Lady gambit, p.22
Lady Gambit, page 22
“How do you know Tobias Trigg?”
Silence ensued.
“I went to see a mesmerist,” Delphine confessed. “He helped me access lost memories. Monsieur Chabert said I may need more sessions to unlock all the secrets of the past, but I remembered seeing you in Green Park.”
The news had Mrs Haggert trembling. She covered her mouth with her hand, taking a moment to regain her composure. “Trust me. Those memories are best left buried. No good will come from resurrecting the dead. It’s a mistake, Caterina.”
Delphine remained resolute in her quest for answers. “We have every reason to believe you’re to blame for what happened to my parents. That you stole me away and murdered them in cold blood.”
Although Delphine had sobbed this morning when Dorian held her close and explained how her parents had died, she did not shed a tear now.
“Then the devil has done a good job of making you believe his lies. Search your heart, Caterina. You know I ain’t to blame. If you could remember the time you spent here, you’d know I ain’t never hurt you.”
Instinct said there was truth to those words, but Dorian was quick to prove her wrong. “Nora said she found Caterina picking pockets on West Street.”
“That’s a lie. Nora saw Tobias on West Street. She recognised him because he refused to get rid of that ruby stick. She never found us. He died keeping our secret.”
“What secret?” Delphine darted from the chair and fell to her knees at Mrs Haggert’s feet. “Be honest with me. Please. I deserve to know the truth, however ugly it may be. I need justice, justice for my parents.” She reached for Mrs Haggert’s gnarled hand and gripped it tightly. “Something tells me I can trust you. Don’t forsake me now.”
The woman’s rheumy eyes settled on Delphine. She surprised everyone by saying, “I’d have kept you if it weren’t for Nora Adkins. I’d have raised you as my own daughter, said goodbye to this life and bought us a cottage on the coast somewhere.”
Delphine looked more confused than ever.
“You need to tell me everything,” she begged.
The weight of the past had Mrs Haggert slumping in the chair. “I’ve kept the secrets for so long, I ain’t got a clue where to start.”
Dorian helped matters by relaying the facts.
“Monsieur Chabert believes someone tampered with Miss Chance’s mind when she was a child. That man was Tobias Trigg. He was there the night you took Miss Chance from Green Park. He left Nora bound and gagged in a warehouse not far from here. The timing suggests he was murdered sometime after that.”
“He was murdered the same night,” the woman barked. “They never caught the devil, but Nora had been blabbing to someone.” Mrs Haggert dabbed a tear from her eye. “It’s why I had to let Caterina go. It’s why I had the name Delphine sewn into her dress and arranged for Aaron Chance to find her.”
Aaron shot to his feet. “She’s lying. It was a chance meeting. We’ve always joked about it because of our surname. She’s inventing a story to suit her purpose.”
Mrs Haggert laughed. “It weren’t no chance meeting. You went to look at lodgings on Phoenix Street. That’s where you found each other.”
Delphine looked at Aaron, her eyes wide. “I remember now. I was told to wait in Phoenix Street, to sleep in the baker’s shop doorway.”
“Course, I couldn’t have you living so close to the hen house,” Mrs Haggert continued. “So I arranged for you to fight Maguire. I made a sizeable donation to the purse. That’s how you could afford the room above Mrs Maloney’s bookshop. I knew she’d take one look at you all and gather you under her wing.”
Aaron dropped into the chair, dumbfounded.
“The rest you’ve done on your own,” Mrs Haggert said proudly.
“How did I hurt my head?” Delphine was still holding Mrs Haggert’s hand. “I thought that was the cause of my memory loss.”
“You tripped over a loose cobblestone. It’s as Flynn said. Tobias helped you to suppress your memories. It was a trick he’d learned in Vienna. He left for the continent the night we took you, but the fool made the mistake of returning to town.” She sounded exasperated, as if her pleas had fallen on deaf ears. “That’s when he happened upon Nora. That’s when the plan fell to pieces.”
Delphine’s jaw dropped. “But I don’t remember my time here, either.”
