Corey McFadden (37 page)

Once inside, Giles and Will were dumped onto the floor. Their bonds and gags were checked, the man who had suffered Giles’s kick to his groin taking great pleasure in tightening the ropes around Giles’s arms and legs to the point of cutting off circulation. Giles hoped they would go away and leave him lying as he had been dropped. He had every intention of crawling over to Will and working the man free as best he could. But apparently the thugs were thinking along the same lines, because Giles and Will were each tied to the bed legs, too far apart to reach each other and too tightly to twist loose. With not another word, the men left the room, closing the door behind them.

For a few moments all was silence except for the sound of Will’s breathing, rasping as he struggled for air around a gag that was apparently too tight. Giles struggled for a few minutes, but the ropes were bound too tightly for him to work any slack into them, and he could feel that he was fast losing sensation in his hands. At least his legs were protected by his boots.

His every thought was on Joanna. She was somewhere in this hell house, a prisoner like himself, but her fate, and Emma’s, would be so much worse than his own death. Giles struggled anew, the veins standing out on his forehead, only to find that the fiend who had tied his ropes knew how to do it in such a fashion that pulling on them made them tighten even further.

And then, incredibly, there were small feet standing in front of him. Looking up, Giles saw Tom, the boy’s eyes now burning with the light of determination. Speaking not a word, Tom stepped around Giles and began working the gag free. Giles looked over and saw that Tom had had the presence of mind to close the door behind him, and marveled that the thugs had felt so confident of their own ropes that they had not bothered to lock it.

It took a long time, but finally Giles felt the knots slip and the gag loose itself from his mouth.

“Good work, Tom,” whispered Giles. “Did anyone see you come in here, son?”

“No,” replied Tom. “I waited.” He spoke slowly, as if searching for the words, but his tone was deliberate and he knew exactly what was being asked and what his answer should be.

“We must be very quiet now, Tom. Do you know where Aunt Joanna and Emma are?” Giles all but held his breath, watching Tom look for his words.

“Downstairs. A room. I took them sheets,” he finally said.

“Have you seen them? Are they together? Are they all right?” he asked, fear and impatience making him ask too many questions at once of the child.

“Yes. Together. But Auntie cries,” was the boy’s measured response.

Giles could feel himself breathe again. “Do you think you could find their room again, Tom, if I can get free and go with you?” Again he waited.

“Yes,” was all the boy replied.

“Good, son. Do you think you can go and untie Will’s gag, like you did mine?”

The boy nodded and made his way to Will, where he worked carefully on the knot until Will, too, could speak.

“Sir Giles!” the man whispered, as soon as he could. “What manner of place is this?”

“A worse hell than you’ve ever dreamed of, Will, and we’ve got to get Joanna and the children out as soon as we can.”

Tom had returned to Giles and squatted behind him, working at the ropes that bound his hands. It took a long time, but Giles finally felt them loosen, then slip away altogether. His hands fell motionless at his side and he cursed to find he had no feeling in them. They were useless until the nerves came back.

“Go and work on Will’s hands next, Tom,” said Giles. “You’re doing a fine job. I’m very proud of you.” Tom gave Giles a wide smile, then went over and worked on Will’s bonds.

Gradually, Giles could feel the sensation return to his hands and he almost wished he couldn’t. They were on fire, as if he had shoved them into flames.

Tom worked in silence freeing Will’s hands, then his feet. He returned to Giles and loosed the knots around his legs, just as feeling and movement were returning to his hands.

“Tom, is there a back stairs? Is there more than one way to get up and down stairs here?” he asked, hoping the boy would understand.

Tom nodded. “Two stairs,” he said slowly.

“Do you think you can show us the back stairs and then take us to Aunt Joanna’s room?”

Tom’s eyes looked troubled as he thought about the question. “Yes,” he finally said, but he sounded uncertain.

“What is wrong, Tom?” asked Giles carefully. It was clear there was plenty enough knowledge in the child’s head. He’d have the skin off the next person who called the boy an idiot. If he got the chance.

“They will see us,” Tom said, picking his way through his words. “The bad people.”

Giles sat back, kneading his legs where the ropes had cut into his flesh above his boots. He was thoughtful. He looked over at Will who was rubbing his hands and arms and wincing.

