Perched on the side of her bed facing me, Mary had listened silently as I told her everything Maggie had done, from tagging us at Pickford’s to Sarah’s kidnapping and Maggie’s dodge. She was already wide-eyed, and I hadn’t even said a word yet about her mother’s murder or Tim Lowry.
“Mary?” I reached for her arm. “Are you ... all right?”
“I’m not falling into a faint, if that’s what you mean, but bloody hell, Kit.” She shivered, as if she was cold to the bone. “It’s wickedness, pure wickedness, taking Sarah.” Her eyes drifted toward the window, caught on her dresser, and returned to me. “Why were you going through my things?”
“I just wanted to see if they were still here. I was afraid she’d taken you, too.”
“Oh, Kit.” Mary’s brow knitted, and she took my hand in hers. “What are you going to do? You can’t do the dodge the way it’s laid out. Not with Billy. He’s—”
“I know.” I laid my other hand on top of hers. “But there’s something else, Mary.”
“Go on.” Her eyes were steady.
“This part is about you.” I drew a breath. “When Maggie was caught in the jewelry store, her sentence was doubled to fourteen because one of her jennies ratted her out about another theft. A snooze, in a hotel.”
She looked puzzled. “Your mother?”
I shook my head. “She was the jenny the day Maggie was caught. Butyourmother was Maggie’s jenny at the hotel.”
Her eyes widened, and her lips parted. “You think my mother ...”
“There was a man named Tim Lowry, who your mother fancied, but he fancied Maggie, at least for a while. And ...”
“My mum turned copper’s nark over a man?” Mary’s expression was horrified.
“And over you,” I said softly. “Possibly. If Tim Lowry was your father, she’d have wanted him foryou.”
She dragged her hand from between mine. “Are you sure?” Her voice was ragged.
“Notsure, but Amelia says you were born early, and you look like him more than your da. Fair hair and blue eyes.”
Mary’s face was pale to the lips but resolute. “Tell me the rest.”
I made my voice as gentle as I could. “Maggie came back from Australia for revenge, Mary. For two revenges. Your mother and the jeweler.”
Her chest rose and fell with an uneven gasp. “But Maggie would have had to be heremonthsago to ...”
“She’d arrived by early March.” I touched her arm. “Given what she’s put in place, I suspect she’s been here even longer.”
“Jesus, Kit.” Her hands went to the soft area below her ribs.
“I know,” I said again. “I’m sorry.”
She stared unseeing at the bare wall opposite for a moment, her chest rising and falling. At last, she looked at me. “And now she has Sarah, and you have to do this thing to get her back.”
“Yes.”
“What do you need?” she asked simply.
The sheer generosity of it cracked my heart clear across.
“I don’t know,” I said, my voice wobbling. “I need a plan, and ... I don’t have one yet. Can you come with me? To James’s?”
“Of course. Anything.” Mary rose from the bed. “But if I’m to help you, we should make a sign of us parting ways. We don’t want Maggie thinking you have any allies here. I’ll put out that I found you poking through my drawers.”
I never admired her more than at that moment. Despite everything I’d told her, she was still shrewd and quick, for my sake. But why was I surprised? She’d been my jenny dozens of times, and she’d never lost her head when I needed her.
“Where will you go?” I asked. “Maggie won’t let you stay in any of the others’ rooms.”
