common trade do not require offices. The center of the building is an open court with a statue of Queen Victoria reminding everyone to behave. At three o’clock, every day, the space fills with merchants and traders.”
Vic stared at Jacko. “You certainly know a lot about it.”
He shrugged. “I’ve been in the place once or twice.” He redirected her attention to the street as they turned on to Lower Thames. “You’ll notice a drop in traffic and your safety.” As if to confirm the sincerity of his words, he withdrew both pistols from his shoulder holsters.
Vic withdrew her gun, as well. The neighborhood sank into depressing poverty. Heaps of trash gathered against the buildings like giant fungus. Rats scurried about, fearless and aggressive, fighting over the slightest scrap of food. She was not surprised men living in such a place could easily grow up as mean and vicious as the vermin.
“We’ll pass Ransom Alley soon.” Jacko shifted and tensed.
“Can we drive up it?”
His brow rose as if her question were pure madness. “No. It’s just a winding footpath between the buildings. If Jonston took the women to line his pockets, then he took them to Dragon’s Cloud. The main entrance is on Albert’s. However, procurers come and go through the alley.”
Vic didn’t see anything but mounds of trash before they passed it. “Any chance of getting Davy to go back and stop?”
Jacko snorted. “Not a chance in hell.”
Why does he have to laugh at everything I say or do? Alice Collins would do the same when Vic used to accompany Aunt Maddy, Alice, and Mrs. Carson to Suffragette meetings. For some annoying reason, the young lady thought Vic the most amusing creature on earth.
“You and Alice would make the perfect couple. You could just follow me around and laugh all day long.”
Jacko’s focus turned to her. “She’s married, is she not?”
“Not! Nor ever likely to be.”
Jacko leaned forward, his fingers rapping on his knee. “And why is that?”
Vic chuckled as she recalled some of Alice’s pranks on men. “She loves to test suitors by fire, and frankly she hasn’t the dowry to bribe them into endurance.”
“Test them how?”
Surveying the area, she continued, “My favorite was when Alice went out on a lake with Alton Dobbs and purposely tipped the boat to see if he would first save himself or her. He latched on to the overturned boat and called for Alice to swim to him. She was so annoyed he saved himself, she swam to the shore and failed to tell anyone he required rescue until two hours later, when during lunch, her mother asked what she had done with Alton.”
Vic laughed at the memory. “After lunch, we went down to the lake and found him clinging to the boat, bleating for help.”
Snorting in contempt, Jacko shook his head. “Good. A man who would save himself before a lady is no man. He deserved to drown.”
“Not likely. The lake was very shallow. Had he bothered to stand, he would have discovered the boat was in five feet of water.”
“I’m glad she did not marry this fool.” Jacko leaned back. “Tell me more about her.”
Vic noticed his fingers rapped excitedly on his leg. Good Lord, was he intending to steal Alice? Vic chuckled. That would be an interesting match. Further consideration of the possibility caused her to frown. Then they really would follow her around and laugh at her in unison.
She regretted mentioning Alice, but Jacko would not yet relinquish the topic. “So what is it you don’t like about this lady?”
Vic sighed. “I should like her, and I used to like her. We were good friends as children. But then she got it into her head she wanted to marry me. I tried to let her down easy, but she decided to ridicule what she couldn’t have. For the last six years, she’s persisted in this extremely irritating habit of laughing at me.”
“Have you ever asked her why?”
“No. I just pretend I don’t care.”
“Maybe you should talk to her about it.”
“Why bother? I am certain I’ve told you I do not like being laughed at, and you only laugh more!”
Jacko smiled. “I am not laughing in contempt of you, Vic
tor. I laugh at the wonder of you. I am filled with joy my friend has found such a perfect partner.”
She stopped staring outside and studied the incessantly amused pirate. “Really?”
“Consider my laugh a compliment to your extraordinary uniqueness. I think you most grand.”
Pleased with his explanation, she returned her focus on the bleak, garbage-filled, and foul smelling street. She liked he thought her a fine match for Xavier. Now, if only she could locate a one-eyed beggar among this garbage and turn him back into her partner, life would be complete.
