Just in case, Emma searched the shadows cast by the tall bookcases, and behind the drapes. She was just sneaking a look behind the pillows—because of course a man Lord Lymington’s size must be lurking behinda pillow—when the door opened.
The glow of light from the hallway illuminated the darkness for an instant before Helena closed the door behind heragain. “Emma?”
“Here, Letty.”
There was a rustle of silk skirts and the soft drag of slippers over the thick carpets, then Helena appeared, her brows drawing together when she caught sight of Emma. “Why are you tossing the pillows about? Is there something under there?”
“No one is under—that is, nothing is under there.” Emma turned to Helena, but her heart sank when she saw she was standing there alone. “Where’s Caroline?”
Helena bit her lip. “Gone for theevening again.”
Emma blew out a frustrated breath. Caroline Francis had been at the Pink Pearl for several months, and Emma had yet to lay eyes on the girl. “You’re quite sure she’s not a figment of your imagination, aren’t you, Letty?”
“Oh, she’s real enough, if elusive. This is her fourth engagement this week.” A troubled frown creased Helena’s forehead. “Thatisrather alot, isn’t it?”
“Often enough to arouse my suspicions, yes.” It wasn’t unusual for a gentleman to request a courtesan attend him at a private location, but everything to do with this business had taken on a sinister cast since the season started. “Is it the same gentleman, each time?”
Helena nodded. “Yes. Caroline saysso, at least.”
Emma sank down onto a settee. It was a lovely blue velvet, costly and plush. The desk beside it and the chair opposite were equally beautiful.
Everything at the Pink Pearl was beautiful,on the surface.
Emma braced her elbows on her knees. “Have youever seen him?”
Helena dropped into the chair opposite Emma, her frown deepening. “No. He fetches Caroline in his carriage each time, but she runs out to meet him. He nevercomes inside.”
“What sort of carriage does he have?” A description of his carriage wasn’t likely to help much, unless… “Does itbear a crest?”
“No. It’s just a plain black carriage, unmarked.”
Indistinguishable from any other carriage in London, then. “I suppose Caroline is smitten with him?” Smitten enough to tell lies for him, even if those lies led to an innocent man dangling from a noose.
“She was at first,” Helena said slowly. “When she returned to the Pink Pearl after that first time, she was positively giddy. But lately she seems…almostafraid of him.”
“Afraid?” Emma said sharply, leaning forward. “What makes you think that?”
“I could tell she didn’t want to go with him tonight. Madame Marchand made her, of course, but before she left, she…she gave me something.” Helena was twisting the fringe on the pillow, her knuckles white. “I have it with me.”
Emma’s heart started to pound.“May I see it?”
Helena reached into the bodice of her gown, withdrew a round object, and placed it in Emma’s outstretched palm.
“It’s a pendant.” A very fine gold one, surrounded by diamonds and with a tiny, perfect enameled portrait of a handsome, dark-haired little boy inside. “Where didshe get this?”
“She had it from him. Took it, I mean, without his knowing it.”
She’d stolen it, then. Emma held the pendant up, studying the dull sparkle of the diamonds in the weak light. What would a gentleman be doing with a lady’s pendant? It seemed a strange thing for him to carryabout, unless…
Emma’s fingers froze on the pendant. What if this secret paramour of Caroline’s wasn’t her lover? What reason did they have to assume it was even aman,at all? One need only look at Madame Marchand for proof that a woman could be as cruel and wicked as a man.
The truth was, they knew next to nothing about Caroline’s mysterious visitor, including whether he—or she—was the same person attempting to implicate Lord Lovellin the crimes.
Still, it stood to reason itwasthe same person. Odds were whoever had persuaded Caroline to lie had followed her to London to see to it she kept her promise.
“Did Caroline say who the boy in the portrait is?”
“No. I don’t think she knows. Even if she did, I doubt she would have told me. She wouldn’t say anything about it, except that I must take it, and keep itsafe. I think…”
