Betty reappeared on the stairs and hurried toward us with the satchel.
“You were her friend,” I said. “Didyouthink she had quit?”
Betty bit her lip and looked sideways at the housekeeper. “No.”
Mrs. Rice’s face was pinched. “You did say so,” she murmured to Betty before turning back to me. “Perhaps I should have called the police. But we’ve had maids disappear before.”
“Sarah’s different,” I said.
“She was,” Mrs. Rice admitted. “Shall I send for the police now?”
“It’s too late. They won’t find her. Besides, they won’t lift a finger for a scullery maid who’s been dismissed.” I set the satchel on the bench and opened it. Clothes. Her photograph of our ma. The yellowback novel I’d given her last time she was home. I closed it back up. All of Sarah’s life, all remnants of her, in this small, dilapidated bag. It cut my heart to pieces.
“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Rice said awkwardly.
I left without another word and started for Elephant and Castle.
Chapter 20
In front of St. George’s, I shoved my way onto an overcrowded omnibus, then leapt off at the Lambeth railway station and dashed to the inn, rushing straight up to the goods room, where Maggie and Billy each held a glass of whiskey. Maggie sat behind the desk, Billy perched on the windowsill, one heavy boot on the floor, the other swinging idly.
As if they were waiting for me.
Fear dug its fangs into my heart as I set down Sarah’s satchel. “Where is she?”
Billy snickered and turned to Maggie. “You were right. It brought her round, even faster than you expected.”
Maggie’s smile was almost gentle. “She’s not far.”
“Is she alive?”
“What use would she be to me dead?” Maggie returned. She reached into a pocket and withdrew a silver chain, passing it over to me. Unthinking, I reached for it. From the chain dangled Sarah’s locket, the one I’d given her. “She told me you’d recognize it.”
“How did you find her?” My voice rasped.
“You told me she was a maid in Mayfair, so I had you followed, of course.” Maggie smoothed back an unruly dark lock near her temple. “I’ve understood you from the first, Kit. I saw your affection for Mary and your sister. Why do you think I told Mary I was cutting her from the ring? I knew you’d bargain to keep her here. After that, it was just reeling you in. When money wasn’t enough to make you willing, you left me no choice. Ihadto use your sister.”
I tucked the locket into the secret pocket in my bodice. “I want proof she’s alivenow.”
“And you’ll do what I ask?”
“If she’s alive,” I spat back. “You have me for your bloody dodge. But so help me God, if you harm her, I will make sure you hang, even if I hang alongside you.” I sat on the opposite side of the desk and put out my hand. “Give me paper and a pen.”
She took a piece of paper from the drawer and gestured to the inkwell with the pen in the brass tray that had stood on the desk—Amelia’s desk—for as long as I’d been thieving. “Very well. Billy can take it.”
I bent and wrote:Sarah, I’m doing what Maggie asks, and she’ll let you go. Reply to me on this page. I hesitated. When she saw Billy, would she assume this had something to do with her seeing him in Mayfair? Would she try to reassure him that she’d keep quiet? She wasn’t a fool or a child, but she’d be terrified. I couldn’t take the chance she’d be thinking carefully. I added,Say nothing, and underlined it for good measure.
“Give this to her,” I said, sticking the pen back in its place. “Have her write back. I know her handwriting.”
Maggie took it from me, read the message critically, and handed it to Billy along with a stub of pencil. “Do as she says.”
He pocketed it and ambled out.
In my mind, I followed him down the stairs, out the door, along an alley, into some dank boardinghouse, and into a cellar, where he shoved open a door, setting Sarah’s nerves on fire with fright until he handed her my note. It filled me with a pain so complete I couldn’t think.
Until my eyes returned to Maggie. Her expression of cool patience, even tolerance, told me she had no feeling for Sarah or me at all. This was only revenge, pure and practical and well planned.
And I had better start thinking practically as well.
