With Good Grace

by Wendy Soliman

  ‘Let me try to remember what I know of Molly.’ Sarah fell into momentary contemplation. ‘I recall her being a serious sort of girl, but she gave good service and no trouble.’ She shook her head. ‘That does not help very much, does it?’

  ‘Do you know where she went or who she consorted with on her afternoons off?’ Olivia asked.

  Sarah shook her head. ‘As far as I recall, she had no family and she never mentioned any particular friends.’

  ‘Is there another servant in this house who was friendly with her?’ Jake asked.

  ‘I doubt it. We let all the servants go when we closed up the house. Only old Mrs Dale and her husband remained. She is the cook and he turns his hand to just about anything. They were in the employ of my husband’s family long before we were married and he felt that he could not repay their loyal service by putting them out of work. So, they stayed on and worked for our tenant, but I understand he simply employed a maid of all work to help them out and she is no longer here. Besides, she did not know Molly. Now that we are back, Mrs Dale has resumed her duties as cook for us and Dale does whatever we need him to.’

  ‘My man is in the kitchens as this moment,’ Jake said. ‘I hope you don’t think it presumptuous but in situations as sensitive as this social mores must be set aside in favour of expediency.’

  ‘No apologies are necessary, Lord Torbay.’ Sarah smiled at them. ‘In your situation I would do precisely the same thing and if Mrs Dale knows anything about Molly, I am sure she will be forthcoming.’

  ‘Have you seen or heard anything of Hubert recently?’ Olivia asked after a short pause.

  ‘Hubert? You think he is behind your son’s abduction?’ If Sarah’s surprise was contrived then she could have earned a living treading the boards herself. ‘I know harsh words were exchanged between you when Marcus died but surely he has no reason to go that far?’ Sarah looked very disturbed. ‘But of course, you would not ask without good reason. And to answer your question, I have not seen Hubert since we returned to London, but then we have only been back for a week and have not entertained or been out in company. However, it is entirely possible that Daniel may have been in contact with him.’

  Olivia shared a speaking look with Jake.

  ‘Your husband and Sir Hubert are friends?’ Jake asked.

  ‘They are business partners.’ Sarah raised her brow. ‘I assumed you were aware of that but clearly this is news to you.’

  ‘How did they become involved?’ Olivia asked.

  ‘When Marcus and your brother parted ways, Olivia, Hubert saw how well Marcus had done with that trade and decided to try his own hand at it, so he threw in his lot with Daniel.’ Sarah stared at her hands, folded neatly in her lap. ‘As you have probably already surmised from the shabby state of this house and our need to economise for a year or two, Daniel’s import business was not in a good way. Hubert was willing to invest in it and, well, not to put too fine a point on it, the influx of cash saved Daniel. He and Hubert came to an agreement. Hubert looked after this end of things whilst Daniel cut a swathe through Italy looking for new clients. That is what we were really doing there. The talk of a grand tour was to save face. Trust me,’ she added, shuddering, ‘there was nothing in the least bit grand about some of our lodgings while we were away.’

  ‘I am sorry,’ Olivia said, reaching across to touch Sarah’s hand.

  ‘My troubles are nothing compared to the loss of Tom. What shall you do now to try and find him?’

  Olivia spread her hands. ‘Wait, I suppose. Whoever has him wants something from me and I am sure it will not be long before they contact me.’

  ‘Where are your husband’s business premises, just as a matter of interest, Mrs Granville?’ Jake asked.

  ‘Why do you wish to know?’ Sarah had clearly taken offence. ‘I can assure you that my husband did not abduct Tom and he is not being held there.’

  ‘Not for one moment did I suppose your husband played any part in this matter,’ Jake assured her, sounding completely sincere. ‘But I cannot make the same claim in respect of Sir Hubert. A warehouse, you must admit, would be a perfect hiding place for a small child; the last place anyone would think to look. Especially since it is a place that Sir Hubert must be familiar with and which he assumes we know nothing about.’

  The tension left Sarah’s body and she gave Jake the address of the warehouse, situated in New Thames Street.

