Mark of Caine Trilogy: Book One: Hidden in the Shadows (Victorian Villains) (2 page)

The Queen had taken a great risk in giving
him this assignment. It was a measure of how much she trusted him. Winning that
trust had been a long process that had left many dark deeds in its wake. Even
so, Tanner
Caine
did not wish for a different path
than the one that lay ahead and he would not shirk from taking it.

Six years ago, he’d had no political
connections or oaths of loyalty he was obeying when he came across the Prince
Regent in a brothel. He was merely acting on instinct. Prince Edward (or
Bertie
as he was nicknamed) was about to hire the services
of a prostitute known to be syphilitic. Tanner recognized the Prince before the
whore did and diplomatically removed the twenty-one-year-old from the scene. The
Queen got wind of the rescue and Tanner had a new job. Queen Victoria needed a
clever, worldly man who would do whatever it took to protect her family from
scandal; a man who would bend the rules to achieve the desired result.

Tanner
Caine
was
that man.

As for Tanner, he took the job because Her
Majesty trusted him when no one else would. Victoria knew he was from Cornwall and
had served as a Quartermaster in Her Majesty’s Navy before he was dishonourably
discharged. He would not discuss his history any further than that. Probing
into his past was a line Tanner
Caine
did not allow
anyone to cross, not even the ruler of the British Empire. Victoria was the
first to respect his desire for privacy and trust him anyway.
 
For this reason, Tanner placed himself wholly
in her service. He carried out her orders efficiently and without question—even
when the order was to spy on the heir to the throne.

It was a little known fact that Queen Victoria
blamed her son Edward for the death of her husband. The Prince Consort became
deathly ill after Edward kept him walking the Cambridge grounds for hours in the
rain. After Albert’s death, she broke off contact with her eldest son, refusing
to speak to him, but Victoria was unwilling to let go of the reins completely.
She hired Tanner to follow Edward on his nightly escapades, pretend to be his
companion—even lie to him to gain his confidence.

Tanner performed his duties without qualm. He
was sympathetic to Victoria’s need for control, and he respected her mental
toughness that put the Crown before her offspring. The Queen was his commander
now and a far better one than those he had disobeyed six years ago.

The Prince Regent did not make Tanner’s job
easy. Edward was greedy, highly sexed with an explosive temper that was coupled
with great personal charm. When ugly rumours surfaced regarding
Bertie’s
sexual proclivities, Tanner managed to suppress
them all. Quite often, he’d had to use force. His service to the Crown had
never extended to murder before.

Tanner packed a few of his personal
belongings in a leather satchel and thought of a plan to pull it off. The
consequences if something went wrong would be heavy and he could not call on the
Crown to avoid prosecution he was caught. The best Tanner could hope for would
to be shipped off to Australia on a convict ship. The worst was the hangman’s
noose.

He tucked the forged letter in his satchel.
Despite the risk, he never would refuse the Queen. Unconditional trust
commanded unconditional loyalty in a soldier. By nightfall, Tanner
Caine
was riding to Somerset to put his plan in motion.

Windemere
Village, Somerset ~ May 1868

THE MARRIAGE ceremony of Branson and Clara
Hamilton concluded with applause and fiddle music. Tanner left the church ahead
of the crowd, and waited on the lawn under an apple tree in full bloom for the
newlyweds to emerge.

They stood on the stone step in the hard
spring light. The bride was noticeably pregnant. Obviously his stepbrother was
as licentious as his father before him.

Tanner recognized him immediately. Just
seeing his stepbrother’s face again, unchanged from boyhood, provoked him. The
old resentments simmered too near the surface. Branson Reilly was harder about
the eyes and the mouth, but he still had that quiet, assessing stare.

There would come a day when he would tell
Branson about their fathers and the oath they swore before their ship was lost
to the sea. Today was not that day. He was not here for Branson but for his
wife, Clara. To pull off his plan, Tanner would need to know as much about
Laura Mayhew as possible, including the reason for her committal to the asylum.

Though he appeared unenthused by the
reunion, his brother came forward to greet him.

“Tanner
Caine
. It
has been too long. What are you doing here?”

“I came to wish you joy, brother. Although
from the look of your bride, you were not given much choice. I am to be an
uncle. How jolly,” he said flatly.

Clara Hamilton stepped forward and held out
her hand. “I’ve heard so much about you. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr.
Caine
, and how good of you to come.
You
must join us at
Windemere
Hall for the festivities.”

“I thank you, madam, but my time is
severely limited. In truth, it is you I have come to see regarding your friend,
Miss Laura Mayhew.”

“Miss Mayhew? Has something happened to
her?”

