“Where is Penny?” Ellen put more weight on the umbrella, and the man made a gagging sound.
“Miss Ellen, he can’t speak if you do that,” Mungo said.
“Oh, right.” She eased up a bit. “Tell us what you have done with Penny, and I may let you live or at the very least be able to speak, which would mean I won’t crush your windpipe.”
“Go to hell. She’s mine!” The man lying at her feet wheezed. “Get off me, you bitch!”
Mungo sighed. He then stood on the man’s hand, making him howl with pain.
“Ask him again, Miss Ellen.”
“What the hell is going on?” Gray demanded.
“Sssh.” Ellen waved her hand at him. “Now, Barney Forge.” She bent at the waist and peered into the man’s eyes. “Where is Penny? You’re wearing her pin on your lapel.”
“Who is Penny?” Gray asked instead of are you mad. “What the hell are you doing in such a place, fighting of all things? Get home at once to safety.”
The brothers were still fighting but had the upper hand, and soon both had knocked their opponents to the ground.
“What did he say?” Lord Seddon demanded, joining his sister.
“I insist someone tells me what is going on,” Gray said, his voice louder this time.
“Detective Fletcher, I believe?”
Gray looked at the hand Alexander Nightingale held out to him. Manners were the true sign of a gentleman, his mother once told him, so he shook it.
“Answer her if you please, Forge, or I’ll let her put more force on her umbrella. Believe me, the end is very pointy,” Lord Seddon said to the man on the ground. Ellen now stood on his chest. “I’ve had it jabbed in my side many times, and it leaves an impression.”
“Are you all mad?” Gray asked anyone who would listen.
“That man has abducted the granddaughter of one of the Crabbett Close residents,” Mungo said. “We’re getting her back.”
“You should have spoken to one of the bobbies.”
Alexander Nightingale scoffed. “I don’t mean to sound disparaging, Detective Fletcher.” He smiled, and Gray knew right off this brother was less serious than the other one. “But there are not bobbies on every corner, you understand. Nor is Plummy that easy to get on task.”
This he knew as he’d tried. The man was a good enough sort, if a little simpleminded.
“We could wait no longer to retrieve the woman this scum abducted. We have the skills to see it done, so we are doing it,” Alexander continued.
“That’s completely reckless with a disregard for your sister’s welfare, who you have plunged into danger.”
“Yes, because it’s quite clear she can’t look after herself,” Alexander said.
The woman was now straddling the man’s body with her feet. Her umbrella was under his chin, which she was forcing upward.
“That as it may be—”
“Perhaps the lecture could wait?” Lord Seddon cut off Gray’s words.
Looking at those watching and the men lying on the floor, Gray realized he was right.
“And I was not in danger,” Ellen snapped. “Get him up, Leo. He needs an incentive to tell us where Penny is.”
Lord Seddon dragged the man to his feet and held his hands behind his back. “Right then, let’s get this done, as the crowd is growing restless, sister.”
“I want the address of where you have taken Penny Tompkins, Barney Forge. If you don’t give it, I’m letting my brothers loose on you,” Ellen said, her face now inches from the man’s.
