At Amara’s delicate clearing of her throat, Charlie forced her attention back to her friend.
“I, um, beg your pardon?” she said, flustered.
“I asked how you and Mr. Granger met.” Amara’s eyes twinkled. “Since you are, um, old friends.”
I knew she would never buy it.
“Abroad,” Jack answered. “We were both lost and luckily found each other.”
Charlie had to admire his smoothness. The way he offered the truth whilst revealing very little. She was surprised by how readily she was thinking of him by his new name. Perhaps it was because Jack Granger suited him: dashing yet no-nonsense, perfect for a man who lived by his own rules.
“Mr. Granger was in town, and we reconnected.” Charlie could be equally suave. “He insisted on escorting me to Hastings for my protection. I hope you will forgive me for allowing it, Amara.”
“There is nothing to forgive. Your safety comes first, my dear. Although I am certain you are not telling me the entire story.”
Amara gave Charlie a look that said she was going to get every last detail when they were alone.
“We will have tea, Amara, just you and I,” Charlie promised. “In the meantime, we need to ask some questions about Tony’s murder. We wish to see justice done and stop whoever killed Tony from harming others.”
Jack had asked her to be discreet about the First Flame, and she’d agreed. She hadn’t wanted to involve the Quintons any more than necessary.
“Tell me one thing first.” Gilbert’s stare was hard. “Did my brother…did he suffer before he died?”
Charlie knew that the spies under Jack’s command had recovered Tony’s body and returned it to Gilbert. The bounders who’d shot at her and Jack, however, hadn’t been buried in the rock and must have escaped.
“The end was quick,” Jack said.
Gilbert jerked his head in acknowledgement. Then he straightened his shoulders and spoke, his deep voice hoarser than usual.
“Tony had a history of getting involved with bad situations. Bad people. Our ma, God rest her soul, used to say he acted first, thought later, and that was the truth of it. But he wasn’t a bad man at heart. He was a generous soul who wanted to do the right thing…but he was also easily ensnared by the temptations of life. Gaming was a vice that sunk its claws into him. I cannot tell you the number of times I lent him money, but it was like bailing water out of a leaky boat. That is why Amara made me promise to stay away from him.”
“That and the fact that he thought I wasn’t good enough for the Quinton name,” Amara interjected. “Even though it was my money as well that fended off his moneylenders.”
“What difference does it make now, love?” Gilbert’s chest fell on a shaky breath. “When Miss Loveday contacted me, saying that she was a friend of Tony’s and he was in trouble and had disappeared, I suspected he was at the tables again. I confirmed my suspicions at his favorite gaming hells where he’d lost five hundred pounds in recent months. He’d paid it off, but there was only one way he could manage that. When I visited Tony’s usual moneylenders, however, they claimed they didn’t hold his vowels.”
“Who else would give your brother the money?” Charlie asked.
“I asked around at all the places I knew Tony would go to ask for help, including his cronies—not that they’d have the money. Feckless artistic sorts, the lot of them. But one of the coves knew I was Tony’s brother and talked to me. Said that while Tony used to constantly be short of the ready, a few months back he had a windfall and was suddenly flush. Tony claimed he’d quit his job as a sailor and secured a patron for his art. Someone who was going to support him whilst he wrote the great British novel about the revolution of the working class. About how ordinary men were going to rise up and fight for freedom and justice.”
Charlie and Jack exchanged a somber glance. Tony’s revolutionary bent had likely drawn the attention of the anarchists, and his “patron” was probably a member of the First Flame. If the group had paid off his debts, then he was under their control. Based on what Jack had told her about meeting Tony in France, Tony had been doing their bidding until he realized how dangerous and destructive the group’s true agenda was.
He’d wanted to help Jack put an end to the chaos. But the group must have found out about his plan to defect and gone after him. With no other choice, he’d gone underground.
His enemies had found him anyway. Slit his throat and left him to die on a cavern floor.
What kind of freedom and justice is that?Charlie thought with a rush of rage.
“Did Tony’s friend have any idea who this patron was?” Jack asked.
“Not a clue. Apparently, Tony had to keep his patron a secret or he would forfeit the money. But my brother lost much more than that.”
“And Xenia Loveday, she didn’t know who the patron was either?” Charlie asked.
Gilbert snorted. “The chit hardly knew my brother. She thinks she’s in love with him, but from what I gleaned from his cronies, he was stringing her along. He had a bad habit of doing that to females.”
“Another reason he and I did not get along,” Amara muttered.
“Poor girl thinks Tony’s a prince. Risked her neck looking for him and doesn’t realize he was using her to sell his books,” Gilbert said gruffly. “I’m glad she’s left Town.”
