Hawk spun around, terror writ plain on his face. “Oiy, oiy—ye got te come quickly!”
The earl raced across the cobbles, Sheffield and Cordelia right on his heels.
“M’lady . . . m’lady,” gasped the boy.
“Steady, steady.” Wrexford seized him, only to realize his own hands were shaking. “What’s wrong?”
“M’lady’s in trouble!” Hawk managed to explain about following Charlotte to DeVere’s villa and what he had seen through the glass windows of the conservatory.
“Hoy, there,” called the driver. “The imp promised some fancy toff wud pay me double the fare fer making the trip quick-like.”
Wrexford dug out his purse and flung it at the man. “You’ll have a second one of these if you get us back to Marylebone Park even faster.” To Hawk, he added, “Fetch Raven and Tyler. Then go find Griffin and bring him to DeVere’s villa as quickly as you can.”
Sheffield was already climbing into the hackney.
“No need for you to come along,” said Wrexford as Cordelia placed a booted foot on the rung.
“The villa is a labyrinth,” she replied. “But I think I know where to look for Lady Julianna.”
“Then up you go. And let us pray you’re right.”
* * *
The softswish-swishof the leaves indicated that the grove of potted trees lay just around the bend. Charlotte coiled her muscles, ready to—
Julianna fisted a hand in her collar and jammed the pistol up against her skull. “A clever thought. I, too, would have chosen this place to try an escape. However, as you see, your mind is no match for mine.”
They marched through the greenery in silence, and severalmore turns brought them to the door leading into the villa. The latch clicked open and then fell shut behind them.
Inside, the opulent furnishings and expensive artwork spoke loudly of wealth and taste. The whisper of madness could only be heard in the sound of their footsteps crossing the thick Axminster carpets.
Anger clenched in Charlotte’s chest. Let her captor think she would go meekly, like a lamb being led to slaughter. Hubris could be a two-edged sword.
Julianna paused just long enough to pick up one of the oil lamps from a side table, then shoved her forward. “Keep moving.”
At the end of a long teak-paneled corridor, Charlotte was ordered to shift a sixteenth-century tapestry wall hanging. Behind it was a matching door, barely perceptible amid the decorative flutings.
At Julianna’s touch, it swung open noiselessly. A finger of lamplight showed a spiral staircase made of pale stone, winding down, down . . .
Drawing a deep breath, Charlotte plunged into the gloom.
CHAPTER 29
Wrexford paused under a stately oak to get his bearings. Up ahead, at the end of a wide graveled drive, was the villa’s main entrance with its flanking towers, and on either side a fanciful sprawl of exotic architecture made up the two large wings that receded into the muddled darkness. The east one, he knew, held DeVere’s laboratory, a place that had held no hint of malfeasance on his first search. He was quite sure he hadn’t missed anything.
Which meant the evil was hidden elsewhere.
“Hawk said Lady Charlotte entered the conservatory through a door facing the rear gardens,” whispered Sheffield, interrupting the earl’s thoughts.
“Lady Julianna will have taken her to a more private place,” he answered, trying not to let his imagination run wild . . .a serpentine coil of copper wire, hissing and sparking with red-gold fire . . . the bubbling of the electrolyte . . . the smell of singed flesh . . .
“I’ve an idea of where,” offered Cordelia. “DeVere’s private quarters and laboratory are in the east wing, while LadyJulianna inhabits the west wing. There’s a section at the rear that visitors are not permitted to enter. She says it’s because her experiments with plants are very sensitive to temperature and light.” A pause. “Which has always struck me as strange, as she never talks about botany and there are no books on the subject in her private library.”
An astute observation.
“It made me curious,” continued Cordelia. “So one evening, when I noticed her heading into the forbidden corridor, I decided to follow. I saw her pass through a door hidden in the wood paneling of a corridor—”
“What’s the quickest route to the spot?” demanded Wrexford.