“No, she is well. I have been sent by her
father, Sir Horatio Mayhew to bring her home from Gateshead Asylum. My employer
is restrained by the politics of court; he cannot demand his daughter’s release
given the circumstances that led to her commitment.” Tanner offered a brief
mirthless smile. “I think you know what I am referring to, madam. I am in a
difficult position. I cannot simply walk into Gateshead and remove the lady
from the premises.”

“You are indeed,” agreed Clara. “This
change of heart on the part of her father begs the question: if Laura Mayhew is
not mad, then how did she come to be confined to an insane asylum?”

Tanner
Caine’s
eyes flickered. “You shall have to school your wife in the politics of court,
Bran. Laura Mayhew was lady-in-waiting to Princess Louise. She took an oath of
confidentiality when she assumed the position. When she broke her oath, the
Crown owed her nothing. Sir Mayhew was given the choice of prison or treatment
at Gateshead Asylum for his daughter. He made the kinder choice.”

Clara glanced quickly at her new husband
and then back at his frightening older brother. “Today is not the day for
school, sir. It is my wedding day. If you genuinely mean to get Miss Mayhew out
of Gateshead, I am willing to help. But there is little I can tell you; I was
there for so short a time, we conversed on only two or three occasions.”

“What was the topic of your conversation?”

“Very droll, I’m afraid. Miss Mayhew had
lived at Windsor Castle for a time, as you know. She was fixated on a
scandalous story that involved Princess Louise and a missing baby.”

“Oh?” He settled a cold unblinking stare on
Clara. “What was it about?”

Tanner was broad in shoulder and tall like
Branson, but he was as dark as Branson was light. His black eyes and olive
complexion were strikingly beautiful, like the black jagged rock of a wild
coastline is beautiful.

But there was dark menace in his manner. Tanner
Caine
posed a threat that Branson, for all of his
wicked ways, did not. Branson’s villainous disposition was behind him now that
he was married and expecting a child. Her beloved’s sins were rooted in the
wrong that had been done to him, and a cruel deception. Nurtured by resentment,
his heartlessness had flowered and borne fruit. But that was all in the past.
Branson Hamilton had chosen love over hate.

Clara could see little of her husband’s
redemptive qualities in Tanner
Caine
. Though one side
of his face was cruelly deformed, it was his very soul that repelled, or
rather, did not invite human contact, warmth or pity.

“You are not here to help Laura Mayhew; I
know the manner of work you do,” Branson cut in testily. “Your notoriety is
whispered about in the back rooms of London.”

“Branson, darling, let’s not jump to
conclusions about Tanner’s motives,” Clara said warningly.

“Listen to your wife, brother.”

Branson stepped nearer, speaking in a low
even voice. “When I first heard your name, I wondered if the man of rumour could
be the same Tanner
Caine
with whom I’d spent six
miserable years of my life. I heard you were close to the Crown, but the
service you provide is not the sort a monarch would be proud to have known.”

“I am bound to serve Queen Victoria by
something far more powerful than an oath of office. When no one wanted me, when
I was cast aside, my sovereign took me in and gave me a purpose. I am loyal to
the one who is loyal to me and I make no apology for it.”

Branson’s jaw twitched threateningly and
his hands balled into fists. “I have no objection to your job—the less I know
about it, the better. I object to you using my wife to obtain information about
your mark.”

Tanner’s mouth tightened. “We’ve not seen
each other in sixteen years and I’m not here to renew our acquaintance. Neither
am I here to explain myself to you, Branson
Reilly
.”
His black eyes flicked to Branson’s face. “You wouldn’t take my father’s name,
the man who raised you from infancy. I hear you go by the name of Hamilton. I
assume this other father had a fine house and an even finer bank account.”

“Leonard Hamilton had fine manners as well,”
Branson said. “He did not beat his children. After what I experienced in your
father’s house I would have taken the name of any man who would call me son without
beating me half to death first.”

The crushed side of Tanner’s face twitched
and his stare became unreadable. Clara had some notion of what the man
suffered. Recently recovered from a debilitating stammer, she knew what it was
like to be sealed up inside oneself for fear of the world’s ridicule. But
whereas she had sought approval,
Caine
seemed to hold
good opinion of him in contempt.

He claimed he wanted to help Laura. Though
she had no reason to credit his claim, Clara was determined to see her friend
released from Gateshead by any means necessary. “What is it you would like to
know, sir,” she hastily interjected. “I am eager to help Miss Mayhew.”

He turned his attention on Clara as a
predator discovering new prey. “What stories did she tell you? A detail or two
will suffice. I will approach the director as a friend of the family to secure
her release. You know what I am talking about, eh, Bran? You got your wife out
on the same grounds when clearly Mrs. Hamilton was not your wife as you claimed.”

Feminine intuition told Clara that Tanner
Caine
would meet his match in Laura Mayhew. Few ladies were
as clever or as courageous; this plan of his could be made to work to her
advantage.

