“We will find her, Calder, I promise,” Gray said. “Mungo stole two small ledgers from the Holton Agency,” he added as they all moved into the sitting room. “I do not condone theft, but in this case, it appears justified,” he explained quickly, holding up the ledgers.
“A cypher?” Calder asked.
“Aye. You were always the one with the head for this,” Mungo replied.
Calder took a seat at the table. Mungo placed the agencymanual beside the ledgers Gray had just lowered. “This might help, or not. You’ll know.”
“I’ll need something to write with.”
Ivy fetched him parchment, pen, and ink. Calder opened each book, studying them with painstaking, infuriating thoroughness. Mungo paced, stopped, then paced again, every muscle rigid with fear.
Was Eliza safe? Or was Ellen’s vision unfolding at this very moment?
At last Calder spoke. “The first number of each entry refers to a location. In the back of this journal”—he tapped the one Mungo had first examined—“are numbered counties. So the code 5, 45, 13 means: 5 = Hampshire.” He turned pages swiftly. “45 corresponds to a name—Miss Lucy Brown. And 13….” He picked up the etiquette book. “‘Maintain impeccable moral conduct. A perceived indiscretion leads to dismissal.’”
“Eliza and Polly are in there,” Mungo said tightly.
“Buckinghamshire, Polly Watts,” Calder continued. “Instruction: ‘Do not form romantic attachments that could bring the Agency into disrepute.’” He looked again. “I have found no entry for Miss Downing.”
“If Ellen’s vision of Miss Downing bound in the back of a cart is correct, we must determine whether it connects to Polly and Fenella,” Bram said.
“But Buckinghamshire is large,” Ellen murmured. “Where do we look?”
“Theo must send word to the others. We will need—” Bram began.
“There is no time,” Mungo snapped. He had to get to Eliza. Had to get to Fenella and Polly.
“We may need the entire family, Mungo,” Bram said. “We do not yet know the scale of this.”
“Then we start at the source,” Gray said. “Mrs. Holtonknows where her girls are sent. And she will know where Eliza is.”
“I’m coming,” Calder said. “I want that woman to know I am onto her.”
“And I’ll check with the seamstress,” Bram added. “We must confirm whether Eliza truly visited her friend.”
“Thank you,” Mungo said hoarsely.
“We will bring them both home, my friend,” Bram promised.
They ran for the carriage, Bram sprinting off to hail a hackney.
In the coach, Gray said, “I interrogate people for a living. Let me take the lead.”
Neither Mungo nor Calder disagreed.
She is in danger.The truth hammered through Mungo with every turn of the wheels. Every instinct screamed at him that Eliza needed him—now. Someone had taken her and Fenella. He forced the rising terror back. He would not think of what Eliza meant to him, or his small niece, alone and frightened.
But someone would pay for this. He vowed it.
They reached the Holton Agency in grim silence. This time, they did not knock. Gray threw the door open and strode inside. The young receptionist leapt to her feet.
“You cannot go up! You have no appointment!”
They ignored her and climbed the stairs. Mungo shoved open Mrs. Holton’s office door so violently, it slammed into the wall.
“Mr. Rutherford!” Mrs. Holton gasped.
“Sit,” Gray said, stepping past Mungo. “Now.”
