The fellow glanced left and right in the gloom before crouching down beside the bag and unbuckling the straps. After a quick ferret inside, he scooped the bag into his arms, took to his heels and bolted.
The small courtyard erupted into a hive of activity. Shouts and barked orders flew like arrows through the darkness, hitting their targets. Mr Sloane appeared and gave chase as the mystery blackmailer darted through an alley to the left.
Everyone followed suit, except for Mr Daventry who cried that he would trap the villain in the next courtyard.
“I don’t think it’s Howard,” Eva panted, gripping Noah’s hand. She had to yank her skirts past her calves to keep his fast pace. “Howard has a certain way of walking, lofty and dandified.”
“A man doesn’t care about such things when darting about like a frightened rabbit.”
“It’s not Howard,” she repeated. The fleeing silhouette did not look like Mr Hemming, either.
“Whoever he is, he’s fast on his feet,” Mr Cole panted as their quarry headed along Middle Temple Lane.
Eva had thought the blackmailer was remarkably clever for choosing the Temple as the meeting ground, though she realised her error when the fool ran into a dead end. Still, that didn’t stop him from attempting to climb the brick wall. In his desperation to escape, he was forced to drop the valise.
Noah released her hand and sprinted forward. He grabbed the fiend by the back of his coat and pulled him to the ground.
“Argh! Get off m-me,” the fiend cried as a mad scuffle ensued. “Let me go!”
Noah pulled the fool to his feet and drew his arm back, ready to launch his fist.
“W-wait!” the man cried, covering his face with his hands. “I—I can explain.”
The moment Eva heard the stutter, she knew the blackmailer’s identity. “Mr Smith?”
Noah released the clerk and took a moment to study the man’s face. “Smith? What the devil?”
“I’m s-sorry,” he said, squinting as he scanned the ground for his lost spectacles.
Eva picked up the clerk’s eyeglasses and straightened the wires before handing them to him.
“Th-thank you, Miss Dunn.” The clerk put on his spectacles and then stumbled in terror upon witnessing six capable men glaring back at him.
“We demand an explanation!” Noah snapped, his temper barely contained.
Cornered, the clerk had no option but to comply. “And you sh-shall have one if you give me a minute to catch my breath.”
Noah folded his arms across his chest. “Well?”
Eva stepped forward. The young man was sure to find her less intimidating. “Does Mr Hemming know you’re blackmailing me?” Perhaps the publisher had sent his clerk to do his dirty deeds. “Does he know you arranged this meeting tonight?”
The clerk hung his head. “No, Miss Dunn.”
Noah turned on his heel and muttered a curse.
“You’re entirely to blame?” she asked incredulously. “You don’t strike me as the sort of man who would threaten a lady so cruelly. Have you no conscience?”
Mr Smith let out a whimper. “I—I was desperate, Miss Dunn. Y-you don’t know what it’s like working with Mr Hemming. It’s only a matter of time before I lose my position.”
“Oh, spare me your pitiful tale,” Noah mocked. “You’re a liar and a thief and deserve the worst kind of punishment.”
“Wait a moment,” Eva said before Noah dragged the fellow to the nearest police office. “Why would you lose your position? Does it have to do with me parting ways with Mr Hemming?” Surely not. The man published other notable works and made more than a reasonable living.
Mr Smith shook his head. “No, Miss Dunn. He’s lost his mind. If he’s not for Bedlam, he’ll be for the hangman’s noose.”
The hangman’s noose?
Mr Hemming was a little unstable, but not to that extent. “Mr Smith, if this is a ploy to incite pity, it won’t work. Either explain yourself properly, or I shall walk away, and you may deal with Mr Ashwood.”
Noah bared his teeth and growled.
“You sent the first blackmail note before I terminated my contract with Mr Hemming,” she continued. “You sent it before that dreadful night, the night you witnessed the violent scene in his office.”
Eva felt the heat of Noah’s penetrating stare. She had failed to convey the force Mr Hemming had used to pin her against the bookcase.
The clerk dragged his hand down his face. “Mr Hemming will kill me if I tell you.”
“And I will kill you if you don’t,” Noah countered.
Silence ensued, but eventually Mr Smith said, “Mr H-Hemming made me write the first blackmail note.”
“I see.” Eva wasn’t surprised. “Was it a ploy to lure me to his office?” It’s what she had first suspected.
The clerk took to wringing his hands. “It’s more complicated. There’s more—”
“Stop dithering and come to the bloody point!” Noah barked. He inhaled deeply before turning to Eva. “Forgive me. If he doesn’t spill his guts soon, I’m likely to throttle him.”
The comment whipped Mr Smith into a panic. “It all started the night your brother came to the office, miss,” he gabbled.
“My brother went to see Mr Hemming?”
“We were working late, until the early hours. Mr Dunn arrived in a terrible state. Blood oozed from a cut above his eye, and it looked like his nose was broken.”
“No doubt from the beating he’d had off Benham,” Noah said.
“Or from the Turners’ men,” Mr Cole added.
“He’d come to see if he could borrow money. That’s when he told Mr Hemming about his troubles. That’s when they came up with their cruel plan.”
Cruel plan?
For a moment, Eva’s world stopped spinning.
A sudden bout of nausea made her want to heave.
What had she done to deserve such vile treatment?
“What sort of pl—” Her voice broke on the last word.
Noah placed his hand at the small of her back. The comforting gesture gave her the confidence to continue.
“What sort of plan?” she repeated.
The clerk glanced warily at the group of men surrounding him. “Mr H-Hemming would keep your brother safe from the vicious thugs who were