“Tobias locked them memories away the night he lured Nora to the warehouse. Escaping the hen house was the one chance you had to make a new life for yourself.”
“One chance,” she whispered, gazing fondly at her brother. “How apt. The day I met Aaron changed my life.”
“You mention the night you took her from Green Park.” Dorian was keen to know why Delphine’s parents died. It was the key to the puzzle. It had to be the reason Nora had tried to kill her. The reason someone had hired thugs to abduct her off the street. “How did you know where to find her? And why would you steal a child from her parents?”
Perhaps her parents were already dead.
Mrs Haggert looked like she would rather lose a limb than repeat what happened that night. She shifted in her seat and stared at Aaron. “If the wrong people learn about this, she might hang.”
Delphine tugged Mrs Haggert’s hand to get her attention. “It has something to do with me scattering flower petals. They were going to kill my mother if I refused.”
He came for the Jubilee and got lost in the whispers.
Happen he meant for me to stay at the Pulteney Hotel.
Nora’s crazed words flitted through Dorian’s mind. Every foolish thing the woman said had a ring of truth to it. It was just a case of piecing the fragments together.
“He came for the Jubilee and stayed at the Pulteney Hotel. It’s on the corner of Bolton Street, where Delphine lived with her parents. The hotel is near Green Park, where she was told to wait for you.”
Mrs Haggert nodded and hung her head.
She wept for a minute or more.
But what the devil did it have to do with scattering flowers?
Then a thought struck him.
“Lots of foreign dignitaries came for the celebration. Many stayed at the Pulteney. There were processions. Some children were invited to sit with Queen Charlotte in the flotilla of boats parading along the Thames. With her father being secretary to the ambassador, Delphine was one of them.”
Mrs Haggert wiped away her tears. “Her father tried to stop it, but they had footpads rob him and throw him off Vauxhall Bridge.”
Stop what?
And why would the truth place Delphine in danger?
The Grand Jubilee of 1814 marked the 100th anniversary of Hanoverian rule. It was also a means of celebrating the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Whispers of assassination attempts were rife. London received an influx of Napoleon sympathisers. Hence they came up with the idea of having children sit with Queen Charlotte in the royal barge.
An icy chill rippled down Dorian’s spine.
While Delphine and Aaron looked confused, he said, “She was meant to carry something other than petals in her basket. Delphine was meant to carry the weapon someone planned to use to assassinate the Queen.”
Delphine shook her head. “That can’t be true.”
Mrs Haggert’s sigh carried the weight of her burden. “They were going to kill her mother if she didn’t. Sofia confided in a maid. The maid’s brother worked for me, and together, we made a plan.”
A mournful stillness filled the room.
The weight of unspoken grief hung heavily in the air.
“You were right to hire Flynn,” Aaron said dolefully. “But I’ve never been as afraid as I am right now. Someone killed to keep this secret. They’ll not rest until they’ve silenced you, Delphine.”
Dorian’s stomach churned. “We’ll find the people responsible.”
He’d not lose Delphine.
He couldn’t lose Delphine.
“They’re faceless men,” Mrs Haggert said, reminding Dorian of the many times Delphine had used those exact words. “There were four of them. Strange that three Frenchmen died in a blaze the night after we rescued Caterina. Nora is the only one who can identify the ringleader. That’s why I hid her in Bethlem instead of hanging her from Blackfriars Bridge.”
The news brought a chorus of gasps.
“So you blackmailed Lord Meldrum?” Dorian said.
Mrs Haggert smiled. “I had to find someone who had some clout at the hospital. I had to get Nora off the streets so she couldn’t find Caterina. All this time, I’ve let Aaron think he had to keep Caterina safe from me. It worked a treat for the best part of sixteen years.”
Aaron cursed. “You never told me her name was Caterina.”
“Now you know why.”
Dorian took a moment to consider the next step in the investigation. All evidence pointed to the current Lord Meldrum being a key player. He visited Nora in Bethlem. He freed her from the hospital and gave her the pistol. But he would have been fourteen years old at the time of the Jubilee.
