Daniel relaxed and nodded. "Thank you."
Madison turned to Richard then. Looking him over, he shook his head. "You look remarkably like Dicky."
"We were twins."
"Aye, well, there is a difference in the eyes. When you looked into his they were usually empty or calculating. Yours . . ." He shook his head, apparently unable to come up with a way to describe the difference.
"Perhaps we should move inside now," Richard suggested as a carriage passed by on the street.
"Aye. Let's go in," Madison agreed. "I could use a cup of tea nice and sweet. I got myself all wound up to come here and now feel quite worn out."
"Tea it is, then." Richard pushed the already open door wide and led the way inside.
Daniel gestured for Lord Madison, Lisa and Langley to precede him, and had just followed when a door opened along the hall. As he pulled the front door closed, Suzette stepped into sight from the office and glanced toward them with a smile. "I thought I heard voices out here."
Daniel grimaced and hoped none of the staff had been in the hallway during the conversation that had just taken place. With the door open for the entire duration they would have heard every word of what had just transpired.
Suzette had been glancing over the group, but her eyes widened as she spotted her father. She started forward at once, asking, "Father, what are you doing here?"
"He came to rescue us," Lisa told her with a smile. "He even held Richard and Daniel at gunpoint until Robert and I explained the new situation to him."
"Oh, how sweet." Suzette paused before her father and hugged him, which seemed to leave the man a little startled. Apparently, he hadn't expected a warm greeting from her, and Daniel understood why when she said, "I am sorry I was so angry when we arrived in London, Father. You didn't deserve it." She pulled back and added, "Chrissy says the men think Dicky drugged you and just made you think you'd gambled the money away. It was all a trick to try to get our dowers."
Lord Madison glanced to Richard who nodded and said, "There are rumors that I, or Dicky really, has become quite chummy with the owner of a gaming hell famous for the trick."
"I had begun to suspect as much," Lord Madison admitted, sagging with relief. "I have no recollection of gambling at all, and what recollections I do have of the gaming hell are quite fuzzy flashes of being led through it, people talking and laughing, being told to sign something . . ." He grimaced and shook his head. "I have never cared for gambling and don't even know how to play the games of chance in those places. Yet there was the marker with my signature on it."
Suzette patted his back and hugged him again.
"Well, now that that is all straightened out, why do we not sit down and hear what everyone has learned?" Daniel suggested, eager to change the subject and move it away from anything to do with the markers and Suzette's need for marriage. He slipped to her side so that she now stood between him and her father. While he resisted the urge to take her arm possessively, Daniel wanted to. He wanted to be prepared to whisk her quickly away if Lord Madison should suddenly change his mind and blurt out that he'd sold his townhouse and could now pay the debt. The worry was enough to leave him tense and anxious and he wasn't happy to realize that he would probably remain in this state until he had Suzette wedded and bedded so that their marriage was final and irrevocable, which he couldn't do until they had this blackmail business of Richard's resolved. Fortunately, Richard was as eager to solve the matter as he.
"Yes, let's move into the parlor," his friend suggested, and then as everyone started to gravitate that way, asked, "Where is Christiana?"
"Oh." Suzette suddenly glanced along the hall with a frown. "I was just going in search of her. She was going to have Haversham fetch Freddy to us to interview, but has taken an awfully long time so I thought I'd best check on her."
"George's valet, Freddy?" Richard asked, apparently recognizing the name.
"Yes, George's valet," Suzette confirmed. "We realized that he might not have been fooled by the switch George made and if he somehow saw you the last day or two may realize you are not George. If so, he could be the blackmailer."
"Of course," Richard growled.
Daniel was just thinking they had probably sorted out at least one of their problems when the Radnor butler suddenly came hurrying out of the kitchens.
"Haversham, have you seen my wife?" Richard asked abruptly. "She apparently went looking for you to have you send Freddy to her."
