said so before you told me this. I'll go with you, and we'll quiz him.'
Lady Breckenridge leaned against the writing table and crossed her ankles. 'You think he might have something to do with Gabriella?'
'I have no thoughts one way or the other,' I said. 'He might have seen something while he was busy chatting up game girls. He might know something about Mary Chester and Black Bess. He might know something about Gabriella. Then again, he might know nothing at all and is simply enjoying having it off with girls from Covent Garden.'
'Well, we can quiz him at any rate,' Grenville said. 'I'll take you to Tatt's this afternoon. What else do you want us to do to storm Mayfair?'
'If you know of any other gentleman with a fixation on street girls, please tell me,' I said. 'I will quiz every one of them if I have to.'
'My husband certainly knew gentlemen of odd tastes,' Lady Breckenridge said. 'I could find out what some of them have been getting up to, lately.'
'Thinking of you even speaking to them is repugnant to me,' I said.
She shrugged. 'I am not overly fond of them myself, but I can find out what they know without much trouble. I will ask Barnstable to invade their servants' halls and refresh himself on gossip. He'll enjoy it.'
I had no doubt that Lady Breckenridge's energetic butler would be delighted to be asked to help with covert investigation.
'What will you do?' Grenville asked. 'While we're hard at it?'
I had thought of my idea last night before Lady Breckenridge found me. 'I want to pay a visit to a nearby house, one Marianne showed me during the Hanover Square investigation. It's possible that Gabriella or Black Bess went there.'
Grenville looked dubious. 'Are you definitely connecting the two-or the three, rather-disappearances?'
'I do not know whether to connect them. But two game girls vanish from Covent Garden, and then my daughter goes, all in the space of a few weeks. I hardly think it coincidence. Brandon reminded me that Gabriella was my daughter-but that is only another point toward her being kidnapped. I go off halfcocked, but I am also resourceful. Unless her mother has purged that quality completely from her, I doubt Gabriella would have run away without preparing. Everything points to her having meant to return to the boardinghouse quickly. No bundle of clothing missing, none of her personal possessions gone. I will ask Auberge whether she stole any money from him or Carlotta, but I feel in my bones that she did not.'
'But if she eloped,' Lady Breckenridge said, 'she might have gone with the clothes on her back and trusted the young man to provide for her. Perhaps this man is quite rich, and his unsuitable qualities are something besides lack of funds. '
'True,' Grenville said. 'He might be a bounder, or have a reputation for ruining young women, or have a gambling addiction. So many things can attract a young woman and upset her parents at the same time.' He winced as he said it, having discovered his own daughter in a marriage with a man he found detestable.
I wondered which scenario disturbed me more, the thought of Gabriella snatched as she innocently walked through the square or the idea of her willingly running off with a rakehell.
'I will certainly ask Auberge all about him,' I said. I looked at them, my friends so ready to drop their appointments for the day to help me. Grenville, the great man of fashion, had turned his back on a social engagement the night before to keep searching for Gabriella. I could not help but be touched by their generosity.
'Thank you,' I said. 'To the pair of you.'
True to their upbringing, both looked slightly embarrassed at being caught out doing good deeds.
'My dear friend,' Grenville said. 'I would a hundred times rather help you find your only daughter than be at home to the dozens of dandies and aristocrats who assail me at White's, coffeehouses, and gaming hells. Most of them are half-drunk and only want my approval on their cravat knots and the cut of their coats. Their company, quite frankly, has palled. Far more interesting things happen around you.'
'I am happy I can provide entertainment,' I began, but I did not mean it harshly. I'd said the words so many times that they had become rather a joke between us.
'More than just entertainment. You soothe my vanity by making me think I can actually do some good in the world.'
'It must be difficult being one of the wealthiest, most influential men in England,' I said.
Grenville gave me an ironic glance, but let it go.
Lady Breckenridge came to me. 'I am quite fond of you, of course, Gabriel, but I also very much enjoy prying into the affairs of my Mayfair neighbors. The veneer hides such sordid secrets, I have always found. I can dig through the dirt for you and feel virtuous at the same time.' She laughed softly, self-deprecating.
'In other words, we don't help entirely for your sake,' Grenville said. 'We are selfish and pleasure- loving.'
'Precisely,' Donata said.
They were not at all these things, but I let them have their pretense.
'Well, no matter your motives, I do need you. Go home and rest, Grenville, then we'll meet for Tatt's.' I touched Donata's shoulder. 'You gossip to your heart's content and ask Barnstable to visit servants' halls. Send for me anytime you like.'
Donata slanted me a smile, telling me without words when she'd like to send for me. Lady Breckenridge was not a fainting flower with false modesty. She enjoyed desire and saw no reason to hide the fact.
Grenville rubbed his chin as though his makeshift shave in my rooms hadn't suited him. 'I'll hunt up Jackson, Lacey, and have him take you where you need to go in my carriage. I'll take a hackney home.'
'Generous of you.'
'Jackson needs the exercise. And if you're determined to go alone, I want someone with you who will report to me when you forget to.'
I acknowledged the hint. Often, when I was in the heat of an investigation, I pursued things on my own without calling in Grenville, and this offended him.
'I will not be alone. I plan to take Major Auberge with me.'
'Will you?' Grenville asked, brows rising. 'Why?'
'Because I need to know about my daughter. And much as it pains me, he knows her far better than I do.'
Grenville acknowledged this with a sympathetic glance, but he said nothing. Lady Breckenridge rose on her tiptoes, pressed a kiss to my cheek, and with her back to Grenville, gave my forearm a surreptitious and suggestive stroke. Then she turned away as though she'd done nothing untoward.
'Never mind the hackney, Grenville,' she said. 'You will ride back in my carriage, and we shall talk about people.'
'An excellent idea,' Grenville said.
He offered her his arm, and the two strolled out. Grenville's cool sardonic tones floated up the stairs. 'By the bye, did you notice Rafe Godwin's fantastic ballooning pantaloons at Lady Woodward's musicale Tuesday night?'
'Ghastly,' Lady Breckenridge agreed. 'I quite expected him to float to the ceiling.' Grenville's laugh answered her, and then they were gone.
I closed the door. The two of them occupied a world I did not understand. It would never occur to me to made witty comments on a gentleman's pantaloons, no matter how ridiculous I found them. Lady Breckenridge and Grenville delighted in such things, and yet, I'd come to value their good sense.
I gathered what I wanted and went downstairs to walk to King Street.
Auberge proved willing to resume the hunt with me. As we left the boardinghouse, Jackson, responding to Grenville's command that he drive me about, pulled up in Grenville's carriage. I gave Jackson the direction to a house in a lane off High Holborn, and I climbed inside with Auberge. Auberge's face was chalk white, his eyes sunken, and I realized that he had not slept at all.
I did not see Carlotta at the boardinghouse. Auberge had come down alone, and quickly, although I heard a door bang as he descended the stairs. He thanked me for looking him up then said nothing as we left King Street and went north toward Long Acre.