“Picking the old Lord Meldrum may have been a mistake,” he said. “Lucky for you, he had no idea who was blackmailing him. But it’s possible he was the ringleader, and now his son is left trying to hide the evidence of his crimes.”
The lord’s desperation to marry Delphine stemmed from more than a need to clear his debts. What’s the betting she would drown in the lake at Farnworth Park or suffer some other accident a month after they’d wed?
Mrs Haggert shuffled to the edge of the seat. “Then you’d better arrest the bugger, Mr Flynn. Caterina ain’t safe until you do.”
“You’re not safe either.” He recalled what had been said in front of Nora last night. “Nora knows you were with Tobias in Green Park. We inadvertently named you as being complicit in the crime.” They needed to put a man outside Bow Street to monitor all visitors.
Mrs Haggert shrugged. “Death comes to us all, but I hope I’m in the crowd when they hang the beast who shot Sofia.”
What sort of heartless beast shot an unarmed woman in the back? Still, the nature of Sofia’s death left one unanswered question.
He touched Delphine’s arm. “Isn’t there something you want to ask Mrs Haggert? Something about your mother?”
She glanced at him over her shoulder, her bottom lip trembling. “Will you ask for me? I’m not sure I have the strength to say the words.”
He nodded, and she came to sit beside him on the sofa, threading her arm through his and resting her head against his shoulder.
Aaron looked but said nothing.
Mrs Haggert merely smiled.
“We learnt that Sofia Chadwick died in the Belle Sauvage Inn, Ludgate Hill.” Daventry had been quite thorough in his investigation. “A witness statement said she had a child with her when she took a room, but the child disappeared.”
Mrs Haggert sighed. “I’d rather tell you the combination to my vault than repeat the words you need to hear, Caterina.” She rubbed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath. “But there ain’t no point you leaving here without knowing how much your mother loved you.”
The comment brought an image of Dorian’s mother crashing into his mind. There were many words to describe the woman who had given birth to him. Selfish. Vain. Cold.
But all men were not born equal.
One day they would depart this world, and the confusing elements of life would read like a chapter in a book. Every page would make perfect sense.
“I let Sofia take one of my boys,” Mrs Haggert began. “She dressed him in a hooded cloak and bought tickets for the stage to St Austell.”
Delphine slid her arm around Dorian’s waist, holding him tightly. “Was she running away?”
“No, gal! She was trying to fool the devil. It was the night we took you from Green Park. She was trying to lure him across town. Except she didn’t know Nora had turned with the tide.”
They all sat solemnly for a few seconds.
“We got away.” Mrs Haggert’s hand came to rest on her heart. “But in the shadow of the majestic St Paul’s, with its bells tolling loudly, Sofia was shot in the back.”
Delphine cried then.
She buried her face in Dorian’s coat and wept.
He made a promise to himself as he held her close and watched her sob. He couldn’t promise their life would be unmarred by tragic events, but he would ensure the days between were glorious.
Mrs Haggert’s discreet cough stole their attention. “Happen the question you need to ask yourself is why now? What stirred the hornet’s nest?”
Delphine raised her head and dashed tears from her eyes. “It all began after my visit to Bethlem when Nora called me by my mother’s name.”
“Did it? Nora is mad. Why would anyone give a hoot about the nonsense she spouts? The only person it would mean anything to is the devil who killed your parents.”
It was clear the guards at Bethlem thought Nora was deranged.
Anything she said would be dismissed as lunacy.
“It began after my visit.” Dorian would never forget Powell’s hostility and his reluctance to answer questions. “The Superintendent must have told Lord Meldrum that I interviewed Nora.”
“Probably because he feared you’d learn the truth of how Nora came to be there,” Aaron said. “Meldrum doesn’t want anyone to know he’s being blackmailed.”
“No one knows he’s being blackmailed,” Mrs Haggert countered. “I ain’t told a soul, and I trust my men. I can’t see the Superintendent blabbing. His neck would be for the chopping block.”
One piece of evidence cast doubt over the extent of Meldrum’s involvement. Dorian had struggled to understand why Meldrum would free Nora and give her a pistol. He had to know it would bring trouble to his door.
