Fear of the silent man who loaned money to young women and then blackmailed them into prostitution? A man who would do that must be a cruel and possibly dangerous partner. Was he threatening Squeaky if he did not produce the usual income in spite of the circumstances?
She smiled slowly. The idea of the would-be butler’s giving Jessop a couple of black eyes and a thoroughly good fright was very appealing. She could be tempted.
Squeaky was watching her as a cat does a mouse.
“Five pounds,” he said.
It was, relatively speaking, a modest enough sum. Margaret would be able to come by it. Why was Squeaky offering to do such a thing for only five pounds? Was the partner really so demanding? He was a usurer. Money was his stock-in-trade. Was Squeaky down to so little that five pounds made a difference?
“For you, in your position?” she asked.
“Me!” he snapped. “He’s…” Then the derision vanished from his face and he conceded everything. “Me,” he repeated.
It was a second or two before she realized what he was saying, then it came in a flood of understanding-he was alone. For some reason the partner was no longer there. That was his panic-the fact that he did not know how to run the business by himself.
The wild idea gained at Marielle Courtney’s house hardened into close to a certainty. Nolan Baltimore had been Squeaky’s partner, and his death, murder or accident, had left Squeaky without anyone to run the usury side of the business.
He needed a new partner, someone with access to the sort of young women who might get into debt, the polished manner to earn their confidence, and the business acumen to loan them money and insist on its repayment in this way.
An even wilder idea came almost unbidden into her mind. It was outrageous, but it just might work. If it did, if she could persuade him, it could solve their own problem. It would not reveal who killed Baltimore, or get the police out of the area, but she found to her surprise that she did not care greatly. If Baltimore had been the usurer, and also a client of his own appalling trade, then she could not mourn his death.
“I will consider your offer, Mr. Robinson,” she said with aplomb. She rose to her feet. Now that she had thought of a plan, she was in a fever to put it to the test.
He looked vaguely hopeful. Was that for the money or the prospect of seeing Jessop severely frightened? Either would do. “Let me know,” he said with a very faint smile.
“I will,” she promised. “Good day, Mr. Robinson.”
Hester had to wait until the evening before she could put her idea to Margaret. After the initial business of the house was over, Alice and Fanny were resting fairly easily. The two were actually talking to one another; Hester heard the occasional soft giggle. Hester sat down with Margaret to a cup of tea, and she could contain herself no longer.
Margaret stared at her wide-eyed with disbelief. “He’ll never do it! Never!”
“Well, he might not,” Hester admitted, reaching for the butter and jam for her toast. “But it could work, don’t you think-if he would?”
“If… do you think…” Margaret could scarcely admit the possibility, but she was glowing with excitement, her cheeks pink.
“Will you come with me to try?” Hester asked.
Margaret hesitated. Her eagerness was plain in her face, also her fear of embarrassment, and of failure. She might be thought too forward, and invite a rebuff which would hurt more than she would find easy to accept.
Hester waited.
“Yes,” Margaret agreed, then took a deep breath as if to retract it, and let it out in a sigh and picked up her tea.
“Good.” Hester smiled at her. “We’ll go tomorrow morning. I shall meet you at Vere Street at nine o’clock.” She gave Margaret no chance to change her mind. She stood up and, carrying her toast with her, went to speak to Fanny as if the whole matter were settled and there could be nothing more to discuss.
The morning was bright and chilly again, and Hester dressed smartly in a plain dark blue dress and coat. She took a hansom to Vere Street to be there just before nine. She knew Margaret would be on time, and trembling with tension. She cared for her feelings, but apart from that, she did not wish to give her any opportunity to retreat.
Actually, Margaret was late, and Hester had begun to pace up and down the pavement anxiously. At last the hansom drew up and Margaret, beautifully dressed, scrambled out with less grace than usual.
“I’m sorry!” she said hastily after paying the driver. “The traffic was terrible. Somebody clashed wheels and broke an axle in Trafalgar Square, and they started shouting at each other. What a mess. Are we…”
“Yes,” Hester replied, too relieved to be angry. “We are! Come on!” And she took Margaret by the arm and entered Rathbone’s chambers.
They were too early, as Hester expected they would be. She was immensely relieved simply to find that Rathbone was not due in court that morning, and if they waited, there was an excellent chance he would be able to see them after his first client, who was due at half past nine, exactly the time the clerk expected Rathbone himself.
As it transpired, they were invited to go into his office shortly after ten o’clock, but Hester had the feeling that had Margaret not been with her he might have kept her waiting longer.
Rathbone came forward to greet them, hesitating an instant as to which of them he should speak to first. It was so slight Hester barely saw it, but she knew him far better than Margaret did, and she had not mistaken it. He addressed Hester, because of their long friendship, but he had wanted to go to Margaret.
“Hester, how pleasant to see you,” he said with a smile. “Even if I am perfectly sure that at this time in the morning you must have come on business, no doubt to do with your house in Coldbath Square.” He turned to Margaret. “Good morning, Miss Ballinger.” There was the very faintest flush on his cheeks. “I am glad you were able to come also, although I am afraid I have not yet thought of any way in which your usurer can be stopped by the law. And believe me, I have tried.”
Margaret smiled back at him, meeting his eyes with candor, and then suddenly realizing how bold she was and moderating her gaze. “I am sure you have done all that could be…” she started, then stopped. “We have thought about it a great deal also, and certain events have changed matters considerably. Hester will tell you; it is her idea… although I do heartily agree.”
Rathbone turned to Hester with his eyebrows raised and a distinct look of apprehension in his face as he invited them to be seated. He turned to Hester. “Well?”
She knew time was limited and she must not waste words or choose the wrong ones. There would be little opportunity to retrieve a mistake. She was prepared to risk a touch of overstatement. If she was wrong she could apologize later. She plunged in.
“I know who the usurer is… was,” she stated with assurance. “It was a partnership, one man who found the young women and lent them the money, the other who actually ran the brothel and did the day-to-day management of affairs. He collected the repayments and exacted the punishment if they were late. It is the one who did the lending who is dead,” she added.
“Then is the business ended?” he asked, doubt in his face. “Will he not find another usurer, or plan that part of it himself?”
“He can’t take it over himself,” she answered. “He has not the skills, nor has he the opportunity to meet the sort of young women most vulnerable. He is a brothel-keeper, and he looks and sounds like one.” She leaned forward a little. “What he needs, desperately at the moment, is someone who appears to be a gentleman but who has business ability and a degree of charm to deceive young women in debt into borrowing from him in the belief that they can repay with money honestly earned.” She watched him carefully to make sure she was putting the case clearly and yet not so obviously that he was ahead of her, and would refuse before she had had the opportunity to explain the whole plan.
“I expect he will find one,” he said, his face filled with the rueful humor she knew so well. “It would be very pleasant to think that he will not, but not realistic. I’m sorry.”
“I agree.” She nodded. “If he could not, then we would have no concern.”
