“You look fagged.” Hands fisted on his hips, Raven stood in the doorway of the kitchen, Hawk hovering just behind him. “We think we should come with you.”
Charlotte swallowed a mouthful of coffee, willing it to scald the muzziness from her head. It was early morning, and she had managed only an hour or two of sleep. Fatigue, she conceded, felt as if it had seeped right into the very marrow of her bones. Not a good sign when she needed her wits on full alert.
“He’s right,” agreed McClellan as she refilled Charlotte’s cup.
“I’m simply going to fetch a message from Alice the Eel Girl,” Charlotte replied.
“Which means you might need us to inform His Nibs of what it says,” countered Raven. “Or spread the word to our other friends to keep their peepers open for something havey-cavey.”
“It’s a sensible suggestion,” murmured McClellan
A plume of steam rose from the devil-dark brew. “It is,” she replied. So why it stirred a frisson of unease eluded her. But then, she clearly wasn’t thinking straight.
“Very well.” Charlotte quickly finished the last bite of her muffin and rose. The sooner she accomplished the task, the sooner she could crawl back under the covers for some blissful hours of sleep.
Outside, the fog still lingered, the dawn’s gossamer glow doing little to lighten the pewter-grey vapor cloaking the streets. She and the boys moved quickly, wraithlike shapes flitting dark on dark through the chill morning.
Through the windblown mist, the river gleamed like a ribbon of polished steel as they made their way down to the docklands. The loading areas were just coming to life, the rattle of barrows and the shouts of the stevedores twining with the groaning timbers and the thrumming rigging of the ships tied at the wharves.
Alice the Eel Girl was doing a brisk business selling her still-warm pasties to the workers. Charlotte waited for a pair of blacksmiths to make their purchases and drift away before approaching her.
“Oiy!” Alice’s eyes came alight. She shifted her tray and angled a little deeper into the shadows of the brick warehouse fronting the docks before going on. “A woman by the name o’ Annie gave me a message fer ye. I’m te tell ye she’s sorry, an’ that she expects ye’ll get the answer ye want soon enuff.”
Charlotte huffed in frustration.Damnation!What the devil did that mean? They didn’t have time to spin in circles.
Alice, however, still had the odd gleam in her eyes. “I figgered ye were expecting something more, so I waited a bit and then followed her.”
Oh, you clever, clever girl, thought Charlotte. “And did you discover her hidey-hole?”
The girl’s face fell. “Naw. Up near Ratcliff Highway, a fancy gennelmun stopped her, and after a bit o’ chin-wagging, she got in his carriage and they drove off.”
Mather.Who else could it be but Mather?
“He didn’t force her,” added Alice. “Looked te me like she wuz happy te go wiv him.”
Could it be that the barmaid had betrayed her childhood friend to his cousin? Annie was, by her own admission, struggling to survive in a world that gave no quarter to sentiment.
“Does that help?” asked the girl.
“Yes, it does,” answered Charlotte, all at once unsure of whether she could trust her own judgment, given how easily Annie had humbugged her.
Feeling a little light headed, she handed Alice another coin and looked around for the boys, who had darted off to greet their urchin friends who made a living along the waterfront.
“Confound it,” she muttered. They were nowhere to be seen.
The breeze had freshened, setting the signal flags on a nearby merchant ship to snapping in the swirling air. She gazed up at the dancing colors strung from the main halyard, noting the private ensign of the East India Company flying from the top of the mainmast. Sailors were already aloft, preparing the furled sails for the journey east. The tide was about to turn. No doubt, they would soon be casting off the mooring lines.
For an instant, the idea of simply sailing away from all the frightening conundrums teased at her consciousness. The vast ocean, Charlotte knew from experience, had a way of simplifying the world. It stripped away all artifice, leaving only the purely elemental forces of Nature.
Lifting her chin, she watched the clouds scud through the muddled sky, and found her momentary doubts flittering off into the gloom. Strangely enough, a simple world held no allure. It would mean leaving all she loved . . .
“Oiy, oiy!” The sounds of Raven and Hawk larking through one of the alleyways cut through her thoughts. As the boys broke free of the shadows, they waved.
Hunching her shoulders, she let out a low whistle in reply, just another urchin intent on joining in with a raggle-taggle band of friends. It wasn’t until they were well away from the wharves and hidden in the confines of a narrow passageway between warehouses that Raven spun around and drew in a quick breath.
“M’lady, m’lady, we just saw one of the dastards! I’m sure of it!”
* * *