Delphine must have read his mind because she said, “One other person knows Lord Meldrum is being blackmailed. His friend, Bertie.”
“Who?” Mrs Haggert said.
“Gerald Bertram,” Dorian added. The man had practically begged them to help Meldrum and find the blackmailer. Perhaps he had a personal interest in the outcome. “He met Lord Meldrum while on a Grand Tour. I found it odd that they were abroad the same year. I imagine Bertie is approaching forty.”
Aaron sat forward. “I make it my business to know all the men of the ton. I know the names of their relatives and close friends. I’ve never heard of Gerald Bertram.”
“Happen that’s because he don’t exist,” Mrs Haggert said, “though there’s only one way to know for sure. Question Meldrum on his own. Aaron can scare the devil into confessing.”
Dorian considered the plan. “Invite Meldrum to Fortune’s Den. Say it’s to discuss his mounting debts and his marriage proposal. We can take matters from there.” Though he hated to admit it, the safest place for Delphine was at her brothers’ club.
“If you need help, I’ve men at my disposal.” Mrs Haggert was keen to be part of the solution. Her desire to find the man who’d shot Sofia was there in her determined expression.
“I heard they arrested Harold Haggert for highway robbery.” Aaron scoffed. “Why would I trust your men when they lack the courage to pull the trigger?”
Mrs Haggert laughed. “Do you remember what I told you to do when there’s a tough choice to make, Caterina?”
Delphine looked at her blankly.
“The decisions we make today shape our future. Why would I hang for that blackguard when I can stand in the crowd, sip gin from a flask and watch him dangle?”
Dorian admired the sentiment. Every decision they made now, every thought and deed, laid the foundations for Delphine’s future.
He just prayed they didn’t make a mistake.
He prayed the faceless man wasn’t one step ahead.
Chapter Twenty
Fortune’s Den
Aldgate Street
Mr Daventry sat at the dining table, listening as Dorian relayed the information they’d gained from Mrs Haggert. His gaze moved from his cut of veal to the mantel clock. “Her account is logical and far too accurate to be anything but the truth.”
Aaron tossed back half a glass of burgundy before grumbling under his breath. “While I’m happy Delphine has clarity, knowing that woman had a hand in helping us off the street makes my blood boil.”
“At least we know why she kept the secret.” Delphine did not wish to defend Mrs Haggert’s actions, but the woman had come to her mother’s aid, and for that, she would always be grateful.
Daventry raised his glass in salute. “Nothing is ever as it seems. It’s impossible to know another person’s motives. It’s a lesson for us all.”
“I know the damn lesson,” Aaron snapped. He’d been agitated since Lord Meldrum agreed to visit Fortune’s Den tonight. His dark eyes flicked to the clock. The incessant ticking bothered him, too. “I’ll rest easier when this business is behind us, and the culprit is in Newgate.”
They all fell silent as they ate their meal.
No one mentioned the plan.
If Lord Meldrum confessed, they could all rest easily.
If Bertie was the faceless man, someone would die tonight.
Dorian glanced at her across the table, his heart-stopping smile making her stomach flip. She wanted done with this dreaded business, too. She wanted to spend the rest of her life in his bed. Spend forever simply loving him.
“Has Miss Darrow returned to her modiste shop?” Daventry said, an air of intrigue to his tone as he addressed Theo. “She must have lost a substantial amount of work while caring for you. I’m surprised she stayed at Mile End so long.”
The change of subject brought light relief, though it roused the same curious questions about the modiste.
“I’m the King of Hearts. Perhaps she finds me irresistible.” Theo’s teasing was sweet music to Delphine’s ears. “In truth, I spent most of the time asleep while she busied about in her sewing box. Miss Darrow hugged the thing like it was a beloved pet.”
Delphine had noticed the modiste’s preoccupation with the box. Miss Darrow had brought it to Theo’s room every day.
Aramis snorted. “You’re losing your appeal, Theo. I wouldn’t admit that a lady preferred the feel of thread on her lips to those of the half-naked man in bed.”
