Tenacious Trents 03 - A Reluctant Rake (31 page)

She made her excuses and retired to her
room when Jordan’s family departed. She had spent the better part
of five hours with his sisters-in-laws and Madeline. Audrey needed
to be alone to think.

Out of habit, she prepared herself for
bed by putting on her gown, washing and then brushing her hair. She
lay between the cool sheets and stared up at the ceiling. They had
to save Jordan. They must.

It was a fitful sleep and not because
of the unfamiliar bed but because she kept dreaming of Jordan,
locked away behind bars like an animal in menagerie. Was he
shackled to the wall, not allowed to walk about? Each image became
worse and she finally threw off the blankets as the sun was
rising.

She had to do something to help him,
but what?

Four hours later she had a complete
list of potential witnesses to help Jordan as well as an outline of
his movements on the dates of the incidents, as she knew them.
There were glaring holes since she didn’t know where he was every
moment of the day and only knew of some places because he had told
her. But she trusted him. He would not kill anyone or hurt the
women. Couldn’t they understand that? She had to make them
understand.

“I must visit Bow Street,” Audrey
announced to Grace and Matthew while they broke their fast. The
food on her plate was mostly untouched. Her stomach was tight and a
bit upset and Audrey was only able to nibble on a piece of toast
and sip her tea, too afraid that if she ate anything more she would
be heaving over the chamber pot.

“I don’t think that is necessary,”
Grace assured her.

“We are doing everything that we can to
free him,” Matthew added.

“But I can’t just sit here
waiting.”

Sympathy shone in their eyes. Neither
one of them looked any better than she felt. There were smudges of
dark beneath their eyes and Matthew’s face was more drawn. When
they first met he was a serious man, stern even. Today he looked
tired and worn. None of them had slept well last night. Had Jordan
been able to sleep at all?

“I have to try,” Audrey said a moment
later, her eyes misting. She blinked quickly. She would not cry in
front of them. She had to be stronger than this.

“I’ll go with you,” Grace
said.

“Thank you.”

Jordan sat up and stretched, surprised
he had slept at all, though it couldn’t have been more than a few
hours. He had worked long into the night, writing down everything
he remembered from the men he had spoken to the night before. He
had a list of wrongs he had to make right and it gave him something
to focus on other than his own predicament. On the small desk was a
stack of paper, each sheet dedicated to one individual case. He
stood and walked over, sifting through them. Now that he had
written down everything about the cases, he needed to make a list
of people to question and all the steps he needed to take to prove
that the men were innocent and hopefully see them freed. Half had
not even had a trial yet, some were waiting transport and a few
others would be left to rot here. At least he didn’t have the
urgency of someone faced with the gallows because he didn’t know
how long he would be stuck in here and his first priority after he
was released was to see that those men were as well.

“Trent,” the jailer called as he
stopped in front of his cell. He opened the door and placed a
basket on the floor. “You must have some rich family to be able to
afford this.”

Jordan glanced at the basket and his
stomach rumbled. He couldn’t remember the last time he ate. He
hadn’t been able to bring himself to eat the moldy bread and rancid
water Newgate claimed to be an evening meal. It still sat on the
floor, nibbled on by rats and mice that emerged during the dark
hours.

“You’ve also got a visitor.”

Thank goodness, he needed to see and
speak with at least one of his brothers.

“Fancy lady that goes by the name
Lydell.”

His appetite disappeared and bitterness
filled him. Why was she here? Hadn’t he been clear yesterday in his
brother’s parlor? “I don’t want to see her.”

The jailer crossed his arms over his
chest and cocked his head. “Are you sure? For the right price you
can be alone with her. It gets awful lonely in here.”

He would become a monk before he even
kissed Lady Lydell, let alone do anything else.

What if Audrey got it in her head to
visit? The idea sickened him. He didn’t want her anywhere near this
place and he didn’t want the smell or filth to touch any part of
her and he certainly didn’t want her to see him like this. Nor his
sister, Madeline, or sisters-in-law. Anyone of them could decide
they needed to visit and he couldn’t have that. “I don’t want to
see any ladies, females, women or anyone of that gender,” making it
very clear that he wanted no women here because he didn’t put it
above Elizabeth to don a disguise. She had worn one most of her
adult life.

The jailer shrugged, and shook his head
as he walked away.

Jordan made his way to the basket and
picked it up off the floor and placed it on the desk. He wasn’t
going to risk the vermin getting to it before he did. Inside was
two bottles of wine, a jug of water, loaf of fresh bread, still
warm from the oven, cheeses, fruit and cold meats. He ate the meat
first because he didn’t want it to spoil and tore off a piece of
bread. He would save the rest for later. There was enough food to
last him a day or two and Jordan planned on making it last as long
as possible so that he didn’t have to eat the slop they tried to
pass off as food in this place.

Jordan wished it was one of his
brothers who had come to visit. But he didn’t need to be assured
that they were working on freeing him. They would not rest until he
was home.