Through the remainder of their tour, Jacko filled in details about the various sections and streets of the docks, particularly which were dangerous and which were only moderately so. Then they returned to the New Royal Exchange.
Jacko stopped her before she exited the carriage. “You might want to return your gun to your vest. If not, you’ll cause another riot.”
“Yes, of course. Are you not coming in with me?” Vic re-holstered her gun and buttoned her jacket.
“Not dressed as I am. You should be safe enough inside since you are only planning a look-about.” Jacko’s eyes drilled into hers as he said this.
She nodded in agreement. “Then stay here and try to get a bit more sleep.”
As she left the carriage alone, Davy objected at once, but got out-voted. Vic climbed the endless steps onto the deep portico. Men in suits clustered in small groups, talking, some with much gesturing, while others preferred to huddle and whisper. She walked through the crowded vestibule and smiled at the sunshine streaming into the open space before her. In the large open square stood the Queen immortalized in stone.
Being mid-noon, the merchants had not yet gathered, so the court seemed almost tranquil. She walked about the arcade-covered perimeter of the court and stared at the offices above. Locating the steps to the second floor, Vic continued her search among the row of offices. The doors on many declared themselves insurance companies. However, the names of some offices provided no hint to the nature of their services.
This lack of clarity frustrated her, and she decided to enter each and make inquiries as to their purpose. The first three doors she tried were locked, and no one answered her knock. The fourth was unlocked and she was able to try her clever plan.
“Good day, I work for the London Graphic, and we are planning a spread on the New Royal Exchange. Would you mind answering a few questions?”
The young man looked up from his desk. “You should probably speak to my father.”
“Oh, my questions are very simple. What does Clemmins & Sons do?”
“We are a logistics company.”
Vic tilted her head, hoping for more information.
“We ensure a smooth flow from the manufacturer of goods to the door of the merchant purchasing the goods. We can arrange any transportation imaginable.” The young man declared this with great pride and importance, as someone who expected one day to own the fine establishment.
“That is a grand business,” Vic said. “Thank you so much.”
His face fell in disappointment. “Is that all you need to know?”
“For now. I’m to gather a list of companies and their purposes for my editor and then he will decide which to feature.”
The young man frowned. “Well, be careful. Several of the offices on this floor are not completely honest about what they do.”
Vic grabbed a chair and pulled it closer to the fellow’s desk. “Can you tell me which. I’ll lose my job if I come back with faulty information and he highlights a company that is not what I’ve told him.”
Nodding, the young man leaned forward. “There are three you need to steer your editor away from. First, Stanford Partners are not agents for spices. They are opium dealers. Macroni & Salem deal in the sale and transport of humans, not livestock, and JB Goodnow claims to sell maps, but the man who comes and goes is a renowned pirate.”
***
Vic left the office of Clemmins & Sons with a great sense of achievement. She checked out all three of the dubious businesses. None were presently open for business.
She returned to the carriage and eased inside, so as not to wake up the suspected proprietor of JB Goodnow. She laughed as she sounded out the name: ‘Jacko Be Good now.’ Not bloody likely!
Chapter 11
Xavier relaxed on a soft cloud, basking in the sweet rays of Vic’s sunny smile. He enjoyed these exquisite moments and held to them as long as possible. He groaned as he felt the cloud dissipating. Fresh pain pushed the image of Vic away and the scent of rotting flesh filled his nose.
“Damn you, wake up!” a voice thundered at him.
Several sharp slaps pulled him into a painful, unpleasant reality. He remained blindfolded, but by the smell of his wound and his body’s weakness, he knew time was running out.
“Trouble?” Xavier asked once he regained use of his tongue.
“More than I thought possible! If I had known a tenth of the problems you would bring to my door, I would have told the boy to kill you and then killed the boy to remove the trail.”
Xavier knew exactly why he had not. “But you wanted the source of your leak.”
“Yes, damn you!” Seth bellowed.
“Which you still do not have, because you have yet to release me.”