  ‘Thank you, Mrs Granville. I must ask you please not to share particulars of this conversation with your husband, just in case he mentions the matter to Sir Hubert. That gentleman could be innocent of all involvement and so I would prefer not to insult him if he is, or give him advance warning that we are on to him if he is culpable.’

  ‘Of course.’ Sarah nodded. ‘I perfectly understand.’

  Jake and Olivia stood. The ladies embraced for a second time and Olivia assured Sarah that she would let her know the moment there was news of Tom.

  They returned to the street, where Parker awaited them.

  ‘What’s to do below stairs?’ Jake asked. ‘Travel in the coach with us and tell us what you learned.’

  ‘The Granvilles are in dire financial straits,’ Parker said, ‘but I expect you worked that much out for yourself, given the neglected state of the house. The cook tells me Molly was a spry little thing below stairs, full of herself and a man she’d met who was going to see her set for life. That was just before the Granvilles went to Italy.’

  ‘The name of the man?’ Olivia asked, sitting forward expectantly.

  ‘Molly never said and Mrs Dale didn’t bother to ask. She said the girl had her head permanently in the clouds, convinced there was something special about her and that some dashing young man would come along and sweep her off her feet. Mrs Dale described her as pretty enough but nothing out of the ordinary.’ Parker nodded. ‘I’d have to agree with that. But apparently she was never without a young man and came back from her afternoons off glowing from within.’ Parker harrumphed. ‘That was Mrs Dale’s description.’

  ‘So much for her criticism of my conduct,’ Olivia muttered, almost to herself.

  ‘How did she feel when Mrs Granville closed up the house and recommended Molly to Olivia?’ Jake asked.

  ‘Oh, now that’s the interesting part. According to Mrs Dale, Molly knew of her mistress’s friendship with Mrs Grantley and that you were looking for new staff,’ Parker said, addressing the last part of that comment to Olivia. ‘It was she who suggested to Mrs Granville that a situation with Mrs Grantley might suit her and asked for a recommendation.’

  ‘Did she indeed!’ It was Jake’s turn to sit forward. ‘That rather implies that the mysterious man who was going to guarantee her future was Sir Hubert and he encouraged Molly to take the position within your household, Olivia, acting as his spy.’

  ‘Please tell me that is not so!’ she cried. ‘I cannot bear to think that my every movement, all my activities, were reported back to Hubert.’ She shuddered and lifted her chin. ‘As though my conduct is any business of his.’

  Jake covered her hand with his and sent her a reassuring smile. ‘If she did report back to Sir Hubert, he must know that you are far from defenceless and that he will need to get past me if he wishes to get to you.’

  ‘Even so.’

  ‘It sounds as though Molly has an ambitious side to her character that she kept well hidden behind a façade of prim disapproval,’ Jake said. ‘If she was waiting for a suave gentleman to sweep her off her feet, Sir Hubert would have had little trouble convincing her that he was her knight in shining armour.’

  ‘Then why the curate?’ Olivia asked.

  Parker shrugged. ‘A smokescreen? Or perhaps Sir Hubert told her to disapprove of your friendship with his lordship in the hope that it would wane.’

  ‘Possibly,’ Jake replied. ‘Or perhaps he just wanted you to be feel uncomfortable, Olivia.’

  ‘He succeeded.’

  ‘If Molly was working under the misguide
d assumption that Sir Hubert was about to whisk her away,’ Parker said pensively, ‘why wait so long to look for those letters?’

  ‘Marcus’s boxes were stored in a locked attic,’ Olivia replied. ‘She could not have got into it if she wanted to because even when I was not at home, there were other servants there who would call her to account.’ Olivia lifted one shoulder. ‘It is possible, I suppose, that she searched the library but we know that thanks to Green the letters were safely tucked away elsewhere.’

  ‘We shall just have to find Sir Hubert and Molly and ask them ourselves,’ Jake asserted. ‘I should not be surprised to find him living in that warehouse. I wonder why Lady Grantley did not mention his involvement in that venture.’

  ‘Perhaps she didn’t know,’ Parker replied, shrugging. ‘Seems to me the cove likes to play his cards close to his chest. We know that he’s proud so he probably didn’t want to tell the world that he was dipping his toe into the world of commerce; at least not until he made a success of it.’

