“Sir Heath, what a surprise. What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” He put a protective arm around Jessica.
“What are you doing with those girls?” He nodded towards the two she held.
“Well,” she stuttered, “we were just going to go on a lovely little moonlight sail. Weren’t we girls?” Neither uttered a word. “Really, Sir Heath, I am in a hurry. I’m meeting someone.”
“I’ve already met your friend. He’s here in police custody. At least he will be once he wakes up. I gave him a pretty good knock on the head.”
She mouthed the wordpolice,then dropped the girl’s hands and turned to run, but Kane appeared out of nowhere to stop her.
“Going somewhere, Miss Wilcott?”
This time, it was Heath’s turn to be surprised. Where the devil had Kane come from? There was no time to ask. The police grabbed Miss Wilcott, who left out a pitiful cry. “Please, sir. Tell them there is some mistake.”
“I don’t believe there is, Miss Wilcott. The only real question is, are you going to tell us what is going on, or is your friend?” Heath motioned back to the boat.
The woman pondered the question for a minute. She was about to speak when Harvey joined, no doubt just as eager to hear the story.
“Why would you kidnap innocent girls?” Kane’s voice was edged with hatred.
The lady’s demeanor changed. She put her shoulders back and met Kane’s pointed stare straight on. “There is a lot of money to be had in Paris for girls like this.”
Kane stepped forward. For a second, Heath feared he was going to strike Miss Wilcott. Evidently, so did the lady, because she flinched.
“Tell us everything,” said Harvey.
Her eyes darted in every direction, as if she was trying to figure out if she could get away. By this time, Heath and Harvey had joined Kane and the other officers surrounding the woman. Finally, she realized there was nowhere to run.
“Jacque and I are lovers. We have been for several years. He was in France last year when he learned how the brothels were paying top dollar for fresh girls, English preferred. He’d heard about young girls being taken and sold, so we came up with the scheme.”
“But why here? Why the orphanage?” Kane asked.
“Who was going to miss a few of them or a girl here or there from the factory? They come and go every day.”
“But you got greedy,” Heath came up to her. “You got messy. You took Jessica here, and it raised the alarm.”
“And the girl from the bakery,” Kane added.
Miss Wilcott bit her lip. “It was only supposed to be until we had enough money to get away or I married well.” She glanced at Heath.
He shook his head. “So, this was purely about money?”
“What else is there?”
She was going to find out after being the guest of a jail cell.
“Come on.” Harvey grabbed Miss Wilcott’s arm and led her away. “I’ll come by tomorrow and give you an update.”
“What about the other girls?” Heath asked.
“I’ll take them to Caroline for the night, then we’ll figure the rest out in the morning. I’m sure they’re all scared and need a good night’s rest.”
The policemen led the girls and Jacque away until it was only Kane, Heath, and Jessica.
“Come on, dear, let's get you home.” Heath held the young girl tightly as they walked away.
* * *