“We have to be very careful and quiet, Tom,” Giles finally said. “Not everyone in the house knows who we are, only Mrs. Boyd and the four men who brought us here. Other people might have heard about us, though, so we don’t want to see anyone if we don’t have to. But things seem pretty quiet now, and I know the house does not open for business until ten tonight, which is a long time from now, so maybe we could sneak downstairs without anyone seeing us.”

Tom stared at Giles, then slowly nodded.

“Your mama and papa would be very proud of you, too, son,” Giles said, reaching up and hugging the boy to him.

Giles stood slowly, testing his legs. “How are you, Will?” he asked in a low voice. “Do you think you can move about now?”

“I can go anywhere, Sir Giles. Let’s go and get the ladies and turn our backs on this godforsaken place.”

“Amen to that, Will, but we have a long way to go before we are safe.”

Giles stared about him for a moment. Apparently they were in someone’s actual bedroom. In his youth he had been in a brothel once or twice and knew that the rooms set aside in which the girls entertained the clientele were elaborate to the point of decadence. This room was well furnished, but it looked a bit down-at-heels, as if everything in here were a castoff that had seen better days. Perhaps several of the girls slept here in their off hours or perhaps it was a servant’s bedroom. In fact, now that he thought of it, the girls would be here if it was set aside for their daytime use, so it seemed likely it was a servants’ room. He crossed over to a small chest of drawers that doubled as a washstand. Pulling open the drawers, he found what he had hoped to find, several maids’ uniforms carefully folded. These he pulled out and threw on the bed.

“Will, I have an idea,” he said, excitement in his whisper. “If we can get to Joanna and Emma, we can get them into these maids’ uniforms. I’m willing to bet they haven’t been here long enough for most of the staff to know them on sight. You and I can attempt to look like workmen. We can carry this chest down the steps, as if we’ve been ordered to move some furniture. If we run into any of our friends we’ll have to stand and fight, but if we don’t see anyone who recognizes us, perhaps we can bluff our way through. If anyone stops us, we can say we’ve been ordered to move the chest down temporarily because the one downstairs is broken. Then we can take it into Joanna’s room. If we’re lucky, we can use the same ploy to get us out the back of the house, to the mews. Did you hear the man—Bobby, I think it was—say that my carriage is out back? We’ll need a great deal of the devil’s own luck, but failure is out of the question. What do you think?”

Will had been following along, nodding and smiling as Giles had explained his plan, but it was Tom who spoke.

“We can leave? Emma and Auntie, too?”

“Yes, Tom, if we are lucky and careful. You must walk along ahead of us as if we weren’t there. Don’t pay any attention to us. Can you carry that big pile of linens you had when I first saw you?”

Tom nodded and gestured over to the door where the linens stood where he had deposited the pile on the floor.

“Good. Will, see if there’s any water in that basin and wipe the blood off your face, then toss the cloth over to me,” said Giles, stripping off his coat and neckcloth. He stuffed the neckcloth in his pocket, mindful that as a potential gag it might come in handy. His coat he rolled up with the uniforms and placed in one of the drawers. The ropes, too, went into the drawers.

“I think we are ready,” he announced after looking at Will’s face, now wiped clean of all traces of blood. “Tom, pick up your load, and Will, come and get one end of this chest. We’ll listen at the door before we open it. If we hear nothing, we can go. I rather think we are on the servants’ floor, so we may be lucky enough not to meet anyone, at least on this level. Tom, walk straight to Auntie’s room, if you can. Don’t speak to us again until we are inside. Do you understand, son?”

“Yes,” said Tom, the simplicity of his answer belying the depth of his comprehension. He crossed to the door and picked up the load of linens.

Giles and Will hoisted the chest between them and walked to the door. They paused for a moment, listening, and heard nothing. Giles nodded at Tom and the boy opened the door and stepped through. He proceeded down the hallway, opposite from the way they had come, Giles noted. He prayed the boy knew where he was going.

They reached what had to be the rear stairs without meeting anyone. Giles looked at Will. After several nights sleeping in a moving coach. Will looked just like the laborer he was pretending to be. Giles hoped he looked no better. Neither had shaved since they had left home, and Giles was sure the effect was disreputable, to say the least.

On the second floor at last, Giles looked down the hall. His heart froze at the sight of a maid coming toward them. As she approached, she spotted Tom.

