Jeremiah stepped back from the door, seeming confident the occupant of the cell had heard him, and motioned for Graham to take his place. He walked a few paces down the hall, as if to give them privacy.
Graham moved closer to the door, but had to stand to the side to allow enough room for him to lean down and talk through the grate. The stench was not as bad as the rest of the cell block, but it still had a musty quality, causing Graham to involuntarily wrinkle his nose. He suddenly realized the reason for the warden’s distance was not to provide them privacy.
“Dear cousin, I thought you might never come to see me,” came a gravelly voice resembling Percy’s normally snide tenor, punctuated by a cough. Clearly time spent at Newgate had taken its toll on the duke’s cousin.
“I daresay, I did think more than twice about not coming,” Graham said as he cocked his head to the side, gaining a small sliver of a view of his cousin through the grate on the door.
Percy’s hair and beard were long and greasy, his eyes taking the wild look of a caged animal. His face did not appear as gaunt as Graham had expected, and the duke thought Jeremiah and the promise of a visit from a duke may likely be the cause. Graham could not see Percy’s clothes, but he expected they would show the same level of filth as his hair and beard. Clearly there were limits to any warden’s sympathy, even Jeremiah’s.
Percy took a long pause before speaking again. “So, I see that either your curiosity or your good heart got the better of you,” Percy said, a sly smile slowly curving his lips, despite the circumstances.
“Actually, cousin, I am afraid I am here against my better judgement. But, if I had to pick a reason, I would begrudgingly admit I was curious. Your message was quite cryptic,” Graham quipped, as he removed a piece of parchment paper from his pocket, unfolded it and started to read, “Dearest Cousin, My stay here at Newgate has taken its toll, please come at once. I also have information that you may need.”
Percy chuckled for a few moments before a wheezy, rasping cough racked his body. Eventually, Graham heard Percy take a drink of something and clear his throat, before he continued, an edge in his voice. “I had hoped that you would have some care for my welfare.”
“What do you want, Perceval?”
“What anyone in my situation would want, to be free. And that can always be achieved with money.”
“And what would that serve me?” Graham asked, aware that helping Percy would be to his own detriment.
“Well, I hear you are on the outs with Lady Alaina,” Percy stated.
“We are no longer courting, if that is what you mean, but there are no ill feelings. That fact has been known for some time, but given your incarceration, it is curious how you came by it,” Graham responded.
“Lady Alaina did say something of it herself, but I did not believe her. However, there is someone who religiously wrote to me of the outside world, someone who I thought would champion my defense,” Percy continued cautiously. “That stream of letters halted entirely, until a couple of weeks ago.”
“You are making no sense. Maybe the prison cell has taken more than your good health,” Graham said, but Percy continued on with his story, seeming to not notice the duke’s interjection.
“And when the letters started once more, they spoke of a scheme involving someone you hold dear.”
“I told you, Alaina and I are nothing more than friends, if that.”
“Yes, I know the sting of rejection,again, must chafe for you, but the lady is not the center of the scheme, though… she is involved,” Percy said, a chuckle rising in his throat once more. “This time because she is entangled with your best friend.”
“Are you saying the marquess is in danger?” Graham railed, facing the opening of the cell door to find his cousin’s grotesque smile through the small opening in the door. He did not wait for an affirmative answer from Percy; the smile told him. “Who is the source of this information?”
“Well, I am sure you would like to know that, would you not?”
The worry and rage that had been boiling just below the surface for Graham bubbled up, and his hand shot through the small opening, barely clearing the grate. He found purchase on the front of Percy’s shirt, pulling him flush against the door. “You had better tell me who is to blame, or I shall ensure you are moved to even more unpleasant accommodations.”
Jeremiah turned at the sound of the scuffle and made to advance toward the cell, but Graham released Percy and stepped back from the door, waving the man off, hoping the guard would allow Percy and him to finish their conversation. Jeremiah held his place, though a frown marked his face.
Graham could hear a grunt from the cell and Percy’s gravelly voice was the first to break the silence. “Temper, temper, Graham. You really should have a better hold of yourself.”
Graham’s next statement came out as more of a growl. “Percy, you had better start talking or I will talk to the warden. Now, who is it that is behind this scheme?”
“I will admit that I do not know who the ringleader is, but Lady Barbara wrote to tell me how she had been lured in by the wrong kind of person, and convinced to participate, until one evening she was knocked unconscious, waking to find a void in her memories,” Percy explained, sounding as if he may spit from anger. “Even in her letters I could hear her mewling about being the wronged party, even as I sat here in this cell, cast off by her as soon as I found myself in trouble.”
Graham chose to ignore his cousin’s self-pity. “Has Lady Barbara recovered her memory?”
“Cousin, you may have been able to get some information out of me with threats, but I fear additional information will cost you. See, you have a need and so do I.”
Graham chuckled. “I fear you have overplayed your hand, Percy. I am a perfectly free man, and can glean what information I need from her.” Graham turned to Jeremiah and bellowed so as to be heard over the din, “Warden, I fear my time with my cousin has come to an end, can you see me out?”
Percy extended his hand through the opening in the door, and yelled as Graham strode past the warden, who practically ran to keep up with the duke. “Cousin, where are you going? What about me? I give you everything you want, and you turn your back on me! You will pay for this!”
The way out of the prison was a blur of turns and babbling from Jeremiah, who was late to realize the folly of his association with Percy. The only thing clear to Graham was that he needed answers!