“It is not possible that Jordan Trent
killed Mr. Dalton and Mr. Everton, or hurt those women,” Audrey
appealed to the investigator at the Bow Street office.

“Do you have proof?” Mr. Wesby
asked.

Audrey leaned forward and pressed her
hands against his desk. She had to make this man understand. “I
know it was impossible.”

“Unless you can account for his
presence at each time a crime was committed there is nothing we can
do.”

She bit her bottom lip. During each
event Jordan had not been with her. Oh, she wished he had been,
even though Dalton was killed in the middle of the night. She would
rather her reputation was destroyed than have Jordan
condemned.

“Besides, there was already a lady here
claiming that Trent was with her during all four
occurrences.”

A lady? “Who?”

The investigator grinned.
“Lady Lydell. She assures me that it was impossible for Mr. Trent
to have committed those acts because they were
together
.” His gaze narrowed on
her.

Her face heated at his insinuation.
“That is simply not true.”

Wesby tilted his head to study her.
“You know this for certain?”

The problem was, she didn’t. Millicent
constantly insisted that Jordan belonged to her yet he denied her
claims. One was not telling the truth. Doubt began to sink in, but
Audrey shook it away. She trusted Jordan and she would not let
Millicent’s claims alter her beliefs. “Jordan Trent is not involved
in a relationship with Lady Lydell. She wishes it but it is not
true.”

“We surmised as much,” the investigator
confirmed and relaxed back in her seat. “Her story didn’t match
what we do know.”

“This is a travesty,” a female voice
cried from beyond the closed door.

“He did not attack me,” another woman
yelled.

Wesby frowned toward the closed door.
Audrey turned to look. Not that she could see anything since it was
a solid wood door, though not solid enough for the voices not to
carry through.

“Mr. Wesby is busy questioning a
witness,” a deep voice said.

“I will not wait a moment
longer.”

“Neither will I.”

Before Audrey could determine which
voice said what, the handle turned and the door was flung open. Two
ladies entered, both wearing veils but Audrey could see the hint of
bandages beneath each. One lady she recognized to be Lady Rothsbury
so the other must be Angelique. She strained to see the features
through the dark material but it was difficult to make out the
details in this poor lighting other than the woman had high
cheekbones and full lips. Did she really want to know how beautiful
the woman was?

Wesby stood at their entrance as did
Audrey.

A young Runner rushed in. “I am sorry
sir. I tried to stop them.”

Wesby heaved a sigh. “It is all right,
Tate.” He gestured to the door. “Leave us and close the door behind
you.” The man turned to do so. “Tate,” Wesby called out. “If any
other ladies show up to defend Trent, have them wait, in a line if
necessary.”

Goodness, would there be more. How many
ladies were willing to risk their reputation to save
Jordan?

“You have arrested the wrong man,” Lady
Rothsbury asserted.

“Jordan would never hurt me,” insisted
Angelique.

Wesby crossed his arms over his chest.
“How can you be so certain?”

“I just know he wouldn’t,” Lady
Rothsbury insisted.

“You did not see him, by your own
account,” Wesby reminded her.

“That is true. I was asleep, but that
doesn’t mean he would do such a thing,” she argued.

“You were in your bedchamber,” he
pointed out and quickly glanced at Audrey before he continued. “I
understand Trent is well aware of where that room is in your
home.”

Heat crept up Audrey’s cheeks. She
didn’t want to know the details of Jordan’s relationship, or former
relationship, with Lady Rothsbury.

“It is a Town Home, Mr. Wesby. Many of
them are almost identical in design. Anyone could have found my
chamber.” Lady Rothsbury huffed and plunked down into a
seat.

Angelique stepped forward and braced
her hands on the back of Lady Rothsbury’s chair. “It did not feel
like Jordan.”

Wesby narrowed his eyes on her. “You
didn’t see your attacker either. He came at you from
behind.”

“The man who grabbed me had a slightly
rounded middle.” Audrey could see a hint of a smile form on
Angelique’s lips. “Trust me when I tell you that there is nothing
soft about Jordan Trent.”

Lady Rothsbury looked up at Angelique
and they shared a knowing look. Or at least Audrey assumed that was
the case since she couldn’t see their eyes all that well from where
she stood. Jealousy turned in her heart knowing that these two had
been intimate with Jordan and knew things about him that she did
not.

She shook the feelings and thoughts
away. Now was not the time to be upset over something so trivial.
What mattered was that they came to help get him
released.

“He could have hired someone to do the
deeds,” Wesby suggested.

“To what purpose?” Angelique demanded.
“Why would he wish to harm either one of us? Have you even given
thought to his motivation or reasons?”

Wesby colored slightly and picked the
papers up from his desk and shuffled them. The man didn’t have a
reason so why had Jordan been arrested in the first place for these
crimes. “One of the theories is that he took revenge for your
rejection of him.”