Tenacious Trents 03 - A Reluctant Rake

by Jane Charles

  “They are going to kill us,” Audrey whispered.

  Jordan sank down onto the side of the bed. “I won’t allow it.” He longed to pull her into his arms and kiss away her fear but he couldn’t do a blasted thing with his hands tied. He needed a knife and tried to recall if he had pocketed his own this afternoon when he dressed to see Audrey. Anything he had done after leaving Newgate was a blank with only a few snippets of memory. Why couldn’t he remember how he got here? He always carried a small knife among other items but he never used the same pockets and liked to move things around. Why couldn’t he be more like Clayton with everything always in the same place and nothing out of order?

  He bit back a groan. It was because of Clayton and his need to have ultimate control that Jordan always moved things around, including the objects he carried. The problem was he couldn’t remember dressing today. He flexed his ankles. If the knife was in one of his boots he would be able to feel it. It wasn’t there.

  “Search my pockets. I must have something that will cut through this rope.” He would do it himself but it was impossible.

  Audrey wiggled until she could sit. It was difficult to find purchase with her hands shackled so Jordan grasped hers and pulled her forward. Where had Millicent come by metal shackles?

  She started in his upper pockets. The first item she tossed on the bed was his coin purse, quickly followed by a cheroot and flint. Her hands slid further down, finding a flask and corkscrew. She laid them on the bed with the other items and continued searching.

  Where was his knife? Jordan closed his eyes and tried to remember dressing this afternoon. Or was that yesterday afternoon? It had to have been yesterday. Surely he hadn’t left it at home.

  His eyes popped open. “There is an inside pocket in my overcoat, right side.”

  Audrey slid her hands inside his coat and felt around. When she straightened and her eyebrows shot up he knew she had found it. “Why didn’t you tell me it was there before?”

  “I couldn’t remember,” he bit out. Why couldn’t he remember such simple things?

  “What happened to you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  She lifted her hands and let her fingers trail down the side of his face. “There is blood on the side of your face, and a lump just above your temple. “

  Is that why Lydell used the excuse that he had hit his head? Jordan knew he would never fall in a carriage so Lydell must have hit him. Was that why he was having trouble remembering what happened earlier or why he couldn’t recall what he put in which pocket?

  Jordan shook the thoughts away. He would worry about his confusion and lack of memory later. Right now he needed to save Audrey. He held his wrists out to her. “Start cutting on the rope.”

  She did as he asked; sawing away and the threads began to break one by one. Occasionally she had to rest her hands. “I am sorry but these shackles are heavy.”

  “I know, love.” The metal was cutting into her tender skin and a few scratches had begun to bleed slightly as she worked on setting him free. Jordan would have done it himself if he could, but he had only Audrey to rely on for getting free of the ropes. Once they were both out of here he would take care of her wrists and any other part of her body that needed care.

  The rope finally gave way and fell to the floor. Audrey sighed and let her hands fall again. Jordan put his arms around Audrey and pulled her close. Feeling her softness melt into him and smelling the spring sent of her hair renewed him in a way nothing else could. They would escape this predicament alive.

  “We need to get out of here,” she said into his chest.

  Audrey was right. He would have all the time in the world to hold her later, if they managed to escape. He pulled back and lifted her hands. “Where did Millicent put the key?”

  “I never saw a key. She said she wasn’t certain there was one.”

  Jordan jumped from the bed and began searching table and dresser tops and drawers. There was no key to be found. Maybe it was in Millicent’s pocket because he couldn’t believe anything that woman said.

  “Maybe you could pick the lock?”

  He looked at her. There was the possibility. He picked the knife up again and studied the lock. “It doesn’t take a normal key but a screw.” He tilted the opening to the light so he could see better. “There are a series of groves and a lot of rust.”

  “Try the cork screw,” Audrey suggested.

  It was a much smaller tip and Jordan bent, twisting and turning the tip in the lock but he could not disengage the mechanism. “I am sorry, Audrey, but they are going to have to wait.”

  She bit her bottom lip and nodded.

  Jordan grabbed his knife and the corkscrew and approached the door quietly. He knelt on the floor and put his eye close to the keyhole. “I don’t see anyone in the sitting area.”

  “Can you hear anything?”

  “No.” Jordan straightened. “I think they left or are in another chamber.” He leaned down and looked again. “The other door is open. They must have left because Lydell closed it when we entered.”

  “Then we should hurry.” Audrey swung her legs over the side of the bed and walked toward Jordan. He began to fidget with the lock on the door. First with this knife, which was too wide and then the corkscrew. After a moment he heard the click and was able to turn the handle.

  Jordan stood and held out his hand to Audrey. “Let’s hurry.”

  She gestured for him to move forward and she would follow. It was probably best since he couldn’t exactly hold her hand. He grasped the knife and moved through the sitting area, pausing as they came to each separate door, waiting to hear voices or movement. There was complete silence.

  Jordan jerked at the creak of an unoiled hinge and tightened his grip on the knife. The door leading to the main hall was slowly pushed open further. With his free hand he pushed Audrey behind him.

