Redemption (12 page)

She felt
the walls start to close in on her and wondered how quickly they
could leave again. She never once considered it would happen, but
she rather yearned for the peace and quiet of
Derbyshire.

“I think
we need to dress first. Remember where we are. You need to remain
at the table and not wander around mumbling to yourself like you
usually do,” Lizzie warned.

“I have
been to London before, you know,” Patty replied
snippily.

“I am
sorry, I am just saying,” Lizzie sighed. “You tend to wander off on
a tangent sometimes but this is London. If you wander off anywhere
you are apt to get lost. You have been in Derbyshire for so long
that I am afraid you will have forgotten just how ruthless and
cutthroat this place really can be.”

“I am
aware that the people who consider themselves to be the upper
echelons of society here tend to be somewhat lacking in charitable
manners themselves, but I am not completely oblivious to the
machinations of humanity and the dangers therein. I promise I shall
not leave the hotel by myself but then, neither should
you.”

Somewhat
chided, Lizzie set about selecting the best of her outfits to wear
to dinner.

CHAPTER
FIVE

The
following morning, Lizzie stepped onto the pavement outside the
hotel and took a deep breath of smog filled, rancid air. She
winkled her nose up in disgust and once again yearned for the
clear, crisp mornings she had frequently enjoyed back in
Derbyshire.

A deep
sense of unease had settled over her ever since they had appeared
in the lobby and it continued to grow with each passing minute
until she felt positively tense and nervous as she glanced up and
down the busy street. It felt an entirely alien and somewhat
hostile environment and, if she was honest, she would be glad to
see the back of it. However, if staying in London wasn’t
conscionable, and returning to Derbyshire was virtually impossible,
where could they go?

She
turned to glance back into the hotel entrance with a frown. What
was taking Patty so long? They had been on their way down the
stairs when Patty had suddenly declared she needed her thicker
shawl. She had promised to only be a minute; but had yet to return.
With a shiver, Lizzie tried to keep her gaze averted from the
rather tall gentleman dressed entirely in black still in the lobby.
He was standing beside the desk staring at something in his hand
which wasn’t odd at all. In fact, she wouldn’t have given him a
second thought, if it hadn’t been for the way he looked up at her
as she had passed him. There had been something in his eyes that
had been rather too knowing for a stranger, and it unnerved
her.

“Don’t
be a goose,” she muttered beneath her breath. “This is London.
Everyone here looks like that.”

“Pardon,
miss?” the doorman asked.

“Nothing.” She smiled, and looked up and down the busy street
again. She tried to shake off the lingering disquiet that singular
incident with the strange man had left her with but it was
difficult. Especially when she felt that he was still nearby
somewhere. Determined not to let him bother her, she turned her
attention to finding a carriage to take her and Patty to the
prison.

“Are you
looking for a jarvey?” A dark voice drawled rather too closely for
comfort.

She
jumped and whirled around. Her gasp was loud when she saw the
stranger dressed in black right behind her.

“No,
thank you. We can manage.”

“We?”

Lizzie
stared at him blankly for a moment before she realised what he
meant. “I. I can manage.”

“You are
Miss Pinner aren’t you? Miss Elizabeth Pinner?”

Lizzie
frowned. He was standing far closer than was polite, and staring at
her in a way that left her fighting the urge to squirm beneath that
knowing gaze.

“I am
sorry, do I know you?” she asked somewhat pointedly, taking a wary
step away from him.

From the
cut of his clothing she wondered if he was an old discontent
servant of her brother’s or something but immediately discounted
that as rubbish. She had certainly never seen this man before. He
had the kind of face she knew she wouldn’t forget. Although his
clothing wasn’t as finely cut as some of the higher class tailors
provided, it was considerably better than the ordinary work clothes
most servants struggled to afford. Besides, there was a hint of
calculation in those dark eyes of his that warned her that this man
was not someone to be crossed and most probably inhabited the
seedier side of London.

“You
don’t know me,” the man drawled confidently. The words ‘but I know
you’ hung tantalisingly in the air between them.

Lizzie
struggled to know what to do. At first she tried to ignore him and
lifted her hand to wave at a passing carriage for hire with as much
casual aplomb as she could muster. The coachman saw her and
immediately slowed his carriage down so he could turn it around.
That didn’t appear to worry the stranger behind her though. He
merely edged closer when she tried to side step away from
him.

“You
need to come with me,” the man suddenly declared in a voice that
was considerably less amiable than it had been a moment
ago.

Before
she could offer even a token protest he grabbed her
elbow.

“Let go
of me,” she protested loudly, squirming to try to prise her arm
free of his bruising grip.

The man
glanced around them worriedly and tightened his grip. “You are
coming with me,” he declared menacingly.

“No, I
am not,” Lizzie snapped planting her booted feet stubbornly. “Get
off me. I don’t know what you think you are doing but I am not
going anywhere with you.”

She
gasped when the man motioned to someone further down the street and
watched a big, burly man dressed entirely in black hurry toward
them. The man was huge, and could easily carry her if he got close
enough to pick her up. Without further thought she opened her mouth
and screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Shut
up!”

She
ignored him. When her breath ran out, she took another deep breath
and redoubled her efforts to gain her release while she continued
to scream. People were starting to look at them now. The coachman
clicked his horses into a trot at the same time that the hotel
doorman raced out of the hotel and charged down the stairs like an
avenging angel.

Her
captor swore loudly and suddenly released her. Before he turned
away he shoved his hand into her pocket, grunted and then raced
down the street beside his colleague toward their waiting
carriage.

“Lizzie?
What on earth is it dear?” Patty demanded as she hurried down the
steps toward her.

