“Long story and I can only really tell you of my experience with the man. I can tell you while I drive; you’re shaking so much I’m not letting you behind the wheel.”
Charles stepped forward. “I think maybe it would be best if neither of you drive, considering you’re obviously upset. I came with some friends tonight so I don’t have my car, but I could drive you both home in yours, Jane?”
“Oh, yes, thank you, Charles. I’d really appreciate that.”
“Please tell your sister goodbye for us and that we were called away suddenly,” Elizabeth asked Will. The three of them hurried from the room, anxious to get home and see if they could find out anything that would help locate Lydia.
As soon as they left, Darcy enlisted the help of the two most capable and organized women in the room he knew to take over the running of the event. Jane was incredibly well organized and it was easy for them to pick up the schedule. He then found Georgiana still speaking with Caroline.
“Caroline, would you do me a big favor and see that Georgianna gets back to Pemberley? I have another appointment that I must leave for right now. I’m sorry, Georgiana; if I had planned better I would have had Carl drive you.”
“Nonsense!” Caroline answered. “Of course I can bring my dear friend home. It will give us more time together to catch up. You know I’m always here for you, Will.”
“Is everything alright, Will,” Georgiana asked with concern.
“Yes, of course. And thank you, Caroline. Georgiana, I’ll see you back at Pemberley later.”
As soon as that was arranged, he excused himself and found a quiet spot in the lobby of the hotel where the event was being held. Pulling out his smartphone, he began to make some calls.
His first port of call was a man he’d known most of his life, one that ran a highly successful and well-known hotel chain. He’d been a client of the firm for as long as Darcy could remember and also had one of his father’s restaurant franchises in one of his upper class hotels. Darcy quickly explained what he needed.
“I’m in rather a tricky situation to help at the moment, Darcy. I’m out in the middle of the ocean with a yacht full of important guests so I can’t neglect them for too long. I’ll tell you what I can do though, provided you can get us around any resulting lawsuits over breach of confidentiality.”
“I’m sure that wouldn’t be a problem,” Darcy confirmed. “And of course there would be no legal fees to consider if such a thing arose, although under the circumstances I’m confident it won’t come to that.”
“I’ll accept that. I know your word is your bond and I trust your ability to judge a situation. I also know you wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. What I’ll do is send out a block email to all my managers insisting that they order the reception staff to answer all your questions and provide as much assistance as possible. I’ll have to leave the rest up to you I’m afraid. It would be a different story if I were at home.”
“I assure you that your assistance will be invaluable and is very much appreciated. I owe you a great debt.”
“And no doubt I’ll call it in. Maybe you can take me to Vegas the next time you go,” the man said with a laugh. “I’ll have that email drafted right away.”
Darcy had no success with the first round of calls to the hotels owned by his business associate. He was entirely convinced that the man that had lured a sixteen-year-old girl out of her house for a clandestine meeting would be none other than the same George that tried to seduce his sister. He wasn’t sure how he knew exactly, but not only was it the typical modus operandi of the man, but it also seemed far too big a coincidence. The very fact that it seemed as if Wickham may have had a chance with Elizabeth but had decided to make a play for the much younger and less wise sister was exactly the sort of thing he would do. He would have seen Elizabeth’s intelligence and shrewdness and decided that he couldn’t fool her for long. Darcy just knew in his heart that the vulnerable, young Lydia Bennet was Wickham’s next intended victim, he just hadn’t been sure at what level she would need to be wooed. He wouldn’t put it past Wickham to arrange to meet at one of the classiest hotels around and spin some yarn about having a suite there or even be involved in ownership of the place. He had to admit it would seem as if he’d overestimated him because there had been no sightings of them at the hotels he tried.
He quickly moved on, using every contact he could think of, calling in favors and promising others. Finally, he struck gold. Wickham had checked in to one of the less salubrious hotels in the city along with a young girl he claimed was his cousin. Inwardly, Darcy cursed when he learned they’d checked in nearly an hour ago. He tried not to dwell on what that might mean for the impressionable Miss Bennet.
Confirming that they hadn’t been seen leaving the room, Darcy’s next call was to the police. It took some explaining but he eventually got them to listen and agree to respond. As soon as he hung up, he hurried out of the hotel and made a dash for his car, driving to where Wickham had been seen.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Inside the hotel room, Lydia was pacing the room, opening drawers and peering into the closet. “Why can’t we go down to the bar, George? It’s not as if anyone’s going to be looking for me or anything like that. They probably haven’t even noticed I’m gone yet. Besides, I’m not a child anymore.”
“Not in my eyes, darling, but in the eyes of the law you are. We have to be careful.”
“The eyes of the law didn’t stop you letting me have a vodka from the minibar,” Lydia replied with a giggle and a cheeky wink.
“That was to relax you, in case you were nervous about meeting for the first time.”
“I wasn’t nervous, George. We’ve been talking so long and shared so much it didn’t take a meeting for me to know you. But I must admit I do feel very relaxed.”
Lydia giggled again and twirled around in the chair by the desk. “If you’re not going to take me out, then I guess that means we need to find something else to do.”
