"That's not the real reason you risked all this. Did you find out what you came for?" The old man studied him. In the three hours since Zach had returned, he had not spoken of what he'd found out about his father.
"Aye." There was pain in his light gray eyes. "It's not what I hoped for, Tobias." He stood, staring at the new dawn through the porthole window. "But then, I suppose life is never what you expect." He turned and smiled at his old friend. "I'll have everything I want before I leave."
"What about the woman?"
Zach's anger resurfaced, tightening inside him. "What about her?"
"You can't just leave... "
He cut his old friend off, not wanting to discuss Elyse. "She belongs with Barrington. I'm certain they'll be very happy together."
"You need to talk about it, boy, all of it, whatever you found out about the Barringtons and her."
"I don't have time to talk now," Zach bit off sharply.
Tobias clamped his mouth shut, knowing Zach wouldn't tell him anything until he was good and ready.
"All right, but you'll have to talk about it sometime. You can't just hold everything inside, eatin' yerself up with it."
"Enough!" Zach ground out the warning, his patience gone. "I need to get back to the Vale manor."
Tobias crossed the cabin. He paused at the door, one hand on the latch. "Try to get some sleep first," he added. "You look like hell."
Thirteen
He had a name, and an address that was almost thirty-five years old.
Like a man possessed Zach searched through the squalor and stench of London. He saw pain in the eyes of the beggars who stretched out their hands to him and wondered what had brought them to this existence.
He began to think it was hopeless, and time was running out. He'd started just after dawn, no longer dressed as a titled nobleman but like the sea captain he was. Rich clothes and a title would only have put these people off. They would close their doors and mouths to him because of the barrier of fine silk, satin, and jewels.
Zach spared no amount of money in trying to find Lydia Robertson. If he didn't find her today, he would have to leave without knowing what she had really seen happen between his father and grandfather that day so long ago. As it was, if he did find her, there was every possibility she might refuse to tell him no matter how much money he gave her.
"Hey, Cap'n."
He whirled around in response to the insistent tugging on his cuff. The toothless beggar he remembered from earlier that morning grinned up at him revealing not teeth but gums. He was bald, the knitted cap full of holes pulled down over his head. He looked as if he probably wouldn't remember the last time he'd bathed, and he smelled like it.
Zach had paid him a full half-crown that morning for information about Lydia's most recent whereabouts. Like the other addresses he'd been given, it had produced nothing. He'd felt certain that the man had lied because no one at that place had known anything about Lydia.
"What do you want?" Zach ground out. London was like Sydney. No different. Thievery, hunger, and poverty could be found in any city. He'd seen enough today to make him ache for the pristine wildness of Resolute. God, how he wanted to be away from all of this!
"A half-crown, Cap'n. No less," the man demanded with all the audacity of the thief he was. "And I have the information you were askin' about."
"I paid you this morning and got nothing for it."
"I gave what ye asked for, no more and no less. It's not on me head if it was for naught. Didn't find her, did ya?" His dark eyes looked up at Zach.
Definitely abandicoot, Zach thought. With his pointed nose and sharp dirty claws, the little man reminded him of the rabbit-like creatures found in abundance in the valley at Resolute. He idly wondered if the beggar used that snout-like nose to sniff out his next meal, then dug it out with his claw-like hands.
"No, I didn't find her, but then you knew I wouldn't." Zach seized the man with both hands, twisting the front of his moth-eaten coat.
"You didn't find her, 'cause she weren't there," the little man gloated.
"I'm in no mood for games," Zach replied. "There will be no more money until I find her. Now, what do you know?"
The man drew back at the dangerous glint in the stranger's eyes. He had the look of a sea captain, but there was something in his bearing that suggested he was more than that. And the bulge of coin in his pocket suggested wealth. The beggar knew he couldn't physically take the money from this man, so he'd decided on a different tactic, though he'd cringed at the thought of being honest.
"You can insult me all you wish, Cap'n. Words never hurt the Snipe." He pounded his chest for emphasis. "I've learned to survive without kindness. This isn't exactly the sort of body that draws friends, or ladies for that matter.
