A Death at Crystal Palace by Caroline Dunford

Author:Caroline Dunford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Accent Press
Published: 2018-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

In Bed With The Devil

‘The fiend! I will have his heart for this. I will cut it, still beating, from his living body!’ said Bertram when I told him what had occurred.

‘But did you find any sign of where the kidnappers went?’ I asked. ‘How they exited?’

Bertram shook his head. None of us spoke. We were all considering our positions. Bertram paced angrily up and down our hotel sitting room. Rory, now changed into fresh clothing, sat very still in an armchair. The skin round his eyes had reduced in swelling but had gone an inky dark colour. His cheeks were suffused with burgeoning bruises. The way he held himself told me that this might well be the most visible of his injuries. I stood, my hands tightly clasped together so my fingers dug into my flesh, to prevent myself from breaking down and sobbing. I did not know what to do. Amy had been put to bed in the nursery and, after all the commotion, was sleeping as only an exhausted child might.

Eventually Rory spoke. ‘Euphemia, are you considering not returning to Fitzroy?’

‘Yes,’ I said quietly.

Bertram stopped pacing and swung towards me, his face ashen. ‘But the King!’ he said.

‘He does not want us to protect the King,’ I said. ‘Only the Baron. Who is this Baron against the life of two innocents?’

Bertram came up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. ‘It will still be treason,’ he said. ‘But if you determine to follow this course of action,’ he swallowed, and I saw how much it cost him to complete his sentence, ‘I will aid you.’

I raised my hand to grip his. ‘You are everything to me,’ I said.

Rory coughed. ‘Crushingly romantic as this moment may be for the pair of you, I think you are forgetting that we have no idea where the babies have been taken. Nor, for that matter, by whom.’

Bertram released me and faced him. ‘I think we can be certain Richard is behind this.’

Rory shrugged and then winced with the pain of it. ‘Most likely, but he did not do this himself. He hired others. Germans, if Amy is correct in what she heard. London is a large city and Richard has deep pockets. We do not have the resources to locate them.’

‘You imply Fitzroy does,’ I said. The name tasted bitter on my tongue.

‘Do you doubt it?’ said Rory.

‘He would say anything to bend the situation to his will. Do anything, even,’ I said.

Rory nodded. ‘I agree. He is without scruples. His treatment of you is unforgivable.’ He raised his hand before Bertram would begin another tirade. ‘But we have never been given reason to doubt that he puts King and Country above all else, have we? In fact, quite the contrary.’

‘No, but…’ I said.

Rory interrupted me. ‘We have to help him. If we do not, the likelihood is we will be in jail long before we can help Merry or the children. We have done many incredible things, Euphemia, but finding one young woman and two small babies hidden in London is beyond us.

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