  ‘Which would explain why he preferred to remain in the background while Granville trawled Italy for clients,’ Jake added.

  ‘So what now?’ Olivia asked, sighing.

  ‘Now we wait.’

  ‘Oh, but I thought—’

  ‘I know it is the last thing you want to hear, Olivia,’ Jake said, his raised hand to cut off her objection. ‘Passivity does not sit well with you at the best of times.’ He sent her a slow, somnolent smile that implied he was referring to their activities in the bedchamber. Despite her sick apprehension for her son’s safety, Olivia’s treacherous body responded to his flirtatious challenge with a violent tremor. ‘But I am convinced that we will hear from whoever has Tom sooner rather than later.’

  ‘Won’t they imagine that we have involved the police?’ Parker asked.

  ‘I doubt that,’ Jake replied. ‘Molly knows how ardently Olivia loves her son, how protective of his interests she is. She would never knowingly place him in danger, so it is a calculated risk they would most likely take.’

  ‘Even so, should we not go to that warehouse in New Thames Street?’ Olivia asked. ‘Just to satisfy ourselves that Tom is not being held there.’

  ‘If we have not heard from the abductors by the time darkness falls, then Parker and I will go there.’

  ‘And I will come with you.’

  Jake fixed Olivia with a look of firm resolve. ‘No, Olivia, you will not. It is quite out of the question.’

  Chapter Fourteen

  ‘You will wear a hole in that rug,’ Jake chided. ‘And pacing will achieve nothing, other than exhausting your physical strength.’ Olivia’s mental faculties were, Jake knew, already in tatters.

  She whirled to face him, the delicate lines of her face taut with worry. ‘If you were not being so unreasonable, I would not need to damage your precious rug.’

  ‘It is not the welfare of my rug that concerns me.’ He fixed her with a searing look intended to sooth. ‘Only you, my love. Always you.’

  Her pacing ceased, she blew air through her lips and sighed. ‘I expect you think I am being totally unreasonable.’

  ‘You are a mother. Of course your primary, your only concern is for your son’s welfare. I should think considerably less of you if it was not.’

  Olivia recommenced pacing but Jake caught her wrist as she flounced past him and pulled her onto his lap. It was now late afternoon and they had received no notification from the kidnappers. Olivia fragmented a little more with every slow minute that ticked by and nothing he said, no assurances he offered her, seemed to penetrate her normally incisive brain. It was hell on earth for Jake to watch her torment and not be in a position to do anything to relieve it.

  Olivia had eaten no lunch and started like a skittish deer with every sound that might precede the delivery of a letter. And yet no such letter had arrived. Jake would not admit it, but he was both surprised and concerned by the kidnapper’s reticence.

  ‘I cannot stand the waiting,’ she said with another exasperated sigh.

  ‘They want to increase your anxiety by keeping you in suspense,’ Jake said.

  ‘Then they are succeeding better than they could possibly know.’

  ‘Hmm.’ Jake brushed her brow with his lips. ‘Parker and I will go to that warehouse shortly, before it gets dark, so we can watch any comings and goings and get an idea of the lay of the land before we look inside.’

  ‘I want to come too.’

  And that was what she and Jake had been debating for the past hour or more.

  ‘You know that you cannot, my sweet.’ Jake closed his arms tightly around her, cutting off her protests. ‘I don’t doubt your ability to blend in if you wear your breeches, and I know you can defend yourself, up to a point. No, don’t argue about that.’ Jake raised a hand to cut off the objection he could sense her formulating. ‘No matter how skilled you are at self-defence, the male of the species is almost always physically stronger and considerably more aggressive. That is a fact of nature even you cannot deny.’

  ‘It all depends upon—’

  ‘Besides, a message will arrive for you today; I have not the slightest doubt about that. The abductors must assume that if they leave it too long, desperation will cause you to involve the police and they cannot take that risk.’

  ‘Yes, but even so.’

  ‘Surely you want to be here when the message arrives?’

  ‘Well, of course I do.’ Olivia narrowed her eyes at him. ‘You seek to win the argument by playing upon my maternal instincts; calling them into question. That is low, even by your standards, Lord Torbay.’