Seth growled with frustration. “I cannot release you until the cargo arrives at its destination, and I cannot load the ship with Royal Rifles crawling about like the damn plague!”
“You’re a fool, Seth. You risk everything for a pittance.”
“It’s not a pittance.”
“What happens when ships arrive with far more tea than the merchants wish to buy?”
“I have the buyers in place,” Seth assured him.
“For all?”
Seth paused before answering. “Yes.”
“I think not. And if you don’t have firm contracts with money received in advance, then it becomes a buyers’ market and you are stuck with merchandise you cannot take to another city for a better price. Their local laws forbid the export of humans. And due to the powerful influence of your customers, you won’t find the customs officials bribable in this situation.”
Xavier found the man’s inability to understand the situation most frustrating. “You’re a man of logic, Seth. Just think what you would do if you were on the other side of this transaction.”
Something shattered against the floor. Seth then yelled at someone to get out. Xavier decided to deepen his tormentor’s pain. “You know what’s even worse? After they lower the price, they will want to keep the price down for future sales. Thus, your competitors will double the women they presently carry in order to make the trip worthwhile, perpetuating the market flood.
Another explosion of porcelain meeting the floor occurred as Seth spoke. “That will be their problem. Once I’m done with this sale, I’m done with the whole nonsense.”
“Why not end it now? Allow me to go home, and the Royal Rifles will leave you to your other valuable businesses. I assure you, Seth, if you persist in holding me, matters will only worsen.”
“They already have. There’s a grand reward floating about for any information about a one-eyed beggar-man.”
Xavier smiled. “Then you have very little time to save yourself. Release me and you will know who told me about your plan. Otherwise, you will not survive the onslaught before you.”
Hands grabbed Xavier by his shirt and pulled him up. Pain slashed through his body, almost causing him to black out. He concentrated on Seth’s scent of Indian spice to remain conscious.
“If I go down, I’ll take you with me!” Seth growled.
Xavier gasped and fought to remain conscious. “If you don’t release me soon, you will never have the chance. By the putrid odor of my wound, I’ll be dead within days.”
That remark earned him searing agony as Seth prodded the wound. Fortunately, Xavier fell into a black oblivion.
Chapter 12
Vic had ba
rely stepped into her home before Gregory snared her by the arm and held the Morning Herald in her face.
“Tell me you had nothing to do with this business!”
She stared at the headline. Gentry murdered and maimed in Bedlam
“Were you there, Victor?”
“Why would you think this has anything to do with me?” Vic asked, hoping he didn’t notice she evaded his question.
“Because Mrs. Yarrows seems to think you do.”
How many times had Xavier warned her never to tell civilians anything? They squeal like pigs under the slightest interrogation.
“If you caused Mrs. Carson’s death, Victor, albeit inadvertently, you will need to make amends.”
Vic stared at him in shock. “You want me to hang?”
“Of course not! I am certain this was not your intention, but that does not change the results. A fine woman is dead because of your misguided plan. You can begin your contrition by going to her daughter’s estate and apologizing for your actions. And take your sister. She will try to sway Miss Collins from going to the police.”
Her sister was probably heartbroken over Mrs. Carson’s supposed death. “Where’s Claire?”
“She’s in the garden with Jonas.”
Vic sighed in annoyance. “Well, come along so I don’t have to explain this twice.”
Her reply earned her a slap on the head with the paper. “If you do not possess more remorse than that, then you will hang!”
Escaping to the garden before she earned any more swats, she found Claire on a bench, weeping in Jonas’ arms. Vic sat down beside them.
“Jonas, you must swear never to repeat what I am about to say.”
The servant nodded and pulled Claire tighter, evidently wishing to protect her from the horrid truth that her ersatz brother had bungled a case and killed someone.
Vic waited until Gregory arrived and loomed over them before she spoke. “Mrs. Carson is not dead. She is at her daughter’s estate, alive and well. I don’t know the identity of the poor woman who died last night, and neither do the police, since Mr. Carson identified the dead woman as his wife.”
The Missing Partner (The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Book 2) Page 9