Montgomery slowly pivoted to him. “You’ve regained the use of your voice, Lord Kilbourne.”
Apollo impatiently inclined his head.
“How very fascinating,” Montgomery said as if Apollo were an exotic animal he’d never seen before.
“You’ve not answered… my question.”
Montgomery spread his elegant hands wide. “I heard you were in trouble and naturally I came to help.”
“You wanted to… help me,” Apollo said, flat.
“You are, after all, the gardener with the grand scheme for my pleasure garden.” Montgomery cocked his head whimsically.
“My pleasure garden,” Makepeace interjected.
Montgomery cast him an amused glance, but addressed Apollo. “Helping you, I admit, helps me as well, but I see no problem with that.”
o;Not really,” she said. “Some parts of the backstage are still standing, but they’ve been boarded up because it’s unsafe.”
Naturally the sergeant ordered the door leading to the area unbarred. Two of the men went through and there was a silence as the third poked through Maude’s chest. Why, Lily wasn’t sure, since the chest was far too small for anyone of normal size to hide in, let alone Caliban.
Lily tried to remain calm as she fretted. Were there more soldiers searching the garden even as these messed about in the theater—or were there only these four men? Could she somehow send word to warn him?
But he must’ve heard the noise the soldiers were making by now, surely?
After a few minutes there was a crash and a good deal of cursing from the soldiers who had gone into the unsafe area of the theater. They returned, quite sooty, looking sheepish, and with one of them limping.
Lily smiled, trying to appear at ease and not as if she wanted to rid herself of the soldiers. “If that’s all, Sergeant, I must be getting my son’s breakfast.”
“Thank you for your time, Miss Goodfellow,” he replied, “and if you should see a big fellow sneaking about the garden, you must notify the authorities at once.”
“Oh, you can be assured I will,” she said, putting a tremor of fright into her voice. “But can you tell me what he’s wanted for?”
“Why, murder, ma’am,” Sergeant Green replied with grim relish. “The Viscount Kilbourne escaped nine months ago from Bedlam, where he was committed for savagely and insanely murdering three of his friends for no reason at all.”
Lily stared at him, shocked into silence. She couldn’t seem to even make her brain work.
Sergeant Green seemed satisfied with her reaction. “Be careful, Miss Goodfellow, you and your boy and your maid. Kilbourne is no more than a beast. He’d as soon kill you as look at you.”
With that he bowed and with his men tramped out of the theater.
In the sudden silence Lily turned mutely to stare at Maude. “Oh, my God.”
“BUT ’TIS ONLY nine of the clock,” the sleepy blond wench mumbled as Asa Makepeace bundled her out his door. A blue ribbon trailed forlornly from her half-done hair. “Thought we could at least ’ave a bit of a cuddle this morn afore I ’ad to go.”
“And we will, love—next time,” Makepeace said, and then bent to whisper something no doubt salacious in her ear.
Apollo made sure to turn his back, staring at a box of marzipan sweets carelessly left open on a pile of papers. They were shaped into oranges and lemons. He wanted not only to keep from hearing whatever it was Makepeace was whispering to his paramour, but also to prevent her from seeing his face.
It’d taken him hours to get to Makepeace’s door. He’d had to first escape the soldiers and then make sure he wasn’t followed. After that he’d spent some time outside Makepeace’s building, watching and waiting to see if the soldiers would come there next. They hadn’t turned up, which could mean either that they simply hadn’t arrived yet or that they didn’t know his connection to Makepeace.
In either case, he couldn’t stay here long.
The door closed behind the girl and Makepeace turned to him, looking unusually serious. “Damn it, when the hell did you regain your voice?”
“Only a few days ago,” Apollo said impatiently.
“No one ever tells me anything,” Makepeace muttered, crossing to the fireplace.