Page 67 of Betrayal from Beyond
Kara nodded and thanked the woman again. Leaning against the bar, she waited. Trying to be discreet about it, she turned her attention to the serving girls.
They appeared to be a lighthearted lot. They laughed and flirted, but Kara could not see that any of them looked skittish or forced. She could see no bruises on any of them. None looked haunted or frightened. A few of the men teased them, but no one grabbed or groped at them. Kara didn’t see any of the women touched at all until she spotted one crooking her finger at a strapping young man in invitation. A few of his mates gave hooting encouragement as he wrapped an arm around her and they started for the stairs.
“Follow me, then, aye?” The tavern keeper came out from behind the bar and jerked her head. Kara trailed her out of the taproom, into the entryway, and up the main staircase to the next floor, where the woman deposited her in a small, untidy office.
“There’s paper and nibs in the top drawer,” she said, pointing to the desk. “Ink’s on top there, somewhere. Help yourself. I’ll send Hamish down to the livery. They’ll likely send one of theiryounger lads, seeing as you said it’s not a far journey. When he gets here, I’ll send him up here to you.”
“Thank you. You have been most helpful, and I am grateful.” Kara started to move toward the desk, but the tavern keeper leaned against the doorframe and cast a wry glance at her.
“I saw you watching the girls. Perhaps it will ease you to know no one forces them to be here, or to do aught they’ve no wish to.”
“That’s the conclusion I was coming to myself.”
The woman lifted her chin. “It’s easy to look down your nose from a great height, but most of these girls have other occupations. Shop girl. Flower maker. Laundress. But those jobs don’t often pay enough to cover rent, food, and the needs of families.” She shrugged. “Some of these girls only come in here for a little extra, when they need to. Some are regulars. I let them use the rooms upstairs, as they will. I take my cut, but I don’t hold with anyone mistreating them.” She jerked her head down toward the taproom. “This lot knows to treat them with a bit of respect. I won’t tolerate anything else.”
Kara met the woman’s gaze directly. “I do not object to anyone doing what they must to make their way in the world, as long as they are not hurting others.”
The woman snorted. “Most of them aren’t’ hurtin’ no one. A few are only harmin’ themselves, if you know what I mean. But they do what’s needed, for them and theirs.”
“I do know what you mean,” Kara said with a sigh. “I only wish itwasn’tnecessary.”
The tavern keeper looked surprised. She nodded begrudgingly. “Maybe there will come a day when it won’t be, but it won’t be in our lifetimes.” She straightened. “Stay as long as you need to. Come down when you finish with the messenger. In the meantime, I’ll fetch ale and bread and cheese for you and your friends.”
When the woman had gone, Kara sat down, cleared a space on the desk, and outlined all that they had learned for Turner. She told him to send word back with the messenger if he had need to. She hoped they would not still be here past the next morning.
She’d just found the sealing wax and had lit a candle to melt it when the livery’s boy arrived. She gave him detailed instructions on how to find Bluefield Park before handing over the message and coins so that he could take the train as far as Hammersmith. “You can hire a mount there, and if you hurry, now, you might make the last train back to Chiswick and save yourself the longer ride back.”
The boy nodded, eager to go. Once he was gone, Kara sat a moment at the messy desk and drank in the quiet. They’d been caught in a whirlwind since last evening, and it was likely to get worse tonight. She only hoped they would find Petra here in Chiswick. She was beyond ready to put the woman, and all the grief and trouble she brought, behind them.
After blowing out the candle, Kara left the office and paused in the narrow, dark hall. Based on the squeak of a mattress emanating from the next room, this was where the serving maids brought their customers. That meant—yes, there, at the far end of the hall, was the landing of the narrow stairs that led to the taproom. She went to it and started down, but paused in the shadows at the top.
Someone had taken her spot at the table. A dark-haired young man, sitting with his shoulders hunched and his head hanging low. He spoke to Niall, who bent over, listening intently. Gyda listened as well, but she sat back in the shadows, her gaze roaming the taproom, watching for trouble.
Kara waited until Gyda had seen her. With a nod, she started moving again, but she’d only made it a couple of additional steps before, across the room, the taproom door began to slowly open.
She stilled.
A man took up most of the doorway, his broad frame draped in a long, dark coat. But someone lurked behind him. A woman. Her skirts brushed the man’s legs as she leaned in beside him.
Petra Scot.
Kara’s eyes widened. Gyda had looked away, but she glanced back and noticed the expression on Kara’s face. Kara widened her eyes again, then darted them toward the door, frantically trying to transmit the message. Gyda, bless her, merely nodded and did not look over in that direction.
Kara backed up the stairs again, moving slowly. Petra and the man peered around at the tables and stopped, their attention caught as they spotted Niall at the table with the young man. Petra whispered something and the man inched back, closing the door again.
Kara backed up the last couple of stairs, whirled, and raced quickly down the hall toward the main stairs, at the other end of the passage. She kept to the edge, trying not to make any noise. When she reached the main staircase, she stood at the top, clutching the rail and listening.
Petra and the large man stood below in the entryway, whispering intently.
The noise from the taproom had grown loud. Even with the door closed, it interfered. Kara couldn’t make out their words. Kneeling down, she strained to hear.
They were arguing. Petra cursed and stepped back from the man. “You heard me. That teacher is a loose end. Someone’s been lurking about the farm. It must have been him. Who knows what he’s seen? And what might he be sharing with Kier now? And what of Kier? If he is telling that sniveler the truth about who I am, then he is sealing the man’s fate.”
The woman stepped in a circle, her hand at her brow. “Damnation,” she cursed bitterly, before turning back. “How did Kier find me? And where the hell is his bitch of a wife?”
Kara shrank back as the woman below circled again.
Suddenly Petra stopped. “Finish him. Finish them both. We are going to have to move more quickly than we planned. I’ll go back and collect the cases and head straight into Town. If you are quick about it, meet me at the livery and you can travel back with me to fetch them. If you dawdle, then make your own way into London. You know where we will be. Just be sure to care of those two.”