"Actually, my lord, I was just coming to seek you out about that," the man said unhappily. "It appears Lady Radnor was unable to find me and went in search of your valet herself and has now found herself in something of a fix."
"What kind of a fix?" Richard asked with alarm.
"Well, I happened to be passing Freddy's room and overheard him saying that he intended to take her and force you to pay to get her back safely," he admitted grimly. "I believe he is planning to take her around to the office to try to find something first, however, so if we were to hide ourselves away in there and wait for him to approach we may be able to take him by surprise and relieve him of Lady Radnor without her coming to harm."
"That's actually a good plan," Daniel said, eyeing the butler with a new respect. He then glanced to Richard. "We should move quickly though, I don't recall a lot of places in the office to hide."
Richard nodded and turned away, pausing when Langley said, "I am coming too."
"And me," Lord Madison said firmly.
"Me too," Suzette announced.
Daniel frowned and was about to suggest she and the others wait in the parlor when Richard stopped and did it for him.
"There aren't enough hiding spaces for everyone. Robert and Daniel only will come. The rest of you need to get into the parlor and out of the hall so you don't scare Freddy off." His gaze slid to Lord Madison as the man opened his mouth to protest. "I trust you are the only person here who could keep Suzette and Lisa in that parlor."
Much to Daniel's relief, Lord Madison swallowed whatever protest he'd been about to speak and nodded with resignation.
"Do you think Christiana is all right?" Lisa asked, drawing Suzette's unhappy attention.
"Of course she isn't. Freddy has taken her by force and intends to hold her for ransom," Suzette pointed out with exasperation, and then frowned to herself, thinking that if she'd just gone with Christiana things may have turned out differently. That guilt was also making her wish she was out there now, helping to resolve the issue. Instead, she was stuck here in the parlor, being guarded by her father and Haversham.
Suzette scowled. Why was it that whenever there was trouble, the women were expected to sit about and wait, while the men charged in to the rescue?
"I believe I will go have Cook prepare a tea tray," Haversham announced suddenly, starting toward the door to the hall.
"Richard said we were to wait here," Lord Madison reminded him sharply, getting to his feet as if prepared to tackle the man did he not stop.
Suzette felt her eyebrows rise slightly at her father's aggressive stance. Whether he would have actually stopped the man or not, they would never know, because the butler paused at the door and turned back.
"Yes, he did, my lord," the man agreed politely. "However, it does occur to me that if we do not attempt to present at least a semblance of normalcy, it may spook Lady Christiana's kidnapper. And while it would seem perfectly natural for the three of you to be visiting in here together, my being here is far from natural."
Suzette glanced to her father to see him looking uncertain. "He is right, Father. It isn't normal, and that alone might spook Christiana's kidnapper and make him leave with her rather than risk going to the office. Surely, Haversham should just go about his duties?"
"I suppose," Cedrick Madison murmured reluctantly. Heaving a sigh, he nodded. "Very well, go ahead, but stay away from the office and don't do anything that might spook him."
"Very good, my lord."
Suzette watched enviously as H
aversham slid from the room, and then stood and hurried to the door, murmuring, "I will just tell him to ask Cook for some pastries as well. Something sweet might settle my nerves."
"Suzette," her father said sharply.
"I won't be a moment," she assured him, speeding up to escape the room before he could protest further.
As she'd hoped, Haversham was already gone from the hall when she burst into it. Suzette turned to glance toward the office, debating going to listen at the door to see if anything was happening, but then turned sharply toward the kitchen instead when she heard her father's voice through the door, muffled but drawing closer. Hurrying up to the kitchen door as if she'd really intended to go that way all along, Suzette pushed into the room just as the parlor door opened behind her.
She heard her father hiss her name, but then the door closed behind her. Besides, Suzette wasn't paying attention anyway. Her eyes immediately searched the room for Haversham and widened when she found him. The butler was just heading out the back door with a rather large, wicked-looking butcher knife in hand.
"I suspect we shall be waiting a long time for that tea," she commented dryly.
