Scotland Hard (Book 2 in the Tom & Laura Series) (13 page)

Smee nodded reluctantly.

“Aye, well, I need to get my purchases out of here without being followed,” Lord McBride said. “There’s a few of your patrons who would be happy if yon lassie was to suffer a fatal accident on the way out, and I suspect some of them are arranging that accident right now.”

“I vill drive off first vith a decoy,” the woman told them. She turned to Smee. “Do you have an expendable member of your female staff?”

Smee hesitated as he considered. “Jane, one of my maids will do. She is about the same age and build. Will you send her back to us when you are done with her?”

“I asked for someone expendable. Once she knows vere I live, she vill have to die. Do you vish to choose some-von else?”

Smee stroked his chin. “No, Jane is the perfect choice. I’ll bring her to the front door.”

Tom fumed with impotent rage, but there was nothing he could do. His hands had been retied behind his back while the vile woman was talking. He thought about spitting in her face, but he had been brought up to act like a gentleman and could not bring himself to do it.

14.
      
To the Rescue

Cam,
Arnold
and Daisy peered down at a map of
London
and its immediate environs. The map had been exquisitely rendered in many colors and small writing almost impossible to read in lamplight.

“There it is,”
Arnold
said in triumph as he thrust his stubby forefinger onto the map. “Crouch End.”

“But that can’t be more than five miles from here,”
Cam
argued, though not with that much conviction. They had spend almost an hour tracking down Crouch End, looking though compendiums and searching atlas’s of Britain and Ireland before discovering this local map that showed them where it was.

“How can we get there?” Daisy asked. “Can we hire a coach or a horse and cart?”

“What an absurd idea,”
Cam
said scornfully. “Where would we get a horse and cart at this time of night?”

“We might not be able to hire one, but we might be able to buy one,”
Arnold
suggested. He turned to
Cam
and held out his hand. “Give me all the money we have left.”

Cam
moved back a step. Somewhere at the back of her mind, she believed that the person with the money controlled the team and she was not ready to hand over to
Arnold
. She looked to Daisy for support, who much to
Cam
’s annoyance nodded her head encouragingly.
Girls were supposed to stick together
. Cam reluctantly took out the roll of money and handed it to
Arnold
.

He counted it out on the table and raised an eyebrow at just how much
Cam
had managed to spend. She responded by sticking out an unladylike tongue at him.

“There should be more than enough,”
Arnold
said as he put the money into his wallet and put the wallet into his jacket pocket.

“Enough for what?”
Cam
asked.

“While you two were sticking your heads out of the cab window watching Saunders, I was observing the places we passed by. There’s a stable less than half a mile back down the road that had a sign up saying a horse and cart are for sale.”

“The owner is unlikely to be up this late at night,”
Cam
pointed out.

“Money opens many doors, Camilla,”
Arnold
said smugly. “I bought a horse for my father, so I understand the parlance and will cut us a deal.”

“Let’s do it then,” Daisy suggested.

When they opened the front door, the chill of the evening hit them like a sledgehammer. There were signs of frost on the grass. Daisy shivered and shut the door.

“We are ill equipped to go out on such a night,”
Arnold
said. “Let’s see if Mr. Saunders has anything in the house we can wear.”

“I don’t think we should rob him,”
Cam
argued. “I am a spy for her Majesty, not a common thief.”

“You have his letters in your pocket,” Daisy pointed out, “Isn’t that theft?”

“He has likely killed two young people to provide the bodies for his decoys,”
Arnold
said, “And he kidnapped Tom and Laura. I for one have no compunctions at all about robbing him blind.”

Even
Cam
saw the logic of that and raised no further protest.

When they delved into the cloakroom, they were astonished. There were enough coats in it to clothe an army. The coats covered every type of occupation, fashion and social status and came complete with assorted mufflers, hats and caps.

“These clothes must be used for spying,”
Cam
said excitedly and somewhat enviously. “If you wear the right coat and hat, most people will look no further to reach a conclusion as to who and what you are.”

“The important thing is that he will never miss three coats from this lot,”
Arnold
said happily. “I for one am taking this heavy great coat, woolen muffler and flat cap. I advise you two to take the thickest coat you can find that fit you.”

“We will need two extra coats,” Daisy told them.

Cam and
Arnold
froze for a second at this unexpected news.

“For Tom and Laura?”
Cam
dared to ask. There was real hope in her voice.

“Not yet,” Daisy replied to her considerable disappointment. “I told you we would find help along the way.”

“We can’t go traipsing down the lanes carrying extra coats,”
Cam
pointed out, “People will become suspicious.”

“Which is why you should wait here for us,”
Arnold
said. “You need to gather together maps, food, and drink for the journey, and at least one lantern filled with oil. Those things won’t come with the cart and we will need them all.”

“And blankets,” Daisy told her. “Perhaps with a bed warmer wrapped in them so it keeps them warm.”

“That lot going missing is bound to alert Saunders,”
Cam
pointed out. “And what if he comes back before you two?”

“Then you will have to improvise.” Daisy smiled warmly at
Cam
. “You have always been good at that.”

Cam
glowered, but said nothing in reply. Daisy was right again and at that moment,
Cam
hated her for it. She watched
Arnold
and Daisy set off down the road and then closed the door against the cold.