  A head tentatively peeked into the room and Jordan relaxed. It was the driver. Surprise lit his face and he entered the room, gun drawn.

  “Mr. Trent, is all well?”

  “No.”

  The driver reached into his pocket and handed Jordan another gun. “I retrieved it from beneath my seat. Lydell was acting strange and I thought it best to do as he wished. I saw his pistol when he followed you to the house.”

  “Where have you been?” Jordan didn’t mean to sound harsh but he could have used his help earlier.

  “Trying to determine where he had taken you,” the driver defended. “Come along. We should be able to get out of here by the back stairs.”

  “Won’t the servants say anything?” Audrey asked.

  The driver snorted. “Each one of them is looking for a new position. They certainly are not going to inform their current employer that their kidnapped victims are escaping.”

  “He is mine,” Millicent screamed.

  “Not until I am cold in the grave,” Lydell returned.

  Jordan listened for where the voices were coming from. The two had to be standing at the top of the stairs or very near to them. Were they on their way back to the suite of rooms?

  “All the sooner would suit me,” Lady Lydell yelled.

  There was a grunt and thud. Had she attacked him?

  “You bitch,” Lydell ground out right before a gunshot echoed through the upper hall.

  Audrey looked to Jordan as what she assumed was the sound of a body falling down the marble stairs. Instead of trying to escape, Jordan altered his direction and moved to the main entry. Audrey followed him and gasped at the blood along the wall.

  “Good God,” the driver muttered.

  She followed his line of sight. Both Lord and Lady Lydell lay at the bottom of the steps. “Are they dead?” her voice was barely a whisper.

  Jordan put an arm around her waist. “I believe so.”

  Servants rushed from all directions, stopping when they came to the bodies of their employers. Where had those servants been when she screamed as Millicent held a knife
to her cheek?

  “I knew they would come to a bad end,” a footman muttered.

  “Someone should go for the magistrate,” Jordan suggested from the top of the stairs.

  “Did you kill them?” a maid asked.

  No, not again. Why were people so intent on casting Jordan as a murderer?

  “They killed each other,” another footman said.

  Audrey studied him as relief washed through her. “I was just coming from the library when I heard them argue. Lord and Lady Lydell were at the top of the stairs. She stabbed him and he shot her then they both fell.”

  It was rather odd. None of the servants seemed overly upset. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought they were discussing something as insignificant as the weather. How very sad.

  “I’ll fetch the sheriff,” a lad offered and was out the door quickly.

  “While we are waiting, could someone look in Lady Lydell’s pockets for a key?” Jordan lifted Audrey’s hands so they could see the shackles.

  A maid bent to do the task and didn’t seem bothered that she was going through the pockets of a dead woman. “She doesn’t have a key on her.”

  “Millicent said she got them from the cellar. Could it still be down there?” Audrey called down.

  An older gentleman nodded toward two younger footmen and they disappeared. She could only assume they were going to look for the key.

  “I’ll search their suite of rooms,” a maid offered and another followed her up the stairs. They barely glanced at Audrey and Jordan when they moved to let the servants by.

  There had to be a key somewhere. These shackles grew heavier by the moment and her arms were getting tired from holding them up. If she let her wrists drop her shoulders ached.

  Audrey and Jordan stood in the center of the stairs. She didn’t want to go down to the foyer because the bodies lay there and she would have to step over them, and she certainly didn’t want to return to the chambers they had come from. For lack of any place to sit, Audrey sank down on the stairs and rested her hands on her lap. There was instant relief to her arms and shoulders.

  Jordan settled beside her and placed an arm around her back and gave her a quick squeeze. Thank goodness he had arrived when he did. Audrey didn’t doubt that Millicent would have scarred her beyond recognition. A chill went up her spine recalling the feel of the cold blade against her cheek.

  Jordan glanced down at her and then took a handkerchief from his pocket. How had she missed that when she was searching for his knife? He dabbed it against the small point on her cheek where the knife had cut into her skin.

  “I would have hated Millicent for harming you, but scars would not have changed the way I feel,” he assured her, as if he read thoughts she was afraid to acknowledge.

  How do you feel, she wanted to blurt out, but now didn’t seem to be the right place. They were sitting in the middle of the stairs, his driver not far away and the dead bodies of Lord and Lady Lydell were sprawled on the marble floor in the foyer.

  The front door opened a short time later and three gentlemen stepped inside and took in the scene. Jordan rose and descended the stairs to greet them. Audrey didn’t have the energy or desire to go down there. Jordan could tell them what they needed to know. She simply wanted these shackles off of her wrists and to put this nightmare behind her.

  Jordan and the footman who had seen the argument stood to the side talking with two men, which Audrey assumed were sent to investigate the matter. Did they have Runners in Bath? It never occurred to her that they would be anywhere other than London but certainly crimes took place in other parts of England. She’d just never known of any.

  The third man squatted down and was studying the bodies. He wrote a few notes in a book then he took a pad out of his satchel and began sketching. Did they do this every time someone had been killed? It was all rather interesting though she wished she weren’t a part of it. She would rather none of this had happened or that she had learned about it by reading it in the papers.