Haversham froze and turned guiltily. He then stepped back inside and eased the door quickly closed before saying, "I was just . . . er . . ."
When he paused at a loss, Suzette smiled wryly and suggested, "Going to cut back bushes?"
Bewilderment covered his face until he noted she was eyeing the butcher knife in his hand. Grimacing, he lowered the weapon and said with great dignity, "I have already requested that Cook make up a tray."
"He did, m'lady, and the kettle's on," Cook assured her as she ran a rolling pin vigorously over a swath of pie dough on the counter. She then added, "Then he saw one of the boys slip past the window with a sack over his shoulder and started out of the kitchen after him."
"A sack?" The question came from behind Suzette and she glanced over her shoulder, not at all surprised to see her father there. Lisa stood behind him, wringing her hands worriedly.
"Well, I think it was a sack," the woman said, pausing in her rolling to move to the stove and stir a pot of something bubbling there. "But I didn't really catch more than a glimpse meself." She peered questioningly over her shoulder at Haversham, apparently expecting him to clarify the matter.
The butler grimaced, and said, "It was a certain sack that Lord Richard is awaiting in the office." He glanced to the cook and then back before continuing, "I just thought to follow and be sure he was headed to the office as expected."
Suzette frowned. It was possible the man holding Christiana had decided to go around to the office via the yard rather than risk carrying her through the house where he might be spotted by servants. However, if Chrissy was the sack over his shoulder, that wasn't a good sign. And the men were no doubt expecting him to come in through the hall door. They wouldn't be prepared for his arrival via the French doors. If he should approach the glass doors and spot something that spooked him, he might simply slip away with Christiana completely unnoticed.
"Good idea. I shall join you," Lord Madison said suddenly, selecting the largest of the knives remaining in a wooden block on the counter. "You girls return to the parlor. We shall be back as soon as it is over."
On that note, he moved to the door and followed Haversham out.
"Are we going back to the parlor?" Lisa asked.
"What do you think?" Suzette asked dryly, snatching up the rolling pin the cook had been using and moving toward the door.
"Wait for me," Lisa gasped.
Suzette glanced over her shoulder to see Lisa picking up and discarding several kitchen items before settling on a long, wicked-looking two-pronged cooking fork. Apparently satisfied that it would do, she hurried after her as Suzette pushed through the door.
Suzette crept along the back of the house, staying as close to the wall as she could. She didn't have to glance around to be sure Lisa was still behind her. Her younger sister had one hand on her back as they crept along several feet behind their father and Haversham.
The butler was in the lead, with her father on his heels, and beyond them Suzette could see their quarry. The man was standing outside the French doors to the office, peering in through the window panels. He had Christiana slung over his shoulder like a sack, holding her in place with an arm around her legs, and at first Suzette thought her sister was unconscious, but as her captor eased one of the office doors open and began to slip inside, she noticed that Christiana's eyes were open, and she was peering about to take in what she could see.
"She's alive," Lisa whispered with relief behind her.
Suzette nodded, but didn't say anything and continued forward, raising her rolling pin in case the fellow burst back out of the office and made it past Haversham and her father. She would feel no compunction at all about bashing him over the head with the item rather than let him escape with Christiana.
Haversham had reached the French doors now and Suzette saw him hesitate. Christiana's kidnapper had left the door open just a crack and the butler peered through the window briefly before easing the door open and slipping inside the room. A couple feet behind the butler, Lord Madison paused at the door as well to take in the situation, and then he too slipped inside.
Suzette began to move more swiftly then, rushing along on her tiptoes as she worried about what might be happening in the room. As she drew near she heard Richard say, "I won't let you leave here unless it's in chains," and knew they were confronting the kidnapper, but still moved as quietly as she could until she reached the door. She paused then on the threshold and took in the tableau, as much as she could around her father, who stood just inside the door. The butler stood in front of him, a bare step behind the apparently oblivious kidnapper, who still had Christiana over his shoulder. Suzette could see Richard approaching the desk from the opposite side of the room and Daniel was coming from around a settee, but she had no idea where Robert was.
