Lords of Honor (84 page)

Newt threw a punch at the remaining assailant
.
The tall, thickly built man
barely
flinched
.
He cracked his knuckles and laughed at Newt.

“I’m goin’ to tear ya limb from limb
, Cap’n
.
I never liked ya
.”
He pulled his fist back
.

Newt slipped another pistol from the waist in his trousers and fired
, hitting
the man
in the
fore
head
before
he
thr
e
w his punch
.
“I don’t think
so, matey.
”

The man landed
with a loud thunk up
o
n the dingy, dirty floor
.

Yet another one of Crow’s men
, a slightly built
,
younger man,
slunk out of the dark corridor and headed
toward
the back door.
He intended to
escape
.

Elveston stopped him with a hand to his throat
.
“You’re not going anywhere just yet, laddie.
”

Newt came up behind him
.
He put his pistol to the
back of the
man’s head
.
“You have two choices
.
First one, you tell us where we can find Mr. Crow
.
Second choice, I kill you
.
Which one will it be?”

“Mr. Crow tells me nothing
.”
The man trembled
.
“Please, Captain
.
I’ve two children and a wife.”

“
I’ve been in this shit-hole for
days
.
I’ve noticed you just slink around all quiet like in
the shadows
.
No one ever truly
notices you’re
here
.
They don’t pay the least bit of attention to you
.
But you are always
hovering
.
I’m betting you hear a lot more than you should
.
Where
. I
s
.
Mr. Crow?”

“I-I do not know
.
I don’t
.
You wouldn’t kill an innocent man, surely…”

Newt cocked his pistol
.
“I’m about to
.
Unless of course you have something to tell me
.”
Newt sighed
loudly and
said, “You
’d
best move, Jack
.
At close range this will be messy.”

Elveston
grimaced
.
He
gave a nod
and r
eleased the man’s throat
.
He
stepped away
.
“Very well, Captain
.
Get it done, we don’t have all
night
,”
he
said.

“Wait!” The man cried out
frantically
.
“I heard Mr. Crow tell a
pasty,
yellow haired man that they were going to take care of Crowhurst tonight
.
Do him in
,
like
.
He s
aid their leader felt
him to be
more trouble than he was worth
.
That yellow-haired man told
Crow
he knew
the location where
some gents
they
been
looking for
were hiding at
.
A
Witch House
or W
itch something House, near the Thames
in one of the older neighborhoods
.
And they were to go there after they done in Crowhurst
.
They
were
getting it all done in one night
,
like
.
And the two of them, Crow and the yellow-haired toff they planned this on the sly so the leader don’t know they’re in cohoots
.
‘T
’was
to make t
hem
selves
look
smart
it was
, so they could secure better pa
ying employment from
them
higher ups
.
”

“Who
is their leader?”
Newt demanded
.

“That I do not know
.
I swear it
, Captain
.
They only call him the leader
.
I only knew of Crowhurst
.
But even Crowhurst fears the leader, for I
’ve heard
Mr. Crow say
so
often
.”

Newt hit the man on the back of the head with his pistol
.
The man slumped to the ground
.
“Wychcombe House!” He looked to Deveril Pendarves
.
“Dev, have one of your men store that weasel and keep an eye on him
.
We may need him to tell what he knows later
.
Send another one of your men to Crowhurst’s to warn Harry
and Trevan
that they plan to kill Crowhurst
and move on to Wychcombe
H
ouse
.
Every
one
else, let’s
move out
.
We’ve got to get to Wy
chcombe House
.
As quickly as we can!

“Lord Crowhurst
is indisposed
.
He is not receiving callers tonight
.”
The Butler sniffed disdainfully at the group of gentlemen
standing
on the doorstep.

“We insist on seeing Lord Crowhurst
, b
y order of the King
.”
Sir John stepped forward and waved a
letter
with the King’s seal upon it in front of the reluctant butler’s face.

“Very well
.
Follow me
.
I see the light
beneath the study door
.
H
e’s still working
.
He works hard, Lord Crowhurst does.
”

The butler knocked
.
“My Lord, you’ve visitors on urgent business from the King.”

There was no answer
.
“Lord Crowhurst?”

“Is the door unlocked?” Harry asked.

The Butler twisted the knob and nodded.

“Then open it, man!” Harry
bellowed.

“Lord Crowhurst…oh my
!”
The servant’s eyes moved downward to a still figure
up
on the floor.