  One of the gentlemen looked up at Audrey and nodded to whatever Jordan was saying. He broke away and mounted the steps and stopped a few before reaching her so that he wasn’t towering over her.

  “I am Mr. Hollings. Can you tell me what occurred?”

  Audrey sighed and began at the beginning, when she received the note from who she assumed was Jordan. She never did ask him if he had sent it but deep down she suspected it was Millicent to get her out of the house and alone. She would never trust so easily again.

  He nodded and jotted down notes as she spoke.

  “Your story is the same as Mr. Trent’s,” he concluded when she was finished. Did he think she would lie? Audrey glanced at the bodies.

  Perhaps investigators were used to people lying to them.

  “Is there a key?” He nodded to the shackles.

  “A few servants are looking.” Her voice was monotone and seemed to be coming from someone who wasn’t her. It was a very odd sensation and she really didn’t seem to care.

  “I hope they find it soon, those can’t be comfortable.”

  Audrey offered him a weak smile. They were far from simply uncomfortable.

  Footmen emerged from below carrying what appeared to be tablecloths. They were draped over the bodies before they were carried out. Some blood remained on the floor and a maid began mopping up the evidence that the Lydells had died there. Audrey watched it all with detachment. Would she ever get their images out of her mind?

  She studied the marble floor as the water dried and the shine reappeared. One would never know what happened here just a short time ago.

  The footmen who had been sent for the key returned.

  “I am sorry, Mr. Trent. We couldn’t find a key.”

  Jordan glanced up at Audrey. There had to be a way to get these off. She couldn’t wear them for the rest of her life could she?

  “Nor could we.”

  Audrey turned to the voice of the maid descending the stairs, the second one following her.

  “Is there is a locksmith in town?” Jordan asked one of the investigators.

  “Stevens won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon,” the man answered.

  Audrey wanted to cry. How could she stay this way for another day? She glanced out the window. It was already getting dark. She had been gone from home for over twenty-four hours. Her aunt and uncle must be beside themselves with worry. “Shouldn’t we return to London?”

  “Not until those are off,” Jordan indicated to her hands.

  “My family,” she began and didn’t finish.

  “Mine as well,” Jordan began to climb the stairs, coming back to her. “I will have letters delivered so they are aware.”

  “We will see that they are taken care of.” The man, who Audrey assumed was the butler, offered.

  “Thank you,” Jordan said before looking down at Audrey. “I’ll go pen the letters, will you be alright?” He studied her while he waited for her answer. She simply nodded.

  Jordan returned down stairs and stopped before the butler. “Did Lydell keep paper and quills in the library?”

  “Yes, Mr. Trent. That is where he worked.”

  Jordan nodded and disappeared down the hall.

  Audrey allowed herself to slump against the wall. She probably should get up and go downstairs but she really didn’t want to move from this spot. Everything seemed to ache and what she really wanted was a soft bed and deep, deep slumber.

  The servants milled about in the foyer, talking so quietly that she couldn’t make out what they were saying. The butler seemed to be giving instructions. A moment later they all dispersed, going in separate directions, leaving Audrey completely alone to stare at the spot where a woman she had known since childhood, and had been friends with, died.

  Jordan quickly wrote a note to Clayton and another to Audrey’s aunt and uncle. He did not go into detail, but enough to explain what had happened and to assure them that they were both well. He also advised
them that instead of returning to London, he would be accompanying Audrey to her parent’s home, or wherever her father happened to be to request her hand in marriage. Given the circumstances and that they were without a maid as chaperone, Jordan hoped to be married quickly, even if it meant driving to Scotland.

  He folded and sealed the letters and returned to the foyer where the butler was waiting.

  “I have a stable hand waiting to deliver these. He won’t rest until he gets to London,” the butler assured him.

  “Thank you.” Jordan handed the missives to the man. “Why are you being so accommodating? ” The servants were going out of their way to be helpful. In most households the staff would be grieving almost as much as the family but not in this case. It was as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

  “We feel badly for not knowing Miss Montgomery was here and in danger. We wouldn’t have known about you if your driver hadn’t come into the kitchen.”

  “It isn’t your fault,” Jordan assured him.

  “We’ve known something was wrong with Lady Lydell for some time and were beginning to suspect Lord Lydell might be going a bit mad himself.”

  Jordan nodded.

  “We just wish to make it right for any pain or inconvenience that has been caused by our lack of assistance.”

  He glanced back at Audrey. Her skin was still deathly white and her eyes had taken on a haunted look. Thank goodness the maid was sitting with her. Perhaps she had noticed how distress she was as well.

  “We can only hope the next Lord Lydell is better, though we don’t hold out much hope.” Jordan didn’t even know who was in line to inherit. As far as he knew there were no brothers or male cousins. “Who stands to gain the title?”

  The butler sniffed. “A second cousin who lives in America,” he said with disgust.

  Jordan bit back a laugh. At least it would be some time before word was delivered and the man could return to England.

  He thanked the butler once again and made his way toward to the stairs. He needed to be with Audrey.

  “Would you like me to make up a couple of rooms in a separate part of the house, Mr. Trent?” the maid asked.