Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

" W hat?"

"What?" Leo replied, glaring at his brother. Alex was seated across from him at the desk in 11 Crabbett Close.

They were both working, as had been their uncle until he'd been called away to deal with a loud noise outside the door, which suggested someone was doing something they shouldn't be. Chester was under the desk, lying on Leo's feet and snoring.

"You keep raising your eyes from the paper and staring at the wall behind me before lowering them again. Then you make that irritating flicking sound with your fingers."

Leo stared at his brother. His hair stood up at the front because he'd been running his fingers through it while thinking, which he'd done since childhood.

"I beg your pardon, but I do not make an irritating flicking sound with my fingers."

"Oh please, you do it when you are distracted. But my point is, why are you distracted? Not that reading all these papers wouldn't drive anyone into an asylum, but still, you can usually be counted upon to stay on task. However, what you are is testy," Alex said.

"I am not testy." Leo sounded exactly that. In fact, he'd been testy since the Raven ball. He'd tried to tell himself it was not because of her and had avoided going anywhere Cyn may be. But it was not working.

Alex put down the paper in his hand and sat back in his chair, studying Leo.

"What's going on, Leo?"

He looked down at the papers before him, then back at Alex.

"Come on, vent your spleen, you know I'm the wisest of us all and my advice will be brilliant."

Leo scoffed.

A tap on the door was followed by Gray entering. Behind him was a shriek almost like a war cry. Ellen's husband stepped inside and closed the door swiftly.

"Theo is teaching Anna to slide down the banister. Mungo is at the bottom catching them, and Bram is at the top helping them climb on. Ramsey is standing below, in case anyone should fall, they will land on him."

"Your cousin is here again?" Alex asked. "I'm beginning to wonder if he can't live without Mungo's abuse."

"I'm more inclined to think it's Bud's cooking," Gray said.

"I will join them as soon as my brother has told me what is on his mind, as I have excellent form in banister sliding and can show them how it is done."

"I just did that," Gray said, looking smug.

The stuffy Detective Fletcher had changed a great deal since he'd entered the family. Once, he would never have contemplated sliding down a banister, but now he was game for most activities they got up to in the Nightingale household.

"What is on your mind, Leo?" Alex asked .

"Nothing."

Gray looked at him. "Now that's a lie."

"You have no psychic abilities, so how is it you think something is wrong with me?"

"Years of interviewing people who were determined not to speak the truth," Gray said.

"My money is on Cyn being the root of the problem," Alex added with deadly accuracy.

"Lady Lowell?"

"The very one," Alex said to Gray.

"Ellen told me all about her after the ball. I don't remember her or Lord Lowell, but then I did not walk in society for long."

"She and Leo were to marry," Alex said.

"He already knows that and likely everything else," Leo snapped.

Gray sat on the edge of his desk. "Come on, Leo, talk. It will make you feel better," he said.

Why not? He couldn't stop thinking about her, and his concern for Cyn was growing, especially after he'd ridden past the Phoenix Agency yesterday. Leo had told himself he was just checking the property they had taken the lease on next door. But what he'd seen was a large man skulking about in the shadows, clearly watching Cyn's agency. He'd stopped, but the man had left at a run.

"I believe she is in danger."

"Why?" Gray asked.

"This entire Baddon Boys connection that Alex said Lord Lowell was showing him, and the Bird of Paradise brothel. I'm sure it has something to do with her agency, especially as her clients are ladies of the night. I asked her if she was in danger."

"When did you ask her that?" Alex said.

"At the ball, but she did not give me an answer. I'm sure she is being followed also." Leo went on to explain what he'd seen at the fair and at her agency again yesterday.

"Firstly, you should have told me what Lowell or his spirit was telling you." Gray jabbed a finger at Alex. "Secondly, you need to come to me if you have concerns."

"I thought Ellen would have told you about Lord Lowell's messages," Alex said.

"I'll be having words with her about that. But you two, come to me with anything going forward."

The Nightingale brothers nodded solemnly.

"Those looks don't fool me," Gray added. "But back to Lady Lowell. If she has drawn attention from the Baddon Boys, then there is cause to be concerned. They are growing in numbers and wealth each year, no matter how hard we try to crack down on them. They are linked to many crimes in London, and not just in the area they used to frequent," Gray said. "After their leader died two years ago, the new one who stepped in is the worst kind of criminal. He's intelligent, hungry, and cunning."

"A bad combination in someone with nefarious intentions," Alex said.

"Exactly. His goals are power and wealth, and he has been taking on other gangs to dominate their territories. There have been some bloody fights, and many have lost their lives," Gray said. "It's my hope that your Lady Lowell is not caught up with them, as it will not go well for her."