Daisy and
Arnold
reached the stable within half an hour. They walked fast to compensate for the cold. Luckily, both wore gloves because there was a biting wind.

“What would we have done if we hadn’t got into Saunders’ house?” Daisy wondered aloud. “Anybody out on a night like this without proper clothes is going to freeze to death.”

The sign
Arnold
had seen earlier was unreadable in the moonlight. He ignored it and went to the house next to the barn.

“You can’t just bang on people’s doors at this time of night,” Daisy complained.
Arnold
ignored her and created a fearsome racket on the stout oak door with his fist.

They saw a candle moving through the gaps in the doorframe and a female voice shouted out to them.

“Be off with you. It is too late for visitors.”

“I wish to buy your horse and cart,”
Arnold
shouted back.

“Go away, whoever you are. This is no time to conduct business.”

Another voice joined in from deeper in the house. They could barely make it out at first.

“What do they want?” a man called.

“To buy your horse and cart, Father. I’ve told them to be off.”

“You silly child. Open the door at once. Where are your manners, girl?”

They heard bolts being drawn and the door swung open a crack. A candle lantern with a young girl’s face above it appeared in the gap.

“Father says you are to come straight in,” she told them in a voice that suggested she was not at all happy relaying that news.

“Thank you most kindly,”
Arnold
replied and stepped through the door. The girl and lantern disappeared into the interior of the house as soon as he moved. Daisy followed behind.

“Shut the door,” the girl complained. “You’re letting out the warmth.”

Daisy swung the door shut and looked around. To describe the house as a hovel would be unfair to a hovel. There was no carpet on the floorboards and the girl rested her lantern on what appeared to be a broken crate. She was several years younger than the two of them, perhaps only fourteen. She wore clothing for bed, a tattered cap and nightshirt that was too tight in the chest, as if she had recently outgrown it. Her feet were bare and judging from the way she shivered, she was feeling the cold.

Her father appeared from out of the darkness. He was a heavily muscled man in middle-age. The man stuffed his nightshirt into his trousers and tried to fasten the buttons of his flies as he walked. He wore heavy leather boots that showed the signs of many years of wear.

“Good day to you, young sir…, and to you Miss,” he added as he noticed Daisy. “I am afraid you have caught us already prepared for the night.”

“I am Arnold Thompson and this is my ward Daisy,”
Arnold
said grandly. “I saw your sign offering a horse and cart for sale earlier in the evening, but other duties prevented me from getting here earlier. I take it that you are prepared to bargain with me?”

“That I am sir, that I am,” the man said eagerly. “My name is John Ford and this is my daughter Mary. Anyone in the neighborhood will tell you that I am an honest trader, poor, but honest, sir. Mary’s mother passed a year or so ago and we live alone here.”

“We must not keep Mary from her bed,” Daisy said, seeing how much the girl shivered with cold. “She will catch her death if she does not retire.”

Ford seemed to notice his daughter’s state for the first time.

“Get off to bed with you, girl. I shall handle this,” he said and she curtsied to them before running off into the dark.

Arnold
continued in as disinterested a voice as he could manage. “As I said before, I am interested in purchasing your horse and cart this evening, should the price be right,”

“You’ll be in a hurry then, sir,” Ford said shrewdly. “I am sure I can come up with a price that will be a match for your need.”

“Can we go and see the horse and cart in question?”

“Now that I am decently dressed, we can, sir. Though I’d best put on my coat first as it looks a little cold out there.

Ford took them to the barn. He carried a lantern to light the way. Inside the barn, they found an ancient cart standing in its centre. Ford led them further into the barn where they found a sorry looking horse with a bowed back sleeping in a dirty stall.

Arnold
would have walked away from the purchase on seeing the state of the vehicle and the horse, but he could see from Daisy’s eyes that this was what she had expected and wanted. Unfortunately, for the weight of his wallet, Ford saw the look in her eyes as well.

“A fine animal and a strong vehicle. They have seen many a journey out between them,” Ford said rubbing his hands together in the cold.

“It looks as though it has been around the world twice, without ever feeling a caring hand upon it,”
Arnold
agreed.

“I’ll have you know, sir, that I grease the wheels of that cart at least once a week,” Ford replied in mock horror.

“I was referring to your horse. I will give you ten pounds for both.”

“A fair offer, sir.
If
it was the middle of the day and you were a young gentleman out for a stroll. Since it seems to me that your need is a little more urgent than that, shall we say fifty pounds?”

Arnold
spluttered in outrage and Ford laughed in delight. It took the two of them another hour of haggling to settle on a price of twenty pounds.

“I want the horse put between the stocks and made ready for travel in the next few minutes,”
Arnold
demanded as he reluctantly paid the man.

“As your lordship requests,” Ford said as he stuffed the money deep into his pocket. He had just made a great deal of money and was delighted to have got the horse and cart out of his life.

“And throw in a couple of bales of hay for the horse,” Daisy suggested. Ford winked at her.

“Put them on the cart yourself, missy and we shall say no more about it.”

Arnold
made to help, but Ford put out a hand to stop him.

“I’ve made a deal with the young lady. If you help her, I shall have to charge you for the hay.”

Daisy let down the flap at the back of the cart and went to the nearest bale of hay. When she tried to pick it up she found it weighed as much as she did. Daisy looked at Ford and smiled grimly at his amused expression.