I guided them to the sitting room. “You girls wait in here. Eloise, let me introduce you to my mother, Connie, so you are assured the girls are in excellent hands.”
“Thank you, Inspector.” Eloise’s unease had faded somewhat, but tension still stiffened her shoulders. “I feel much better knowing they are protected. Birdie speaks highly of you and your mother.”
“She likes Birdie as well.” I entered the kitchen, Eloise following behind me. My mother was at the stove, her back to the room. “Mum, I have some people I would like you to meet.”
“Do you indeed?” She turned to look at me, her cheeks dotted with flour and pink from the heat. Eyes wide with curiosity, she wiped her hands on the apron she wore over her serviceable green dress. She glanced from me to Eloise, speculation in her regard. I shook my head at her silent query. She’d been after me for ages to find a wife. Suzette was the only woman I had wanted to marry but she had spurned me.
“This is Eloise, Birdie’s sister. The younger girls are in the sitting room. I am afraid they need a safe place to stay for a few days.”
“If it is not too much of an inconvenience,” Eloise said. Her stomach gurgled and she placed her hand on her mouth, rosiness enhancing her cheeks.
“You must be hungry.” Mum reached for one of the snaps and handed it to her, sympathy in her softened gaze. She had a giving heart and it wasn’t unusual for her to ask perfect strangers in for dinner if they looked down on their luck. “Did Birdie get caught up in the Moran mess?”
“I am afraid so.” I snatched up my own cookie. “Eloise has to go to work and I need to fetch Birdie. Can you watch the girls?”
Biting into the cookie, I savored the sweetness. I had a bad feeling that Birdie would need every bit of influence Moran and I had to extricate her from this debacle. I enjoyed Birdie and her sisters and I wanted to see them safe. I wasn’t lying to Violet and Eloise when I said I loved her. As a matter of fact, a part of mewasin love with her. Except, my heart belonged to Suzette.
“Of course, you poor dears,” Mum said, compassion in her gaze but determination in her jaw. “You must see to Birdie. Moran will be lost without the girl. Eloise, will you introduce me? I find young ones can be shy with strangers.”
“I will be back. Hopefully with Birdie.” I went out the front door, moving with speed to the alley behind Moran’s. We needed to rescue Birdie and quickly. If what I suspected was true, she was in real trouble and neither me nor my family could get her out of that mess.
Perhaps Moran could.
Chapter Forty
Lord Tobias, Duke of Moreland
Each rushed footstep on the pavement sent a throbbing sensation to my head. From the second Ash fetched me from the office, my heart had been in my throat. I had a horrible suspicion that Brown was behind her current distress. We turned onto Milk Street, and Ash pointed to the house Birdie lived in. I wanted to run to her and... and do what? I had released her from service for her own protection. However, disassociating from me hadn’t helped.
Ash knocked on the outer door as I stood on the stoop, waiting for someone to answer. After a long, drawn-out moment, he shook his head. “Her landlady is hard of hearing.” He pulled a slim piece of metal from his inner pocket and with a grim nod at me, proceeded to pick the lock.
I wasn’t sure how Birdie was going to respond when she saw me. The way we left wasn’t under the best of circumstances, but I still recalled her kiss and the way it made me feel. With a satisfying grin, Ash opened the door. He entered first and I followed, unsure where I was going.
The three-story building was similar to mine and in good condition. However, a cobweb in the top corner of the narrow stairwell spoke of neglect.
Birdie lived on the top floor. I lifted my hand and knocked on the door, anxious to assure myself she was safe. “Birdie, it’s me,and Ash,” I said loudly so that she would know it wasn’t someone trying to trick her.
When she didn’t answer, I shared another look with Ash, concerned that perhaps she was injured or hurt or she wasn’t present at all. Had Brown followed through with his threat? Goosebumps broke out across my skin, dread settling in the pit of my stomach.
I knocked again, this time louder. “Birdie, it’s Moran. Open up.”
“Tell me the difference between they’re, there, and their?” came her muffled reply. I shared an amused glance with Ash.
“Thereis a place.Theirrefers to people.They’reis a contraction.” I spelled out each word, trying not to laugh while doing so. Leave it up to her to give me a grammar question.