A shiver of unease traversed Leo's spine.

"What is this man's name?" Leo asked.

"We only know him as the Wolf."

"Does Cyn like butterscotch?" Alex said with a faraway look in his eyes.

There is not much I would sell my soul for, but butterscotch is one thing. The memory slid into Leo's head. He remembered when Cyn had told him that, because it was two days before he'd walked away from her.

"Yes."

"Which would explain why the taste is in my mouth, and now I want some," Alex said.

"I want you and Ellen to help me out with a few of the cases that we are struggling to resolve at Scotland Yard," Gray said.

"Really?" Alex looked excited. "I say, I've always wanted to be a detective."

"You will not be a detective but an adviser," Gray said.

"I'm going for a ride," Leo said as they launched into a discussion about cases and what Alex would call himself.

"Excellent day for a ride," Alex said, cutting Gray off midsentence and rising also.

"Fresh air is always good for the constitution," Gray added.

"I do not need any of you accompanying me. I wish for time alone with my thoughts."

Alex laughed. "As if that's ever going to happen in this family."

Gray smiled in that way he did when he wasn't sure how to take Nightingale carry-ons, as he called them.

A particularly loud shriek and a muffled oof had them all heading to the door. Opening it, they moved to the banister and saw Ram lying on his back below, with Anna on top of him.

"Thank you, Ram," she said, bending to kiss his cheek. "You have the makings of an excellent big brother."

He wheezed out a reply as she got off him and then staggered to his feet.

"I'm beginning to wonder if he's been tossed out of his home, he's here so much," Mungo snarled from his position in the front entrance watching over proceedings .

Leo moved quietly around his family, who all began to debate the merits of Mungo's words. He wanted some peace to think about what to do with Hyacinth, and he'd not get it inside these walls.

Grabbing his hat and coat, he picked up his cane last and slipped out of the door. He'd made it ten steps down the street on the cool London morning when the sound of running footsteps reached him. Turning, he found Ellen hurrying toward him with her umbrella.

Sighing, Leo stopped. "What?" he demanded.

"I'm coming with you. We took a silent vote, and I won. But we decided that you didn't need too many of us, as clearly you have something weighty you are dealing with, and I'm the least likely to chatter constantly."

Leo blinked at the rush of words. "Is this you not chattering?"

She smiled.

"You all came to that conclusion in the two minutes since I left the house?"

"We are fast thinkers." She grabbed his arm. "Now where is it we are going?"

"Where is your protective husband?"

"He trusts you."

They walked on in silence, and he enjoyed having Ellen close even though you'd need an oxen to pull that statement from him. Reaching the end of the street, he looked at Nicholson's bookshop.

"I still expect to find George in there," Ellen said.

George Nicholson had been murdered in his store, and it had been Gray who found the murderer. It was now run by his sister and her husband, who was outside sweeping the front steps.

"Good day to you, Mr. Smith," Ellen said as he nodded to them .

"Good day," he replied. "Lovely day for a walk."

"It is indeed," Ellen said.

They walked on past Nitpicks Trinkets and Treasures, which the younger members of his family loved, and Appleblossoms Bakery, which had the best apricotines according to Ram.

"Ellen, I think you should return to the house. I have something I need to do."

"I have time. I will go with you."

He huffed out a breath. "I don't want to tell you where I am going."

"As it likely has something to do with Cyn, then I wish to come."

"How do you know it has something to do with her?"

"The Baddon Boys connection, and what Gray told you about them has unsettled you. So, my conclusion is you are going to see her."

"Were you listening at the door?"

"Of course." She squeezed his arm.

"I have an urge to find her," he muttered.

"Well then, find her we must. As I'm here with you, we have the perfect reason to call at her house." Ellen then moved away from him and stepped into the street. Raising a hand to the approaching hackney, she flagged it down. "Hurry it along, brother."

"I'm the eldest," he muttered. "Don't order me about."

"But clearly not the most intelligent among us."

He helped her inside and followed after giving the address he wanted to reach.

"And what will you say when you get there?" Ellen was fussing with her skirts in that way women did when they were settling on a seat.

"I have no idea," Leo said, "but seeing as you are with me, I will say you wanted to visit with her. "

"There, you see, it is a good thing I followed you and not Alex."

"Not just because you love me and wish to spend time in my company then?"

"That as well." She flicked gloved fingers at him.

He found a smile, even though the tension inside him was climbing again, as it had the night he'd needed to find his cuff link.

"I still cannot believe you told her you wanted your cuff link back after you'd saved her that night."

"I wasn't myself," Leo said, slipping his hand into his pocket to grip the round disk that had not left his person since Cyn returned it.

"Who else could you be if not the insufferable Lord Seddon, but we digress."

