“Mary said I could stay as long as I want.”
“Tamar, dear,” purred Darla. “He’s gruff, but he knows his business. I’m sure Markhat knows a better hiding place.”
“I do indeed. But moving her tonight isn’t the best way to handle things. We need crowds to hide in. Too, my Avalante carriage isn’t exactly inconspicuous.”
Tamar beamed and scratched Mr. Tibbles behind his scruffy little ears. “Did you hear that, Mr. Tibbles? We’re spending the night with Mary.”
“Are all the doors locked?”
Darla nodded. “Doors and windows.”
“Good.” I rose. “Lock this one after me.”
She frowned. “You’re leaving?”
“Only to send my driver home. I’ll be right back. Does Mary have a fireplace?”
“Of course. Why?”
“Then she has a fireplace poker. Keep it handy.” I kissed her on the nose and peeked through the door glass and then opened it quickly and waited there until I heard the locks click.
I asked my driver to ride around Rannit for a couple of hours before heading home. If anyone was keeping an eye out for finders in borrowed black carriages, that ought to prove amusing.
Then I headed back to Mary’s cheery little bungalow, my hand on Toadsticker’s hilt. I got indoors without incident, and I placed a straight-backed wooden chair across from the front door and angled it so I could see the room behind me.
Mary has a fancy brass clock on the mantel above her fireplace. It ticked and tocked the whole night long, while I watched windows and doors and fought off sleep by holding Toadsticker out level with my chest and balancing a glass on his blade whenever I felt the urge to doze.
Darla hadn’t asked where I intended to take Tamar. I still wasn’t sure. A hotel downtown, under an assumed name, I decided. With Mills idling in the lobby and keeping an eye on the stairs. I could hit up Fields for reimbursement later, and it was only then that I realized I no longer trusted the baker enough to tell him where I was hiding his daughter.
The brass clock struck out the third small hour when Darla emerged, wrapped in a blanket, sleep in her eyes. She curled up on the floor next to me and wordlessly went to sleep, her hand in mine.
Darla is beautiful, by the way. Far too beautiful to be walking out with a rogue such as I. But here she was, at my side.
Evis’s admonition to keep Toadsticker handy ran hobnailed through my mind. Hell, I was putting her at risk every day. If halfdead weren’t out there lurking, the kidnappers might be.
All because of me.
She opened her eyes for a moment and looked up at me and smiled and then fell fast asleep. In that brief moment, it appeared as if she was about to speak.
I listened to the wind outside, and I wondered until sunrise just what it was she might have said.
Mary appeared, clad in a high-necked dressing gown that concealed her so completely I would have been hard-pressed to identify her species, much less her gender. She shooed me into a corner and set about bringing her kitchen to life.
Bacon fried. Biscuits baked. Eggs scrambled. Toast toasted. Coffee perked, making wet sputtering noises that roused the rest of the ladies.
I was elected to take Mr. Tibbles for his morning constitutional. He appeared to be no more thrilled with the task than I, but apart from pulling at his leash and trying to hike his leg on my right boot, he behaved well enough.
I never left Mary’s yard. I did scandalize the neighborhood by waving to her sleepy-eyed neighbors and introducing myself as her beau until Darla dragged me back inside.
Tamar and Mary were already seated and dining. Two plates waited for Darla and I.
“Good morning, Mr. Markhat. Did Mr. Tibbles behave himself?”
“He was a model of decorum, Miss.”
“Are you still angry with me for leaving the hotel?”
“Furious, Miss. But I believe in letting bygones be bygones.” I munched on some sausage and swallowed. “You know you can’t stay here, though.”
“She can stay as long as she kens ta,” said Mary. “’Tis my house, and my say.”
“But she kens to go with me,” I replied. “Because if she doesn’t, I’ll do one of two things. One, I’ll just head downtown and tell her father where she is, and he’ll be along to fetch her and none too happy about it. Or two, I’ll put her over my shoulder and carry her out.”
Mary laughed. “Aye, I reckon ye would at that.” She topped off my coffee cup with a bitter black brew as strong as anything I ever drank in the army.
“Mr. Tibbles wouldn’t like that,” said Tamar. “Neither would I. But would you really? Men are always saying things they really don’t mean, just because everyone thinks they do.”
“He means it,” said Darla. “And he’s right. There are safer places. Places only a finder would think of. Isn’t that right, dear?”
She caught me with a mouthful of scrambled eggs, so I just nodded.
Tamar sighed. “Well. If you think it’s a good idea, then…all right. We’ll go.” Her face took on a sudden expression of genuine concern. “You aren’t about to tell me I have to leave Mr. Tibbles behind, are you? Because I won’t. I simply won’t.”
I swallowed. “No. Never. He goes where you go. That’s a promise, Miss. Me to you.”
She beamed. “I knew you wouldn’t really go and fetch Father. You’re not that kind of man.”
“Thanks. I think.” I drained my cup and wiped crumbs off my chin with one of Mary’s embroidered white napkins. “Finish up, ladies. We’ll be leaving soon. I’m going to go sit on the porch and see if anyone takes notice.”
“Where are we going?” asked Tamar. “Is it a secret place? Somewhere forbidding and mysterious? Will I need a hat with lace, or a veil? I have both. You never know which you’ll need, so I brought one of each.”
I dived in when she paused for breath.
“A veil, then. Mary, thank you for breakfast, and your hospitality.”
“Aye.” She shoved a paper bag of biscuits toward me. “Ye might be wantin’ them for later.”
I took the bag and headed for the porch. Darla followed me out while Tamar shoved bits of bacon toward an anxious Mr. Tibbles.
“So, have you decided where to stash Tamar, dearest?”
“Of course I have. All part of an intricate scheme I formulated long ago.”
Darla laughed. “In other words, you’re making this up as you go.”
“I prefer to think I’m acting with situational awareness in a fluid event dynamic.”
“You’re already talking like a general.”
We kissed at that point. A passing cabbie shouted his approval.
“You’re going to work?”
“As long as we have clients, and we do. Not everyone has headed for the hills.”
“Good for them.” I brushed her hair back, and a vagrant breeze pushed it right back on her forehead. “I’ll stop by before the store closes.”
Her brow furrowed.
“Oh.”
“Oh? Had you rather I not?”
“No, no, not at all. It’s the way you said it. You’ve got something going on after Curfew tonight, don’t you?”
I did indeed. A meeting with Lethway, who’d tried to murder me when last we sat down to fancy cigars and light conversation.
“Nothing terribly dangerous. And I won’t be alone.”
She grabbed me and shivered.
