“Yes, I know something about Mr. Howard’s abduction.”
The bed chamber door swung open, revealing Belle, dressed now in the borrowed clothes she’d been wearing earlier. “What do you know about my father?”
Will seemed completely unsurprised to be confronted by a woman he hadn’t known was in the suite a moment before—but then he probably had known. Will was extremely perceptive. “Miss Howard, I take it?”
“Where is he? Is my father well?” she demanded.
“I don’t know, and I don’t know,” Will said, then turned to Hew and gave him a look. His expression said, so-this-is-what-you-were-doing. Hew cleared his throat.
“Miss Isabelle Howard, might I present Mr. Willoughby Galloway.”
“I don’t care who he is. You have information on my father?”
“Yes, miss, but the information I have is privileged.”
Her brow furrowed. “What does that mean?”
“It means he can’t share it with you,” Hew said. “Go back into the bed chamber and try to rest—”
“Bollocks to that!”
Will raised a brow, looking from Belle to Hew and back again.
“If this is about my father, I want to know.”
“I’ll tell you later,” Hew began.
“He can tell me now.” She pointed at Will.
Hew started to move toward her, thinking he might have to carry her from the room, but Will raised a hand. “Let her stay. I know that look. I’ve seen it on my wife’s face often enough. There’s no point arguing.” He looked about the chamber then strode to a chair near the hearth. “Might we at least sit?”
“Of course,” Hew said. “Would you care for tea?”
“This isn’t a garden party!” Belle erupted. “Where is my father?”
“I don’t know,” Will said again, glancing at Hew, who took Belle’s hand and pulled her down on a couch across from Will. He sat beside her, keeping his arm about her. Will finally sat in the chair opposite. “I wish I could tell you more, but I don’t have any specifics about your father. The courier arrived in the wee hours of the morning, and I immediately set out to find Arundel. I learned about Mr. Howard’s disappearance while searching for you.” He gestured to Hew.
“We were asking questions on Fenchurch Street as well,” Hew said. “You must have been right behind us.”
“So I gather. In any case, when I couldn’t find you at Lady Keating’s or at the tea shop, I decided to try Mivart’s. No one had seen you here in days, but I took a chance.”
“We just arrived a few hours ago,” Hew said. “I was deciphering Baron’s letters concerning the railroad accident in Carlisle.”
Will raised a brow, indicating he didn’t believe that was all Hew had been doing. “Baron has new information on Pennywhistle,” Will said. “After reading your reports, he sent Duncan Slorach to the area.”
“Really? His first official mission for the Saboteurs?”
“Information gathering, really. He’s still waiting for his official mission.”
“Perhaps Baron is waiting for a two-man mission so he might send Lucy as well.”
“Why would he do that?” Will asked.
Lucy was Galloway’s sister and another agent. Duncan Slorach had been half in love with her since setting eyes on her. He and Lucy had been competing against each other since their first days at the Farm, obviously trying to channel the sexual tension between them into useful pursuits. But Will, being Lucy’s brother, seemed completely oblivious to the pop and crackle between the two whenever they were in the same room. Hew was not about to enlighten Will now.
“No reason.”
“Spit it out,” Belle interrupted. “What about my father?”
Hew closed his hand around hers. “We’re coming to that. He’s already said he doesn’t know where he is or his condition. Our plan is unchanged.” Hew nodded to Will. “What did Duncan discover?”
“Turns out just a few days before Duncan arrived, there was another accident. No deaths but several injuries. It was in the papers.”
Hew shrugged. He hadn’t been in any condition to read papers for most of the last week.
“The railroad sent a man to look at the damage and assess the sorts of repairs needed. By all accounts, the man had finished his work and was about to write up his report, when he disappeared. No one has seen him since.”
“Curious.”
“Not really,” Belle said plainly. “Pennywhistle needs time to finish his excavation. By delaying the railroad’s man, he also delays the repairs.”
“I see you know something about the matter, Miss Howard,” Will said. “But there’s another possibility.”
“What’s that?”
“The man discovered something Pennywhistle didn’t want made known, and Pennywhistle had him killed.”
“What are the odds that if we searched Pennywhistle’s property, we’d find his body?” Hew asked.
“Duncan would take that bet. I won’t get into all the specifics in the report”—he eyed Belle meaningfully—“but the railroad man had no reason to run off, and there’s some evidence of foul play. If we take the attempt on your life into account, it’s too much for coincidence.”
“More than one attempt,” Hew said. “Someone wants me dead.”
“If we can pin it on Pennywhistle, that would save us sending more agents to investigate. We’d catch him eventually, but if we could catch one of his men and force a confession...”
“I’m one step ahead of you,” Hew said. “I’m to meet them at Hyde Park tomorrow night to exchange myself for Mr. Howard. I fully intend to set an ambush, though I hadn’t worked out the particulars.”
Will shook his head. “Baron wants you back at the Farm.”
Beside him, Belle tensed.
“He sent me to tell you about the change in orders. Lady Keating convinced him your injuries are severe enough to limit your ability to succeed in a mission. I’m to take over.”
“No!” Belle cried, in an echo of the protest in Hew’s mind. “My father—”
“Miss Howard,” Will said, turning a sympathetic gaze to her. “I assure you I will do all I can to return your father to you. I intend to make the rendezvous, but I think we need to take all the facts into consideration.”
“What facts?”
“Although not independently verified, I think it highly likely there are rich mineral deposits on the land Pennywhistle sold to the railroad. He wouldn’t go to all of this trouble without reason, and money is a powerful reason.”
“My father has nothing to do with any of that!”
“Regardless, Pennywhistle and his men have now killed or attempted to kill multiple people. Other than Arundel and the railroad man, the others he’s killed also had nothing to do with the land or the minerals. The man and those working for him are clearly ruthless and will stop at nothing to accomplish their aims.”
Hew closed his eyes. He knew what Will was getting at. He’d considered the possibility himself.