“’Ere, you, there, the idiot. Where have you been? Them sheets should have been on the beds a quarter of an hour ago, and Mrs. Andrew’ll ’ave my ’ide for it if they’re not. Why’d she ’ave to go an’ ’ire an idiot, that’s what I’d like to know.” The girl grabbed Tom by the ear and hauled him down the hall, not sparing a glance for Giles and Will. Tom cast a desperate glance back at them.

Giles took a deep breath. “’Ere, girl, where’s this chest supposed to go?” he asked, murdering his speech and hoping it sounded authentic enough to pass muster. “The boy was sent to show us.” He prayed she would find nothing amiss in this remark. He did not want to have to start binding and gagging people this early on.

“Where’re they supposed to go, you little ’alfwit?” she asked Tom, giving a cruel twist to his ear for good measure. “Although it beats me why we’d ’ave the likes of you be showin’ anybody anythin’.”

Tom, relief plain in his eyes, pointed to a door three doors down on the left. The girl, grabbing his arm, began to march him down the hall again.

“Wait a minute, my girl,” whined Giles, exasperation plain in his voice. “ ’E’s supposed to tell us where to put the old chest, too, and it’s one floor up. Don’t take ’im away now, or we’ll never find it. This place’s wors’n a rabbit warren.” His heart was hammering in his throat. If the girl bought this crock of nonsense, he was going on the stage.

“Oh, all right, then. Give me them sheets, boy, and get along with you. But mind, when you’ve finished with these ever-so-fine gentlemen”—she gave a withering emphasis—“you come and find me down ’ere. I’ll need plenty of ’elp just catchin’ up.” She grabbed the sheets from Tom and flounced down the hall in a huff.

Tom walked slowly to the door he had indicated, watching the retreating back of his erstwhile captor. Giles picked the large key off the hook next to the door and turned it in the lock.

It was dark inside. Apparently there were no lamps or candles burning and the draperies were shut. Giles and Will stepped in right after Tom, Will shutting the door behind them with his foot.

As they set the chest down, Giles looked around, but it was too dark to make out much. He could see the dark shape of a bed and just make out that it was occupied, but nothing more.

“Are you sure this is the right room, Tom?” he asked in a whisper.

A small sound gave him the answer he needed. Like a juggernaut, a small shape launched itself from the dark of the bed at Tom, wrapping itself around his little body.

“Tom?” came a ragged whisper, Emma’s little voice. “Oh, we didn’t know when we’d see you again.”

“Emma, who is it?” came a sleepy voice from the bed. In two long strides, Giles was across the room, dropping himself on the bed.

“Joanna,” he murmured, gathering the sleepy figure to him. For a few seconds there was silence, then he heard a whisper at his neck.

“Giles, oh, my God, please don’t let me wake up, ever again. And if I’m dead, that’s wonderful,” she said, burying her face against this warm specter of a dream.

“I’m here, my darling. I’m really here. And we’re going to get you and the children out of this place, I promise you.” He kissed her throat, her neck, moving his lips across her hair.

“Is it really you, Giles?” came her tearful whisper. “Hawton said he’d had you killed. Knifed at Dufton. Am I dreaming?” Her hands worked spasmodically at his back.

“He tried, but his assassin wasn’t quite up to it. When I came home and found you and the children gone, I pieced together what had happened, but it is just good luck that I was able to find you.” He stopped talking to kiss her again, all over her face and hair.

“Did they hurt you and Emma?” he made himself ask. He had so wanted to get here in time to save them from the worst of it.

“Not yet, my love,” she answered, “But they plan to do unspeakable things to Emma, and to me also. I honestly thought of taking both our lives....” She shuddered in his arms and he tightened his grip on her.

“Hush, love, don’t think anymore about it. I have a plan to get us all out of here. It is risky but it will just have to work. It’s worked so far, at any rate. Do you know how much longer we’ll be alone here?”

“No, I know nothing. But we are supposed to be sleeping. Emma, at least, is supposed to be brought out tonight. Oh, Giles, do you know what this place is?” she sobbed, clutching convulsively at him.

“Yes, darling, I know. And once we’re away from here you need never think of it again. Will,” he hissed. “Bring me the two maids’ uniforms.”