“Aye.”
“But you do not know Ledger’s whereabouts?”
“Nae. I said I know whathappenedto him. Not where he is right now.”
Tristan ground his teeth at the woman’s semantics.
“Any information you can supply would be appreciated. If I deem it valuable, there will be a reward.” He fished a half-crown from his pocket, the metallic coin catching in the light.
The woman looked at it with hungry eyes.
“I need your word of honor as a gentleman that ye won’t be calling the bobbies to my door.”
His eyebrows rose. Again with the police.
“Have you yourself harmed Mr. Ledger, madam?”
“Nae!” She shook her head vigorously, eyes darting again to the gleaming coin in his fingers.
“Then you have nothing to fear.” He rocked the coin between his knuckles, letting it glint in the sunlight.
The woman licked her lips.
Tristan fetched a second half-crown from his waistcoat pocket.
Her breath caught.
“If you are innocent, then there is no fear in telling me what you know. Mr. Ledger is a good man. I am his friend and wish to locate him.”
Wringing her hands in her dirty apron, the woman looked to the house behind her.
“Ye have to understand that my man, Richard, he’s not a bad person. But times are hard, and we have many mouths to feed.”
A chill chased Tristan’s spine.
“What occurred?”
“A well-dressed lady found Richard begging along Piccadilly. My man does that sometimes to earn an extra coin.”
Tristan nodded, heart a thunder of hooves in his ribcage. “What did the lady say?”
“She promised Richard two quid if he pushed a man named Adam Ledger, secretary to the Duke of Kendall, under a carriage or into the Thames. ‘Make it look like an accident,’ the lady said. Richard agreed to do it. We needed the money, and the lady didn’t specify that Richard had to kill this Ledger fellow. So my man figured he could do the deed without causing Ledger no serious harm. He does have a decent heart, my Richard. He wouldn’t kill for money.”
Tristan’s blood turned to ice. He knew of only one lady in Ledger’s orbit who might have something to hide. Only one lady who possessed the arrogance to demand a servant be hurt for countermanding her.
What the hell was Lady Lavinia trying to conceal?
“What occurred?” Tristan asked. “What did your man do?”
“Richard followed Mr. Ledger. He stayed a night at a house near St. Paul’s Cathedral. The next morning, Ledger visited a bank close to Westminster Abbey. After Mr. Ledger left the bank, he walked across Westminster Bridge and strolled along the embankment of the Thames there. Richard saw his opportunity and nudged Ledger over the edge and into the river, no one the wiser.”
Numbness spread down Tristan’s arms, setting his fingers to tingling. Did Ledger know how to swim? Panic momentarily paralyzed Tristan’s tongue as he didn’t know the answer to that question. “And Ledger? Did he survive then?”
“Richard didn’t stick around to see. He had done his bit.”
Swallowing back the knot offrustrationconcernangerin his throat, Tristan nodded. “Thank you. This information has been most helpful. If you do happen to hear of Mr. Ledger’s current whereabouts, please send word to Gilbert House once more.”
He offered the coins.