Battling
tears, at first Lizzie couldn’t answer the doorman who was also
asking if she was all right. Instead, she rubbed her elbow and
glared at the black carriage as it rumbled away. For some reason,
she just knew she hadn’t seen the last of them.

“Are you
alright miss?” the doorman repeated as he glared down the road at
the carriage. “Do you know that gentleman?”

“No, I
don’t know him,” Lizzie snapped. “I suspect he is no gentleman
because he accosted me out on the street in broad daylight. Have
you seen either of them around here before?”

“No,
ma’am,” the doorman replied. “I don’t know what the world is coming
to. Next time, if you wait in the lobby I will hail you a carriage
and escort you to it personally.”

Lizzie
nodded her thanks and turned her attention to her aunt who
continued to flutter around her with a frown.

“I am
all right, just a little shaken,” she assured her.

“Are you
sure you want to go now dear? Why don’t we got back inside and have
some tea instead? We can always postpone our trip until another
day.”

Lizzie
was already shaking her head. “No, I am ready to go now. If you
still want to come then I should like to go. Let’s get it done and
out of the way, then we can decide what to do.” She looked
pointedly at Patty, but didn’t expand because the doorman was
listening. Her suspicions were proven correct when he immediately
opened the door to the carriage and stood back for them to climb
aboard.

“Thank
you,” she murmured, relieved to be able to sit down and get off her
shaking legs. She was trembling so badly she wasn’t sure how much
longer she could remain upright. She clenched her fingers and
placed her hands in her lap so the trembling wasn’t so visible to
her aunt and waited for the door to be closed.

“If you
are sure?” Patty asked again somewhat doubtfully.

“Yes, I
am,” Lizzie replied firmly with a nod. “Let’s go.”

“Who was
that, dear?” Patty asked with a frown. “Do you know them? Have you
seen him before? What an awful specimen. I wonder if he is one of
Julian’s associates?”

Lizzie
nodded absently and looked down at her fingers. “I think he might
be.”

It was
then that she realised the man had put his hand into her pocket.
Dread settled deep in the pit of her stomach as she put her hand in
her pocket and withdrew a small white card she knew hadn’t been
there earlier. To her consternation, rather than it being a calling
card, it was blank apart from some hastily scrawled
words:

Eight o’clock tonight. Be in the entrance hall of the hotel.
Your life depends upon it.

It took
a moment for the words to settle and their meaning to actually
register on her.

“Well?”
Patty prompted when Lizzie remained perfectly still and
silent.

At first
Lizzie didn’t want to tell her for fear of worrying her. However,
her conscience wouldn’t allow her to leave her aunt in ignorance
just in case the man did indeed turn out to be as dangerous as he
looked.

“Well,
what about that then?” Patty murmured thoughtfully once she had
read the card. “Are you sure you have never seen him
before?”

She
looked pointedly at her aunt. “I don’t think he is the kind of man
I would have forgotten, do you?”

“No, I
don’t suppose he is.” Patty sighed as she handed the card back. “I
wonder what he wants?” she asked several moments later.

“I don’t
know, but I don’t intend to find out.”

“Are you
not going to meet with him?”

Lizzie
thought about that then shook her head. “We are here to deal with
Julian and his issues. Once we have seen him and discovered what
this is all about then I think we need to go back to Derbyshire.
This man, whoever he is, can go and take his problems to someone
else’s door. We have no prior acquaintance so I cannot have done
anything to offend him. What could he want with me?”

“It may
have something to do with Julian,” Patty warned her.

She
nodded slowly. “He may but if his problem has something to do with
my step-brother, then it is Julian’s problem to deal with not
mine.”

Tucking
the card back into her pocket, Lizzie turned her attention to the
scenery passing by the window. Her stomach lurched as she realised
they were travelling by road that led to Ben’s house.

McArthur
House was down the next side street. It was a tall baronial mansion
that sat amongst the leafy suburbs of one of the most affluent
areas of London, and stood out amongst its peers for being one of
the most resplendent examples of modern architecture ever built.
Lizzie had only ever seen it once, and had been enthralled by it.
It had left a mark upon her that was just as impressionable as the
man who owned it.

Benjamin
McArthur.

Although
she tried not to, she found herself scouring the streets, hoping to
catch a glimpse of him.

She was
doomed to disappointment though because by the time the carriage
pulled up outside of the dark façade of the prison, she hadn’t seen
him. Throughout the journey she had battled with the decision
whether to write to inform him that she was in London or not, and
still couldn’t quite make her mind up. While it would be wonderful
to see Ben again, she hadn’t contacted him since the night of the
ball. What should she say if she did? He didn’t get on with her
step-brother and, apart from social gossip about society she hadn’t
moved about in for several weeks, they really had nothing else to
discuss. It wasn’t appropriate for her to write to him out of the
blue and inform him she was back in London. It would be too
presumptuous of her to assume he cared. She just couldn’t do
it.

“Are you
all right dear? You seem a little pre-occupied,” Patty murmured as
they stepped down from the carriage.

“I am
fine,” Lizzie replied with a sigh. In reality she was far from
fine, but refused to worry Patty any more than she already had.
Putting all thoughts of Ben to one side for now, she turned her
attention to the massive building that lay beside them like a
coiled beast waiting to devour its prey.

“Are you
sure you want to do this?” She asked as they stood side by side
staring at the huge entrance yard of the prison. The heavy gates at
the far end were protected by men in guard’s uniform. There was a
feel of desolation in the air that was almost palpable, as though
all those who entered quickly lost the will to live. It was the
closest thing to Hell anyone could ever experience. She couldn’t
blame Patty if she wanted to go home and forget all about going in,
but was glad when her aunt nodded.