"From what? I thought we were discussing that night and my cuff link?"

She glared at him. "It's a figure of speech, brother."

"Is it? I hadn't realized." Needling his siblings was a wonderful way to focus on something other than his own problems, and right now, Cyn was presenting herself as one.

"I wonder why she carried it with her for so long," Ellen said, ignoring his attempts to get a rise out of her. "One could surmise she wanted your memory with her at all times. Or she never forgot you."

"Or, as she stated, to remind her that she will never be something for a man to discard with ease ever again," Leo added.

"No." Ellen's nose wrinkled.

"You look like a rabbit scenting something when you do that."

"It's my belief that I am right, and she wanted it to remember you by," she added, ignoring him.

"You cannot romanticize everything, sister. "

"Of course I can, especially if I'm right." She gave him a haughty look.

Family, Leo thought. They could annoy you more than anyone else. The carriage slowed and stopped, and Leo opened the door.

"You will behave yourself in there and not make a fool of me."

Ellen climbed out and patted his cheek. "You can do that all by yourself. You don't need me, brother."

Shaking his head, he followed her up to the front door of the impressive and large three-storied white town house that had been in the Lowell family for many years.

Leo knocked. The door was opened by her butler seconds later.

"Good day, we have called to see Lady Lowell." Leo handed over his card.

"I'm afraid she is not at home, my lord."

"Is she expected back soon?" Leo asked.

"As to that, I cannot say, my lord, but I will of course tell her you called."

"Did she say where she was going?" Ellen asked.

"She did not."

"Thank you," Ellen said as she and Leo turned to leave.

When they were back out on the street, Leo wondered what he was supposed to do now.

"We could try her agency," Ellen said. "Unless you no longer have a hankering to find her."

"One has hankerings for food, not to find people, Ellen."

"I stand corrected."

"Come on." He took her arm and went to wave down another hackney.

They knocked on the Phoenix Agency front door twenty minutes later. It was answered by the man Leo knew as Lewis. One look at his face, and Leo could tell something wasn't right.

"Hello. We have called to see Lady Lowell," Ellen said.

"She is not here."

"Are you wanting tea, Mr. Lewis?" a voice called from somewhere inside.

"Is that Mrs. Varney?" Ellen asked.

The man nodded, still clearly uncomfortable.

"She lives on the same street as us," Ellen said. Leo had not spoken as yet, and his eyes were still on the man. Sweat was glistening on his forehead. Something was very wrong; he could feel it.

"Tell whoever is out there to come in. I've enough tea in the pot for more. It'll help us wait upon their return!" Mrs. Varney called.

"What's going on?" Leo asked, trying to keep the demand out of his voice.

"I-I, nothing," Lewis said quickly.

"Something," Leo said, taking action by nudging the man back inside. "We are friends of Lady Lowell and can help."

"Well now, this is a nice surprise," Mrs. Varney said, beaming. "I'll see to that tea, as I know just how Lord Seddon and Mrs. Fletcher take it." She then bustled through a door.

"We wish her no harm," Leo said. "Tell us where Lady Lowell is, as we want to offer her our help if it is needed."

They watched as the man battled with his loyalty to Cyn and his worry for her.

"Miss Coulter, she lives here at the Phoenix Agency, left a note for me. I had popped out and just returned, so I did not see her and Lady Lowell leave. It said there had been an incident with a woman and they had gone to assist her."

"Incident?" Ellen asked.

Lewis remained silent.

"Your loyalty is admirable, but if you think Lady Lowell is in danger, then we can help," Leo said, battling down his need to roar at the man. "Do you believe she is in danger?" But he knew the answer to that, just as Ellen did.

He steadied her as he felt her go into one of her trances. She was getting a vision, and he knew it was to do with Cyn.

He saw the ring then. It had rubies and diamonds, and he knew without a doubt that it was owned by her, and that he needed to find it.

"We have to go. I just saw Cyn surrounded by men, and she was scared," Ellen whispered.

"Show me the note," Leo demanded.

Something in his expression made Lewis grab it. Reading the words, he felt his blood run cold.

A boy has called to tell us that a woman needs our assistance. We are to accompany him, and when we have her, we will bring her back to the agency. Please ensure all is ready in case she needs our care, Lewis.

"We need to find her. She is in danger," Ellen said, the urgency clear in her voice.

"Are there others here at the moment?" Lewis nodded. "Then stay and watch over them. We will find Lady Lowell."

"And Miss Coulter. She has already suffered so much," Lewis said, and the look on the man's face told Leo he cared for Miss Coulter very much.

"I will bring them back safe," Leo vowed. Seconds later, he and Ellen were heading back out the door to find Cyn.

Stay safe until I arrive.