The flames consumed it instantly.
‘A pity about old Bainbridge,’ she continued conversationally. ‘Once he discovered the cipher hidden inside the jewellery box, I had very little choice but to push him down the stairs. I could hardly allow him to expose me.’
Charlotte felt a wave of pure terror crash over her. Was this the end?
Mrs Wilberforce crossed towards the terrace doors and opened one of them.
The Captain stepped inside.
Hope surged through her.
‘Captain... help...’
Her cheek pressed helplessly against the floorboards, her head now too heavy to lift.
But he merely looked down at her with a strange smile.
‘You will find,’ Mrs Wilberforce said coolly, looming above Charlotte’s collapsing form, ‘that Henry shall not be here to save you this time.’
Then she turned and kissed the Captain passionately.
The room dissolved into shadow.
And darkness claimed her.
Chapter 37
Charlotte stirred slowly, her limbs heavy, her mind thick with fog, and her mouth dry as sandpaper. Male voices echoed faintly somewhere in the distance. Her wrists were bound behind her with strips of rough cloth, whilst a blindfold obscured most of her vision.
She could feel the cold earthen floor beneath her. Dampness seeped through her thin cotton dress and into her bones.
The air smelled foul and musky.
Charlotte lay crumpled upon the ground, dread pounding steadily in her chest.
Mrs Wilberforce was an Odd Fellow.
And the Captain—the very man she had nearly trusted with her life—
Even now, Charlotte could scarcely comprehend it.
How? Why?
But there was no time for questions.
Carefully, she rubbed her head against the ground, inching the blindfold downward until it loosened enough to slip.
Success.
With one eye uncovered, she slowly surveyed her surroundings.
She was inside a cage fashioned of iron bars. A heavy padlock secured the narrow door.
Beyond it stretched rows of identical cages, each containing girls. Bound. Gagged. Some weeping softly.
Massive stone walls enclosed the chamber, whilst thick wooden beams crossed overhead. There were no windows. No trace of natural light.
Only a single lantern burned dimly in the corner, casting distorted shadows across the floor.
