With an arched brow, he took the paper and quickly scanned the names before tucking it into the pocket of his coat. “It’ll take time, but I’ll let you know what he digs up.”
“Thank you.”
Green eyes flickered. “My pleasure.”
She cleared her throat. “Where else did your job take you today?”
His expression turned slightly mutinous and his obvious reluctance made her uneasy.
Katherine walked around the desk, no longer concerned with keeping a distance—or furniture—between them. Stopping once she was close enough to see the fine lines bracketing his unsmiling mouth, she spoke in as firm a tone as she could manage with the sudden uncertainty spinning in her center. “Do not withhold information from me. The more we understand what we’re facing, the more equipped we’ll be to resolve it.”
There was a long pause as he looked down at her from his brawny height. “I recognized Freddie’s description of the two men who’d nabbed him that first night.”
The answer surprised her. “The members of the criminal gang you rescued him from?”
Another pause. Shorter this time. “No.”
An icy chill spread through her. “Tell me.”
He held her gaze as he replied. “The men who initially took him that night were a couple of small-time mercenaries known to hire themselves out for a variety of tasks. Anyone involved with unlawful business in the rookery would’ve told you Butler and Green knew how to get the job done.”
Katherine took a steadying breath. “You’re using the past tense, Mr. Hale.”
He gave a short nod.
“Why?”
“They were found in the Thames several days ago.”
Bile churned in her stomach. “They’d been killed? Because of their involvement with Frederick?”
“Because of their failure, most likely. Their deaths were a message to future hirelings.”
“The two men from yesterday?”
“I’ll keep my ears open for any news.”
“News...” she muttered quietly as icy dread filled her veins, “as in, more bodies.”
He didn’t reply to that.
Katherine wasn’t sure how to process what he’d told her. Though she had no love for anyone who’d do harm to a child and she certainly wanted the men who’d attacked her brother to face justice for their actions, the thought of them being murdered and tossed into the murky river was horrifying.
They weren’t just up against a kidnapper. They were after a murderer. If their enemy would so easily end the lives of men he’d hired, what would stop him from killing Frederick? Or anyone else who might get in the way?
“Did you learn anything else?”
“Only that the person who hired Butler and Green was determined to conceal his identity and he was able to pay well for the deed.”
Katherine met his hard gaze. “Which suggests they aren’t after a ransom.”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t appear so.”
Her earlier frustration returned in full force, warring with the fear inside her. “What other reason could there be? We have no enemies. We barely have any friends. Nearly everything we have is entailed and the man set to inherit isn’t even in England.”
“I have an idea.”
Katherine turned at the sound of her brother’s voice to see him standing tall and proud in the doorway. “Frederick?”
His steady gaze moved between Katherine and Hale as he walked into the room. “Until we know who is orchestrating the kidnappings and why, we are at a serious disadvantage. We need information and I believe the best way to obtain it is to go on the offensive.”
Trepidation followed swiftly on the heels of her brother’s words. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
The boy’s shoulders squared in a way Katherine knew well. He was anticipating an argument, which meant she wasn’t going to like what he was about to say.
“We set a trap and encourage them to try again. Instead of them taking me, we capture the kidnappers.” He turned to Hale. “Then we force them to tell us what they know.”
Resistance clenched her heart in a tight fist. “Are you suggesting we use you as a lure?” She shook her head in firm denial. “Absolutely not.”
“If we plan everything properly, I won’t be in any danger at all.”
“No,” she stated firmly with a narrowed, resistant gaze.
At her flat refusal, Frederick sighed in frustration and turned to Hale. “It’s the best way to claim an advantage.”
“Too much could go wrong,” he replied with a heavy scowl. “It’s not worth the risk, lad.”
“But I’ve got to do something. I can’t just hide away in the schoolroom for the rest of my life.”
The frustration in her brother’s voice was the same that flowed through her. “I’m sorry, Frederick, but the most important thing is keeping you safe. We’ll figure this out, but it won’t be by putting you in greater danger.”
His eyes flashed with conviction and determination. “With no other information to go on, it might become our only option.”
Then he turned and strode swiftly from the room, leaving Katherine with a heavy sense of dread churning inside her.
“He’s a brave lad.”
She turned to Hale with a frown. “He doesn’t understand what he’s suggesting.”
His eyebrows arched. “Doesn’t he?”
She closed her eyes as fear rushed through her. Of course Frederick understood. And once he latched onto an idea, he rarely let it go. “I cannot allow it,” she whispered.
“I know.” Hale’s voice was low and weighted with resolve. “I’ll keep him safe. Trust me.”
Opening her eyes, she met his gaze and a tingling sensation coursed through her.
Mason Hale was unlike anyone she’d ever known. He was irreverent and undeniably dangerous. He could make her feel languid and melty one minute, tense with anger and frustration the next. He unsettled her and challenged her and confused her.
And she had placed the most precious thing in her life right into his large, calloused hands.
AFTER LEAVING THE STUDY, Mason headed up to the third floor to see how Claire was faring.
He found his daughter sitting on a rug before the fire of what had once been a schoolroom. An ancient set of toy soldiers lay scattered
