Another what? Man? Lawyer? He did not ask.
“Do you have reason to think he will talk to me, Padua? Or anyone?”
“I saw him today. I told him I know about the house. He was ashamed. I think he did not want me or anyone to know about it. That was why he would not speak, I think.”
“Did he say as much? Will he cooperate now?”
“Yes. He told me he would. Will you do it? I know I have no right to ask it, but—”
“You have every right to ask it. What we shared does give us rights, Padua. Both of us. We are not made out of stone. Of course I will do it, if you ask it of me.”
She flushed. “Thank you. Do I need to do anything? Will the gaoler permit it?”
The gaoler would permit it because he still believed Ives would prosecute. The letter begging off lay on his writing table upstairs, waiting for the morning post. He had labored over it for hours, trying to find words that would not imply indifference to duty, or to the royal favor he had enjoyed. A second letter, directly to the prince regent, tried even harder.
Neither would be well received. They could wait another day to be posted.
“He always receives me, Padua. He will allow me to speak with your father. I will go tomorrow.”
“Thank you. I feel better now, knowing it will be you. Do not let him slither out of full answers. Make him tell you everything, Ives, even if it is the worst news.”
“Even a snake cannot slither out of answering me, and your father is nowhere near that sly.”
She stood and he followed. She smiled weakly and made a clumsy gesture with her hand that almost looked like a wave good-bye.
“You can stay, you know,” he said. “No one saw you enter. No one will see you leave.”
She appeared torn. He urged her silently to follow her hunger if not her heart. One step toward him. Just one, and he would—
“I have spent three days crying, Ives. Mourning. I do not want to cry all over again.” She took that step then. And another, until she could kiss him. He fought the impulse to grab her, and hold her close, and caress herthe way that would overcome her worries and fears, for a few hours at least.
He accepted her kiss of thanks, and branded his mind with the softness of her lips. Then she was gone, gliding to the door, and away.
***
“If you like, you can use this chamber here,” Mr. Brown said. “I’ll have him brought here for you.”
Ives knew the chamber well. There were men who went in there for conversations, and who came out battered.
Belvoir had faced no physical coercion. Those who use such tactics know their men, and Belvoir was not a promising candidate. Belvoir had the look of a fanatic to him, a man who would die before betraying a principle. Such men did not talk on the rack. They died on it.
Ives waited in the small, windowless chamber while guards went for Belvoir. Unlike some barristers, he did not plan elaborate strategies and stage directions when he performed. A few facts and a lot of instinct stood him in good stead. He would wait to see if Belvoir needed to be lured or browbeaten to be fully forthcoming.
Tall and lanky, thinner by far than several weeks ago, Hadrian Belvoir shuffled in, his hands and legs manacled. Ives told the guard to wait outside the door, which he then closed.
“Guard said you are my prosecutor,” Belvoir said after sitting in the one chair.
“All you need to know is that your daughter askedme to come. She thinks you will tell me the truth that you might avoid telling her.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because I am a man, and no relative or friend. The charges against you are severe. The odds are even that you will hang if convicted. It is time to add your side to this story.”
He hung his head, breathing hard. Ives realized some malady of the lungs afflicted him. Newgate was taking its toll.
“It all is because of that damned legacy,” he said, shaking his head. “I should have refused it, or sold that woman the whole damned thing. Got greedy, didn’t I? A steady living was something I had never had for long. I figured I could just take the money, and pretend the property weren’t mine.”
“How does that involve you in counterfeiting?”