"Where's Robert?" Lisa breathed behind her worriedly, and Suzette shook her head and raised a hand to shush her as the kidnapper cried, "Stay back or I'll cut her."
Suzette hadn't noticed the man holding a weapon in the brief glimpse she'd gotten earlier, but he must have one because Christiana suddenly squawked, "Ouch! That is my bottom."
"Put her down," Richard ordered.
"Go to hell!" the kidnapper snarled and whirled toward the door only to crash into Haversham.
From her position, Suzette saw the startled look on the man's face and then saw him turn a bewildered expression to Haversham. Even so she didn't realize what had happened until the kidnapper started to fall back and she caught a glimpse of the butcher knife protruding from his chest, blood blossoming around the wound. He'd skewered himself on the butler's weapon.
"Oh dear," Lisa said faintly behind her, and recalling her dislike of blood, Suzette turned quickly to see that the younger girl had gone terribly pale and was swaying on her feet.
"It is all right," Suzette said, quickly catching her arm and urging her a step away from the open door. "Take deep breaths."
Lisa inhaled several times and after a moment seemed to recover a bit, her color returning.
"All right?" Suzette asked with concern. Lisa had been known to faint at the sight of blood. But she appeared steady enough on her feet at the moment, perhaps because there hadn't been all that much blood, just a slow blossoming on the cloth of his livery. Whatever the case, she was recovering nicely and Lisa nodded, even managing a smile.
Suzette smiled back and then glanced toward the door as her father ushered a somewhat shaky Christiana out.
"I need a word with your sister," Lord Madison murmured as they approached.
Suzette nodded and watched them move toward the back of the garden and then turned back to Lisa. "We should go in now. Can you manage it?"
Lisa nodded. "I just won't look at him this time."
Suzette squeezed her arm, then led her to the door. Haversham was gone, but Robert had join
ed the other two men. All three of them were gathered around the body and pretty much blocking their entrance to the room, so Suzette and Lisa paused as Robert said, "Well, that is one problem taken care of anyway. The blackmail threat is over."
"Now we just need to figure out who poisoned George and is still trying to kill Richard," Daniel commented in dry tones.
"Well, I'm afraid Lisa and I didn't find out anything of use today," Robert said apologetically to Richard. "I think people were reluctant to gossip about you with Lisa there. She is your sister-in-law, after all. Perhaps Christiana and Suzette were more successful at discovering what servant may have administered the poison."
"We should ask them," Richard murmured and turned toward the doors. His eyebrows rose when he saw Suzette and Lisa there, but no sign of his wife. "Where--"
"Father wished to speak to Christiana. They have stepped out into the garden," Suzette explained.
Richard glanced past them toward the yard, and then swung back to the room as the office door opened.
Suzette leaned to the side a bit to see that Haversham had returned. The butler entered stiffly, leading two men into the room. The red vests the men wore announced that they were Bow Street runners.
"Oh dear," Lisa said suddenly. "I don't think I can stay here."
Suzette glanced to her sister with surprise, but then realized it wasn't the arrival of the authorities that had so overset her, but despite her assurance that she just wouldn't look at the dead man on the floor, Lisa was now staring at him transfixed, her face paling by the minute.
"Come," Suzette said with a sigh. "We can wait in the parlor while the runners sort this out."
"Thank you," Lisa whispered gratefully, as Suzette ushered her quickly around the men and toward the door.
Chapter Ten
You don't have to stay with me. I'll be fine by myself if you want to rejoin the others."
Suzette glanced to Lisa and shook her head. "No, it's fine. The Bow Street runners are probably asking a thousand stupid questions and doing . . . whatever they do," she said, waving a hand vaguely.
"Hopefully removing the body is one of those 'whatever they do's,' " Lisa said wryly.