“You are correct, sir. Branson convinced
the director that I was his wife. However, the plan worked because I knew
Branson and I could play along with the deception. You say you were sent from
her father? Even with proof of that claim, Dr. Rutledge will not release Laura
Mayhew without her agreement. He will not force a frightened, disorientated
patient into the custody of a stranger.”

“What do you suggest? How can she be
persuaded that I am there to help her?”

Clara calculated the possible outcomes. “You
asked what the lady is like,” she murmured. “It is true she suffers from delusions
but she is a gentle person with a sweet disposition. An asylum is no place for
her. She will become quite ill there if something is not done. Madness has a
way of burrowing in and eroding even the soundest of minds.”

Clara rested her hands on the moving baby
inside her body and offered Branson a conciliatory smile. She was annoying him
by helping Tanner but in this case she knew best. Clara had spent time at
Gateshead and had firsthand experience with the danger Laura was in if she was
confined there much longer.

“The only way to convince my friend of your
goodwill is to credit her story, sir. Do not attempt to persuade her it didn’t
happen. I’ve said she has a gentle nature; I should add—
when
she is not provoked. Do not contradict her or attempt to argue
with her. Her delusion has caused no real harm as far as I can see. I couldn’t
make head or tail of it, but I indulged her fancy. I suggest you do the same.”

“Her delusion is this story of Princess
Louise and an infant? Sir Horatio Mayhew was not specific on the subject of his
daughter’s indiscretions. He felt the letter would be enough to get her out.”

Clara shook her head. “It will not. Dr.
Rutledge will have his own ideas about Laura’s fitness to travel, to live in
society, and the gentleman he will be trusting with her care. Be sure to
mention to Laura that you have spoken to me and your relationship with Branson
Hamilton. That will help your cause. She delights in hearing news of the
outside world. Do not disappoint her. And please communicate my best wishes for
success in her endeavours.”

“And what might those be?” Tanner asked
sharply.

He did not miss anything, this mysterious
brother from Branson’s past, Clara thought.

Tanner
Caine’s
brow lifted on the handsome side of his face as he met her eyes. It was a
fascinating transformation. He appeared genuinely interested in her answer but
there was not a flicker of concern in his face. He had the cold, calculating
look of a hired assassin.

“Pray, what is your plan after you have
secured my friend’s release? Will you return her to Dorset? Tell me that and
then I will answer.”

“No, Clara,” Branson cut in. “You’ve said
enough and heard enough. To say more will make you an accessory. Mr.
Caine
can do his own dirty work.” He turned to his brother.
“If you want to know about Laura Mayhew, I suggest you talk to the lady
yourself.”

The two men eyed each other with growing
hostility.

Clara opened her mouth to protest, and then
thought better of it. If Tanner
Caine
was indeed an
assassin sent by Her Majesty, Laura was already expecting him. She would know
how to deal with the likes of Tanner
Caine
.

Clara lifted up and planted a kiss on
Tanner’s paralytic cheek. This beautiful half-formed man had a diabolical other
side, just as his stepbrother had. Perhaps their villainy been forged in childhood.
If so, it was not too late. Clara was determined Branson should not lose sight
of his brother. He might be Tanner’s only hope for salvation.

“If you will excuse me, gentlemen, I shall
leave you to get reacquainted. It was a pleasure to meet you, Tanner. Please
call on us again; I would like to get to know you better.”

Tanner gazed after the girl in disbelief.
He suspected her of what he did not know. Clara Hamilton was not insincere but
he did not believe for a minute that she was on his side.

“Your wife has a curious way of not doing
the very thing one wants her to do, but giving every impression that she has.
Have you noticed?”

“Yes. She agreed with me that I should not
marry her, and yet here I am.”

“And happy to be so I should think. You
always were the lucky one of the two of us.”

“Where have you been, Tanner? The last I
heard, you were in the Navy.” Branson’s voice was clipped and dry.

Tanner crossed his arms over his chest. “Where
did you hear that? I thought you never left the hallowed halls of commerce in
London.”

Branson ignored the barb. “Why did you give
it up? I should have thought you would enjoy following in your father’s
footsteps.”

“I might’ve done, but I was dishonourably discharged
for reasons I do not wish to go into.”

He hesitated for a moment as though making
up his mind about something. And then:

“Did your mother ever tell you how your
father died?”

“He was drowned at sea, a common enough
hazard for a sailor. Why?”

“There is more to the story. Our fathers
were on the same whaling vessel when it went down. There were four of them; my
father, your father Tobias Reilly, and two others. They were trapped in the
cargo hold when the ship took on water. The seawater was rushing in around
their ankles and they climbed the crates and barrels, pounding on the floor
above for someone to rescue them. But no help came. It was your father who
proposed then that they take an oath. They were facing death and each of them
had a son who would be left fatherless that day.”