Lord Crowhurst lay on the study floor, a large stain of blood upon his chest, and a large puddle of blood beneath him.

There were raised voices from the front of the house
.

“You
r
Grace
!”
A man rushed in
to their midst and handed a piece of folded foolscap
to Trevan.

“Aye
, Jory
.
Thank you.
” Trevan tore open the
letter
.
“Hell and damnation, we’ve got to get back to Wychcombe House
!
This is from
Dev
eril
and Newt
.
Crow and Davitt were going to do in Crowhurst and go on to Wychcombe House to take us out
!
They’re ahead of us.
”

“To Wychcombe House
at once!” Harry
commanded. H
e
, Trevan,
Sir John and the other Avalon Society members cleared out, leaving the King’s men to deal with
the remains of Lord
Crowhurst.

“St. Mabyn
.
I’d thought to never
see you
in my establishment
,” Madame Rosier allowed her eyes to
boldly
move slowly up
and down
the Earl of St. Mabyn’s
well-dressed
form
.
It was
whispered
all about London that though the unmarried Duke of Penrose would be the catch of the upcoming sea
son, his cousin, St. Mabyn,
not only
remained
an unmarried Earl, but
was
sinfully handsome and cut the finer figure.
He wore his
dark
brown hair longer than fashion
dictated
, but it enhanced his handsome, rakish appearance, along with the strong angles and planes of his face
.
His
pale
blue eyes added to his rather dangerous, devil
-
may
-
care appearance
.

Madame Rosier
inwardly
agreed
that St. Mabyn cut a fine figure
indeed
.
She
displayed
her most seductive smile
for
the man
.

“Madame.” Gabriel nodded
.
He gave her a cool smile
.
“I’ve brought my cousins, August and Arthur, and we’re in need of something special
tonight
.”

“I daresay
, St. Mabyn,
I
can provide you and your cousins with whatever you wish
.”

“Could we adjourn to your office so we could explain exactly what we
,
ah
,
need?”
Gabriel said deeply as his hand trailed down her arm.

“Of course,
St. Mabyn
.
Gentlemen
.
Please follow me
.”
She batted her kohl blackened eyelashes.

When they reached the Madame’
s office, she instructed the hulking
guard at the door to leave them
.
She sent him to fetch a fine bottle of brandy
from the cellar
for her
to share with her
esteemed
guests. Gabriel shooed Arthur away with a jerk of his head.

“Your other friend is not coming in
?”
Madame Rosier asked curiously.

“He saw a lady who caught his eye
, a
rather buxom blonde
, I would guess
.
It is August and
I who require something
, ah, more out of the ordinary
,
”
Gabriel
offered
a chilly smile
as he looked at her.

Gabriel allowed his hand to run across Madame Rosier’s ample bosom
.
His fingers moved to dip into her neckline
.
Seconds later he extracted a small pistol
.
He quickly covered Madame’s mouth with one hand and pinned her shoulder
against the wall
with
his elbow
while August
caught her legs and skimmed his hands upward
.
He came away with a nice
-sized poniard and another small pistol held by her garters
.

“Silence
!”
Gabriel commanded
.
He removed a letter with the King’s seal from his coat pocket
with his free hand
and held it before her
.

“You are being charged, Madame Rosier, as an accomplice in the shooting of Lord Amesbury,
Lady Caroline Bellingham, and
twice for
the shooting of Lord Wincanton,
and t
he murder of two men
, servants of Lord Wincanton,
in Templecombe, Somerset
, as well as t
he murder of Squire and Mrs. Baines and Lord Gransby
near
Templecombe
.
You are also charge
d
with t
he kidnapping of Lady Elizabeth Darrington
,
Miss
Sophia
Hart
, and Lady Alice
Sterling;
daughter of Lord Fitzlewis,
as well as t
he act of rapine and the beating of Miss Hart
.
The sentence the Judge shall give you tonight
when I take you to appear before him shall be
to hang by the neck until dead
.
Your hanging shall take place tomorrow at 1:00
.
Unless of course you tell us what we want to know
.
If you tell us what we want to know, you shall be placed upon a ship leaving
with the tide
.
A cabin will be procured for you, and you shall travel as a free woman
, in comfort,
to Australia
.
However, should you ever try to
set foot
on English soil
again
you shall be arrested immediately
then
promptly
hanged
.
”