“Just a few spots for old friends,” Dillan said. “So, you’ll have to excuse her.”
Slowly, grudgingly, Shipley released her arm, his jaw hard enough to cut glass as his narrowed eyes bored into hers. “We’ll finish our delightful conversation another time.”
That was never going happen.
Dillan pulled her away before she could answer, but rather than lead her onto the floor, he rushed to the door. “Alexi is already in our carriage, waiting for us.”
“I didn’t even know you’d be here tonight,” she said, relief making her voice weak.
“You-know-who asked me to come and keep an eye on you,” Dillan replied. “And a good thing too.”
They made their way outside and down the stairs, a footman snapping open the door to the carriage. Dillan helped her inside as he climbed in behind her, the vehicle speeding through the night.
Alexi reached for her hand, her large blue eyes, full of sympathy, meeting Rebecca’s. “Are you all right?”
“I…” She wasn’t certain she could speak without crying.
“You’d better tell us everything,” Dillan said. “I know trouble when I see it and you’re in deep.”
She was most certainly that. “I’ve already packed a bag.”
“Good. You’re coming to stay at our house,” Dillan said.
But Rebecca only shook her head. “No. Shipley will surely look there if he’s of a mind.”
Dillan gave a stiff nod. “I see. Start at the beginning, then, and don’t leave anything out.”
Bennet skirted the kitchen,adjusting the neckcloth at his throat. He’d come tonight dressed as a footman, a guise that would serve him well now. It was one of the many costumes he kept on hand. Making his way down the servant’s hall, he passed through the butler’s pantry and then a long corridor. No one was about down here, all the staff concentrated in the kitchen and the ballroom.
He’d heard that the coin was here, and for a moment he wondered which room it might be kept in, but then he spotted a door with a heavy lock.
He grinned. That was it.
Taking out two long, thin tools from his pocket, he inserted them into the lock and, giving it a twist, the lock clicked open.
He could have left Rebecca’s key with her, but once she knew how deft he was at picking locks, there would be no holding her back in this investigation. He stepped into the room, noting that the wall was stacked high with crate upon crate, all the same sizeas the one which had held the money when he’d searched theSea Goddess.
Closing the door softly behind him, he crossed to the crates to see if he might open one. They’d been nailed shut, and while he could pry it open easily with a crowbar, there wasn’t much he could do now. There was no choice but to take a crate with him.
A noise in the hall had his senses tingling as voices filtered from under the door.
The blood rushed in his ears. Was someone coming? Had the earl decided to check on his bounty? Bennet flattened himself against the right side of the door so that it would swing open to cover him. But the voices passed by, no one entering the room.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he grabbed one of the wooden boxes and tucked it under one arm, opening the door and quickly checking both ways. Then he stepped into the hall, closing the door behind him.
Setting down the crate, he clicked the lock back into place so as not to arouse suspicion, and then started for the kitchen once again.
He had no idea if the staff ever saw these crates, if they knew they weren’t supposed to touch them, so he waited in the butler’s pantry until the kitchen was quiet. Then he slipped through to the larder and out the back door.
Making his way through the dark garden, he found the waiting hack and climbed in, heading for home. It was only when the carriage began to pull away that he grinned to himself, letting out a deepwhooshof air.
It was over.
He and Rebecca had done it. He’d found the man who’d killed his brother, the one who’d been growing filthy rich off the trade of illegal goods.
Funny, a few years ago, he might have fantasized about enacting his brother’s justice, but not now.
Now he simply wanted to allow the crown to do whatever it would with the villain. For his part, he just wanted to see Rebecca safe and to try to move forward with their lives.