“Get me one,” Leo said out the side of his mouth.
Ellen and Leo then headed into the house. Tabitha held the door open and accidentally brushed against Leo. He yelped and jumped back, landing on Ellen’s foot.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry.” He then grabbed Ellen and put her in front of him. His hands were on her shoulders. “Lead the way, Miss Varney.”
Ellen made a few clucking noises but followed Tabitha. The urgent matter that needed attention was, in fact, a jar on a shelf she could not reach. A chair would have fixed that, and it was clear to everyone in the room she’d hastily come up with the problem.
Leo got the jar down, and instead of handing it to the woman, placed it on the sink. He then grabbed Ellen’s hand.
“We must go. Our brother is waiting for us outside.”
“I was just about to make tea.” Tabitha pouted. “Surely a big, strong man such as yourself is in constant need of sustenance?”
“He’s quite the weakling, actually. Alex is much stronger,” Ellen said.
“A lot stronger,” Leo reiterated. “He is far more charismatic than I too.”
“Leo had his heart broken and has vowed to never love again. But Alex, his heart is just fine,” Ellen said, finding a way to get her brother back for placing two spiders in her bed yesterday. Ellen did not like spiders. Her scream had roused the entire household at 11 Crabbett Close.
“Really? Heartbroken, you say?” She looked at Leo. He appeared forlorn and nodded.
“Well then.” She waved them to the door. “Good day to you both.”
They left the house and collected Teddy, who was now eating Leo’s sugarplum and chatting with Nancy.
“Let’s go, Teddy,” Leo said.
“That was very well done of you, Ellen. I think you may have just transferred Tabitha Varney’s affections to Alex from me. It was a brilliant move,” Leo said.
“If it works, you will owe me a great deal. But I had to get him back for the spiders.”
“You are a terrifying woman.”
“Thank you.”
Teddy was ahead of them, sucking on his sugarplum.
“Ellen, when we went to the theatre, I found Gray out in the foyer with his father and Viscount Lester,” Leo said.
“You didn’t tell me that.”
“I’m telling you now.”
It had been three days since they’d said they cared about each other. Gray had still not called to tell her who the other person he suspected in George Nicholson’s murder was either. The truth was she missed him. Now that she’d admitted to caring it seemed to have opened something inside her, and he was constantly in her thoughts.
“What did he say to you?”
The elder Nightingale siblings had started some enquiries about the Baddon Boys, themselves.
While out last night looking for Mr. Greedy’s cousin, Cedric, who had drunk too much and not returned home, they’d asked a few subtle questions, as they’d searched for him. The responses they’d received had been chilling.
The gang wrought fear in the areas of London they termed as theirs. Every crime that was possible to commit, they had committed. Most often they got away with it too.
Did Gray deal with men like that all the time? The thought was a terrifying one for Ellen.
“I heard him defending us. Saying we were his friends. He then told his father and Lester that they were not to utter your name unless it was to compliment you.”