George Wickham looked at the young girl and grinned. He had her exactly where he wanted her emotionally. He had intended to string her along for much longer, but she’d made it clear that she was more than ready to meet him face to face. He knew how petulant teenagers could be sometimes if they didn’t get their own way. He would have to play this one very carefully and try to find the perfect balance of keeping up the pretense that he was in love, not doing anything that would frighten her away when confronted with the cold, hard reality of it.
“What exactly did you have in mind?” he asked.
“Well I don’t know. You’re the experienced man of the world; why don’t you tell me?”
He pulled her chair towards him and kissed her, gently at first, testing to see if she would suddenly panic as soon as this became an actuality rather than a girlish fantasy. She didn’t.
A loud, insistent knocking came at the door.
“Just ignore it,” he whispered to her. “They’ll go away eventually.”
Whoever was at the door only knocked even harder, the sound becoming more of a pounding.
“Maybe you should answer it,” Lydia said, pulling away a little. “I’m sure it’s only someone who’s got the wrong room or something. It won’t take you a second to deal with it.”
With a sigh, George rose and walked to the door, opening it only halfway and peering out. When he saw the men in uniform there, he tried to slam it shut again, seeming to forget it was a spring hinged, fire door and would close only in its own good time. One of the police officers had more than enough time to put a hand on the door and place one foot inside the room.
“George Wickham?”
George knew there was no point denying it; it would only cause more trouble. He mentally kicked himself for not checking in under a false name but he hadn’t really expected Lydia to agree to meet him tonight and hadn’t been as prepared as he would like.
“Yes, why? What’s the problem?”
“We’ve been led
to believe that you are in the present company of a minor and we’re obliged to respond and check that out.”
Without waiting for George to answer, the officer pushed past him and strode into the room, immediately spotting Lydia sitting in the chair.
“How dare you barge in here like this! Get out.”
“I’m sorry, Miss, but we have a very serious allegation made against your friend here, and it looks like it’s been confirmed. Can we see some I.D.?”
“I don’t happen to have any on me right now, so no, you can’t.”
“That’s unfortunate for your friend.”
He wandered over to the dresser and picked up one of the two empty, mini bottles of vodka. “Looks like we can add giving alcohol to a minor to the lines of enquiry. Cuff him.”
Wickham began to yell as the second officer grabbed him and applied the handcuffs without ceremony. “This is nonsense! This girl is twenty-one, she told me so herself, didn’t you? Didn’t you tell me you were twenty-one?”
Lydia titled her chin defiantly. “Yes, I did, on several occasions, and besides, I didn’t drink any alcohol. George drank both of them. You can’t do this! We love one another! We’re planning on getting married.”
Her protests fell on deaf ears. “Since you can’t provide I.D. right now to prove your age, then we have no choice. Are you certain that you don’t have any on you? It would just make things much worse for you and your friend if we find out you’re lying.”
Lydia crumbled under the oppressive stare. She reached behind her for her purse and retrieved her student I.D. card.
A quick check by the officer showed her real age, and George was hauled out of the hotel in handcuffs to a second squad car waiting outside. Darcy watched it all from his car, wondering if they’d been in time. Lydia was escorted out shortly afterwards, still loudly indignant and defiant. The officer who’d entered the room ushered her into his car. Darcy breathed a sigh of relief.
***
“Lydia! Oh my poor, sweet, Lydia. Taken advantage of by some unscrupulous predator. Oh my poor girl.”
Lizzy and Jane glanced at each other, Lizzy gritting her teeth. Trust their mother not to see a single scrap of blame to lay at Lydia’s feet. Of course, she was really glad she was home safe, gladder than she would ever actually show, but there was another part of her that was furious with Lydia for worrying everyone so much. She would swear that her father had aged several years in the past few hours as they’d frantically tried to find some information that would help them discover where the silly, willful girl had gone.
Besides, being brought home in a police car and escorted to the door by two officers wasn’t exactly the kind of attention the family needed. She’d seen all the twitching curtains as she’d gone outside to meet the car. No doubt, this would keep the neighbors occupied with gossip for quite some time. Lizzy sighed. She supposed that with her mother’s antics, that should be something she was used to.
Lydia looked sulky as she pushed past them all as they stood crowded around the door. “He is not an unscrupulous predator; he’s the man I love! I can’t believe you followed us and called the police. You’ve ruined everything!”
“We didn’t follow you, my dear,” Mrs. Bennet cried, close to tears at her daughter’s tone.
“Well if you didn’t, how did they find us so fast? Of all the hotels, they just happened to hit upon the right one? Do you realize he could be absolutely ruined? Do you have any idea what you’ve done? We were going to get married!”
Lydia ran from the room, leaving Lizzy rolling her eyes and Mrs. Bennet wringing her hands in distress. “I had no idea they were to be married!”
Lydia wasn’t done. The screech that followed echoed through the entire house. “You searched my room and you’ve been looking at my computer! How dare you! I hate you all!” Her door slammed shut.
An awkward silence fell across the room. Charles cleared his throat. “Well, at least she’s home safe.”
