Alice leaned forward. “What does it say?”
“The Black Dog.”
“Then that’s where we go,” she said.
Anthony met her gaze. “You’re not coming inside that tavern, Alice.”
“I am, and I’ve been there before.”
“And Jamie is an idiot for letting you go. We are not.”
“You may order your servants about, Lord Hamilton, but not me. I will not sit idly while he suffers.” Her voice shook, but she held his stare.
Tobias studied her for a long moment, then inclined his head. “If we leave her, she’ll follow unless we tie her up, Anthony, just as our wives would were they in the same situation.”
“I beg your pardon. You had better not be serious,” Alice snapped.
Anthony muttered something under his breath that sounded very much like a curse, but gave a brief nod. “Very well, you can come. Stay behind us, speak to no one, and if I say leave, you leave.”
Alice bit back the need to say more. To protest that she did not take orders from them, but as they were just as worried as she about Jamie, she didn’t. Instead, she sat and looked out the window as the tension inside the carriage rose, and the silence almost choked her.
Anthony was the first to break it. “Do you love him, Alice?”
She could lie, or just not answer, but they were Jamie’s friends, and maybe it was time for her to stop being a coward.
“Yes, I think I do.”
“Well, now, that’s excellent news,” Toby said with a gentle smile.
The carriage pulled up outside the Black Dog minutes later, and Alice forgot everything but what they had to do to get Jamie back.
In daylight, the Black Dog looked far worse than it had at night. The shadows that once softened its rough edges were gone, leaving only the stark reality of cracked plaster and filthy windows streaked with grime. The stench of spilled ale, smoke, and something sour clung to the air even out here.
Inside, the tavern was smaller than she remembered, and far dirtier. The weak morning light revealed everything the dark had hidden. Alice found sticky floors, warped tables scarred by years of knife blades, and walls stained with old smoke. The corners where she had once imagined shadows to be now held only piles of refuse and puddles of spilled drink.
A few men dozed over their tankards, slumped in their seats. Others turned to stare at the newcomers, their eyes narrow and assessing. Without the cover of night, there was no mistaking how out of place the three of them were.
Alice was wedged between Anthony and Toby as they moved through the building to the bar.
“Good day, we are looking for some information about the whereabouts of someone,” Tobias said to the barman. Thankfully, he was not the same man who had served them last time.
“If he ain’t in here, then I don’t know his whereabouts.”
Anthony pulled a fistful of money out of his pocket and placed it on the counter but did not lift his hand. The barman’s eyes focused on it.
“How about we try that again, seeing as I did not even mention his name? I’m looking for a man who goes by the name Jackson. He would have men with him is my guess, because the sniveling weasel is a coward and can’t do anything by himself,” Anthony said.
The man’s eyes flickered up to Anthony’s face and then back down at the money. There was a lot there, probably more than he could earn in many months.
“Not overly tall, but solid, and boasts a lot about himself,” Tobias said.
The man’s eyes were on Toby now, and narrowed. Alice held her breath, sure he was going to say he knew Jackson.
“I know someone who can help.”
They all turned to look at the owner of those words. An older man with a grizzled face that Alice thought had seen a lot in his lifetime stared back at them.
“Who?” Anthony demanded.