  She struggled, attempting to remove herself from his lap, but Jake was not ready to let her go and tightened his hold upon her waist. ‘I make no apology for wanting to keep you safe,’ he told her in a softly persuasive drawl. ‘If we can prove that Sir Hubert abducted your son, he could hang for his crime. Men in such desperate situations will resort to equally desperate measures and I do not want you caught in the crossfire.’

  Olivia slumped against his shoulder and all the fight appeared to drain from her. ‘You might have the goodness to be a little less reasonable when I am trying so very hard to fight with you.’

  Jake chuckled. ‘I live to serve.’ His expression sobered. ‘I require you to promise most faithfully that if you hear from the abductors you will not leave this house, no matter what demands they make, until Parker and I return.’

  ‘I cannot give my word about that!’ she cried, sitting bolt upright again and glaring at him in total astonishment. ‘What if they set time limits for me to respond?’

  ‘They are unlikely to be that precise.’

  ‘Unlikely?’ Olivia sent him a look of unbridled reproach. ‘Are you willing to gamble with Tom’s life by taking that risk? Sorry,’ Olivia added hastily, presumably because he did not veil the torment that her accusation engendered quickly enough. ‘I know you care almost as much as I do, but you are not emotionally involved.’

  Jake let out a slow, tortured breath. ‘You have worked with me on enough cases to know that dancing to a blackmailer’s tune is seldom the prudent course of action to take. Keep them waiting, and guessing. It is what they have done to you. Console yourself with the thought that it is not Tom they want. They are using him as a means to an end. However, if you have any doubts about that and would prefer simply to wait for them to communicate with you, then Parker and I will not try to forestall them.’

  Olivia was quiet for a protracted moment. ‘No,’ she said, her eyes vivid in her pale face. ‘I trust you to do the right thing. It would go against everything you stand for if you did not try to outwit criminals; especially those cowardly enough to use a child to get their way. You and Parker must go, but be as quick as you can. I dare say I shall still be here when you return.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Jake kissed her, almost chastely. ‘Try to behave yourself. If you need me in the meantime, Reed will send a runner.’

  ‘Take care,’ Olivia s
aid, her eyes lingering on him as he left the room.

  Jake headed for the stairs, aware that she had not actually given her word not to leave the house. He had not expected her to and knew that nothing could convince her to stay if word of Tom’s fate reached her in his absence, no matter what assurances he extracted from her. But fortunately he had been able to distract her and she had forgotten that the kidnappers would require Lady Marchant’s letters, which were securely locked in Jake’s safe, to which she did not have access. Even so, he would also leave Reed with strict instructions not to allow her to leave the house should a message arrive for her, even if it was necessary for him to physically restrain her.

  A short time later, Parker and Jake, both dressed in dark clothing, set off for New Thames Street in a Hansom cab.

  ‘Do you honestly think this expedition will bear fruit?’ Parker asked as the cab rattled over Westminster Bridge.

  Jake considered the question as he gazed out of the window at the muddy river in full flow. A blanket of smoke from the wharf-side factories hung above it. A strong smell of rotting fish and human waste assailed his nostrils. The odour did not seem to deter those requiring river passage and the bargemen were doing a brisk trade. The twilight had brought out lightskirts who flaunted themselves as they strolled across the bridge, looking for customers. One waved at Jake’s cab, leaning forward to give them a good view of her half-naked breasts. The sight did nothing to distract him from his purpose and the woman made a rude gesture when Jake ignored her invitation.

  ‘I think it is the most promising information we have learned about Sir Hubert’s activities to date,’ Jake said in response to Parker’s earlier question. ‘I also think it significant that Lady Grantley knows nothing about her husband’s partnership with Granville. That was deliberate. Sir Hubert anticipated that he might need to disappear and I would wager half my fortune that he has been living in that warehouse these past two weeks, possibly colluding with Molly regarding Tom’s abduction. Whether he is there now, and whether he has Tom with him, is another matter. It could be that he needed Molly, someone familiar to Tom, to look out for the child until this matter is settled.’ Jake ground his jaw. ‘I hope for the dissolute rogue’s sake that is the case. Not that that small consideration will save him from retribution but at least it shows a glimmer of humanity.’