Jane squeezed his hand and offered him a grateful smile. Trust Charles to entirely overlook the circumstances and teenage tantrum and instead try to find the bright side. Overlooking things was something that they’d all learned to do and it seemed as if Charles just fit right in with the family.
“I suppose one of us should go and see if we can establish how far this actually went and what we can do about it,” Mr. Bennet said, his face looking old and tired.
“I’ll go,” Kitty said, truly feeling sorry for her sister’s broken heart.
“No, Kitty dear, I think maybe it’s best if I go,” Jane said. “Charles, I’ll drive you home first.”
“No, I won’t hear of it. You’ve got family matters to see to and they must come first. I’ll give Darcy a call and he can come and pick me up.”
“Are you certain?”
“Absolutely.”
Charles made the call and Jane walked him to the door to wait. “I’m so sorry your first night home was ruined by all this drama. Not exactly the best welcome.”
“Jane, seeing your face again was the best welcome I ever could have wished for. It was all I wanted. However, you still didn’t answer me on whether you’d be willing to start over?”
“As if you could even doubt it for a second. I’d love nothing better.”
It was all the confirmation Charles needed to know that his feelings were reciprocated and that he hadn’t blown it with his misjudged phone call. He swept Jane up into his arms and kissed her, tenderly yet passionately.
That was how they were when Darcy pulled up outside. He smiled as he waited patiently for them, glad to see them reunited. He’d done a lot of soul searching after the accusations made against him and had come to realize that everything Elizabeth had said was true. He’d had absolutely no right to make the assumptions he had about Jane, certainly not the horrible one’s he’d made about Elizabeth, and had no right to make decisions for his friend. In attempting to make choices for him, he’d shown him a complete lack of trust, faith, and respect. As soon as he’d come to those conclusions, he’d made arrangements to have Charles brought home. The client hadn’t been happy and had threatened to fire the firm as his legal representatives. Darcy had told him that if that was how he felt he would need to go ahead—Charles was coming home regardless. The client would have been a big loss but Darcy had suffered much worse and come through it. In the end, the client had agreed to a replacement and now Charles was back home and his feelings obviously hadn’t abated one bit. Darcy could see now what he was utterly humbled to admit he hadn’t seen before. Charles and Jane were in love. At least there was one happy ending to come from all of this.
Charles finally spotted Darcy waiting for him and bade Jane goodnight. He slid into the car and blew out a breath. “What a night, eh?”
“Yes. It didn’t quite turn out the way I’d hoped, but it’s no surprise to me. Wherever that George Wickham goes trouble follows.”
“So it really was him then?”
Darcy’s jaw clenched. “Yes.”
“Do I dare ask how you know?”
Darcy explained his involvement and how the couple had been found so quickly.
“Well, it sounds as if you might be repaying a lot of favors for a long time to come so I’m really grateful. I think that poor family has enough discrimination against them as it is.”
Darcy chose not to comment on that statement. “Do you know if the police arrived before, well, in time…you know what I’m trying to say!”
“Yes, you want to know if they were in time to save her virtue. I’m afraid I don’t know.”
“I was thinking more of the case against him.”
“Ah, I see! Stronger case if something actually happened.”
“Exactly. If it didn’t, then it’s going to be a lot harder to prosecute him and make the charges against him stand.”
“I suppose we’ll just have to play the waiting game on that one. I’ve just had a thought though. Do you think I should have stayed over with the fa
mily? What if he gets bailed tonight and goes looking for Lydia?”
Darcy shook his head. “I would seriously doubt he has the funds and I also very much doubt there’s many he could turn to, especially if he has to explain what he was actually arrested for in the first place. He is a charmer, but most people don’t take all that long to see through him.”
“Good. I hope he stays behind bars for a very long time.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Darcy was right in his assessment. Nobody bailed Wickham out and he remained in police custody until the preliminary hearing. The DA gathered together the evidence they needed to present and to see if they were willing to take it to prosecution.
On the night in question Lydia had failed a breathalyzer test and emails exchanged between her and Wickham indicated she was in high school. However, Lydia was interviewed that night, and on several occasions afterwards, and every time, she refused to deviate from her story that she’d told him repeatedly that she was twenty-one and a consenting adult, and that she hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol that night. It didn’t bode well and Darcy was nervous about the outcome.
They only had two weeks before the hearing. Darcy seriously considered adding Georgiana’s story to the evidence but knowing how hard she would undoubtedly be grilled, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. His and Elizabeth’s sisters were not that far apart in age but other than that, they were worlds apart. Lydia was confident, bubbly, outgoing, and to some extent already making her own way in the world. It was obvious that she was a strong young woman who knew her own mind. Georgiana, on the other hand, was quiet, somewhat introverted outside of the family home, and had led a rather more sheltered life. Besides, she was back to normal now and the last thing he wanted to do was dredge it all up again.
Darcy decided to try another route, which paid off more than he’d hoped for. A source turned him onto a promising lead. He and his team work frantically up to the day of the preliminary hearing.
Legally Darcy: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice Page 19